The entertainment across Wynn Las Vegas' venues will be a real scorcher in July—this includes Nas performing with the Las Vegas Philharmonic in the Encore Theater (July 9–19); as well as the Las Vegas stops at Allegiant Stadium of The Weeknd’s After Hours ‘til Dawn 2025 Stadium Tour (July 4–5) and Beyoncé’s Cowboy Carter Tour (July 25–26), which can be experienced in the comfort of the Wynn Field Club.

July 9, 11–12, 18–19

NAS ILLMATIC: LIVE with the Las Vegas Philharmonic
Encore Theater
2024 marked the 30th anniversary of Nas’s debut album, Illmatic (Columbia Records, 1994). The album is so universally lauded that in 2021, on the basis of being found “culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant,” it was selected by the Library of Congress for preservation in the National Recording Registry. Nas celebrated by going on an anniversary tour highlighted by a three-night residency in the Encore Theater, where he performed Illmatic in its entirety, accompanied by the Las Vegas Philharmonic, followed by a second set with a curation of hits and favorites from his 17 studio albums.  

Now, GRAMMY-winning multiplatinum recording artist/producer Nas (Nasir bin Olu Dara Jones) is bringing the show back (along with the LV Phil!) to the Encore Theater for five nights in July (9, 11–12, 18–19); performing not just the whole Illmatic album in his first set, but also a second set that will in all likelihood include such deft displays of Nas’s signature conversational narrative lyricism as “The Message” and “If I Ruled the World (Imagine That)” from It Was Written (Columbia Records, 1996), “Nas Is Like” from I Am (Columbia Records, 1999), “Got Ur Self a Gun” and “One Mic” from Stillmatic (Columbia Records, 2001), “Made You Look” from God’s Sun (Columbia Records, 2002), and “Cherry Wine” from Life Is Good (Def Jam, 2012). 

Our Nas Playlist
“It Ain’t Hard to Tell” – Illmatic (1994)

“If I Ruled the World (Imagine That)” – It Was Written (1996)

“One Mic” – Stillmatic (2001)

July 4–5

THE WEEKND: After Hours Til Dawn 2025 Stadium Tour
Allegiant Stadium

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With five standing entries in the Guinness World Records—including "The First Artist to Reach 100 Million Monthly Users on Spotify" (2023)—not to mention four GRAMMY Awards, 22 Billboard Music Awards, and a half-dozen American Music Awards, it should come as no great surprise that The Weeknd’s After Hours Til Dawn 2025 Stadium Tour (which launched in July 2022 as The After Hours Tour and stopped at Allegiant Stadium in August 2022) is returning.

Originally intended to support his fourth studio album, After Hours (Republic Records, 2020), the tour was extended to also support his fifth and sixth studio albums, Dawn FM (Republic Records, 2022) and Hurry Up Tomorrow (Republic Records, 2025). This second North American leg will feature Mike Dean and Playboi Carti as opening actsMike Deanand Playboi Carti.

The Weeknd has announced that Hurry Up Tomorrow will most likely be his “final hurrah” recording or performing under his intentionally misspelled moniker. He intends to retire it and replace it with either his birthname (Abel Tesfaye) or a new, as-yet-adopted pseudonym. 

Our Weeknd Playlist
“Wicked Games” – Trilogy (2012)

“Starboy” – Starboy (2016)

“Sacrifice” – Dawn FM (2022)

July 25–26

BEYONCÉ: Cowboy Carter Tour
Allegiant Stadium

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Following the success of her seventh studio album, Act I: Renaissance (Columbia Records, 2022), a tailfeather-shaking tribute to the Black and queer pioneers of dance music and House music; Beyoncé set out on her record-setting Renaissance World Tour—the highest-grossing tour of all time by a Black artist, and the highest-grossing single-year concert tour—which came to Allegiant Stadium on August 26–27, 2023.   

Never one to rest on her abundant laurels—in case you’ve been living under a rock (or without wi-fi), she’s the most-honored and most-nominated artist of all time at the GRAMMY Awards (35 wins and 99 nominations), she’s tied (with Taylor Swift) as the most-honored video music artist ever with 30 MTV Video Music Awards; she’s the most-awarded artist of the Soul Train Awards (25 wins) and of the NAACP Image Awards (32 wins); and she’s even won a Peabody Award for her film Lemonade in 2017—Beyoncé followed the worldwide success of Act I: Renaissance with Act II: Cowboy Carter (Columbia Records, 2024), her knowing nod to Americana and the role of Black artists in the musical and cultural history of America.

Cowboy Carter didn’t just educate listeners about country music, it raised the profile of everything affiliated with it, from listenership of country radio formats to the popularity of Western-wear; and thanks to its eleven nominations, Cowboy Carter became the third most nominated album in GRAMMY history (behind only Michael Jackson’s Thriller with 13, and Quincy Jones’s The Dude with 12), winning Album of the Year as well as Best Country Album (making Queen Bey the first Black artist to win in this category).

The Cowboy Carter Tour will conclude with a pair of performances at Allegiant Stadium on July 25–26.

Our Beyoncé Playlist
“Alien Superstar” – Renaissance (2022)

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“Jolene” – Cowboy Carter (2024)

“Texas Hold ‘Em” – Cowboy Carter (2024)

Check out our favorite tracks from two artists coming to the Encore Theater in June. Plus, take a deep dive into how these songs have impacted popular culture through the decades and influenced artists.

June 13–14

Pixies with Special Guest Kurt Vile + The Violators 

With a career spanning nearly 40 years (their ninth album, The Night the Zombies Came, was released last year), and having influenced any number of alternative rock and post-punk bands—think: Nirvana, the Smashing Pumpkins, PJ Harvey, Bush, the Strokes, Arcade Fire, the White Stripes, Modest Mouse, Radiohead, and Weezer—with their surfer-punk vibes and extreme dynamics featuring bombastic, howling choruses framed by more calm, hushed verses, Pixies have never been more relevant than they are today.

Here’s what some of their fans have had to say about Pixies:

 “I found [the Pixies] just about the most-compelling music outside of Sonic Youth in the entire 1980s. I always thought there was a psychotic Beatles in them.”
–David Bowie, who covered the band’s song “Debaser”—from their second album, Doolittle (1989)—while touring with his band Tin Machine in the early ’90s.

“[Pixies] are one of the great rock bands,” with each member “integral [both] to their collective sound and influential in their own right. Their influence on bands that came after cannot be understated, and I personally owe them a huge debt of inspiration. Pixies forever!” –Paul Banks (Interpol).

“I was trying to write the ultimate pop song. I was basically trying to rip off the Pixies. I have to admit it. When I heard the Pixies for the first time, I connected with that band so heavily that I should have been in that band—or at least a Pixies cover band. We used their sense of dynamics, being soft and quiet and then loud and hard.” –Kurt Cobain (Nirvana), on writing “Smells Like Teen Spirit.”

Numerous covers of “Gigantic” [the only single from the Pixies’ debut studio album, Surfer Rosa (1988)] have been done, including by Reel Big Fish (1999), OK Go (2007), and Phoebe Bridgers, who performed it in a worldwide commercial for Apple’s iPhone 5 (2014).

“Where is My Mind?” [Track from the Pixies’ debut studio album, Surfer Rosa (1988)] was most famously used in the final scene of Fight Club (1999); as well as on an episode of Criminal Minds (2006), in the film Observe and Report (2009), and even by NASA as one of the ‘wake-up calls’ used to rouse the team working on the Spirit Mars rover (2004). Covers have been performed by Nada Surf (1999), Placebo (2003), James Blunt (2006), Weezer (2017), Puddle’s Pity Party (2018), Kelly Clarkson (2021), and Postmodern Jukebox featuring Allison Young (2022).

Many covers of the song have been used in film and on television, including versions by Storm Large (2009) in Big Ass Spider! (2013); Yoav featuring Emily Browning (2011) in Sucker Punch (2011);  Safari Riot featuring Grayson Sanders (2019) in Malignant (2021); and Tkay Maidza (2021) in a commercial for Apple AirPods (2023) and the television series Swarm (2023); but none more so than the instrumental cover by French pianist Maxence Cyrin (2009) which has appeared in the tv shows The Leftovers, Mr. Robot, and black-ish, in the television commercial for the video game Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End (2016), and in the films It’s Kind of a Funny Story (2010) and Man Up (2015).  

There’s even a kazoo cover used on an episode of The Tick (2017), and a xylophone cover from Rockabye Baby! Lullaby Renditions of Pixies (2009) was played to particularly creepy effect during an episode of Criminal Minds (2012).

“Here Comes Your Man” [the second single from the Pixies’ second studio album, Doolittle (1989)] was written by Pixies frontman Black Francis (nee Charles Michael Kittridge Thompson IV) while in his early teens. Joseph Gordon-Levitt performed it in the karaoke scene from 500 (Days of Summer) (2009). It was used in films [including Say It Isn’t So (2001), Stuck On You (2003), Deuce Bigalow: European Gigolo (2005), and Daddy’s Home (2015)] and on television [The Simpsons (2013), and Mr. Mercedes (2017)], as well as in a commercial for Citi (2017).

June 20

Herb Alpert & The Tijuana Brass & Other Delights 

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Michelle and Barack Obama awarded Herb Alpert the National Medal of Arts at the White House in 2013, and it’s no wonder why. Look at the records: In addition to selling more than 72 million of them worldwide, he’s held the record (since 1966) for being the only artist to simultaneously have four albums in the Billboard Top 10 (a feat that was only recently matched in 2023 by Taylor Swift), and he’s the only artist to have reached Number 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 both as a vocalist and as an instrumentalist, for “This Guy’s in Love with You” (1968) and “Rise” (1979), respectively.  

He’s won eight GRAMMY Awards and two Tony Awards—as one of the producers of back-to-back “Best Play” winners Angels in America: Millenium Approaches (1993) and Angels in America: Perestroika (1994)—as well as the El Premio Billboard award from the Billboard Latin Music Awards in 1997, for his contributions to Latin music.

Alpert’s 2024 album, 50, is named because it was his fiftieth album and celebrated his 50th wedding anniversary to Brasil ’66 lead singer and frequent collaborator, Lani Hall. Alpert’s current tour, “Herb Alpert & the Tijuana Brass & Other Delights,” celebrates the 60th anniversary of his seminal album, Whipped Cream & Other Delights (1965).

And lest anyone forget, Alpert was the “A” in A&M Records, which he co-founded in 1962 with Jerry Moss (the “M”)—which within ten years of its founding had become the world’s largest independent record label—and sold to PolyGram in 1989 for $500 million (with a $200 million kicker in 1998). A very abridged list of A&M artists includes Burt Bacharach, the Carpenters, Quincy Jones, Liza Minnelli, Toni Basil, Joan Baez, Billy Preston, Cat Stevens, Joe Cocker, Carole King, Cheech & Chong, Styx, Supertramp, Squeeze, Peter Frampton, the Sex Pistols, Janet Jackson, the Police, Falco, the Go-Go’s, Bryan Adams, Jeffrey Osborne, the Human League, Amy Grant, and Sting.

“Taste of Honey” [from the album Whipped Cream & Other Delights (1965)] won GRAMMY Awards for “Record of the Year,” “Best Instrumental Arrangement,” “Best Instrumental Performance,” and “Best Engineered Recording – Non-Classical” (1966).

“Rise” [lead single from the album Rise (1979)] won the GRAMMY Award for “Best Pop Instrumental Performance” (1980). The entire musical groove from Hypnotize by The Notorious B.I.G. (1997) is a sample of “Rise.”

“Rotation” [second single from the album Rise (1979)] is an exceptionally sexy song that was played during early “Luke and Laura” scenes on the soap opera General Hospital.

BUY TICKETS TO ENCORE THEATER

The Wynn Golf Club story starts in 1952, when the Desert Inn, only the fifth resort to occupy the Las Vegas Strip, opened its 18-hole, par-72 golf course—where Wynn Golf Club resides today. 

Back in the early days of the Desert Inn, Frank Sinatra, who made his Vegas debut at the resort in 1951, was a big fan of hitting the greens. The lore says that he and fellow Rat Pack crooner Dean Martin spurred the invention of the beverage cart in the 1960s when they refused to play without a drink in hand. (Now, Wynn Golf Club guests can enjoy complimentary food and nonalcoholic beverages delivered directly on the course. The Tee House serves upscale grab-and-go food and a selection of drinks.)

In addition to being a favorite spot of Sinatra and Martin, the Desert Inn Golf Club hosted the PGA Tour Tournament of Champions from 1953 to 1966. “All the best of the best golfers would have visited the Desert Inn Golf Club through the ’50s and into the early ’60s,” including Sam Snead, Arnold Palmer, and Jack Nicklaus, shares Scott Cowan, executive director of golf operations. The star power on the course is alive and well today. “The Desert Inn was a place where those who were the biggest in movies and music certainly liked to spend some time, and I think there’s been a bit of a renaissance with that as well, with the likes of Jimmy Fallon and Justin Timberlake spending a good amount of time here and hosting their tournaments,” Cowan says, referring to the annual 8AM Golf Invitational, which has also hosted NFL stars Patrick Mahomes and Travis Kelce. “This is a place where those who are under the spotlight like to spend time because it’s a safe place for them, especially on the golf course.” 

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“Our caddies relate to the person, not the persona,” Cowan adds. “They understand that this is the one place where they don’t have cameras on them. They’re not under the light, so to speak, and they can let their hair down and be themselves and enjoy it. And I think that’s one of the things that makes us special. There’s that hearkening back to when Sinatra and Martin used to go out and play golf, just the two of them, and hang out because it was a safe space for them.” 

When Wynn Las Vegas opened in 2005, highly lauded golf course architect Tom Fazio designed the 129-acre, 18-hole championship course, and in 2019, he gave it a refreshed look alongside his son Logan. Today, Wynn Golf Club remains revered for its pristine, undulating greens; challenging yet visually stunning course; and convenient location on the Strip. Caddies are trained to share the legendary history of the property, giving players a unique experience on the iconic course. “Most caddies will carry a bag or ride on the back of a cart, and they are useful,” Cowan says, “but ours are trained in things like storytelling, anticipating needs and reading the room, on top of the basic skills that every caddie needs to have, which are reading greens and providing a service.” 

In addition to bringing together music, sports and entertainment stars during events like the VGK Golf Classic, Complex Pro-Am and NBA Tees & Threes Tournament, Wynn Golf Club also hosts premier non-golf events for guests, including the popular Concours at Wynn Las Vegas, an annual auto show set to return for its fourth iteration this fall.

“We are always doing our best to showcase the golf course as both a course and an event space,” Cowan shares. “It’s an oasis back here in the middle of the Las Vegas Strip. There’s nothing else like it in Las Vegas.” 

LEARN MORE ABOUT THE WYNN GOLF CLUB EXPERIENCE

Pisces Bar & Seafare is now open nightly at Wynn Las Vegas.

Here are a few small bites to wet your appetite for the new Mediterranean restaurant on the Lake of Dreams.

The Menu

The seafood restaurant celebrates the distinctive cuisine of the Mediterranean coast with a menu from Executive Chef Martin Heierling. The menu includes caviar and crudo, dry-aged fish, bountiful seafood platters, and fresh pasta.  Playful and indulgent, Pisces showcases fresh fish sourced daily from the pristine waters of the Mediterranean, complemented by a world-class wine list.

Menu highlights include the Ocean-to-Fire Seafood Platter, featuring crispy Oishii shrimp, broiled king crab legs, grilled lobster tails, mussels, clams, and Greek seafood broth, as well as the Lobster Spaghettini with fennel, tomato, and extra virgin olive oil. For those who already love—or are curious about dry-aged fish—try the Grilled Orata Seabream and Salt-Baked Loup de Mer. Designed to share, dishes like the Regiis Ova Caviar and Jamón Ibérico Croquetas with gold leaf and chive blossom and Paella alla Pisces, made with spiny lobster tail, shrimp, calamari, mussels, clams, nora chili rouille, saffron, and bomba rice, invite guests to gather and celebrate.

The Chef

In crafting Pisces' culinary offerings, Heierling brings nearly 30 years of global leadership to his role as executive chef. He has worked for renowned groups like STARR Restaurants, Urban Purveyor Group, SBE, and, most recently, Noble 33. Heierling’s expertise earned him international recognition, including a Rising Star Chef nomination from StarChefs and the HAT Award from the Good Food Guide.

“Pisces represents what Wynn does best—creating original dining destinations that elevate Las Vegas’ culinary landscape,” said Executive Chef Martin Heierling. “We've designed an experience that pairs the waterfront energy of the Lake of Dreams with sophisticated Mediterranean cuisine. What sets Pisces apart is the bright, vibrant food and individual details—from the interiors to the beverage program.” 

The Interiors

Designed by Todd-Avery Lenahan, president and chief creative officer of Wynn Design & Development, the restaurant features dark, layered interiors, reflective mosaic floors, and specially commissioned artwork. Evocative of the mysterious depths of the Mediterranean, Pisces envelops guests in a world of deep blues, gleaming bronze, and decadent copper. The intimate entry rotunda features embroidered velvet walls and ebony wood accents, and flows into a bi-level dining room anchored by a seafood display and an expansive bar. The stunning visual moments encompass 400 rum-colored orbs crafted of Murano glass, rustic chestnut beams, and a Dijon suede ceiling.

The Vibe

“Pisces’ immersive and transportive atmosphere channels effortless, seaside chic,” Lenahan says. “The juxtaposition of spectacle and subtlety on display, from mid-century textile art to yachtsman chairs made of rosewood, fish skin leather, and espresso mohair, results in a dynamic environment that complements the innovative menu.”

Panoramic views of the Lake of Dreams, mirrored portholes, and ceramic vases representing sirens of the sea further enhance the aquatic theme.

Drinks & Dessert?

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Wynn Las Vegas’ Master Mixologist Mariena Mercer Boarini presents a cocktail program that pays homage to Mediterranean seas and shores. Standouts include the Sirena, made with strawberry lemongrass vodka, passionfruit cordial, wild thyme honey, pineapple, Amalfi citrus, and clarified Greek yogurt, and the Sun Sign, a margarita with passionfruit, pink guava, Aleppo chili, and quince. A dedicated section of Gintonicas, born from Spain’s lively cocktail culture, elevates the classic gin and tonic into an art form. Options include the Valencia, with Sevilla orange gin, limoncello, and Sicilian citrus tonic water, and the Madrid, featuring rose, elderflower, and lychee. 

Desserts from Executive Pastry Chef Jennifer Yee are the sweet send-off.

The bar at Pisces Bar & Seafare opens at 4:30 p.m., and dinner service begins at 5 p.m. 

MAKE DINNER RESERVATIONS FOR PISCES BAR & SEAFARE

The roster of artists playing Encore Theater rolls on in May with two legendary musicians, Chrissie Hynde and Tom Jones, who follow Kraftwerk, Lionel Richie, and George Benson from April.

LISTEN TO PART 1 OF THE SPRING ENCORE PLAYLIST

Pretenders
May 1

Fronted by the indefatigable Chrissie Hynde (lead singer/rhythm guitarist/primary songwriter), the Pretenders have been bridging punk, new wave, and rock n’ roll since 1978. Their self-titled debut studio album, Pretenders (1980)—proclaimed by The Who’s Pete Townshend to be “like a drug”—is considered by Rolling Stone to be one of the best debut albums (#24 on Rolling Stone’s list of “100 Best Debut Albums of All Time”), as well as one of the best albums ever (#151 on Rolling Stone’s list of “500 Greatest Albums of All Time”).

Hynde—following the leads of Janis Joplin and Grace Slick; and along with such legendary rockers as Suzi Quatro, Patti Smith, Ann and Nancy Wilson, Pat Benatar, Debbie Harry, and Joan Jett—led a band that rocked hard, proving definitively that rock n’ roll was no longer a boy’s club. What’s more, Hynde refused to lean into the T&A of it all, performing in jeans and her signature shag, with copious amounts of eyeliner her only allusion to her sexuality, which despite (or perhaps because of) her disinterest, seemingly smoldered all the more.

About Hynde, Madonna told Q in 1994, “I saw her play in Central Park [in August 1980, performing with the Pretenders]. She was amazing: the only woman I’d seen in performance where I thought, yeah, she’s got balls, she’s awesome! It gave me courage, inspiration, to see a woman with that kind of confidence in a man’s world.”

The Pretenders—in their original line-up, which included Hynde, founding guitarist Pete Farndon (who was fired from the band in 1982 due to his increasing drug dependence, to which he succumbed the following year), founding guitarist James Honeyman-Scott (who died of heart failure due to cocaine intolerance two days after Farndon’s firing), and founding drummer Martin Chambers (who left the band in 1984 following the deaths of his two bandmates, but returned in 1994 and has remained with the band ever since)—were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2005.

“Brass in Pocket” [Third single from the Pretenders’ debut album, Pretenders (1980)]

• The seventh music video broadcast on MTV

•  The band’s first song to reach Number 1 on the UK singles chart

•  Nominated for a GRAMMY Award for “Best Rock Performance By A Duo Or Group With Vocal” (1981)

“Back on the Chain Gang” [Originally released as a single (1982), then included on The King of Comedy: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack (1983) and the Pretenders’ third studio album, Learning to Crawl (1984)] 

•  Written by Hynde as a tribute to the recent passing of her best friend, Pretenders founding member James Honeyman-Scott (guitarist, songwriter)

•  The clanking and hammer-swing grunts in the chorus are allusions to Chain Gang (1962) by Sam Cooke

• Covered by Selina as “Fotos y Recuerdos” (1995), and by Morrissey (2018)

“Don’t Get Me Wrong” [Lead single from the Pretenders’ fourth studio album, Get Close (1986)]

•  Hynde was inspired to write the song for her friend, John McEnroe

•  Covered by Sixpence None the Richer frontwoman, Leigh Nash (2018), and by actor Hale Appleman (2019) on the musical episode of the SyFy series, The Musicians [S4, Ep10]

TOM JONES: Defy Explanation
May 14 – 17

Sir Thomas Jones Woodward OBE—he was knighted by Queen Elizabeth II in 2006, after having been made an Officer of the Order of the British Empire in 1998—has been thrilling Las Vegas audiences since 1967 with his suave baritone, barely-buttoned shirts (his chest hair was insured by Lloyd’s of London for nearly $7 million in 2006), and pants so tight you could tell what religions he wasn’t.

Throughout his more than six-decade career, he’s received a GRAMMY Award for “Best New Artist” (1966), has had 19 Top 40 hits in the US and 36 in the UK, and has sold over 100 million records worldwide, delving into multiple musical styles and genres including country, dance, gospel, pop, R&B, show tunes, and soul.

Jones has been a coach on every series (season) of The Voice UK since its debut in 2012, except series 5 (2016).

“I (Who Have Nothing)” [Lead single from Jones’s twelfth studio album, I (Who Have Nothing) (1970)]

•  English language cover—with new lyrics by Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller—of the Italian song “Uno dei tanti,” originally performed by Joe Sentieri (1961) with music and lyrics by Carlo Donida and Giulio Rapetti.

•  First recorded in English by Ben E. King (1963), then later that same year by Shirley Bassey, for whom the song has become a standard in her live performances

•  Later covered by Roberta Flack and Donny Hathaway (1971), Sylvester (1979), Neil Diamond (1993), and Cynthia Erivo (2022)

“Kiss” [Single by The Art of Noise featuring Tom Jones (1988)]

•  Cover of the hit single by Prince and the Revolution from their eighth studio album, Parade (1986)

•  The Art of Noise reached out to Jones to record the vocals on their cover after seeing him perform a cover of “Kiss” during a televised version of his Las Vegas show

•  Won an MTV Video Music Award in the category of “Breakthrough Video” (1989)

•  Jones changed Prince’s lyric “Women not girls, rule my world” to “Women and girls, rule my world.” 

•  Appeared on the soundtracks to both My Stepmother Is an Alien (1988) and Kids in the Hall: Brain Candy(1996)

“Sex Bomb” [Fourth single from—and the only original track on—Jones’s 34th album, Reload (1999)]

•  Written and produced by German DJ/Producer Mousse T

• Jones’s entry into the 1990s lounge music revival in DJ culture and nightlife [à la the remixed version of Where Is My Man by Eartha Kitt (1994), Steve and Eydie’s cover of Soundgarden’s Black Hole Sun for the Lounge-A-Palooza compilation (1997), and History Repeating by Propellerheads featuring Miss Shirley Bassey (1998)]

Wynn Las Vegas hosted an exclusive wine dinner with globally-renowned winery Screaming Eagle, marking the winery’s sole dinner hosted in the United States in 2025. As a highlight event of Wynn’s ongoing Connoisseur Series, the intimate dinner featured a multi-course meal, several Screaming Eagle vintages, and remarks from Screaming Eagle and Wynn Las Vegas experts.

Limited to just 20 guests, the evening began with a reception featuring The Hilt Estate Sparkling wine before guests were seated in the glamorous private dining room of Wynn and The h.wood Group’s modern supper club Delilah for a six-course feast from Delilah’s Executive Chef, Jonathan Bauman. Menu highlights included Mediterranean Turbot topped with black winter truffles, sunchoke, and sauce vin jaune paired with a 2019 Sauvignon Blanc; Grazing Star Wagyu Beef braised short rib and New York strip with morels, English peas, fingerling potatoes, and pickled ramp jus paired with a 2007 Cabernet Sauvignon; and Prospector Black Truffle Cheese Mille-Feuille with maitake mushroom and cassis, served alongside a 1999 Cabernet Sauvignon.

Screaming Eagle Estate Director Armand de Maigret guided guests through the nuances of the six wines poured, dating back 26 years, providing unique insight into the usually private winery. Delilah’s lead sommelier, Cristie Norman, offered additional notes on each pairing. Guests also received a fine bone china show plate adorned with the Screaming Eagle and Delilah logos, serving as a memento from the one-of-a-kind evening.

 Wynn’s Connoisseur Series continues to bring guests closer than ever to world-class purveyors, next hosting one of the world’s most prestigious wine estates, Masseto, at Sinatra on May 2.

BOOK YOUR CONNOISSEUR SERIES EXPERIENCE

About Wynn Las Vegas

Wynn Resorts is the recipient of more Forbes Travel Guide Five Star Awards than any other independent hotel company in the world and in 2025 was once again honored on FORTUNE Magazine’s World’s Most Admired Companies list. Wynn and Encore Las Vegas consist of two luxury hotel towers with a total of 4,748 spacious hotel rooms, suites and villas. The resort features approximately 194,000 square feet of casino space, 20 signature dining experiences, 14 bars, two award-winning spas, approximately 513,000 rentable square feet of meeting and convention space, approximately 174,000 square feet of retail space as well as two showrooms, two nightclubs, a beach club, and recreation and leisure facilities, including Wynn Golf Club, an 18-hole championship golf course. For more information on Wynn and Encore Las Vegas, visit press.wynnlasvegas.com.

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This spring, the roster of artists playing Encore Theater is chock-a-block with influential, award-winning musicians spanning multiple genres and eras. From the electronic music of Kraftwerk to the funk/soul/pop of Lionel Richie and the smooth jazz of George Benson (in April), learn about these incredible artists and their significant legacies, and listen to a selection of their songs (with a bit of fun trivia about each).

 BUY TICKETS TO ENCORE THEATER SHOWS IN APRIL

April 4

Kraftwerk, Multimedia Tour 2025
“Kraftwerk, alongside the Beatles, are one of the two most influential bands in the history of postwar popular music.” So began GRAMMY award-winning ethnomusicologist Rob Bowman’s essay accompanying the German band’s 2021 induction into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame.

Plenty of artists have influenced other artists, but few, if any, have influenced so many disparate genres as Kraftwerk, whose “robot pop” music has shaped the genres we’ve come to know as hip hop, electro, house music, drum-and-bass, techno, post-punk, ambient, synth-pop, club music, and EDM.  

Sampled and emulated by everyone from David Bowie, Depeche Mode, R.E.M., Joy Division, New Order, Miley Cyrus, Coldplay, and the Human League to Afrika Bambaataa, Timbaland, LCD Soundsystem, Gary Newman, Soft Cell, the Prodigy, and Madonna; and covered by the likes of U2 and Siouxsie and the Banshees, music fans around the world have heard Kraftwerk’s influence; which is likely why they were awarded the 2014 GRAMMY Lifetime Achievement Award.

In 2007, Mojo ranked Kraftwerk’s fourth studio album, Autobahn (1974), at no. 5 on its list of “100 Records that Changed the World.” However, many of their other works have become mega-hits over the years.

“Uranium” from Radio-Activity (1975), the band’s fifth studio album, was sampled on New Order’s Euro-disco/synth-pop hit “Blue Monday” (1983), the best-selling 12” single of all time.

“Trans-Europe Express,” the lead single from Trans-Europe Express (1976), the band’s sixth studio album, was sampled on the proto-Hip Hop/Electro/Funk 12” single, “Planet Rock” (1982) by Afrika Bambaataa and the Soul Sonic Force.

“Electric Café” from Electric Café (1986), the band’s ninth studio album, was used (in a sped-up form) as the theme for Mike Myers’ recurring German television spoof “Sprockets” on Saturday Night Live (1989).

April 9–12

Lionel Richie, King of Hearts
Lionel Richie has won almost every award a musician and songwriter can collect, including four GRAMMY Awards, an Academy Award, a Golden Globe, and 11 American Music Awards. He rose to acclaim as a founding member of the Commodores before embarking on an incredible solo career in 1982. He has sold more than 100 million records worldwide, and as a songwriter, he might best be known for penning “Lady” (1980) for Kenny Rogers and (with Michael Jackson) “We Are the World” (1985).  

Richie has received the Kennedy Center Honors (2017), has been a judge on American Idol since 2018, and was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2022.  Six of his songs—“Three Times a Lady,” “Lady,” “Endless Love,” “All Night Long (All Night),” “Hello,” and “We Are the World”—have been nominated for a GRAMMY Award for Song of the Year, a distinction he shares with only Jack Antonoff, Beyoncé, and Paul McCartney, and which is surpassed only by Taylor Swift (with eight).

Sky Ferreira covered “Easy” from Commodores (1977), the band’s fifth studio album, for the soundtrack to Baby Driver (2017).

“Running with the Night” from Can’t Slow Down (1983), Richie’s second studio album, and GRAMMY Award-winner for Album of the Year (1985) was sampled on Rihanna’s single “Push Up On Me” from her album Good Girl Gone Bad (2007).

“Say You, Say Me” from White Nights: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack (1985) and Dancing on the Ceiling (1986) topped the Billboard Top 100 for four weeks in early 1986 and earned Richie both an Academy Award and a Golden Globe for Best Original Song.

April 25–26

George Benson, The George Benson Celebration
A child prodigy who played ukulele in a corner drug store at the age of seven, then guitar in a nightclub at eight, and was recording music by age nine, George Benson is a brilliant jazz musician who has won 10 GRAMMY Awards in his more than six-decade career. A much sought-after guest artist, that’s Benson’s skillful strumming you’ll hear on such hits as Miles Davis’s “Paraphernalia” (1968), Stevie Wonder’s “Another Star” (1976), and Gorillaz’s “Humility” (2018).

Whitney Houston’s chart-topping hit, “Greatest Love of All” (1986), was a cover of Benson’s “The Greatest Love of All,” which he’d written and recorded nearly a decade earlier, as the main theme for the Muhammad Ali biopic, The Greatest (1977). In 2009, the National Endowment of the Arts bestowed upon Benson the Jazz Master Award (deemed the United States’s highest honor in jazz). 

“This Masquerade” from Breezin’ (1986), Benson’s 15th studio album, one of the best-selling jazz albums of all time, topped multiple Billboard charts including “Jazz Albums,” “Pop,” and “R&B.” Written and originally released by Leon Russell (1972), “This Masquerade” was covered by Helen Reddy (1972) and by the Carpenters (1973), before being given the George Benson treatment in 1986. It won the GRAMMY Award for Record of the Year (1977) and nominations for Song of the Year and Best Pop Vocal Performance, Male.

“On Broadway,” the lead single from the live album Weekend in L.A. (1978), was recorded live at the Roxy in West Hollywood. The album was certified Platinum by the RIAA. Originally written by married songwriting duo Barry Mann and Cynthia Weil and recorded by the Cookies (1963). Mann and Weil then teamed up with the songwriting duo of Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller, with whom they reworked the song for the Drifters, who (with a young Phil Spector on guitar) recorded it in 1963. This version was inducted into the GRAMMY Hall of Fame in 2013. It won the GRAMMY Award for Best Male R&B Vocal Performance (1979).

“Give Me the Night,” the lead single from the album Give Me the Night (1980), was a hit on Billboard’s Hot Disco Singles chart, but it has been retroactively categorized as part of the Yacht Rock genre. It won the GRAMMY Award for Best Male R&B Vocal Performance (1981).

 BUY TICKETS TO ENCORE THEATER SHOWS IN APRIL

Whether you're heading to dinner at the newly remodeled La Cave Wine & Food Hideaway, a showing of Awakening or an outing of revelry at XS Nightclub, primp, pamper, and prepare for your big night out at Wynn Las Vegas with this guide.

PRIMP
A team of professional stylists, colorists, manicurists and makeup artists are ready to get guests in tiptop shape at both The Salon at Wynn and The Salon at Encore. Choose from an extensive menu of services for hair, nails and face, including haircuts, color and styling; Tom Ford Beauty and airbrush makeup application; waxing; manicures and pedicures; and plenty of indulgent add-ons.

Both salons use high-end products by the likes of Kérastase, Shu Uemura, and Moroccanoil for only the chicest results. Get glam with a custom makeup look that can be booked for the salon or in the comfort of your guest room. The Barbershop at Wynn, adjacent to The Salon at Wynn, is a space exclusively for the gents. The traditional barbershop uses Truefitt & Hill grooming products for its deluxe hot lather shave and offers paraffin hand treatments, beard trims, and more in addition to its tried-and-true haircuts. The Salon and Barbershop at Wynn, Sunday-Thursday, 10 a.m.-6p.m., and Friday-Saturday, 9a.m.-7 p.m.; The Salon at Encore, Monday-Sunday, 10a.m.-6 p.m.; (702) 770-3900.

PAMPER

Relax and unwind before your big night out at The Spa at Wynn or The Spa at Encore. You can’t go wrong at either space, as both have been awarded the coveted Forbes Travel Guide Five-Star designation for top-quality luxury amenities and experiences. Both spas provide separate women’s and men’s facilities with showers, a steam room, a sauna, hot and cold plunge pools, and experience showers.

The Spa at Wynn promotes relaxation from the get-go with its calming atmosphere and serene color palette evoking nightfall throughout the 45,000-square-foot space. The serene facilities offer classic massage therapies and enhancements, a variety of specialty massages, couples’ experiences, and body and facial treatments. For a boost of happiness, luck and prosperity, book the exclusive Good Luck Ritual, which is based on the five Chinese elements and includes a custom massage, a peppermint foot treatment, ultra-moisturizing hand therapy and a relaxing botanical scalp treatment. Finish your visit with the Ultimate Tan, a custom-tailored spray tan service that will get you glowing in no time with your own signature color blended for you, plus pre-spray skin prep and a post-tan moisture-lock treatment to keep your skin golden longer.

The Spa at Encore boasts 61,000 square feet of serenity. There are 37 treatment rooms, including 14 garden suites and four over size couples’ suites. Choose from an expansive menu of indulgent experiences, including customized treatments such as the detoxifying and hydrating Encore Escape; the Polynesian-influenced Nalu Body Ritual with its massage, body exfoliation and coconut oil scalp treatment; and the Journey to Euphoria during which two therapists synchronize their massage combining aromatic oils, warm stones, and a focus on the head and feet, ending with tandem body exfoliation and hydration. Daily 7 a.m.-7 p.m., (702) 770-3900 The Salon at Wynn offers high-end services for hair, nails and face.

PREPARE

Bolster your body before a night out with a little help from Clean Market IV Drip Lounge. Tailor your experience with guidance from medical practitioners, whether you choose the 45-minute Pre-Game drip with electrolyte fluids, B12, B-complex, taurine, carnitine, vitamin C, magnesium, B5, B6, and trace minerals or the exclusive Wynn Wellness drip, a two-hour experiences that promotes detox, replenishment and cellular respiration, boosts energy levels and immune system, and combats harmful urban exposure with NAD+, vitamin C, glutathione, B12, B-complex, magnesium, taurine and trace minerals. Shop Clean Market’s selection of wellness essentials to prepare for your night ahead. IV drips can be administered in the lounge or in your guestroom at both Wynn and Encore. Enhance your wellness-focused experience even further with vitamin add-ons and booster shots for beauty, mood, energy, metabolism and more. Sunday, 9 a.m.-6 p.m., Monday-Thursday, 10 a.m.-6 p.m., Friday-Saturday, 9 a.m.-7 p.m., (702) 770-3747.

Five talented tastemakers from Wynn Las Vegas share their industry secrets. Do you decant every bottle of wine? You should. Does it matter what scissors you use to cut flowers? Yes it does. What should you do with the "extra" pasta? Please don't throw it away. What's the sweetest thing you should have in your cupboard? Vanilla sugar, naturally. In a pinch? Make your own simple syrup and kick it up a notch.

Learn from the masters first hand at a Wynn Connoisseur Series experience.

Secrets of Wynn “Pasta” with Enzo Febbraro

Allegro Executive Chef Enzo Febbraro recommends using every piece of pasta.

“Maltagliati is the kind of pasta that is wrongly shaped. When you have a lot of leftover pasta in Italy, we don't throw [anything] away. Everything goes in here, and the day after, even better. Your guests can see that you really made it. You didn't buy it. It's beautiful. You can eat this forever. Look at the mess. How beautiful is this? Don't throw away any leftover pasta; just roughly cut.” 

Secrets of Wynn “Floral” with Evelyn Herrera 

Wynn Las Vegas Director of Horticulture and Floral Evelyn Herrera recommends using the right tools to cut your flowers.

“One of the things that everybody knows is you cut your stem at an angle. That's not a secret. But what most people don't know is that the tool you use is 100 percent the most important thing. If you're going to use paper scissors, your flowers are not going to last. The way the stem of a flower is built, it has this outer edge, but if you see the inside, it's a little foamy. Those are hundreds, if not thousands of little veins bringing the water to the bloom. Paper scissors will squish your flowers and break them rather than cut them. My knife and my thumb are one. They move together. If you see me cut something, I hold the stem and move my hand. It took me many years and many cut thumbs to learn that. If you're not comfortable with a knife, that's okay. There are gardening shears, there are bonsai scissors, there are many tools you can use.”

Secrets of Wynn “Cocktails” with Mariena Mercer Boarini

Wynn Resorts Master Mixologist Mariena Mercer Boarini shares how to make simple syrup.

“Simple syrups really can be that simple. Equal parts sugar to water, and you're going to mix those. You can do it the traditional way, on the stovetop, stirring, making sure that the syrup is properly dissolved. Or if you want to be a cocktail hero, you're in a pinch, you have some guests coming over, put it in a coffee mug, and microwave it 30 seconds at a time. Stir until the sugar is properly dissolved, 90 seconds or so, and you have a simple syrup. [If you] want to inject a lot of flavor into that and you have some raspberry jam, [put] a spoonful in, or even your favorite tea, like a chai, makes an incredible Old Fashioned."

Secrets of Wynn “Pastry” with Michael Outlaw

Michael Outlaw, SW Steakhouse's executive pastry chef, recommends always having vanilla sugar on hand when baking or flavoring drinks and dishes.

“When using vanilla bean pods to open them up, scrape out all the seeds—but don't throw away the pod,” he says. “Mix [the pods] with sugar, put in your cupboard, and next time you need vanilla sugar, there you go.” 

Secrets of Wynn “Wine” with Brian Weitzman

Wynn Las Vegas Executive Director of Wine Brian Weitzman recommends decanting every bottle of wine.

“When you put the wine into a decanter, it starts the aging process. With age, wine becomes more complex. From your first sip to your last sip, the wine in the decanter could age the equivalent of several years. So the wine is very different from when you started drinking it to when you finished. It's almost like drinking an entirely different wine.”

Cristie Norman, lead sommelier of Delilah at Wynn Las Vegas, and Casa Playa Executive Chef Sarah Thompson recently received James Beard Foundation Award finalist nods for Outstanding Professional in Beverage Service and Best Chef Southwest, respectively. Wynn Stories sits down with these exemplary culinary professionals to learn about their professional passions, inspiration, and winning philosophies.

Get to Know Delilah Lead Sommelier Cristie Norman

 “I had no idea why I was getting so many phone calls at 7 a.m.,” Cristie Norman says of finding out about her JBFA announcement. “I’m not sure who nominated me, but I am very grateful.” The Outstanding Professional in Beverage Service is a new category. The criteria outline that the candidate has set high standards, demonstrated creativity and consistency in excellence, innovation, and hospitality, is making efforts to create a sustainable work culture, and has served as an exceptional example or mentor for other beverage professionals.

Norman ticks all these boxes. She became a sommelier when she was just 21 years old. While working at the legendary Spago Beverly Hills, she founded the LA Somm Community, a group of over 300 sommeliers from San Diego to Santa Barbara. She has mentored over 200 sommeliers/wine professionals, created the “Online Wine Course for Beginners,” and was named Wine Enthusiast’s “Wine Educator of the Year” and “40 Under 40 Tastemakers” of 2020. She is also the co-founder and president of the United Sommeliers Foundation (USF), which has distributed nearly $2 million in financial assistance for wine professionals in need due to circumstances beyond their control. Recently, Wine Enthusiast Magazine named her “Social Visionary of the Year,” and she now hosts a blind tasting group for Wynn employees and invites master sommeliers to mentor the team.

Norman does all this before showing up for work every day to manage five somms and a list of more than 800 rare and prestigious bottles in one of the most successful restaurants in Las Vegas.

During the pandemic, several colleagues and friends aligned her with Brian Weitzman, Wynn Las Vegas executive director of wine, as he was hiring a sommelier for the resort’s new restaurant, Delilah. While at first, Norman didn’t think a move to Vegas was in the cards for her because she was so busy with her Foundation, the fantastic opportunity to join Wynn, and with the idea of Delilah being a perfect fit, she couldn’t get it out of her mind. “I moved my entire life, never having seen the restaurant, and when I walked in, I almost started crying. It was the most beautiful space I’d ever been in. Every day I walk in, I still think it’s the most beautiful restaurant,” she says.

The blank canvas and the levels between Delilah’s nightlife aspect and the culinary and fine and rare wine dynamic attracted her to the role. “We will have a six-liter of Ace of Spades going out at the same time as a six-liter of Mouton Rothschild; that’s what Delilah is; it’s a place with great music, amazing entertainment where you can enjoy incredible fine wine.” Weitzman compiled a base wine list for Delilah’s opening for Norman to work off. She soon realized that the Las Vegas customer’s thirst for wine fine was real. She returned to him and said, “I need more expensive stuff. The Grand Cru Burgundy, first-growth Bordeaux—they were selling. This week, I brought in a ’61 Chateau Mouton Rothschild, one of the most iconic vintages of the century. Sometimes, I don’t even get to put it on the wine list because it’s already sold. That’s just the reality of what we’re doing. It’s wild. Every seven days, we’re reprinting the wine list. We’re adding 25 to 30 different wines.”

EXPERIENCE DELILAH AT WYNN LAS VEGAS

Get to Know Casa Playa Executive Chef Sarah Thompson

Upon returning from a trip of a lifetime to Japan, Sarah Thompson found out about her James Beard Foundation Award nomination for Best Chef, Southwest. “Just being recognized is something that many chefs aspire to,” she says. “We’re putting out the best food we can do. We continue developing the menu, fostering a good work environment and encouraging growth amongst our cooks and chefs. We’ve built a unique environment here at Casa Playa that I’m proud of.” This is a “pinch-me-is-it-real-moment” for Thompson, who says she didn’t even think accolade like this was in the cards for her when she moved out to Vegas five years ago.

Her artistry and innovation have set a new standard in the city’s dining scene. Thompson’s menu is an authentic presentation of California and Baja seafood and produce woven together with a robust masa program. Thompson attended the Culinary Institute of America and then worked in several New York City kitchens, such as being a line cook at Marea, a sous chef at Alder, and holding the position of corporate sous chef with Andrew Carmellini’s NoHo Hospitality Group. Then, Daniela Soto-Innes recruited Thompson to the highly awarded restaurant Cosme. She had never cooked Mexican food before but went into it with an open mind, training and working alongside some of the best Mexican chefs in the world.

When the Cosme team embarked on opening a Mexican restaurant at Wynn, she took the chance and relocated, not knowing anything about the city or having any expectations. Later, Thomspon was offered the opportunity to help transform that restaurant into a new concept, opening Casa Playa in 2021 as the executive chef, a social fine-dining restaurant focusing on coastal Mexican cuisine inside Encore Las Vegas.  

The menu creation centers on the culture, cuisine and dining Thompson experienced while traveling and eating around coastal Mexico. Casa Playa takes guests on a culinary journey, with dishes ranging from fresh seafood to large-format feasts. As a hyper-regional coastal Mexican restaurant, the menu emphasizes local seafood. Casa Playa’s fish is sourced from the Pacific coast; produce is procured from 50 of the best farms across southwest Nevada, California, and Arizona; and Thompson sources corn, chiles, and agave from small producers in Mexico. This ensures quality and contributes to the well-being of small farms in Mexico, aligning with Casa Playa’s commitment to community support. 

“There are many people in my kitchen from all over the world: Latin America, Mexico, Asia, and, you know, we all come together magically. Sometimes, two people are at a station, and they don’t even speak a common language, but somehow, we still find ways to communicate.” In 2023, Casa Playa hosted a Friends of James Beard Benefit Dinner, and in 2024, Wynn hosted the World’s 50 Best Restaurants Awards—where Thompson hosted a dinner—and its own Revelry Food Festival.

“We get the best ingredients, we get the best produce, we get the best team members. We spend a lot of time training and teaching. And because of that, we continue to make amazing food. All of these little details we’ve been focusing on for the last six months are coming into practice,” Thompson says. “The restaurant is progressing. There’s so much momentum behind it.”

The 35th annual JBF Awards will be presented on June 16 at the Lyric Opera of Chicago.

Photos courtesy of BFA

Chef Angie Mar is bringing her Lunar New Year party—coveted by New Yorkers in food, fashion, and film—to Delilah at Wynn Las Vegas on February 2. This swanky celebration ushers a new way for Las Vegans to ring in the Year of the Snake—highlighted by Mar’s lauded cuisine, fabulous friends, and lively entertainment, with surprises sure to delight.

ATTEND ANGIE MAR'S LAS VEGAS LUNAR NEW YEAR PARTY AT DELILAH

“We started throwing [the party] after [the pandemic],” she says. “It has become a very sought-after invitation. I'm very into art, music, fashion and food, so I have friends from those worlds.  As a result, the party became a rare “old-school New York” event, mixing people from different social circles—very uptown meets downtown.”

When presented with the opportunity to bring her Lunar New Year party—attended in New York City last year by Martha Stewart, Christian Siriano, Jay McInerney, and Dean Winters and chronicled in Vogue—to Las Vegas, she jumped at the chance.

The event, with entertainment from DJ duo The Muses, a celebratory lion dance, and performances from some favorites from Delilah's musical roster, promises to be as unforgettable as the delicacies served. Expect an assortment of luscious dim sum, Beijing duck with traditional accompaniments, a chilled raw bar, and actor Aaron Paul’s “The Only” Caviar. As evening transitions to late night, delight in mini versions of Mar’s 45-day dry-aged Angus-blend Le Burger; fried chicken with Ossetra caviar and nori; wagyu pigs in a blanket; mini carrot soufflés; and even a Snickers tart. 

Impressing those not easily impressed has always been Mar’s strong suit. She rose to fame as the executive chef of The Beatrice Inn, the vaunted 100-year-old New York City restaurant owned by Paul Sevigny and, later, Graydon Carter. Mar and her cousin bought it in 2016, closed it in 2020, and then opened Les Trois Chevaux next door in 2021, and two years later transformed it into Le B, with a menu focusing on Mar’s Chinese background, childhood in the Pacific Northwest, and French culinary training (think: Dungeness Crab Wellington). It has been a major hit and led her to Wynn last summer to participate as a special guest in the Revelry food festival, which occurred in tandem as the resort hosted The World’s 50 Best Restaurants Awards.

“The second I touched down in Las Vegas, I realized Wynn was a lifestyle. I hadn't been to Vegas in 15 years. I had an amazing time cooking with the chefs and spending time with the whole Wynn family. I felt like I was home. I could not wait to return,” she says.

Here, Mar shares with Wynn Stories why Lunar New Year is her favorite holiday, her family traditions, and (most importantly) what guests should wear to this swanky snake-y soirée.

Why a Lunar New Year soiree?

I'm Chinese, and because I grew up shuffled between Seattle, London, Taipei, and Hong Kong, the Chinese New Year was always important to me.

Christmas and New Year’s Eve are always massive for the restaurant industry in New York. As I grew—as a cook, creative, businesswoman, and artist—it became important that my restaurant and celebrations reflected my taste and heritage. Everybody always tells me that when they come to my restaurant, they feel like they’re attending a fabulous dinner party at my home. My Lunar New Year party was born out of that premise.

So, the group you bring together is equal parts Vanity Fair meets PAPER?

Yes, exactly. Gabriel Kreuther, whose namesake restaurant has two Michelin stars, always carves the pig for us. Last year, we had Martha Stewart and the late André Soltner. My fashion friends come, too: Christian Siriano, who designed the [Le B] uniforms; milliner Gigi Burris, and Oscar de la Renta creative directors Fernando Garcia and Laura Kim. 

Do you incorporate any Lunar New Year traditions into the party?

For the Lunar New Year, my team comes in, and together, we fold about 1,000 dumplings of many different varieties. Even though I don't have children, I’m like a mother of 27. We're a family. It's incredible to spend time with my team sitting around the table.

It is tremendously important to share our lion dance, which is traditional for Chinese New Year. During the party, we always have things around the restaurant meant to bring good fortune to everyone. The specific foods we serve speak to my family's heritage, who taught me and gave me everything.

What style guide can you share for guests wanting to be appropriately dolled up for this elegant evening?

Well, I love dressing up. I never reveal what I'm wearing beforehand. I will offer this simple style guide: Anything red or yellow. Red is always meant to be good luck, while yellow and orange resemble gold—the colors of money. Those are auspicious colors; we always want to wear them around the Lunar New Year.

Attend Chef Angie Mar’s Lunar New Year party at Delilah at 7 p.m. on Sunday, Feb. 2.

Get to know your favorite residents, artists, athletes, and comedians when they Check In at Wynn Las Vegas.

Host Valerie Lee checks in with Mariena Mercer Boarini, Wynn Resorts Master Mixologist – North America, who shares the magic behind the cocktails found throughout Wynn Las Vegas.

“I always say magic is everywhere you look for it. That’s my mantra in life. If you're always looking for magic, you're always finding it. I like to [use magic] in these different, interesting ways, and hope people discover it,” says Mariena Mercer Boarini.

As part of her role at Wynn, she oversees the beverage program and more than 30 different menus. Additionally, Mercer Boarini leads the beverage program at Encore Boston Harbor and supports all future developments in North America.

“I've always been a very curious person. I was a curious kid, I'm a curious adult. I'm always looking to make something unique or novel and very different,” she says.

Born and raised in Las Vegas, Mercer Boarini is so Vegas that she was named after a bygone casino, the Marina.

“I have two baby boys that are third generation. I've chosen to raise my family here. I love Las Vegas,”  she says. “There are places like Wynn and Encore with amazing restaurants and a spa, and all the creature comforts. But then there are beautiful mountains like Red Rock where my husband and I got married. It's just a great place to live and to raise a family.”

During the pandemic shutdown, Mercer Boarini came up with her greatest invention yet, Electric Dust, a beverage accessory that is used to enliven cocktails.

“[Electric Dust is made of a] flower called a buzz button, a natural alkaloid that speeds up your salivary glands and turns you into a super-taster,” she explains, noting that being a super-taster is a real thing. "It’s a person that has more densely packed taste buds than others so they taste at a higher intensity."

Give Electric Dust a lick and your tongue starts tingling as you discover amazing flavors.

“I realized that no one was using this ingredient in any other way than fresh, so I created a process to make it shelf stable. Then, my husband and I wrote a patent on it, so we're patent pending. From there, I kept creating different products and having special clients like theme parks and others that I do interesting and fun things for. It's nice to have that part of my creativity as well.”

In addition to Electric Dust, Mercer Boarini has a line of edible perfumes. “They complement the cocktails at Overlook Lounge. Each one of the cocktails has a spritz," she says. "They're all named after glamorous locations. I have one called Milan, when I was doing that, I thought, 'What does Fashion Week smell like?' 'What does a supermodel smell like?' I was thinking maybe beautiful hair products and perfume, so lots of florals, rose, jasmine, vanilla, and maybe a cheeky cigarette, so I finished off with some smoke."

By creating flavor through aroma, Mercer Boarini offers an extremely unique experience with every sip of her drinks.

Mercer Boarini shows Lee how to make the Monaco from Aft Cocktail Deck.

“Aft Cocktail Deck is a bar on the Lake of Dreams. It's truly magical. It is inspired by a luxury yacht. It's very experiential," she says.

The Monaco is a play on a spritz with lemon and basil vodka and elderflower liqueur. It is then garnished with Electric Dust.

Mercer Boarini also includes another special ingredient: butterfly pea flower. "It's a flower from Thailand that has a very low pH balance. Whenever it hits anything acidic, it does this really beautiful color change," she says. "I love art. I think cocktails should be art.”

Mercer Boarini finishes off the Monaco with a seaside perfume. "It is inspired by all of the elements when I go on vacation to the ocean — the aromas of the sea," she says.

TRY MARIENA'S COCKTAILS AT THE BARS AND LOUNGES THROUGHOUT WYNN AND ENCORE.

Sometimes, smaller is better. And when it comes to weddings, intimacy often brings ease. As a result, many couples are now choosing micro weddings — cutting their guest list to under 50 people and selecting venues that come with all the luxury amenities they desire.

When thinking about getting your circle of trust together to celebrate the best day of your life in an unforgettable setting where every whim and desire is within fingertips reach — Las Vegas undoubtedly enters the chat.

If you are asking yourself, “What do you need to pull off a micro wedding in Las Vegas?,” here are some things to consider before embarking on this adventure.

Identify the Perfect Venue

The Wedding Salons at Wynn offer spaces for weddings of all sizes; however, the elegant and intimate Lilac Salon is ideal for up to 60 guests.

There are a variety of comprehensive ceremony packages and ceremony plus reception offerings that can be customized.

BOOK AN AUTUMN ELEGANCE WEDDING PACKAGE

Select a Location with a Wedding Manager

Even if you are going small, you will undoubtedly need help on your wedding day so you can fulfill your assignment as the bride or groom. This is why you will want to seek out a location that offers the service of a wedding manager.

When you make an appointment to tour the Wedding Salons at Wynn, upon your arrival, there is a personalized sign at the entrance welcoming you and your partner. Couples are then brought into the warm and sparkling reception enclave and greeted by their dedicated wedding manager.

“Once couples have met with their wedding manager, that will be their person through the entire process — even on the day of the ceremony," says Erica Kyles-Pauley, manager of Wedding Salons at Wynn. "That’s something exclusive to Wynn that not a lot of other places do. The person you’ve been planning with here at the wedding salons is going to be with you every step of the way, including on your wedding day, to make sure that everything that you’ve planned comes to fruition. That gives our couples a lot of comfort to know.”

Go Turnkey

“If we’re handling the ceremony, that means we’re taking care of flowers, your officiant, photography, videography, everything that you would need," adds Kyles-Pauley.

Beyond the ceremony, many opt to also have their reception at Wynn for a seamless experience — couples meet with catering and restaurant event managers without missing a beat. Every detail of the wedding day is covered.

"If you’re having a reception at the resort, we’re going to carry that level of personal attention over to your reception. We’re going to make sure you have photo coverage at the reception, that the centerpieces for your tables are perfect. We will coordinate with Catering and Restaurant Events to ensure a seamless experience.”

Stay in One Location

The last thing anyone wants to do is be running around to multiple locations on their wedding day. The Wedding Salons at Wynn go above and beyond for couples. If you forgot to make a salon, barber or spa appointment — it will be taken care of in an instant. Need to schedule a seaming? Done. Need a ring or other wedding day piece? The retail outlets at the resort are ready to help.

“These are some of the personal, finishing touches that we put on every wedding event at Wynn," Kyles-Pauley concludes. "It is always our pleasure, and our couples are always very thankful for that."

Don’t Forget the Paperwork

Often, the marriage license request can simply be filed online, but couples will still need to pick up the paperwork in person. That piece of paper must be present at your ceremony; otherwise, you can't proclaim you are legally married. Visit Weddings.Vegas, the site of the County Clerk for your marriage license application.

Get to know your favorite residents, artists, athletes and comedians when they Check In at Wynn Las Vegas.

Jim Gaffigan’s reason for showing up to work every day at the magnificent Encore Theater taps into the core desires we can all relate to — a great meal, a stiff drink, and of course, the comfort of a robe from a five-star hotel.

“If you are engaged in wearing a robe, you are embracing luxury. I'll go home and my 17 year-old son will be wearing [my Wynn robe] because children don't understand boundaries. Children have ruined my life and that's why I come here to Wynn so that I can go to Sinatra, go to Delilah, drink alcohol and figure out a way to get paid for it,” he says.

The six-time Grammy-nominated comedian, actor, writer, producer, two-time New York Times best-selling author, three-time Emmy-winning top touring performer and multi-platinum-selling recording artist tells host Valerie Lee that Vegas is fun for him, and he wants the audience to come back, so expect more than just jokes — he wants a relationship, not just a one night stand.

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“With standup I get to explore my feelings surrounding different topics. The relationship I have with the audience is like a friendship. They understand my point of view. I want to make sure that my show appeals to someone who has kids, who doesn't have kids, who's not in a relationship … I want to appeal to everyone,” Gaffigan says.

This story, originally published in Wynn magazine, was written by Michael Shulman.

The costumes in Awakening, designed by Soyon An, are dazzling and eye-catching. Drawing her inspiration from the iconic and timeless fashion that she has connected with throughout her life, An’s designs reference the work of such couturiers as Thierry Mugler, Paco Rabanne, Jean Paul Gaultier and Alexander McQueen.

Awakening is the story of a journey through various realms, so it was incumbent upon An to enhance the storytelling aspect of the show by making the costumes for each realm unique. To wit, the costumes for the Black and White realm were inspired by the runways of New York and Paris, whereas those for the Air realm feature a modern take on the Rococo era. Modern art inspired An’s costumes for the Earth realm, while the fashions seen at festivals like Coachella and Burning Man were the impetus for those in the Fire realm.

If there is a coherent theme in all of An’s costumes for Awakening, she explains that it is, “Avant-garde, couture, one-of-a-kind, high fashion.” Says An, “I wanted to bring artistry to every one of my designs and each piece that I built. From the headpiece to the body, and all the way down to the shoes, every piece was individually tailored, as it was extremely important to me that each of these pieces truly feels like wearable art while being unique and special. The result is that when you’re watching the show, you can see the detail, the care, and the attention in every stitch, every braid, and every piece that we hand-dyed, hand-sewed, hand-beaded, and hand-painted.”