At the turn of the millennium, guys like my old pal, Chris Reda, would come to Las Vegas over various three-day weekends, and would set-up shop at one club or another, bringing with him some of New York’s biggest club DJs.  It wasn’t unusual to see the likes of Danny Tenaglia, Jonathan Peters, Victor Calderone, or Junior Vasquez appearing at the biggest clubs on the Strip.  Of course, this was in a pre-EDM world (despite the fact that what they were playing was technically electronic dance music).

Nowadays, Reda is a partner at Gansevoort Market; and clubs like Jewel (Aria), OMNIA (Caesars Palace), Hakkasan and Wet Republic (MGM Grand) book their DJs, directly – and at great expense (so much expense, that Forbes actually runs an annual “EDM List” that’s been topped since 2014 by weekly OMNIA headliner, Calvin Harris. 

As it turns out, three of the five highest-earning DJs are residents of various clubs owned by Hakkasan Group, and will be performing at various HG venues around the city, over the Independence Day weekend.  In addition to Harris, who’s headlining at Hakkasan on Thursday, June 30th and at OMNIA on Friday, July 1st;  Tiësto (#3) is doing back-to-back gigs at MGM Grand, on Saturday, July 2nd – during the day at Wet Republic (with support from Dzeko & Torres), then that night, at Hakkasan.  Then, Steve Aoki (#4) is headlining Wet Republic’s Endless Sundays party, on Sunday, July 3rd, and closing the long weekend at Jewel, on Monday, July 4th.

And if the EDM’s got you buggin’, and you wanna really treat your ears to some brilliant turntablism by a couple of true DJ maestros, cruise over to the Heart of OMNIA, at Caesars Palace.  On Friday night, Melo-D will be turning it out, on Friday night.  Be certain that the Beat Junkies co-Founder will be letting you have it; demonstrating why he’s been a longtime go-to for such musical giants as James Brown, Cypress Hill, No Doubt, N.W.A., Eminem, and Beyoncé.  Then, on Saturday, DJ Jus-Ske will be throwing down the sort of tracks that have endeared him to the likes of Madonna, Mariah Carey, Usher, Diddy (or is it Puff Daddy, again?  I can never keep it straight…); as well as Jay-Z and Justin Timberlake, who invited him to join them on 2013’s Legends of the Summer stadium tour.

Regardless of where you choose, you can rest assured that Hakkasan Group has got something for whatever your heart (and ears) might fancy, this weekend.

THURSDAY, JUNE 30TH
Hakkasan:  Calvin Harris with Generik

FRIDAY, JULY 1ST
Jewel:  Lil Jon
Hakkasan:  Marc Eteson with Treo (Main) / Rae Sremmurd (LingLing)
OMNIA: Calvin Harris with Generik (Main) / Melo-D (Heart of OMNIA)
Wet Republic: Irie

SATURDAY, JULY 2ND
Jewel:  Ingrosso
Hakkasan:  Tiësto
OMNIA: Armin van Buuren (Main) / Jus Ske (Heart of OMNIA)
Wet Republic: Tiësto with Dzeko & Torres

SUNDAY, JULY 3RD
Hakkasan:  GTA
Wet Republic: Endless Sundays with Steve Aoki

MONDAY, JULY 4TH
Jewel:  Steve Aoki
Wet Republic: Independence Day with Fergie DJ

Independence Day Weekend 2016
Hakkasan Group
Click HERE for info

Get into it!
#IDW16