The most successful residency in Las Vegas history
Every artist who has been in the game for a while knows how hard it is adapting to the touring lifestyle. Though it might be fun to see the world and go to exotic locations for every single show, the amount of homesickness that goes along with every single show tends to grate on even the most seasoned pros. Although artists might like the touring life, Las Vegas has been one of the few locations where people can come to the artists rather than the other way around.
For decades, the Las Vegas residency show has been a staple of the city. Outside of the millions of casinos built up and torn down throughout its history, people are just as liable to catch a performance from a handful of their favourite artists, who take over specific venues to showcase a greatest-hits setlist of material.
When talking about the greats of this type of show, Elvis Presley truly is the godfather. While already known as the ‘King of Rock and Roll’, Presley’s second act as a Vegas performer made for the most high-profile performances of his final years, like the brilliant rendition of ‘An American Trilogy’ with a backing band that brought the theatricality of the studio version.
While nothing would be the same once Presley was found dead in his home in 1977, the Vegas residency persisted, bringing the most prominent acts into Vegas for shows. Although a handful of rock bands like Def Leppard have taken over Vegas in their time, the show often pulls in the highest draw with solo artists, with artists like Katy Perry getting her residency show as of late.
Despite most residencies standing in the shadow of what Presley had done decades prior, Celine Dion smashed his initial record when tearing through her A New Day run of shows. Coming off the back of her album A New Day Has Come, this marked a momentous point in Dion’s cultural relevance.
Although she had been riding the momentum of ‘My Heart Will Go On’ from the Titanic soundtrack for years, the accompanying album was her first album of English material, excluding her Christmas album These Are Special Times, featuring her renditions of classic songs like ‘At Last’ and ‘Nature Boy’.
From 2003 to 2007, A New Day gave Dion the highest-selling Las Vegas residency in history, grossing $385million by the final show. While the residency may have shown a sweet spot in sales, the steady stream of audiences coming to see the show led to Dion grossing almost half a million for every single show over its four-year run.
Even though Dion had already stripped the record from Presley by a large margin, she would go on to beat him twice over. When returning for another residency in the 2010s for her Celine tour, she made a decent fraction of her old record, raking in $296million over nearly eight years. Then again, the fact that Dion made that much of a profit in twice the amount of time as her initial run is more of an encapsulation of how omnipresent her songs were in the public consciousness during the 2000s.
As opposed to the significant tours, though, Dion wasn’t meant to be performing in the same way that any touring rock band would. Every artist might be worried about breaking even whenever they make an album, but the residency offers a fuller experience than a traditional show, letting fans see the full scope of an artist rather than just a catchy tune.
