By Mike Prevatt
Welcome to the party, Marquee Nightclub & Dayclub.
Few surprises pop up on Marquee’s long-anticipated 27-act DJ roll call, which was just released via social media and includes EDM heavy-hitters such as Kaskade, Armin Van Buuren, Benny Benassi, ATB, Chuckie, Gareth Emery and Markus Schulz — all “residents” when the Tao Group danceteria opened late 2010 at the Cosmopolitan. That’s a remarkable retention of talent given the musical chairs that’s gone on between the other dance-music emporiums on the Strip. (Kaskade played four gigs — one as recent as last Saturday — at XS, though he promised in November he’d return to Marquee, especially for another Summer Lovin’ residency at the dayclub.)
That said, Marquee has lost notables such as Avicii (now exclusive to Wynn Nightlife), W&W (who migrated to Hakkasan) and Erick Morillo, a longtime Tao Group loyalist who in 2013 announced a drastic reduction of gigging after his infamous trainwreck of a performance last June and subsequent rehab stint in Malibu, California.
The Cosmo club balances their losses with official new signees such as recent Grammy winner (for Lana Del Rey’s “Summertime Sadness”) Cedric Gervais, a Wynn resident in 2013; Porter Robinson, who makes his residency debut tomorrow night and also defected from Wynn; Jamie Jones, the Welsh underground favorite who debuted last weekend with an afterhours set and returns Memorial Day Weekend; and hot San Francisco house/techno producer Claude VonStroke, who played sister club Lavo in June for EDC Week and — along with Jones — represents the most visible effort by a Las Vegas megaclub to incorporate music outside commercial EDM/bass music.
Marquee is also doubling down on homegrown talent with upstart 3LAU, back for his second year, as well as longtime Tao Group resident Jason Lema. LA-based regulars Vice, Eric DLux and Politik are also sticking around.
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