Lady Antebellum launched their ‘Our Kind of Vegas’ residency at The Pearl Theater inside The Palms Casino and Resort in Las Vegas this past weekend. Heading into the show and planning it out, they did check out some other famous residencies and sought some advice. Charles Kelley says, “I saw Shania (Twain). We don’t quite have the Shania budget. We (also) talked to Kix Brooks, he said bring a lot of humidifiers (because the air is so dry in Las Vegas). That is the struggle. When they say that you have to have humidifiers and drink a lot of water out here in Vegas, I mean they’re not lying. It is definitely a force to be a singer in this town.”
Aside from battling the dry air, the opening weekend of Lady Antebellum’s residency was great. “Well, knock on wood, there were no major glitches, which is awesome,” says Hillary Scott. “It’s kind of a miracle.”
Planning the show, they wanted to strike a balance between fun, upbeat moments and some more intimate moments that they can’t always incorporate into their arena tours. “We’ve been playing in amphitheaters and arenas and you feel like you have to just go boom, boom, boom, boom, boom because everybody’s been sitting out tailgating since twelve o’clock, you know drinking, and you can’t lull it too much,” says Charles. “(But with this show), we felt like we could take a breath and we could have some conversations with the crowd. It was just refreshing. It was everything we dreamed of.”
Besides having fun with their own show, the band is also taking advantage of their downtime to enjoy Las Vegas and all it has to offer. Dave Haywood says, “It’s a great town to be in and to have our families here is important. We also have some good, fun date nights planned too, but you know, it’s just so many great things to do here. We want to catch some of the other shows too, if possible, Backstreet (Boys) or (Lady) Gaga, if it times out right.”
In fact, Hillary says, “My little girl’s actually not coming to our show on Wednesday to go see the Backstreet Boys.” Charles’ wife is going to the BSB show on Wednesday too, and Hillary says, “My five-and-a-half year old’s like, ‘See ya! Going to see Backstreet.’”
When they’re not in Las Vegas for their residency, which will have five more dates in May and five in September, Lady Antebellum is in Nashville working on new music, and they’ve even been playing some new music in their residency shows. Saturday night they played a song they hadn’t recorded yet called “Thank God for Crazy Love.” They encouraged the crowd to let them know what they thought, or even to boo, if they didn’t think it was one they should record. Needless to say, no one booed, so it could end up on their next album.
Lady Antebellum – family going to BSB :24
Dave Haywood – “It’s a fun town. I mean, let’s just be honest. It’s a great town to be in and to have our families here is important. We also have some good, fun date nights planned too, but you know, it’s just so many great things to do here. We want to catch some of the other shows too, if possible, Backstreet or Gaga, if it times out right.”
Hillary Scott – “My little girl’s actually not coming to our show on Wednesday.”
Charles Kelley – “My wife too. My wife’s blowing out our show.”
Hillary – “To go see the Backstreet Boys.”
Dave – “They’re all skipping out on us.”
Hillary – “My five-and-a-half year old’s like, ‘See ya! Going to see Backstreet.’”
Lady Antebellum – first night :28
Hillary Scott – “Well, knock on wood, there were no major glitches, which is awesome.”
Charles Kelley – “I can’t believe.”
Hillary – “I know, it’s kind of a miracle.”
Charles – “It felt like we were amongst a lot of friends. That’s the thing about being in a venue this size too, you know. We’ve been playing in amphitheaters and arenas and you feel like you have to just go boom, boom, boom, boom, boom because everybody’s been sitting out tailgating since twelve o’clock, you know drinking, and you can’t lull it too much. And we felt like we could take a breath and we could have some conversations with the crowd. It was just refreshing. It was everything we dreamed of.”
Lady Antebellum – prepping for Vegas :17
Hillary Scott – “I know Charles went to see Shania.”
Charles Kelley – “Yeah, I saw Shania. We don’t quite have the Shania budget. We talked to Kix Brooks, he said bring a lot of humidifiers. That is the struggle. When they say that you have to have humidifiers and drink a lot of water out here in Vegas, I mean they’re not lying. It is definitely a force to be a singer in this town.”
Lady Antebellum – pacing of show :21
Dave Haywood – “I think from seeing the Shania show and seeing the Garth show, we talked about trying to fall somewhere in the middle of that.”
Charles Kelley – “Exactly.”
Dave – “You know, we’ve got fun songs like ‘You Look Good’ and ‘Downtown’ and ‘Bartender’ and stuff like that, but we also have songs like ‘Hello World.’ So it’s kind of a blend of … we’ve got our horn section, high energy, fun stuff. But that middle portion of the show is really, for me, that’s kind of the happy place.”