Las Vegas Festival Grounds
Former namesMGM Resorts Festival Grounds (2015)
Address311 West Sahara Avenue
LocationWinchester, Nevada
OwnerPhil Ruffin
Capacity85,000
Acreage26 acres (11 ha)
Construction
Broke groundSeptember 2014
OpenedMay 9, 2015 (2015-05-09)
Construction cost$20 million
General contractorMartin-Harris Construction[1]
Website
Venue Website

The Las Vegas Festival Grounds is an open-air venue on the Las Vegas Strip in Winchester, Nevada. It is owned and operated by Phil Ruffin. The venue is located at the north end of the Strip, north of Circus Circus Las Vegas. It is 26 acres (11 ha) and has a capacity of 85,000 people.[2]

History

From 1941 to the 1970s, the El Rancho Vegas occupied most of the land. In 2007, MGM Mirage (later MGM Resorts International) purchased the 26-acre (11 ha) El Rancho site from Gordon Gaming for $444 million.[3]

In 2014, MGM announced plans to develop the site as an outdoor music venue in partnership with Cirque du Soleil and Ron Burkle's Yucaipa Companies.[4] The project was primarily designed to serve as the site of Rock in Rio USA, a new biennial music festival. The venue was initially referred to as the City of Rock, named after its equivalent in Rio de Janeiro, the site of the original Brazilian version of the Rock in Rio festival. The name was soon changed to the MGM Resorts Festival Grounds.[5] MGM hoped to position the grounds as a site for festivals, concerts, and sporting events (such as boxing, mixed martial arts, and soccer) as a complement to its other venues in the area.[6][7]

The festival grounds made its debut in May 2015 with the Rock in Rio USA festival.[8] Development costs for the site totaled $20 million.[8]

In October 2015, the MGM Resorts branding was dropped and the site was renamed to simply Las Vegas Festival Grounds. The renaming was part of an effort to downplay MGM's role in the venue to improve its marketability for third-party events and to brand the site as being part of Las Vegas's "community".[9]

MGM sold the property to Phil Ruffin, along with the neighboring Circus Circus hotel and casino, in 2019.[10][11]

Events

The Rock in Rio USA music festival was held at the venue in May 2015, headlined by No Doubt, Metallica, Taylor Swift, and Bruno Mars. The festival was intended to be held biennially, but after disappointing ticket sales, plans for future editions of the event were quietly shelved.[12]

In April 2016, the Las Vegas Festival Grounds hosted the ACM Party For a Cause Festival on the weekend preceding the Academy of Country Music Awards.[13][14]

In 2018, the iHeartRadio Music Festival relocated its Daytime Village stage to the Las Vegas Festival Grounds, moving from the Las Vegas Village.[15]

On November 1–3, 2019, the Festival Grounds held a music festival called Day N Vegas, which featured performances from rap and hip-hop artists. Major headliners included J. Cole, Migos, Tyler, The Creator and Kendrick Lamar. The festival was organized by Goldenvoice, known for organizing the Coachella Festival.[16][17][18] The following month, it hosted the inaugural Intersect Music Festival, organized and sponsored by Amazon Web Services.[19]

The Festival Grounds hosted the heavy equipment exhibition of the 2020 Conexpo-Con/Agg held at the Las Vegas Convention Center, due to the construction of expansions to the facility.[20]

On May 14 and 15, 2022 the Festival Grounds held a music festival called Lovers & Friends headlined by Usher, Ludacris, and Lauryn Hill.[21]

Day N Vegas 2022 was announced for September 2 through 4 but was canceled. The festival was going to be Travis Scott's first festival performance since the Astroworld Festival crowd crush.[22]

On October 22–23 and 29, 2022, the When We Were Young festival was scheduled. The opening day was cancelled the day of the event due to high winds.[23]

On May 6, 2023 was the music festival Lovers & Friends.[24]

On May 13, 2023 was Sick New World Festival.[25]

On October 21-22, 2023 the When We Were Young festival is scheduled.[26]

Concerts

Date Artist Opening act(s) Tour / Concert name Attendance Revenue Notes
May 8, 2015 No Doubt Rock in Rio USA
May 9, 2015 Metallica Rock in Rio USA
May 15, 2015 Taylor Swift Rock in Rio USA
May 16, 2015 Bruno Mars Rock in Rio USA
April 1, 2016 Carrie Underwood ACM Party For a Cause Festival [27]
April 2, 2016 Dierks Bentley ACM Party For a Cause Festival
April 3, 2016 Kenny Chesney ACM Party For a Cause Festival
September 22, 2018 Dua Lipa iHeartRadio festival Daytime Stage [28]
September 21, 2019 Billie Eilish iHeartRadio festival Daytime Stage [29]
November 1, 2019 J. Cole Day N Vegas festival
November 2, 2019 Future (rapper) Day N Vegas festival
November 3, 2019 Kendrick Lamar Day N Vegas festival
December 6, 2019 Kacey Musgraves Intersect Music Festival
December 7, 2019 Foo Fighters Intersect Music Festival
May 14-15 2022 Usher (musician) Lovers & Friends festival
October 23 and 29 2022 When We Were Young (festival)
May 6, 2023 Lovers & Friends festival
May 13, 2023 Sick New World Festival
October 21-22 2023 When We Were Young (festival)
November 3, 2023 Incubus (band) SEMA Fest [30]
November 4, 2023 Imagine Dragons SEMA Fest
November 30, 2023 Portugal. The Man AWS re:Invent [31]
April 27, 2024 Sick New World Festival [32]
October 19-20, 2024 When We Were Young (festival) [33]

References

  1. ↑ "Coordinated Plans Drives Strip Festival Grounds". Martin-Harris Construction. March 2015. Retrieved 2018-04-26.
  2. ↑ "Las Vegas Festival Grounds". MGM Resorts International. Retrieved 2018-04-26.
  3. ↑ Howard Stutz (April 19, 2007). "MGM buys parcels for new center". Las Vegas Review-Journal – via NewsBank.
  4. ↑ Jason Bracelin (April 22, 2014). "Rock in Rio plans permanent venue on Las Vegas Strip". Las Vegas Review-Journal. Retrieved 2018-04-26.
  5. ↑ John Katsilometes (September 27, 2014). "As mass gatherings go, Las Vegas is the place to be". Las Vegas Sun. Retrieved 2018-04-26.
  6. ↑ "MGM Resorts, Cirque to build 33-acre, open-air venue to host Rock in Rio in Las Vegas". Las Vegas Sun. Retrieved 23 April 2014.
  7. ↑ "Rock In Rio USA Teams With MGM, Cirque & Yucaipa Ahead of 2015 Debut". Billboard.biz. Retrieved 23 April 2014.
  8. 1 2 Mike Weatherford (May 16, 2015). "Rock in Rio leaves town, but turf will get more footwear". Las Vegas Review-Journal. Retrieved 2018-04-26.
  9. ↑ "No MGM Resorts: It's now Las Vegas Village and Las Vegas Festival Grounds". Las Vegas Sun. October 2015. Retrieved 20 November 2015.
  10. ↑ John Katsilometes (November 2, 2019). "Phil Ruffin's options abound at Las Vegas Strip's festival grounds". Las Vegas Review-Journal. Retrieved 2019-12-20.
  11. ↑ Bailey Schulz (December 20, 2019). "MGM Resorts completes $825M sale of Circus Circus to Ruffin". Las Vegas Review-Journal. Retrieved 2019-12-20.
  12. ↑ John Katsilometes (November 7, 2016). "MGM Resorts: No return of Rock in Rio to the Strip". Las Vegas Review-Journal. Retrieved 2018-04-26.
  13. ↑ "Strip Scribbles: ACM lineup expands, Super Bowl 50 chefs, Fetish & Fantasy Ball". Las Vegas Sun. Retrieved 14 February 2016.
  14. ↑ "Country music awards to return to Vegas with 3-day festival". Las Vegas Review-Journal. Retrieved 14 February 2016.
  15. ↑ John Katsilometes (May 1, 2018). "iHeartRadio ready to return outdoor festivals to the Strip". Las Vegas Review-Journal. Retrieved 1 May 2018.
  16. ↑ Chloe Melas (June 25, 2019). "Kendrick Lamar and more of the biggest names in hip-hop to headline new music festival". CNN. Retrieved 11 July 2019.
  17. ↑ "Day N Vegas". Day N Vegas. Retrieved 11 July 2019.
  18. ↑ "Festivals". Goldenvoice. Retrieved 11 July 2019.
  19. ↑ Wang, Amy X. (2019-10-16). "Of Course Amazon Is Putting on a Music Festival". Rolling Stone. Retrieved 2020-03-01.
  20. ↑ Hayes, Mike (6 February 2020). "A fresh look to ConExpo". KHL. Retrieved 2020-03-01.
  21. ↑ "Lovers & Friends – May 14 + 15, 2022 · Las Vegas, NV". www.loversandfriendsfest.com. Retrieved 2022-10-11.
  22. ↑ Aswad, Jem (2022-07-01). "Day N Vegas, Travis Scott's First Festival Since Astroworld, Canceled Due to 'Logistics, Timing and Production Issues'". Variety. Retrieved 2022-10-11.
  23. ↑ Haring, Bruce (2022-10-22). "'When We Were Young' Festival Forced To Cancel Opening Day Show At Last Minute". Deadline. Retrieved 2022-10-22.
  24. ↑ "Lovers & Friends – May 6, 2023 · Las Vegas, NV". www.loversandfriendsfest.com. Retrieved 2023-01-17.
  25. ↑ "System of a Down, Korn, Deftones and Incubus to Headline Inaugural Sick New World Fest in Vegas - Pollstar News". 2022-11-07. Retrieved 2022-11-07.
  26. ↑ "When We Were Young – October 21, 2023 – Las Vegas Festival Grounds". www.whenwewereyoungfestival.com. Retrieved 2022-10-11.
  27. ↑ "Country music awards to return to Vegas with 3-day festival". Las Vegas Review-Journal. 2016-01-27. Retrieved 2023-10-09.
  28. ↑ "iHeartRadio Daytime Stage Lineup Revealed: Dua Lipa, 5 Seconds of Summer, Lil Uzi Vert, Dustin Lynch, Greta Van Fleet & More". iHeart. Retrieved 2023-10-09.
  29. ↑ "2019 iHeartRadio Daytime Stage: Billie Eilish, H.E.R., Maren Morris & More". iHeart. Retrieved 2023-10-09.
  30. ↑ FEST 2023, SEMA. "SEMA FEST 2023". www.semafest.com. Retrieved 2023-10-21.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  31. ↑ "AWS re:Invent 2023 re:Play | Amazon Web Services". reinvent.awsevents.com. Retrieved 2023-12-01.
  32. ↑ "Sick New World 2024 Lineup: System of a Down, Slipknot, More". 2023-10-09. Retrieved 2023-10-09.
  33. ↑ Brew, Caroline (2023-11-13). "When We Were Young 2024 Lineup: My Chemical Romance, Fall Out Boy to Headline; 50+ Bands to Perform Full-Album Sets". Variety. Retrieved 2023-11-13.

36°08′33″N 115°09′37″W / 36.1424°N 115.1603°W / 36.1424; -115.1603

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