Resorts World Theatre tops venue list— but where’s the Colosseum?

Led by superstars Carrie Underwood, Katy Perry and Luke Bryan, Resorts World Theatre has topped its box-office competition in 2023.

Impressive. But was this a full field?

The beautifully appointed, exquisitely sounding Resorts World venue has prevailed the 5,000-or-less category in Billboard Boxscore’s annual list of top-selling entertainment venues across the country.

Every year, the famed live-entertainment pub breaks down venues by size or capacity: Top stadiums, top venues 15,001-plus capacity, 10,001-15,000-plus capacity, 5,001-10,000 capacity, and 5,000-less capacity.

Resorts World Theatre drew 319,000 fans over 90 dates in the recording period of November 1, 2022, to September 30, 2023. The venue is right at the category’s 5,000-seat limit.

Though Perry has closed her wildly entertaining “Play,” and Bryan ends his rollicking residency the first week of July, the venue enjoyed a great run in ‘23. Resorts World Theatre topped Fox Theater in Atlanta, Beacon Theatre (where we saw Bono and Santana headline in ‘23), Durham Performing Arts Center in North Carolina and the David A. Straz Jr. Center for the Performing Arts Morsani Hall in Tampa.

But the list of 10 in the 5K-or-less category has significant omissions. The Colosseum at Caesars Palace and Bakkt Theater at Planet Hollywood are absent from the Billboard report. Both theaters are programmed full-time, in an exclusive booking partnership with Live Nation.

The Colosseum was home to “Weekends With Adele” and “Garth Brooks/Plus One” in the Billboard testing time horizon. Those two residencies have sold every ticket, every night. “Rod Stewart: The Hits” plays the venue, too, to consistently strong sales.

Bakkt Theater has hosted Miranda Lambert’s “Velvet Rodeo” residency. Kelly Clarkson ran her “Chemistry” show for 10 sold-out dates, adding two over New Year’s Eve and another pair Feb. 9-10. Keith Urban has played Bakkt after a successful series at the Colosseum, and has prospered in both venues.

Whatever numbers those venues produced are not reported on the Billboard year-end, top-10 lists. The publication has explained that its data is provided voluntarily. In a statement, a company rep offered, “Dating back almost 40 years, all Boxscore charts are based on figures reported to Billboard. Data is reported from a variety of official industry sources, from artist managers and agents to promoters and venue executives.”

That listing is held up by industry reps as a boxscore — which is why it is called Boxscore — of a venue’s year-over performance. For the Colosseum and Bakkt Theater, it falls to owners Caesars Entertainment to furnish the data. Company reps have not responded to inquires asking whether it reported to Billboard for its annual listings.

Elsewhere, a pair of Strip venues finished impressively in a higher-capacity field. The 5,600-capacity Dolby Live at Park MGM was No. 2 in 5,001-10,000 capacity (474,000 attendance, 96 dates, $115.3 million). Not to dovetail too radically, but we are hearing Jennifer Lopez has residency plans at Dolby Live next year. That information is not formally confirmed, but she is on the hunt for a new show on the Strip.

Small-but-mighty Encore Theater at the Wynn was No. 9 nationally, attracting 141,000 fans over 105 shows for $18 million gross. Encore has found a winning strategy by mixing such star comics as Steve Martin and Martin Short, Sebastian Maniscalco and Nate Bargatze with such music superstars as David Foster, Brad Paisley and Lionel Richie.

Allegiant Stadium continued to show its force at No. 4 in the stadiums category with 17 shows, 725,000 attendance and $119.3 million gross. Those figures do not include Raiders, UNLV or any sporting events. T-Mobile Arena was No. 4 in 15,001-plus capacity (again, not counting Golden Knights games). Venerable MGM Grand Garden was No. 8 in 10,001-15,000 capacity.

Competition for live entertainment in Las Vegas is only intensifying next year, with BleuLive Theater opening at Fontaineblue with Post Malone New Year’s Eve. That venue is focussing on headliners over residencies, and has a flexible design that can satisfy major music shows, stand-up, combat sports and corporate shows.

Resorts World Theatre, especially, is on the hunt for headliners to step in for Perry and Bryan. Celine Dion, lest we forget, has appeared in public fairly recently, inspiring hope that she perform again in ‘24. According to our own rankings, the return of Celine would be the ultimate score.

Cool Hang Alert

The Golden Tiki kicks off its Seven Days of Christmas celebrations Wednesday with Reggae Under the Mistletoe with Default Valentine. The parties continue Dec. 17, 20, 21, 22, 23 and 24. Go to thegoldentiki.com/reservations for intel.

John Katsilometes’ column runs daily in the A section. His “PodKats!” podcast can be found at reviewjournal.com/podcasts. Contact him at jkatsilometes@reviewjournal.com. Follow @johnnykats on X, @JohnnyKats1 on Instagram.