PH Live is a mid-sized
auditorium
An auditorium is a room built to enable an audience to hear and watch performances. For movie theaters, the number of auditoriums is expressed as the number of screens. Auditoriums can be found in entertainment venues, community halls, and t ...
in the
Planet Hollywood Las Vegas
Planet Hollywood Las Vegas (formerly the Aladdin) is a casino hotel on the Las Vegas Strip in Paradise, Nevada, Paradise, Nevada, United States. It is owned and operated by Caesars Entertainment. The resort includes a casino and 2,494 hotel r ...
hotel and casino on the
Las Vegas Strip
The Las Vegas Strip is a stretch of Las Vegas Boulevard in Clark County, Nevada, that is known for its concentration of resort hotels and casinos. The Strip, as it is known, is about long, and is immediately south of the Las Vegas city limits ...
. The venue hosts events including charity benefits, concerts and award shows including
beauty pageant
A beauty pageant is a competition in which the contestants are judged and ranked based on various physical and mental attributes. Per its name, beauty pageants traditionally focus on judging the contestants' physical attractiveness, sometimes sol ...
s such as
Miss Universe
Miss Universe is an annual international major beauty pageant that is run by a Thailand and Mexican-based Miss Universe Organization.Natalie Tadena (July 2, 2015"Donald Trump's Miss USA Pageant Lands on Reelz Cable Channel". ''The Wall Stree ...
,
Miss USA and
Miss Teen USA
Miss Teen USA is a beauty pageant that has been run since 1983 by the Miss Universe Organization for girls aged 14–19 years old as of January 1st of the competition year. They must be US citizens, and cannot have been married, pregnant, or ...
.
The venue was named Aladdin Theatre for the Performing Arts from its opening in 1976 until 2006, Theatre for the Performing Arts from 2006 until 2007, Planet Hollywood Theatre for the Performing Arts from 2007 until June 2012, PH Live at Planet Hollywood Resort & Casino from June 2012 to December 2013, The AXIS at Planet Hollywood Resort & Casino from December 2013 to February 2018,
Zappos
Zappos.com is an American online shoe and clothing retailer based in Las Vegas, Nevada, United States. The company was founded in 1999 by Nick Swinmurn and launched under the domain name Shoesite.com. In July 2009, Amazon acquired Zappos in an ...
Theater from February 2018 to March 2023,
Bakkt Theater from March 2023 to August 2024, and PH Live since August 2024.
History
While this location was known as the Aladdin Hotel, the owners decided to create a performing arts center to replace the mildly used
golf course
A golf course is the grounds on which the sport of golf is played. It consists of a series of holes, each consisting of a teeing ground, tee box, a #Fairway and rough, fairway, the #Fairway and rough, rough and other hazard (golf), hazards, and ...
. Planning began in 1969, with concepts showing the venue as a separate building. In 1972, the hotel was sold to Sam Diamond, Peter Wevve, Sorkis Wevve and Richard Daly.
The theater opened on July 2, 1976 (America's bicentennial weekend), with
Neil Diamond
Neil Leslie Diamond (born January 24, 1941) is an American singer-songwriter. He has sold more than 130 million records worldwide, making him one of the List of best-selling music artists, best-selling musicians of all time.
He has written and ...
, who was paid $750,000 for five sold-out shows. During the 1970s and 1980s, the auditorium became a staple on the Strip for many rock and roll acts.
In September 1977,
Frank Zappa
Frank Vincent Zappa (December 21, 1940 – December 4, 1993) was an American guitarist, composer, and bandleader. In a career spanning more than 30 years, Zappa composed Rock music, rock, Pop music, pop, jazz, jazz fusion, orchestra ...
's road manager was found dead of self-inflicted razor-blade wounds after a performance at the venue.
[
In November 1997, at the final performance at the venue before it closed for renovations, Motley Crue invited fans onto the stage, resulting in a flying chairs and signs ripped from walls. Guitarist Mick Mars was knocked out in the melee. ]Tommy Lee
Thomas Lee (born Thomas Lee Bass; October 3, 1962) is an American musician who co-founded and plays drums for the heavy metal band Mötley Crüe. He also founded rap metal band Methods of Mayhem and has pursued solo musical projects.
Early ...
invited women to flash a video camera.[
In 1998, the original Aladdin Hotel was imploded. During the renovation, the center's original structure was removed, incorporating the venue into the casino area of the hotel. In 2000, the venue reopened with a performance by ]Enrique Iglesias
Enrique Miguel Iglesias Preysler (; born 8 May 1975) is a Spanish singer and songwriter. He started his recording career in the mid-1990s on the Mexican label Fonovisa where he released three Spanish albums ''Enrique Iglesias (album), Enrique ...
, with a capacity decrease to 7,000.
Due to new competition from the MGM Grand Garden Arena
The MGM Grand Garden Arena is a 17,000-seat multi-purpose arena within the MGM Grand Las Vegas, MGM Grand resort, located on the Las Vegas Strip in Paradise, Nevada. The venue opened on December 31, 1993, with a concert by Barbra Streisand, and s ...
and Mandalay Bay Events Center, the venue was used infrequently by music acts.
In 2004, spectators walked out of a Linda Ronstadt
Linda Maria Ronstadt (born July 15, 1946) is an American singer who has performed and recorded in diverse genres including rock, country, light opera, the Great American Songbook, and Latin music.
Ronstadt has earned 11 Grammy Awards, three A ...
concert and some defaced posters of Ronstadt in the lobby after she expressed support for documentary filmmaker Michael Moore
Michael Francis Moore is an American film director, producer, screenwriter, and author. Moore's work frequently addresses various Social issue, social, political, and economic topics. He first became publicly known for his award-winning debut ...
. Ronstadt was then banned from the venue.
The theater was the host of the Miss Universe 1991
It was the final year of the Cold War, which had begun in 1947. During the year, the Soviet Union Dissolution of the Soviet Union, collapsed, leaving Post-soviet states, fifteen sovereign republics and the Commonwealth of Independent State ...
, 1996
1996 was designated as:
* International Year for the Eradication of Poverty
Events January
* January 8 – A Zairean cargo plane crashes into a crowded market in the center of the capital city of the Democratic Republic of the Congo ...
, 2012
2012 was designated as:
*International Year of Cooperatives
*International Year of Sustainable Energy for All
Events January
*January 4 – The Cicada 3301 internet hunt begins.
* January 12 – Peaceful protests begin in the R ...
, 2015
2015 was designated by the United Nations as:
* International Year of Light
* International Year of Soil __TOC__
Events
January
* January 1 – Lithuania officially adopts the euro as its currency, replacing the litas, and becomes ...
and 2017
2017 was designated as the International Year of Sustainable Tourism for Development by the United Nations General Assembly.
Events January
* January 1 – Istanbul nightclub shooting: A gunman dressed as Santa Claus opens fire at the ...
pageants, several Miss USA pageants and several Miss America
Miss America is an annual competition that is open to women from the United States between the ages of 18 and 28. Originating in 1921 as a "bathing beauty revue", the contest is judged on competition segments with scoring percentages: ''Priva ...
pageants.
In December 2013, Live Nation Entertainment
Live Nation Entertainment, Inc. is an American multinational entertainment company that was founded in 2010 following the merger of Live Nation and Ticketmaster. It promotes, operates and manages ticket sales for live entertainment internation ...
took over operations and management of the venue from BASE Entertainment.
Notable events
*Miss Universe
Miss Universe is an annual international major beauty pageant that is run by a Thailand and Mexican-based Miss Universe Organization.Natalie Tadena (July 2, 2015"Donald Trump's Miss USA Pageant Lands on Reelz Cable Channel". ''The Wall Stree ...
*Miss America
Miss America is an annual competition that is open to women from the United States between the ages of 18 and 28. Originating in 1921 as a "bathing beauty revue", the contest is judged on competition segments with scoring percentages: ''Priva ...
*'' So You Think You Can Dance'' Vegas Week
* Justin Timberlake & Friends
*'' America's Got Talent'' Vegas Week
* Miss USA
* Paris By Night
* The Game Awards
*''Jimmy Kimmel Live!
''Jimmy Kimmel Live!'', sometimes shortened to ''JKL'', is an American late-night talk show, created and hosted by Jimmy Kimmel, and broadcast on ABC. The nightly hour-long show tapes and is based out of the Hollywood Masonic Temple in Hollywo ...
''
*NFL draft
The NFL draft, officially known as the Annual Player Selection Meeting, is an annual event which serves as the most common source of player recruitment in the National Football League. Each team is given a position in the drafting order in reve ...
* WWE Hall of Fame (2025)
Concert residencies
The theatre has hosted concert residencies
A concert residency (also known as musical residency or simply residency) is a series of concerts, similar to a concert tour, but performed at only one location. The Pollstar, ''Pollstar'' Awards defined a residency as a run of 10 or more shows ...
such as Justin Timberlake & Friends, Paris By Night and Britney: Piece of Me, Jennifer Lopez: All I Have, Backstreet Boys: Larger Than Life and Christina Aguilera: The Xperience.
References
External links
*
*
{{Authority control
1976 establishments in Nevada
Buildings and structures in Paradise, Nevada
Las Vegas Strip
Music venues in the Las Vegas Valley
Theatres in Nevada
Theatres completed in 1976