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| - Concerts at the Cosmopolitan Boulevard Pool are like a box of chocolates. You never know what you are going to get.
I've seen three concerts here: Cake, Ben Folds, and Death Cab for Cutie. The venue was very different for each.
First, some basic info on the venue. They drain the pool, or partially drain the pool for events depending on the concert. There are some side pools that will still have water in them but you can't see the concert from them. So don't plan on water. Next, you usually enter from the 3rd floor just past Blue Ribbon Sushi. Although the pool is on the 4th floor, they usually lead you through the third floor of the convention center to the fourth floor in order to control the crowds. Finally, beer is $10 for Coors Light, Corona, Budweiser, the basics. You may be able to track down some more interesting beers for more but they won't be offered at all the bars. Fiji water (500 ml) is $5. I saw people bring in their own water so try to do that. Virgin drinks are $5 and a little more satisfying than water. Cocktails are in the $11 range or more. But like always, prices are subject to change.
Cake we got VIP tickets. It was sold out and the line to get in snaked around the convention center. Finally, someone came through the line asking for VIP ticket holders and took us to the front of the line. Bonus. I think the bottleneck was that the ticket takers were putting wristbands on every single person and checking ids.
VIPs are up on the second floor balcony. Once the first row of the balcony fills up, which is quick, you can't see a damn thing except the Cosmopolitan marquee, which was showing the concert. We got there when the opening act was still playing. If I wanted to watch the concert on a big screen, I could do so from the strip for $0. A little disappointing. Luckily, one of my friends "borrowed" a bunch of wicker end tables from the cabanas (they quoted us $3,000 for a cabana by the way and you really can't see anything from the cabanas) and we stood up on those to see the concert. Not advisable, especially in heels, but the security didn't seem to care. We had dedicated cocktail service in the VIP area. Our server was super nice. We had to go to the lower level for restrooms and then show your wristband to get back up. The pool was completely drained for this concert.
Ben Folds was not sold out. Not even close. We got free tickets when the Cosmopolitan posted at noon on their Facebook page that they were giving out 50 pairs of free tickets. We swung by around 7pm and still got tickets. The pool was only partially drained so towards the back you could stand or sit in water and watch the concert. Lots of comfy seating towards the back and you could see the concert on the marquee if you wanted to just lay down. At some point during the concert, we just sauntered up to the VIP area. No biggie. For Cake, they were checking wristbands religiously everytime we had to go to the lower level to go to the bathroom. Chill vibe, the bars weren't crowded.
Finally, Death Cab for Cutie was sold out and we got general admission. The line moved pretty quickly. They just handed us the wristbands to put on ourselves and asked us if we were over 21. We showed up when the opening band was still finishing up. No water in the main pool but we found seating the back. The bars were absolutely packed. For whatever reason, they did not show any of the concert on the marquee, just the album cover for Death Cab's latest album. At some point, some people in the hotel tower started throwing buckets of water (or something else) on the crowd causing pandemonium. Good times. VIP looked packed (I didn't try to go up there) and it looked like they blocked off more the balcony for cabanas, making the view for cabanas better but making VIP suck more.
So in a nutshell you may or may not get into the concert quickly. You may or may not be able to see the concert on the marquee. The main pool may or may not have some water in it. You may or may not be able to get into the VIP area on a whim. The hotel guests may or may not throw water (?) on the crowd. And a million other factors at play that I probably didn't notice.
All in all, based on my three concerts I would say that this concert venue is A-OK but nothing special, except in its unpredictability. The view of the strip is pretty nice, though.
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