22 Best Performing Arts Venues in Center Strip, Las Vegas

The Sphere has reinvented concert-going—and the Vegas selfie. It's impossible to ignore the 336-foot globe when its external imagery is constantly flashing smiley faces or whimsical animation tailored to the season. But it's what's inside the $2.3 billion venue that's reimagined the arena concert. Imagine big-name acts performing inside a planetarium; the headliner planted on the ground, in front of surrounding video filling nearly your entire range of vision in 18K-resolution clarity. A concert holds more than 18,000 people, but even the worst seats here are more immersive than the nosebleed section of a sports arena. While it's a natural fit for video-oriented stars such as U2, Dead & Company, and producer Anyma, more down-to-earth acts such as the Eagles and Kenny Chesney have started warming up to the place as well. By day (and non-concert evenings), the Sphere struts its stuff in the 50-minute movie Postcards from Earth and a filmed version of U2's debut run.

Unlike its New York namesake, the Las Vegas Brooklyn Bowl only looks like it was retrofitted from an old warehouse. It was actually built from the ground up in 2014 as an anchor for The LINQ outdoor retail plaza. The Las Vegas location copies and expands upon the original by surrounding its concert space with 32 bowling lanes and food outlets offering fried chicken and other goodies from the Blue Ribbon group. Live concert acts such as Gary Clark Jr. and Artemas share the calendar with DJ-themed nights catering to the Strip's service industry or big events that are in town. Most of the concert space is standing-room only, so arrive early if you want a shot at the limited seating without paying for VIP upgrades.

The Cosmopolitan's 40,000-square-foot venue is elegantly trimmed but a versatile bare box in its layout. The floor can offer seating or general-admission standing room, wrapped by a gallery of limited fixed seating, five rows deep, and an in-between area that can be either bleacher seating or more standing room. It usually hosts smaller-capacity concerts for 2,000 or more, with comedians Chelsea Handler and Daniel Tosh among the 2025 attractions.

The $95-million theater invented the current model for concert residencies when it was built for Celine Dion in 2003. More recently the 4,300-seater was remodeled to be more versatile and allow general-admission space up front for younger-skewing acts. A new video system and VIP booth areas were added in time for the much-touted Adele residency. Kelly Clarkson and Blake Shelton staked out 2025 dates alongside Colosseum veterans Jerry Seinfeld and Rod Stewart. The two balconies can seem distant from the ridiculously wide 120-foot stage, but a huge video screen improves the views, and the sound system is impeccable.

Even in his late 50s, Criss Angel puts on the loudest and most energetic of the Las Vegas magic shows, in a Planet Hollywood theater that's been customized with wraparound video walls and surround sound to create a club-like atmosphere. Now a Las Vegas veteran with more than 17 years on the Strip, Angel's show is still dependent on how big a fan you are of him as a performer and how excited you were about his TV glory days. Angel is consistent in his Long Island rock-star image, even as the fast-paced barrage of illusions unfold with a schizophrenic tone that shifts from heavy-metal sinister to rave-up dance party.

The first big "show" investment on the Strip in more than a year really needs those quote marks. Discoshow, a spirited salute to 1970s excess, blurs the line between a show as we used to know it and the “immersive environmental theater” the film-it-with-phone crowd is said to crave. Producer Spiegelworld is really swinging for the fences to bring something new to the Strip after its smash hit Absinthe (and a more modest one, Atomic Saloon Show). But at least in the early going, the venue outshone the content. The producers have carved a huge and truly impressive complex out of an abandoned sports book and other dark corners of the former Imperial Palace: a lounge, a restaurant called Diner Ross (after Spiegelworld impresario Ross Mollison), another bar area for the pre-show gathering; and the square, standing-room-only venue itself, where performers surround you on raised catwalks in front of video walls. All of it is themed to 1970s-era New York with a carved-out warehouse vibe, from the neon, mirror-ball tile and framed record albums to the graffiti. Too bad the show itself doesn't live up to its surroundings. At little more than an hour long, it's all dancing, with no live singing or variety acts, not much speaking, and even less story-telling—a sketch of one about a wallflower transforming into a disco doll. But the dance-along spirit is contagious, and the girls' night-out crowd seems to love the chance to dust off their boogie shoes.

MGM Resorts tore down the Monte Carlo's old showroom to build this flexible venue (which opened as the Park Theater) that furthers the Strip's drift to big-name concert stars. It can hold up to 6,000 people for concerts, but it also hosts boxing and mixed martial arts. Mariah Carey, Maroon 5, and Motley Crue were among the 2025 highlights. Unlike most of these venues, the lobby with its elegant furnishings and picture windows is a place you don't mind hanging out before the show.

No one should question Donny Osmond's work ethic, showmanship or even his self-awareness about the highs and lows of a long career. How long? The "self aware" part made news in early 2025 when, thanks to what he calls "some mind-blowing AI and CGI technology," the 67-year-old promised a stage duet with his 14-year-old teen-idol self from 1972. No matter what year it is, Osmond exemplifies the "down front" entertainer who covers everything from his child star days in the 1960s to his credible attempts to keep up with current musical trends. This old-school Vegas showcase also includes dancers and production visuals, but it's really all about the charisma of a perennial who grew up in front of America and wears his variety training with pride.

A winning smile (and winning America's Got Talent) turned out to be a formidable combination for a magician who settled on the Strip after the TV talent show fast-tracked his fame in 2014. Franco's charm and likable attitude compensates for a streamlined production, on a mostly bare stage augmented by video screens. But he gives the classics a youthful attitude, and the show builds to a big finale in two bits of trickery that both involve the wider audience.

The campy musical full of song parodies about "the change" has been a female-bonding experience on the Strip since 2006. The audience commiserates, sings along, and sometimes even ends up onstage with the four women in the cast as they bond while cavorting through a day at Bloomingdales. 

The likable magician had the good fortune to be on the very first, highly watched season of America's Got Talent in 2006, parlaying that national exposure into a durable career on the Strip. Having relocated from Planet Hollywood, Burton puts a fun spin on familiar illusions and is family-friendly for those with older children. Mom and Dad will smile because the tickets are one of the few show bargains left on the Strip.

The 7,000-seat concert hall was the first on the Strip when it was built as the Aladdin Theatre for the Performing Arts in 1976. Now, it's the only part of the original Aladdin to survive the conversion into Planet Hollywood. It was remodeled in 2013 to host Britney Spears. To create more of a club vibe, a VIP area and two general-admission standing-room areas were added down front. The 2025 calender included durable ventriloquist Jeff Dunham and classic rockers the Scorpions. The balcony isn't used for a lot of the shows, bringing capacity down to a cozier 4,500. 

Billing himself as "The Loser of America's Got Talent" fits the droll humor of the British comedy-magician, whose goal of competing on the TV show was to get a berth in Las Vegas. It worked. The magician who stands out for his satin dragon suit, bad attitude, and stoic chihuahua sidekick, Mr. Piffles, keeps the jokes coming as fast as the card tricks, and pulls plenty of recruits from the audience. It's a testament to Piff's popularity that he's moved from the Flamingo's smaller cabaret to its main showroom.

Drag shows came close to extinction on the Strip until RuPaul transferred the momentum of his TV competition—with 17 seasons and counting—into a live spin-off. The format allows performers to rotate in and out of the revue, so the line-up isn't consistent, though don't look for the actual RuPaul beyond surprise appearances or special occasions.

Call it destiny that this Canadian-American magician ended up in Las Vegas. His first big break was on Penn & Teller's TV show Fool Us, which frequently films at the Rio. A viral performance there led to winning America's Got Talent, which has created a home on the Strip for at least five other resident headliners. Not only that, he followed his 2018 victory on AGT by winning an all-star edition, The Champions, the very next year. Shin Lim has since become a steady presence on the Strip, moving across the street to the Palazzo Theatre after The Mirage closed. In some ways he is the most unlikely of the Las Vegas magic stars, since much of his act depends on "close-up" magic and card manipulation tracked by video cameras rather than comedy or big, showy illusions. But he got to where he is by being different and theatrical, not by following some other magician's lead.

The 20,000-seat, $375 million arena opened in 2016 and instantly became the home of top-tier concerts and sporting events such as UFC fights and select Las Vegas Aces games. It's the first Las Vegas arena built with 50 luxury boxes. Concerts have to be booked around home games by the arena's resident team, the Vegas Golden Knights, the National Hockey League expansion team that went all the way to the Stanley Cup finals in its debut season of 2017–18. Pre- and post-game fun can be found at the bars and eateries in front of the arena, between New York-New York and Park MGM.

Tape Face is one of several America's Got Talent variety performers to take up a residency on the Strip—near fellow contestants Shin Lim, Mat Franco, and Piff the Magic Dragon—after mainstream exposure from the TV competition. Tape Face hearkens back to a simpler era of show business, with his silent mime and prop comedy based on the signature gimmick of gaffer's tape plastered over his mouth. He uses his eyes, gestures, and quite a few recruits from the audience to propel the charmingly low-fi shenanigans. (Sam Wills, the creator of Tape Face, generated some controversy when he decided to treat his character more like a Blue Man and less like a Piff. In other words, when Wills is out on tour, another performer he trained to do the act steps in at the MGM.)

Built for a six-year run of Phantom of the Opera and appropriately designed like a European opera house, this 1,800-seat theater has since hosted a variety of short-term and weekend performers. It's an ornate setting for classic rockers such as Chicago and Styx, which have become the theater's mainstays. Even the top balcony seats and views are fine, though a bit of a stair climb unless you use the elevator.

This mid-price (and frequently discounted) variety show has held its own against the splashier Cirque-type productions for more than 20 years. The lineup varies, but it usually has magic, juggling, and acrobatics such as hand balancing. Perhaps the real secret is the “front of curtain” atmosphere with likable performers making direct contact with the audience in an intimate setting.

Everyone loves the idea of Wayne Newton, who in his early 80s is still performing on the Strip that put him on the map as a teen in 1959. What's not so well loved is his singing voice, which has long been fried through decades of smoky showroom performances. You're now buying into "Mr. Las Vegas" as a personality, which justifies this (mostly) Q&A, autobiographical format in a cozy cabaret setting. Newton plays to his strengths, turning the bulk of his current show into a live memoir packed with film clips and stories about his career and the golden age of Vegas.

Don't expect retro old-timey burlesque. But more than 20 years at the Flamingo speaks to the consistent quality of this dance-intensive topless revue with an edgy attitude and impressive video and lighting effects. A comedian doing a 10-minute set is the only spoken contact with the audience. It's a generally louder, more rocking vibe than the more theatrically old-school Fantasy at Luxor, with a bit more of a strip-club, pole-dancing vibe. But even the more intense gyrations are leavened with a winking humor. Once only a 10 pm "late show," it now offers an eyeful as early as 7 pm on select nights.