See Kanye or support a cause
Kanye West has an ego coated in Kevlar, a sense of self-worth so iron-clad, it could deflect bullets.
And this is a good thing.
West's bravado leads him to continually push the bounds of hip-hop with the audacity of a man who feels like leading the genre is his birthright. On the road in support of his latest album, the loopy, synth-fired "Graduation," West's current "Glow in the Dark Tour" is a big-budget, effects-laden romp that the Los Angeles Times described as an "apocalyptic space opera" after taking in a recent concert in Seattle.
But what else would you expect from 'Ye other than a show with stars in its eyes -- literally and figuratively?
West always has shot for the moon, and on this tour, he's inhabiting it.
See West, with N.E.R.D. and Lupe Fiasco, at 7:30 p.m. today at Red Rock Resort, 11011 W. Charleston Blvd. Tickets are $78; call 547-5300.
They're nothing if not survivors, so who better to headline a show that's all about hanging tough?
It took the Goo Goo Dolls 10 years of toiling in dingy rock clubs where they often were dismissed as The Replacements-lite before they had their commercial breakthrough: the 1995 smash "A Boy Named Goo."
More than a decade later, they're still headlining arenas, topping the bill at this year's "A Concert for Lili Claire" benefit show, with proceeds going to aid those afflicted by Williams Syndrome, a neurogenetic birth defect.
Enjoy a night of good tunes for an better cause.
See the Goo Goo Dolls, with Josh Kelley and Sugar Ray, at 9 p.m. Saturday at the Mandalay Bay Events Center, 3950 Las Vegas Blvd. South. Tickets are $37-$77; call 632-7580.
-- By JASON BRACELIN
