Off-Strip country festival to premiere in Las Vegas

It’s a country-music festival that had part of its title — “Boots” — easily covered. It just needed “Park,” and found one.

The hoedown and throw-down Boots In the Park is making its Las Vegas premiere at The Event Center at Desert Breeze Park on April 11-12. The Band Perry, Old Dominion and Jordan Davis lead the two-day, all-day country fete.

Ancillary offerings include the requisite line dancing, food from Vegas vendors, craft beer and custom cocktails, and art installations. The play here is value, with two-day GA passes starting at $99 (not including fees), single-day tickets $59. The ticket packages are on sale now. The single-day go up Friday, all at bootsinthepark.com.

Steve Thacher’s Activated Events company is putting on the party, and these Boots are broken in. The festival has scooted from its inception in 2017 in Fresno to California outposts in San Diego, Bakersfield, Santa Clarita, Bakersfield and Norco in Riverside County.

The festival has also set up in Albuquerque, New Mexico, and Gilbert, Arizona. The Fresno show opens just as Las Vegas closes in what is known as “Boots Season.”

Thatcher was inspired to bring a festival to Las Vegas after catching the 2012 Bite of Las Vegas, also at Desert Breeze Park, with Matchbox 20 headlining.

“It was such a great, local-community-vibe feel,” Thacher says. “I told myself, ‘You know, I want to come back and do an event here.’”

The opportunity to present the show at what is essentially a new performance venue (not counting smaller community events) was especially appealing.

“We’re really going to be the ones opening up the Event Center,” Thacher says. “We jumped at the opportunity.”

The Event Center has a capacity of 12,000 per night for the shuffling Boots acts. As locals are well aware, Desert Breeze has a strong festival history, with Bite of Las Vegas staged at the park from 2001-2018. The Bite event is famous for launching Imagine Dragons’ career as a top rock act, as the band filled in for Train in 2008 when Pat Monahan fell ill.

The big qualifier for any festival is the weather. When the venue uses Breeze in its official name, there’s one concern. But fans should be swept away by the headlining acts, who will be joined by a strong roster including Tyler Hubbard, late of Florida Georgia Line; Nate Smith; Chris Janson; Parmalee; Chase Matthew; Owen Riegling; Presley Tennant; Joe Peters; Luwiss Lux; and more to be announced.

It was no coincidence Thacher was calling from his headquarters in Nashville. The Las Vegas-Nashville relationship, referred to as either Nash Vegas or, as Blake Shelton has dubbed it, “VegasVille,” our own nickname for the city.

Shelton’s Ole Red, Jason Aldean’s Kitchen + Bar are running solid business on the Strip; Gilley’s is a stalwart at Treasure Island; and Stoney’s Rockin’ Country at Town Square and Stoney’s North Forty at Santa Fe Station are but a few examples of the country moment in Vegas.

Whence are these country-music fans going to arrive for the first Boots in the Park?

“This festival is built for the local residents the country community of Las Vegas, and the surrounding areas,” Thacher says. “There’s a great country community out there. Of course, we have large databases in California and Arizona and other areas, and so we will get some of that. But we chose a venue off the Strip, away from where the other festivals take place, that is geared to the local community.”

See C.K. at MGM

Questions about demand for Louis C.K. in Las Vegas are answered by this booking: Announced Wednesday, his nationwide “Ridiculous” tour stops at MGM Grand Garden Arena on Dec. 20. Tickets on sale at AXS.com at 9 a.m. Pacific time Friday. The ASX.com link to the show indicates it is “phones-free,” no electronic recording devices allowed. C.K. was among the first comics to partner with Yondr pouches at his shows.

The six-time Grammy winner was was briefly canceled in 2017, following accusations of sexual misconduct involving several women. He was quickly dropped by Netflix and FX. The comic apologized and admitted, “These stories are true,” and gingerly returned to his stand-up roots.

Among those who first welcomed C.K. back to the was The Comedy Cellar, owned by Noam Dworman, who also operates the Las Vegas outpost at the Rio. In 2020, C.K. joined a collection of comics led by Mike Birbiglia to raise more than $112,000 for the staff at The Comedy Cellar in New York sidelined by COVID.

The group included Sarah Silverman, Judd Apatow, Dave Attell, John Mayer, Colin Quinn and Michelle Wolf.

C.K. has won six Grammys and released more than 10 stand-up specials, most recently “Louis C.K. at the Dolby” “Sorry,” and “Sincerely, Louis C.K..” He joins such comedy stars as Dave Chappelle, Joe Rogan, Chris Rock and Tom Segura to perform at the Grand Garden Arena. Matt Rife plays the arena in May.

May we recommend …

“Turn The Beat — A Gloria Estefan Tribute” returns to the stage at 7:30 p.m. Saturday at South Point Showroom. Gabie Lopez created the show and inhabits the part, returns to the lead role. We were taken by the show when we saw it in January at Freedom Hall Theatre at Sun City Anthem.

Deena Cary and Kiara Sasso are the backing vocalists, Angela Lawrence choreographs and is backing dancer alongside Kennedy Gonzalez. Bass master Peter Fand leads the band. Tickets start at $25; go to southpointcasino.com for intel.

Cool Hang Alert

“A Night To Remember,” starring county music singer/songwriter Michael Peterson, is at 7 p.m. Friday at Community Lutheran Church Sanctuary. Peterson is a wonderful talent, a regular highlight of The Composers Showcase of Las Vegas at Myron’s. Very George Strait vibe. Admission is $20; go to cur8.com/projects/5thsunday for intel.

John Katsilometes’ column runs daily in the A section. Contact him at jkatsilometes@reviewjournal.com. Follow @johnnykats on X, @JohnnyKats1 on Instagram.