The great American centre of entertainment that is Las Vegas, Nevada, has long been closely tied to the music business. Over the decades, the city in the desert has played host to a number of legendary concerts that have since gone down in history.

From everybody’s favourite crooner to genre-defining British rock bands, all of the biggest acts have played in Vegas at one time or another. Truth is, Las Vegas and great music go together perfectly; so much so in fact that many famous songs are based on the city and its notoriously vibrant culture.

In this article, we will take a look at a selection of the finest concerts ever to have been played in Sin City. Although every night of the week sees some huge names playing Vegas’ best and biggest venues, the concerts listed here are the true generation-defining nights that have gone down in Las Vegas folklore.

So, without further ado, here is our list of the greatest Las Vegas concerts of all time…

The Beatles – 1964

On their first ever US tour, the fab four came to Las Vegas to play a series of sold-out shows at the famous Convention Center Rotunda. Today these 25 minute long shows are best remembered as some of the noisiest gigs of all time, back when PA systems couldn’t compete with over 8,000 adoring fans singing along to every single word of the band’s smash hit early singles releases. These days these famous shows are truly a part of Nevada’s musical history and perhaps set the scene for Las Vegas going on to become one of the foremost musical venues on the planet.

Elvis Presley – 1969

By this point The Pelvis was thirty six years old rather than the boyishly handsome nineteen year old that America had grown to love in the mid-1950s. In fact, this four-week run of shows at the end of the sixties was something of a comeback for Elvis who had fallen out of favour during the decade when less clean-cut rock was beginning transform music and, for that matter, America. It would not be too audacious to suggest that Elvis may not be seen with the same legendary status that he is today if it had not been for this 1969 run of shows. As it happens, he managed to completely nail every song he performed, with classics such as Hound Dog and Jail House Rock delighting audiences at the International Hotel every single night.

Prince – 1997

Back at the beginning of the end of the nineties, Prince was playing a series of sell-out shows at the MGM Grand. Although undoubtedly amazing performances from His Purple Majesty (as fans lovingly knew him), these shows would go on to be upstaged by a famous after-party performance by the legendary funk star. Taking place at Vegas’ Club Utopia, these raw, unrehearsed and thoroughly off the cuff after-party performances would soon become the stuff of legend as the late great artist would perform for many hours, often taking requests from the adoring audience of just a few dozen lucky attendees.

The Doors – 1969

These days Jim Morrison’s performance at the Las Vegas Ice Palace at the turn of the decade is the stuff of Nevada folklore; at the time though, it was met with severe skepticism. This is because Morrison was famously subdued during the whole forty five minute show, a tongue in cheek response to threats from the local governor to arrest Morrison if he was to behave in his, by that point, trademark lewd manner. In perhaps the least provocative performance of his entire career, The Doors’ frontman barely moved during the whole set and, in doing so, managed to provide more of a commentary on the state of free expression in 1960s USA than any hip-gyration or nakedness could ever have done.

If there’s no day that goes by without your favorite music and you could easily call yourself a music buff, you’re most probably interested in enjoying the best audio quality when it comes to your favorite albums and artists. Thankfully, more and more music streaming apps and services make that possible for little money.

Some of these services have been around for quite some time now and they’ve gained their popularity for a good reason that is called premium audio quality. Moreover, some of them couple that high-quality audio with user-friendly features and the possibility to enjoy thousands of tunes even offline.

A classic for a reason

Apps to improve the quality of one’s life are now available in great numbers and when it comes to music apps, there’s no exception. There are a few streaming music apps and services that remain favorites despite the emergence of newer such products. YouTube, Google Play Music, SoundCloud, and Spotify are some of them.

Each of them comes with features and rich music archives that enable users to search for and find an overwhelming variety of artists based on different genres. The filters available significantly simplify the user’s experience when searching for favorite artists and their albums. All of these services are available for web and mobile use and offer free features.

New music apps you might want to try 

You might read really interesting piano books but if you want to hear how popular piano players sound like, you can also try some of the newer music streaming apps. Tidal is an app worth adding to your music app kit if you’re on the lookout for high-fidelity music and a rich library of songs. You will get around 25 million songs, to be more precise.

Even if the app is not free, its features are a great reason to try it. You can watch more than 75,000 videos without ads interrupting them, use discovery tools to reach that album that delights you so much, and even enjoy exclusives.

In case you relate to classical music, you want to feed your passion for opera and orchestral performances, and enjoy the various benefits of listening to classical music, Idagio should not go unchecked.

For only $9.99 per month, you can enjoy a rich library of new, rare, and exclusive recordings of such performances. The quality is high and the variety offered is remarkable. Plus, you can use various filters to enjoy custom search results such as composers, soloists, or orchestras.

Deezer is also popular among music buffs interested in enjoying their favorite tunes even when on the road and offline. This music streaming option allows users to download high-fidelity tracks for offline use, which is a feature that, at least in our case, makes it a winner even if this possibility is available with the premium subscription.

Online radios

If listening to the radio sounds like something you’d almost always go for but you’d like that experience to come with a custom touch, then rest assured that the music streaming service market does not run short when it comes to such options.

LiveXLive is one of them. The streaming service replaced Slacker Radio but you get to enjoy many of the old features as there is a variety of stations you can listen to depending on the genres you like. Pandora and TuneIn are very much the same. They offer the possibility to listen to various stations after you’ve selected the genres and subgenres you’re into.

Pandora, for example, offers the Pandora Plus subscription which enables users to enjoy unlimited replays and skips and even download stations for offline use. Other noteworthy personalized online radios include Jango Radio and iHeartRadio.

Do those black and white keys fascinate you? Fancy learning the art of making music with them? Pianos have forever been grand. But with all the advancements and fancy musical instruments ruling the industry, keyboards have been stealing the thunder.

In a dilemma about what to purchase? It is only natural for a beginner to be confused about which one to trust more – A digital piano or a keyboard?

But before you go splurging your money, we are here to help you decide the best for you.

Folks, there’s no denying the fact that each of them has certain unique features that make them stand apart.

However, let us narrow down things a little bit and give you a clearer picture, shall we?

Mobility at stake or not?

Well, if you knew, digital pianos are modern day doppelgängers if the good old acoustic pianos. With the size so grand and the body carved out solid wood, these get a tad bit difficult to carry around. Turn off, right?

However, a keyboard wins this round. Designed specifically to be portable, this one comes with a lesser number of keys comparatively. There’s no doubt that this one is the choice for all those musicians who keep touring with all the feels. Why? Well, they are light weight and extremely suitable.

Sound Quality

Coming to one of the most important factors, a digital piano is wired to replicate the sound of an acoustic piano. Yes, the sound works grand. Why? Because it is made by taking the sound samples from a charming acoustic piano and recording it.

On the contrary, keyboards come with a myriad of sound features. With accompaniments, rhythm section, and different sounds simulating various other musical instruments, keyboards take music production on a whole new level.

Tap and voila!

Keys are an integral part of both the instruments. However, digital pianos differ a lot when it comes to how tapping keys feels. With a set of graded hammer keys, a digital piano is sensitive to pressure. You gotta tap harder.

On the other hand, the feel of the keys of a keyboard is soft. There is almost no resistance or weight on the keys. All you need to do is press oh – so – lightly and voila!

Pedals for the win

While a keyboard comes without a pedal, a digital piano comes with a set of 3 pedals to improve the sound experience. The pedals work to sustain sound whenever there’s a need.

These three pedals are namely soft pedal, sustaining pedal, and silent pedal.

However, if you feel like giving a touch of grandness to the sound of your keyboard, you can get yourself an external sustaining pedal.

Prices

Alright, let us address the elephant in the room, shall we? It is only imperative to talk about the weight of it all on your wallet. A perfectly functional and portable keyboard is less expensive as compared to a grand digital piano.

A decent fully functional keyboard would come at 250$-400$. Whereas, a basic digital piano starts at somewhere around 350$. I’d suggest you to read digital piano reviews on reputed sites like Piano Nadu before purchasing!

Take your pick, folks.

Well, in the battle of the best, there’s no one absolute winner. With different perks that come with both the digital piano and keyboard, it is for you to pick one that suits you the best and fits your style like nothing else.

However, if you dream of becoming a concert pianist someday, a digital piano is your best bet. Why? Well, it perfectly simulates the sound of a fancy good old grand acoustic piano. That is the real deal, no matter how much you deny.

But then again, if you wish to tour in the future and want something more flexible, portable, and stuffed with electronic sound and rhythm effects, a keyboard should be your best friend forever.

Hope this helps. Go splurge some money already!