Those who say you can only find superstar headliners on the Strip were not hanging around downtown one night this past June.
Superstar DJ David Guetta, genre-busting flamethrower Teddy Swims and Australian “Dance Monkey” singer-songwriter Tones and I converged on Las Vegas’ historic epicenter for “Gone Gone Gone.”
The new video for the single was released on YouTube on Wednesday. It is, as we say, straight-up Vegas.
The video follows a young couple on a trip to Vegas, an unmarked bar (where a seemingly beleaguered Swims is throwing back a shot) and finally to Fremont Street. The three superstar collaborators perform the song in the parking lot of Desert Star Motel (across from the Thunderbird) with collection of Elvis tribute artists. Brendan Paul, Ron DeCar and Jason Marquez gyrated through this scene.
The next cutaway is our couple (billed as Brenna Monet Madding as “Lola,” and Hunter Lance as “Jett”) rushing up to Carousel Bar at the Plaza. Guetta follows, driving a cherry Cadillac convertible, pulling into the hotel’s brightly lit porte cochere.
The two lovebirds are then shown in a wedding ceremony at Viva Las Vegas Chapel near the corner of Charleston and Las Vegas Boulevard and across from Desert Star. The Elvis tribute artists are again leading the party.
Suddenly, in a disquieting twist, a grizzled individual (who might be Swims’ brother or an associate), busts up the ceremony and we got us a vintage-Vegas donnybrook.
Swims is then shown alone, loping along the highway. My take: He wanted Lola, the whole time. We close with another Cadillac convertible, pink and unrelated to Guetta’s, speeding off. Can’t tell who is in it.
A few hotels, including Golden Nugget, Golden Gate and Circa, are caught in this video. Plaza looks brilliant, as always, with its classic bright-lights-city motif. The shoot was actually the same night as Michelle Pfeiffer and Elle Fanning filmed for Apple TV+ series “Margo’s Got Money Troubles.”
Plans to shoot the Pfeiffer and Fanning segments at the Plaza were “moved up an hour or two,” as Plaza CEO Jonathan Jossel says, to accommodate the “Gone Gone Gone” crew.
“Then they went across the street, and as they went across the street, David Guetta’s crew pulled in and started to shoot,” Jossel says. “So it was an all-day, extravaganza of filming.”
The Weeknd, the Killers and U2 are among the superstars who have filmed videos inside or at the front of the Plaza. Jossel and marketing exec Natashia White, who arranged the shoot with a day’s notice, have created a film-friendly destination with a choice backdrop.
“We have the coolest venue, the coolest lights, and people want to shoot here,” Jossel says. “The fact that we are in a historic location at 1 Main Street, we are right here in the heart of downtown — people like that.”
Cool Hang Alert
Las Vegas punk and rockabilly — do we still refer to it as punkabilly? — takes over Double Down Saloon from 10 p.m.-2 a.m. Saturday with Goldie Vegas & The Playboys, Scooter Hyland and Rob Bellios. “Shut up and drink!” is the bar’s proven slogan, and also its unsolicited advice. P Moss is an icon, operates this icon, and stays on point. Never a cover, 21-over, go to doubledownsaloon.com for intel.
John Katsilometes’ column runs daily in the A section. Contact him at [email protected]. Follow @johnnykats on X, @JohnnyKats1 on Instagram.