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Happy New Year

January 1st, 2009

Wow, last night Las Vegas really seemed to get its groove back.

(The Countdown to 2009 from Downtown Las Vegas)

(KISS Fremont Street Experience Show Debut)

It was my first New Year’s Eve on Fremont, and I doubt it will be my last. I had thought about retiring the countdown, but I may actually reconsider.

Having been a frequent visitor to Times Square’s New Years Celebrations, I can say this with every ounce of honesty:

Downtown Las Vegas rivals New York City when it comes to celebrating the New Year. As a matter of fact, I can make an honest argument that Downtown Las Vegas EXCEEDS the “fun factor” of New York.

I never thought I would say that, but I mean it sincerely.

Happy New Year - Ringing in 2009 on Fremont Street in Downtown Las Vegas

Light shows, fireworks, live bands, booze, and gambling are a tough combination to beat by a ball being lowered down a gigantic pole.

In contrast to The Strip, the crowd last night was far from surly. Most people were every bit as cool as they were in Times Square. Sure, it got rowdy, and people got knocked around like a pinball, but there were 200,000 people packed into two city blocks. It certainly rivals the raw density of the square.

After last night, I kind of rue those previous New Year’s Eves that I have spent on The Strip. What a waste. Standing around on Las Vegas Boulevard waiting for some fireworks is nothing like the vibe under the canopy.

On Fremont, in the hours leading up to the countdown, there is live music, light shows, and easy accessibility to food and gambling.

Last night was free for locals, but it is EASILY worth the $20 tourist entry fee.

Really, The Strip and Downtown experiences on this night are like comparing apples to oranges.

Happy New Year - Ringing in 2009 on Fremont Street in Downtown Las Vegas

From this day forward, I will only recommend Downtown to tourists who ask me where they should ring in the New Year in Las Vegas.

Sure, the Strip Snobs will scoff, and turn their noses up at the low-brow casinos that line Fremont Street … but none of that matters if the only goal is pure fun. And that is really the only way to describe the Downtown vibe. Fun.

There is no pretense, no posing, and no drama. People on both sides of me were smoking joints of gigantic proportions while drinking beer out of footballs and nodding their head along to the Queen Tribute band and the music-oriented light shows.

A few people in the crowd recognized me, came up, and high fived me or put their arm around me. I may be one of the most hated people on the Internet, but my peers on the streets of Las Vegas don’t hate me. They offered to buy me beers, and offered hits from their, uh … let’s just call them “funny cigarettes”.

One lady grabbed my ass, and shouted “Happy New Year!” into my ear at such a level that my ear is still ringing, but it was all good. I was among my fellow dirtbags. My neighbors, colleagues, and cohabitants of this bizarre place to live and call home, all were represented and acted a fool … which was entirely the point.

Misery loves company, and everyone was enjoying everyone’s company last night. It appeared to me that the crowd was overwhelmingly local, but there were enough tourists in the mix to keep things interesting. And they were the cool tourists. Not the uppity or angry folks that populate The Strip on the average December 31st.

I did some gambling in Fitzgeralds before the countdown, I walked through the crowd talking to people, and before the night was over, I even stopped at El Cortez on my way home to play some penny video poker.

Fremont East

Happy New Year - Ringing in 2009 on Fremont Street in Downtown Las Vegas

Try doing that in New York.

It really was a very cool time, and I can’t recommend it highly enough.

I got some video of not only the New Year Countdown (complete with video of Oscar Goodman), but I also recorded the KISS Fremont Street Experience show which debuted last night.

I hope you enjoy the sights and sounds of Fremont Street as much as I enjoyed being a part of it.

It is 6am, I have been up for about 30 hours, so I need to get some sleep. I was going to wait until I woke up so that I could type something coherent, but hell … it’s already afternoon in Europe.

I’ll get some other stuff up later, but I figured I had to get this up tonight. People usually expect something from me fairly immediately. You’ve got a good 12 minutes of video here that should get you a good feel for the general vibe.

Happy New Year!

May this year be much better than the last.

Las Vegas is Born

Happy New Year - Ringing in 2009 on Fremont Street in Downtown Las Vegas

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Rex

Author: Rex
Date: January 1st, 2009
Posted in: Attractions & Entertainment, Current Events, Off Strip, Reviews

5 Comments by Readers

Written by tully on January 1st, 2009 at 7:15 am

That was great. Wondered how the live fireworks would be set off—-looks like they were small, controlled explosions from the top of the support columns, sync’d to the light show.

You know, the city and FSE letting locals in for free was just a nice thing to do—an acknowledgment, in a way, that it’s been a tough year for a lot of folks, and maybe they needed a chance to party for the cost of a few beers and forget their troubles for a while. Get some closure on 2008 and look forward to a hopefully better 2009. The song selection at the top of the vid seemed fitting—Bon Jovi’s “Living on a Prayer” segued into ELO’s “Hold on Tight to Your Dream.”

Hats off, Rex—-I checked the blog this morning figuring you’d have something up already, and you didn’t disappoint. Good to hear you had a good time doing it.
Written by thomas coe on January 1st, 2009 at 10:36 am

AWESOME FSE VIDEO!!!! makes me want to hit that up one year! the video was awesome, except for the damn radio station dj. too bad he couldn’t have had some technical malfunction or something! thanks for sharing this.
Written by james on January 1st, 2009 at 10:46 am

good job rex…a great warm up for my arrival next friday for ces…ill be looking for you!
Written by lvfan on January 1st, 2009 at 4:20 pm

I followed your live report then read your review and watched your videos, which were all excellent! Great job!! Looks like everyone had a blasting time in downtown, especially when they sang along to the songs. It is now on my to do list!

I agree with the above comment, that guy on the mic needed to shut up a bit, yeah we got it you’re a radio dj, okay already.

Btw, why are there 2 reports of NYE from downtown on this site with pretty much the same videos? Were you and the other lady blogger there together? It seemed a little redundant to me.

Anyway, I love reading your stuff, especially when you cover big events in real time, because I enjoy reading your humorous and insightful impressions of what’s going on in Vegas and I know I’ll get info before most others will. I appreciate it and keep up the good work! Cheers!!
Written by Rex on January 1st, 2009 at 5:23 pm

Hey guys,

Thank you very much. I’m glad that you enjoyed it and I hope you do decide to give Downtown a try sometime in the years to come.I was not with any other bloggers. In all the years past, I have covered The Strip, and this was my very first time hanging out in Downtown on NYE.

I don’t usually cover the same event for the same publication, and I let everyone know I would be at Tributepalooza (party on Fremont Street) this year. It was between that and the motorcycle jumps on The Strip. Had I known we would have someone else down there, I would have gone to the motorcycle jumps … but I heard that they weren’t that exciting. Nonetheless, I was very pleasantly surprised by what I found on Fremont St.

I appreciate the comments, and I hope you have all successfully slept off your hangovers.

Thanks again.

-Rex