What works in Vegas? No-cover, electronic music with El Cortez in the background.
The “Feed The Block” EDM show is once more taking over Fremont East, on the corner of 6th Street and Fremont. Major Lazer is taking over the block party at 6 p.m. Friday. Electronic-music star Diplo, DJs Walshy Fire and ApeDrums, and emerging artist America Foster make up the act. Though the event is free, RSVPs are recommended at feedtheblock.com.
Diplo is an especially familiar headliner in VegasVille. Not coincidentally, he is also a resident performer at Wynn Nightlife’s XS Nightclub Encore Beach Club. Wynn Nightlife is in partnership with Corner Bar Management in the series, which bridges open-air entertainment scene on Fremont Street with the heightened nightclub experience at Wynn.
The event is open to ages 18-over. The 18-20 range can see top EDM performers at “Feed The Block,” when they can’t (yet) at XS or Encore Beach.
“Wynn can start to build a fan base with some of the resident artists, speak to a younger audience, which they can’t do within their four walls,” Corner Bar Management founder Ryan Doherty says. “It’s basically an all-ages event.”
“Feed The Block” opened in April with a set by Wynn headliner Gryffin (he made news, incidentally, a few weeks as the headliner at XS when the fake Justin Bieber turned up at the club). About 4,000 folks turned out that night in the main venue, with about a thousand milling around the staging area.
The event is “sticky” for people visiting Fremont East.
“What we learned from Gryffin is, we saw a lot of people stick around,” Doherty says. “They were going to El Cortez, they were hanging around downtown. They weren’t just getting back in their cars and leaving.”
Doherty says the event drew attendees from Henderson and Summerlin. “When you see that,” he says, “it’s a win for downtown.”
John Katsilometes’ column runs daily in the A section. Contact him at [email protected]. Follow @johnnykats on X, @JohnnyKats1 on Instagram.