What's going on with Desperado and Stratosphere's Insanity?

I saw the thread renewed and was hoping for your review. Our tickets are in December, so I'll probably be the last of us here to see the show. I've listened to a podcast that reviewed it and said it's great. I'm not watching any of the videos online because I want to be surprised by the visuals. (I've seen the setlist, although it's already undergone a few changes.)

On a side note, I was in Vegas a few weeks ago and walked over to the Sphere and viewed it up close. It was of course very impressive. I've pretty much watched the thing being built from just a giant hole in the ground and have been fascinated by watching the progress of it. I stay at the Westin many times per year and have a great view of it and the Ferris Wheel.

https://www.facebook.com/lo...4550097656

More U2 shows for January and February just went on sale an hour or so ago.

Desperado is still SBNO, to keep it on topic)

Got my tickets for 1/31. It’ll be my second time seeing them there, as I was just there this past Saturday. Review coming for that one, by the way, and wow, was it one heck of an epic concert.

Tommytheduck:

hoping for your review

It was a really weird experience for me. We were GA so about 10 rows back on the floor. Not the closest I've ever been, but still an excellent spot. I can certainly appreciate the spectacle and in many ways it was completely jaw dropping, but with the limited design possibilities (no catwalks, b stages, or other ways to get "into" the audience) the band felt further away. It was very much "4 guys playing in front of a massive screen" type of thing without the innovation or intimacy of the 360 or the i+e and e+i sets.

Also, the songs I absolutely love on AB were all played right out of the gate (setlist spoilers ahead: Zoo Station, Fly, Even Better, Mysterious Ways, One, Until the End of the World are probably all in my top 15 U2 songs and 6 of my 7 favorite songs on the album and were played in that order to start), so, for me the middle part of the setlist was kind of flat. The encore, though kind of a "greatest hits you've heard a million times," set, did work really, really well. So I left the concert feeling it was kind of middle of the road for them.

But in reflection and looking back at some videos I and others have shot, I think I'm beginning to retroactively appreciate the experience more and more. It's kind of like when you look back at a trip and go, "Oh yeah, we did that too. That was really cool. And that other thing was really cool too. Oh and we did that third thing which was awesome." I think once I set aside my expectations of what a U2 concert is (some innovative and immersive set), I can see how it really is an amazing experience in its own right. So I'm definitely excited to go back again and appreciate it (with the kids) for what it is and not what it isn't.

I've watched plenty of videos because, while I would love to go, I'm trying to see a few acts this next year that I've either only seen once or not at all. I thought that the layout looked a little more stiff than when I've seen them in the past. Your label of the set being a little flat in the middle reminds of the Joshua Tree tour in 2018. This is probably sacreliege to a lot of U2 fans, but I love the A-sides on Joshua Tree and I'm less familiar with and don't just absolutely love the B-sides. Since they played in album order, that middle part of the set was a little lost on me. AB was the album that really turned me on to U2 the first go round, so I probably wouldn't have felt the same about this show.

In the very little I've seen, yes, the stage is absolutely tiny. Which is very, very un-U2. It's almost as if they're saying "pay no attention to the men in front of the curtain."

My biggest fear is that our tickets, while pretty close to the band, are actually partly under the overhang of the bulk of the seating. Unfortunately, we didn't realize this while buying, because of the stress of trying to buy 5 tickets next to each other in a block of 2 and 3. (4 ticket limit on purchase.) I don't think we will have a view of the entire screen.

Andy, how was the view of the screen being that close? I feel like it would be like sitting in the front row of a movie theater, where you're actually *too close.

Either way, I'm super excited to be going!

(PopMart tour 2x, both on approx 50 yard line of a football stadium, All That You Can't Leave Behind tour 1x, five feet from the tip of the walkway!)

In a perfect world, if I owned Circus Circus.

I would move Desperado outside the Adventuredome, and loop around the parking lot and the land in back, have Vekoma redo all the transitions and curves, new open hyper trains, and then LED lights and onboard audio like RRR.

But probably at this point cheaper from Scratch.

I had a slight crick in my neck from craning to see the tippy top of the screen, but most of the time I could just turn around to see it. Most of the stuff I wanted to see wasn't so far above my field of view that I had to stop looking at the band. The stage was relatively high compared to the floor, so I was already looking up.

(For reference, this was the 10th time I've seen the band. Elevation in Boston (I'm in a single frame of the time lapse special features on the DVD) from the expensive seats, Elevation in Providence from the tip of the heart (my friend brushed Bono's leg when he came into the crowd), Vertigo in Dallas from the highest possible seat (back to concrete), 360 from Dallas with back to the rail inside the circle, i+e San Jose from cheap seats, then floor (Adam side, about halfway back), JT San Jose from cheap seats, e+i San Jose from cheap seats, then floor (Edge side about 3 people back)).

Thanks everyone for making me feel old. I saw them on the Joshua Tree tour at Three Rivers Stadium.

I was a little young for the original Joshua Tree tour. My shows: 360 in Dallas middle seating level on what I guess was the back corner of the stage, i+e at Madison Square Garden low rows of the upper deck next to the satellite stage (not sure there's a bad seat in the building), JT 2017 in Dallas lower level opposite end of the stadium from the stage. The best part of the JT tour was taking my then 7 year old daughter to her first real concert. The highlight for her was the Lumineers opening because she had been listening to them with me for years before that.

I also saw them at Heinz Field for whatever tour had Interpol as the opener. Both good shows, but I'm not super in to stadium shows so I haven't felt the need to go otherwise.

We had a week in LA and enjoyed a great couple of days at Disneyland (TR to follow on that awful flight home ...)

We're now in Vegas, on the 35th floor of Treasure Island as I type. Vegas is as crazy as ever, I feel like I get less out of it now vs. when I was younger. Ironically, I have more disposable income to do all the mad stuff, but less desire and energy to really do all the things fully.

I had heard that the Primm was in really bad shape, so opted to check it out as we drove from LA. It definitely has a Radiator Springs feel to it, lots to do but without the crowds to make it pay. The Buffalo Bills casino floor itself was slightly busier than I anticipated, maybe because there was an act in the arena due to start in an hour or so time. It still seems to attract a number of latin acts and various others who perhaps don't have the pull for a 'proper' Vegas booking.

Desperado and the Log Flume were closed, as anticipated, I think since before Covid. I have some great memories of that ride and it holds real appeal because it is the cousin of my local hyper, The Big One at Blackpool, which opened in the same year. Closed or not, it's a pretty ride. The flume is still standing, the trough is bone dry inside - I suspect they haven't been tested that, but I read that they send Desperado around for a lap once a month. The Turbo Drop is long gone, I think it was maybe not there when I visited in 2018, or maybe it was closed. The Frog Hopper is present inside, but closed too.

Afterwards, I lapped the car park across the street and the outlet place is completely dead save for Taco Bell, although the internet says one lone place (a thrift store) remains open. The Primm Valley Resort was lit up, but look shuttered and the website only offered rooms in Buffalo Bill's (at crazy cheap rates).

I can see the Strat from our window in TI, but haven't ventured up there in years. I believe Insanity is indefinitely closed and I haven't seen Big Shot move since we arrived - but I may just have glanced across at the wrong times.

Elsewhere on the Strip. The Tropicana closed last month and is already starting to be demolished, with a stadium being built on part of the site.

We had a great dinner in Fountainbleu yesterday and I was half tempted to wander over to the Adventuredome but ... we didn't - we wouldn't have ridden anything and my favourite ride (their Chance Chaos) is gone, despite being advertised outside. Instead, we headed over to Resorts World for a drink in the Here Kitty Kitty speakeasy which has a novel secretive entrance.

Disappointingly, one of my favourite Vegas things is the Valley of the Falls at Mandalay Bay, however, when walking down there yesterday, I was disappointed to see that the whole area is now dry with fresh planting and the like, so I guess that's gone.

Whilst at Mandalay Bay, I did nip across the road to see if Speed was still sat there - it is, it was dumped there a long time ago and I suspect hasn't been touched since.

Anyway .. back to where much of this thread is focussed - we opted not to do the Sphere Experience, it seems pricey and many of the reviews talk about it being an amazing venue - but the film was essentially like a $80 IMAX experience. We can see the building from the room - it is cool, no doubt - but I'll wait until a band I like do a residency to experience the interior.

With the news that Mirage is closing in a couple of months, we have made the effort to watch the Volcano show a few times and have booked to see LOVE tonight - very much looking forward to it.

Viva Las Vegas. What a crazy place. Quite a long report despite having ridden zero coasters or rides here.

I'm back next month for work - which is never quite the same. Maybe I'll do Manhattan Express for old time's sake.

I had no idea that Speed still existed anywhere. I did it way back in who knows, and I kinda liked it. Tickets were daily, all-you-can-eat, so I seem to recall doing it a few times. Tropicana, Mirage... I haven't been in over a decade, not sure I would recognize it.

It always surprised me that Speed was never sold and erected elsewhere. It's an odd shape but didn't seem too difficult to shoehorn in a location since the footprint is narrow.

Rick_UK:

Vegas is as crazy as ever, I feel like I get less out of it now vs. when I was younger. Ironically, I have more disposable income to do all the mad stuff, but less desire and energy to really do all the things fully.

I've only been to Vegas once, my wife (then fiancée) took me there for my 30th birthday in 2003, and I feel the same. I enjoyed it but I don't miss it or have any real desire to go back.

I think I've been a half-dozen times, and half of those for conferences. By the third day, I've usually had enough.

Seeing Vegas from the airport alone was enough for me.

I love Vegas despite not spending a ton of money on gambling. The excess of it all. The fact that you can go into any of the resorts and explore for hours. Oh, and I am absolutely in love with Cirque du Soleil. (Wait, I've seen several of their shows with you Steve, you don't stop there to see them?!)

If I want to go to an artificial fantasy environment for vacation I greatly prefer Orlando over Vegas. That said the Cirque shows are amazing, particularly O. I’m actually going to be seeing the new Cirque show in Orlando next month while I’m down doing Sea World/Aquatica/Discovery Cove and Universal.

Drawn to Life is better than I expected. Just don't spend more for "better" seats. There are no bad seats.