Only a few have played Caesars then and now

When they met the press a couple of weeks ago, Reba McEntire and Ronnie Dunn copped to a distinct variation on the selfie.

Dunn said to McEntire, “Someone was rattin’ you out. (They saw you) hanging out the window of the car taking a picture of the (Caesars Palace) sign outside.

“I did the same thing,” he added.

Playing Caesars still has a unique cachet, even if the hotel is no longer the undisputed king of the Strip as it was for its first quarter-century.

But as McEntire and Brooks & Dunn wrap their first team-up there this weekend, they join a short and prestigious list: Those who have played both the old Caesars showroom, the Circus Maximus, which reigned from 1966 through 2000, and the Colosseum that replaced it.

I started thinking about this after a weird sense of deja vu watching Reba in a red dress singing “Fancy,” much as she did in the original showroom in the early 1990s.

Dunn also recalled playing there in 1994 and looking down from his hotel room at the outside marquee, thinking, “That’s where Frank Sinatra played.”

Playing both rooms may not be like winning an EGOT (Emmy, Grammy, Oscar and Tony). But it’s still a difficult achievement, if you think about it. You have to be both alive and relevant, which eliminates not just our dead legends but probably the Pointer Sisters, Clint Black or Sheena Easton from a shot at the Colosseum.

Here’s the real hurdle: You have to be even more popular now than you were then.

The Circus Maximus seated about 1,200 people; the Colosseum houses 4,300. Joan Rivers, David Copperfield, Jay Leno and Tom Jones continued to work elsewhere on the Strip after the Colosseum opened in 2003, but didn’t try to fill a theater that big. Maybe if some of them had teamed up, like the country friends?

(Of course, if you always were bigger, like Elton John or Rod Stewart, then never being tempted to play the old showroom was a good problem to have.)

And, while I tried to make the list complete, a few make it only because they were opening acts in the old days. A headliner list would be much shorter, but not nearly as much fun:

Tony Bennett — Bennett’s career is hard to get your arms around, but here’s one measure. He was the second act to play Caesars in 1966, returned to the old showroom as late as 1999, and played the Colosseum just two years ago.

Cher — In retrospect, 1979 through 1981 was a transitional, low-tide era for Cher. But a reported $300,000 to play Caesars took the sting out of it. When she returned in 2008 it was as full-fledged camp icon.

Celine Dion — The Colosseum was built for Celine as an anchor tenant. But the relationship with Caesars dated back to 1996, when she was the rare current hit-maker to share the old showroom with classic rockers such as the Moody Blues and Chicago.

Jeff Dunham — You forget how long the ventriloquist was a journeyman comic before he came up with the Achmed bit, but he opened a Julio Iglesias show at Caesars in 1990.

Aretha Franklin — This seems to be the longest gap on the list, between 1969 in the original showroom (also her Las Vegas debut) and the Colosseum in 2012. She’s due back there Aug. 14.

Hall and Oates — Because you can never hear too much “Maneater,” whether it’s 1995 or 2014.

Bette Midler — Campy divas seem to be the Colosseum’s favorite stars. But “The Divine Miss M” had a practice run way back in 1976 before returning for a resident showcase in 2008.

Luis Miguel — The Latin heartthrob is still uno hombre caliente, ever since he played the old showroom in ’92 at (age) 22.

Diana Ross — “Let’s make a deal,” Caesars reportedly said to Ross throughout the ’80s: $220,000 per show, or unlimited use of a private jet? She took the jet. And made a homecoming at the Colosseum in 2012 before downsizing this year at The Venetian.

Jerry Seinfeld — He’s played the Colosseum every year in his post-“Seinfeld” career, but the old showroom scored him in 1994, at the height of people quoting the TV show.

Comedy Festival guys — The Colosseum hosted The Comedy Festival for a few days each November from 2005 through 2009, which put a lot of stand-ups onstage for at least one-shot appearances (as opposed to the Colosseum’s new favorite buzzword, “residency”).

That meant symbolic returns for Bill Maher in 2006, a few hundred yards from where he opened for Diana Ross in 1982, and Jon Stewart in 2005, after opening for Sheena Easton in 1992.

On the other side of the political spectrum, Dennis Miller’s “All In” special from The Comedy Festival in 2005 took him back to where he was part of a one-time “Saturday Night Live”-themed bill with Dana Carvey and Richard Lewis in 1988 (Miller has since returned to the Colosseum with Bill O’Reilly).

Is there an award for this then-and-now honor? Something Caesars and Colosseum-runners AEG Live ought to think about. In the meantime, “You never get over seeing your name in lights,” Kix Brooks said. “We’re obviously show-offs or we wouldn’t be here in the first place. Hillbillies work for a Cadillac.”

Read more from Mike Weatherford at bestoflasvegas.com. Contact him at mweatherford@reviewjournal.com.