Leave it to Las Vegas nightlife to devise a way to throw pool parties in the winter. And leave it to pioneering venue Marquee to be the first dayclub with a festival-style dome, which made its post-summer debut with a splash bash on October 12 headlined by Markus Schulz, celebrating his America’s Best DJ win. (See sidebar.)
It’s not the first club in town to top its pond—Surrender has been tenting Encore Beach Club’s pool for the past few off-seasons (and will complete its glass upgrade next week). But the Cosmopolitan party complex dreamed big and had AG Light and Sound install structural arches—the sort that make up the canopies at Electric Daisy Carnival and Coachella—with state-of-the-art lighting that cover the entirety of the dayclub. The 50-foot-tall, 22,000-square-foot dome made its debut in February as an additional party room for nighttime club guests and, more notably, a climate-controlled daytime pool event called Halfway to EDC.
“Because of the success and the great positive feedback from that, we were inspired to have daytime parties throughout the winter,” says Jason Strauss, co-managing partner of Tao Group, which owns and manages Marquee.
Such events are made possible via a custom heating system that will maintain a temperature of about 85 degrees, no matter how cold or windy it gets outside the venue. Strauss says seven or eight day parties will dot the off-season, which concludes in March. (The next one, called Penguin Dip and headlined by Cedric Gervais, takes place October 19.) Furthermore, nighttime clubbers will once again have access to the insulated pool area.
If an all-season daytime pool is a no-brainer for clubbers with little-to-no pre-midnight party options for the next four months, it’s already a hit with the DJs on Marquee’s roster—all of whom have already raised their hands to play it, according to Strauss. And will the rest of the Strip’s water wonderlands soon follow suit, much like the clubs did when Marquee debuted with an exclusively EDM main room?
“I think it’s a small town; we’re all on one street, everyone’s looking at everyone else’s innovations,” Strauss says. “And if something works, other people will want to do their version of it. So yeah, people will be paying attention to what we’re doing.”
Marquee Cosmopolitan, 702-333-9000. Monday, Friday & Saturday, doors at 10 p.m. For info on upcoming daytime parties, visit marqueelasvegas.com.
