Club 3121 and Upscale Club Attire

You have to do at least one cool thing when you go to Vegas. We decided to go to Club 3121, the new club opened by Prince in mid-November. It is named after his last CD 3121, and on some nights costs $31.21 to go in. We wanted to go on a night when Prince was performing which is Friday and Saturday evenings, which costs $125.00 for general admission (standing up) and more if you want a table and/or dinner at the restaurant Jazz, which is run by Prince's own chef, Lena Morgan, formerly of Spago it costs approximately $695 per person for table and dinner package. We decided on general admission, and as I have stood for concerts at the House of Blues, I didn't think this was much of a problem and wanted to eat at one of my favorite Vegas restaurants, Mon Ami Gabi, before the show anyway.

Upscale Club Attire
Club 3121 website and the Rio hotel states that Upscale Club Attire is required, no jeans, sports shoes, etc. and that the dress code is strictly adhered to. So, what is Upscale Club Attire? Here in San Diego at the most exclusive clubs, women can wear designer jeans, heels and a cute top and look great, and men can wear jeans or dark pants and a nice shirt. If you want to check out what some websites say, take a look at E-how club attire for women and men, and askmen.com. After reading all the reviews about the Club, it really did sound upscale so I decided on a black dress from Guess, and my husband wore a cool dark blue/black Armani suit. So what do we find when we get to the Club? Some people looked awesome and had obviously spent a lot of time on their fashionable appearance, and others looked as though they had walked straight from the slot machines to the line, and yes, there were people in jeans, sports shoes, sweaters - I think one person was wearing Birkenstocks! So what can I say? I guess if you like dressing up and want to get in with no hassle, then buy something cool, but if you don't want to spend money on new club clothes, it's certainly OK to go in something you would wear for work and not worry, I can guarantee there will be someone wearing something more casual than you!

Prince
You really don't know what to expect when you go to see a live performance. After reading about the club, and all the hype surrounding Prince himself, I started to think that he would appear for about 20 minutes and that would be it. I couldn't have been more wrong. He came on stage at about 12:30 a.m. dressed immaculately in his signature peach and black, and performed until well after two in the morning. Prince sang, danced, involved the audience, and at one point invited someone on stage to dance and was thoroughly entertaining. He performed for nearly two hours with boundless energy and showmanship, accompanied by his sexy backing group the Twinz, and gave an astounding rendition of Purple Rain where his amazing guitar playing reminded you of a theatrical Jimi Hendrix, but there is no question, Prince has definitely created his own unique sound. I can only say that after Prince's performance you walk away with the feeling that the guy loves what he does, he is a professional and talented performer who enjoys involving the audience and he has found a great venue for that at Club 3121. If you are in Vegas at the weekend, this is certainly a show not to be missed.

The Downside
The doors to the club didn't open until 10 p.m. and I read somewhere that Prince was not performing until 11:59 p.m., so we had plenty of time. When I booked the tickets online, the only option available through Ticketmaster was to collect them through Will Call at the Rio, and the tickets were only available 3 hours prior to the show, so I couldn't pick them up the day before. THEhotel, where I was staying, and the Rio are at opposite ends of the Strip, so I needed to allow time to get there, eat dinner and get the tickets. I phoned Club 3121 box office and asked whether I could pick up the tickets after 10 p.m., and was told that there would probably be a long line and I should get to Will Call at about 8 p.m. to ensure getting into the club. This didn't sound great, but we dutifully took a cab to the Rio and arrived at about 8:10 p.m. Sure enough, when we arrived at Club 3121 there was a long line of people waiting who, like us, had already purchased their tickets online. Even those who had purchased the dinner package were waiting in line (a somewhat smaller line) and we were all given a wristband while bouncers and attendants tried to distribute tickets in a very disorganized manner. They walked along the line, took a couple of ID's (driver's license, passport or whatever you had) then walked back to a central table and started looking through three boxes of tickets standing up in the fashion of an old Rolodex, I assume in alphabetical order. Then they brought your tickets and ID back to you. This whole process was very slow, annoying and in this age of technology, bizarre. Finally, we got our tickets and asked one of the attendants if we could now leave and come back later as it was about 9:00 p.m. by now and the doors didn't open until 10:00 p.m. We were told this was not advisable, as we may lose our tickets and then wouldn't be able to enter at all. We decided to take our chances and go and get dinner, but many people waited it out, and after two hours waiting in line outside, then two and a half hours waiting inside the club for Prince to appear, they needed a seat! This is when the upsell started. Once inside, you were able to purchase a booth for four for $375, and later I heard you could get a table for $70. I guess this is just the normal thing that happens when you go to shows in Vegas. If you really want to get in you have to book ahead of time, but if you are willing to chance it, you can probably get a much better deal on the night than we did.