Beloved Las Vegas tradition is being killed by 'corporate greed' that's changed face of Sin City, locals warn

A Las Vegas tradition is slowly disappearing with locals blaming 'corporate greed' for its downfall.

The lounge show was popular in the 1950s and 60s with small, intimate venues hosting a full night of entertainment -  the beating heart of Vegas' entertainment industry. 

But the arrival of mega resorts and hotels in the late 1980s and early 1990s made the hotel the focal point for visitors with the Vegas residencies of superstars from Celine Dion to Cirque du Soleil becoming the bigger draw when it came to Sin City entertainment. 

By comparison, the humble lounge show was pushed to the sidelines, with those that still exist hanging by a thread. 

One such location is the Moroccan-themed Shag Room which still hosts a lounge show each Wednesday, with four hours of open mic entertainment complete with singers from country to rap performing two songs each over a period of four hours. 

Las Vegas' lounge shows, popular in the 1950s and 60s, are fading due to corporate greed. Mega resorts and superstar residencies overshadowed these intimate venues (file photo)

The Shag Room at Virgin Hotel still hosts open mic nights, drawing hundreds

The Shag Room is Moroccan-themed and regularly draws hundreds each Wednesday night

It still manages to draw hundreds of patrons - and is proof the idea still has legs. But in a crowded marketplace the louge shows have had to compete with the draw of  global superstars such as Lady Gaga, Adele or Elton John, where tickets can go for hundreds of dollars.

Emcee of the night at The Shag Room, Shawn Eiferman, says the dwindling of shows which were once a Las Vegas staple is purely down to what brings fattens the venue's bottom line.

'It's corporate greed,' Eiferman said to the San Francisco Chronicle. 'In every casino in the city, there's someone in a suit in an office upstairs that's never been to a lounge. They don't care. They want to maximize profits, so they decide to turn lounges into bingo parlors.

'Without what we do in this tiny lounge, there's no reason to come to this hotel on a Wednesday night.' 

The Shag Room sits in the Virgin Hotel, owned by Sir Richard Branson, which opened in May 2021, located off-the-strip. The hotel believes that it is by offering something different that customers will come to experience it for themselves. 

Other venues in Sin City include the Piazza Lounge at Tuscany Suites & Casino off the Strip which has performers five nights a week, Friday through Wednesday. Rush Lounge inside the Golden Nugget downtown also features musical performers every night.

But even when the lounge shows were popular decades ago, they were never a big moneymaker for venues.

The Hard Rock Hotel became the Virgin Hotel in May 2021 and sits off The Strip

Each performer is only allowed to do two songs each over the course of four hours

The Shag Room offer free entertainment through its open mic with no drink minimum

It's a topic that author David Schwartz has written about in history books on Vegas. 

'Casino operators started maximizing the revenue for the entire property in the late 1980,' Schwartz said. 'Today, swimming pools are day clubs with admission fees. Parking lot fees at casinos have become standard. It's hard to see where a free or inexpensive lounge for customers fits in.'

It's what makes The Shag Room something of a standout on the Las Vegas scene - including the fact there is no drink minimum, a rare notion in a city driven on squeezing out even last inch of profit. 

Despite being an open mic night, there's nothing amateur about the polished performances, with many of those taking part hoping to make some money along the way and possibly find their big break. 

Rush Lounge inside the Golden Nugget downtown features musical performers every night.

The Piazza Lounge at Tuscany Suites & Casino off the Strip which has performers five nights a week, Friday through Wednesday

The two-song limit at The Shag Room sees between 20 to 25 performers taking to the stage over the four hour period.

They include performer, Mackenzie Sol, who hails from England and who made the final 24 on American Idol earlier this year.

Performances at The Shag Room has now led Sol to a paid one-man show residency at the same venue.

'I love playing a lounge,' Sol said to SFGate. 'It's intimate, and you get to connect with every single person.' 

The President of Virgin Hotels Las Vegas, Cliff Atkinson, said the venue is part of an overall strategy by the property to provide a variety of options when it comes to entertainment. 

The Shag Room allows local Las Vegas talent a stage to perform while also giving an experience that's hard to find elsewhere on The Strip.

Even hotels that advertise they have lounges usually means a DJ is playing, rather than some live performance - all part of dying breed of late night Vegas entertainment from decades gone by.