Ivan Kane’s Forty Deuce got a needed news hook when its A-list investor dropped in last week.
Hollywood A-lister and lightning rod for attention Johnny Depp visited his friend and club founder Kane on a private tour of the space at Mandalay Place. The nightspot sits at the base of the escalators connecting the promenade to Mandalay Bay.
Though disclosed just after his visit Thursday, Depp joined Kane as a partner last year as the club prepped for its return to the resort. The original Forty Deuce operated from 2002 to 2009, in about the same spot it occupies today. The chic party space reopened on New Year’s Eve.
No patrons were in the club when Depp checked out the nightlife programming, which Kane’s team said was “a stripped-back, personal look at the artistry behind Forty Deuce—where live music, performance, and nightlife collide.”
Collide, as in mix. Any physical collisions are purely incidental.
Forty Deuce originated in Hollywood. Over the years, David Bowie, Sting and Steven Soderbergh have invested in the concept. Kane is instilling a creative attitude in his Forty Deuce sequel on the Strip.
“Experiential is a word that’s been corrupted of late, but Forty Deuce has always been about the experience— live music, top-tier dancers and audience immersion, all in one intimate, sexy room,” Kane says. “It’s a place built by artists, for artists.”
The competition for customers in this category is more heated than it was when Kane closed 17 years ago. Such live-entertainment “experiential” clubs as the Pinky Ring, Delilah and Mayfair Supper Club have burst on the scene over the past few years.
Just up the escalators from Forty Deuce, 1923 Prohibition offers pianists and burlesque dancers. This is what is loosely referred to as Mandalay Place’s “Red Light District.”
Kane’s club rolls with Vegas native Franky Perez and the All Nighters on Thursdays (his schedule has been halved from original Wednesday-Thursday nights, until demand grows). The nightspot’s anchor entertainment is the thrice-nightly, 30-minute rock-burlesque shows performed by Kane’s handpicked Forty Deuce Dancers.
“It goes beyond a traditional nightclub,” Kane says. “What we are may be hard to describe, but what we’re not is four walls, lights and sound.”
A drop-in from Depp, famous in and out of the entertainment spectrum, breaks the fourth wall. He and Kane became friends when they were featured in the Oscar-winning, Vietnam War-era film “Platoon.”
Though Depp’s the visit was private, Kane posted a photo of the two together from inside the Forty Deuce. The club maven is banking on that picture being worth a thousand words, and even more customers.
Cool Hang Alert
A first in CHA history: Darts! Flight Club Las Vegas at the Grand Canal Shoppes at The Venetian presents Flight Club Fridays, a weekly dart competition from 2-6 p.m. Fridays. Guests team up and compete for a $100 Flight Club gift card (they should have gone with the Target partnership, but whatever). All this, while a DJ spins “feel-good throwbacks and timeless hits.” But no misses (ow!).
John Katsilometes’ column runs daily in the A section. Contact him at [email protected]. Follow @johnnykats on X, @JohnnyKats1 on Instagram.