This past Friday evening, I had the pleasure of being a guest of The Cosmopolitan, in Las Vegas, for a concert by “The Flaming Lips”.

I was treated to an unbelievably beautiful room, as well as concert tickets . . . all complimentary (although none of the freebies were in the hotel’s expectation of a positive review by me . . . my opinions and/or reviews are not for sale . . . well, at least not for just the price of a luxury hotel room and some concert tickets).

I will say that The Cosmopolitan is an incredible hotel. It is massive and consists of two gigantic towers with a casino and various bars, restaurants, etc. between (and part way up) them. It is the most “high-tech” hotel I have ever stayed in. A large HD television screen is the control panel for pretty much everything in the room. For example, you can set the television to set the “mood” in the room, or to wake you up and automatically open your curtains for you. There is every possible audio/visual/Internet connection at the ultra-modern desk in front of the television monitor. You can plug in your portable DVD player, or your iPod/iPad and watch (or listen to) them through the monitor. Or you can plug a monitor cable from your notebook computer into the desk and the huge television becomes your computer’s monitor. There are, of course, Ethernet ports as well as Wi-Fi. The television is also your guide to the hotel and it’s various restaurants, swimming pools, night clubs, etc. You can even watch television on it!

There is beautiful artwork (both conventional and multimedia) throughout the hotel, as well as some hidden secrets that the front desk people will claim no knowledge of (such as the secret pizzeria down a hall on the one of the floors) that is not on the hotel map or the interactive guide – nor is there any sign, except for a very ordinary “No Exit” sign that is occasionally lit up).

If you plan a stay at The Cosmopolitan, bring plenty of money . . . Hamburgers are $15.00 and bottles of beer at the concert were $10.00 each. (I was missing 700 colón Imperials in Costa Rica).

The concert (which was held at the Boulevard Pool on the fourth floor overlooking the strip) itself was great . . . although the opening act (whose name I don’t remember) sucked, in my humble opinion. The female vocalist/guitar player sounded like a very bad mating of Yoko Ono with Bjork. It was simply noise, as far as I was concerned.

I had not seen The Flaming Lips live before, but from listening to their music and watching their videos and DVDs, I had a pretty good idea as to what to expect . . . and I was not disappointed.

(At about the 42 second mark of the above video, you can catch a glimpse of me, dressed in powder-blue, up in the VIP section).

There were plenty of lighting effects, confetti, streamers, giant balloons, cheerleaders, a giant inflatable animal of some sort, etc. etc.

. . . and, of course, there was the music. Although the acoustics weren’t great on an outside deck overlooking the Las Vegas strip, I still enjoyed “the Lips’” great music, especially everyone’s favorite: “Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots“.

If you’re planning a trip to Las Vegas, I would certainly recommend that you look into staying at The Cosmopolitan. However, unless you’re on an expense account, you might want to walk across the street or up and down the Strip a little, for at least part of your stay, to avoid the $10 beers and very expensive restaurants.

And, if you’re not yet familiar with The Flaming Lips, I encourage you to buy or download some of their music, and see them in concert, if you can. (Here is where you can find their tour dates: http://www.flaminglips.com/tour).

If you’re a Flaming Lips “newbie”, I recommend that you start with the Yoshimi CD . . . or, better yet, the Yoshimi CD and DVD combo – the 5.1 surround sound is incredible.

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