This is one of those things that’s just too Vegas not to mention. The Hilton just sent out a press release announcing that it now holds the record for the biggest hand-painted mural in town. If you’ve driven by, it won’t take you long to guess who’s on it.
The Las Vegas Hilton is now home to the largest hand painted mural in Las Vegas, with the 128’ X 56’10” image of Hilton headliner Barry Manilow on display on the property’s main tower (South facing).
The mural was installed over a five day period using a grid system to prepare the image and three painters using brushes and rollers to complete the finished mural on Saturday, February 3.
“We wanted to reflect Barry’s presence at our property in a big and unique way” said Ken Ciancimino, Las Vegas Hilton executive vice president. “It can’t get much bigger than this and, just like Barry, it will have staying power-the elements can’t affect it.”
Sky Tag, the company responsible for the mural, specializes in spectacular images in metropolitan areas. It digitally prints large building wraps; paints super-sized supergraphics; and designs the largest murals in the United States. This is the biggest superstar mural the company has painted in Las Vegas.
Manilow opened “Music and Passion” at the Las Vegas Hilton on February 23, 2005 and in March 2006, the resort extended his exclusive long-term engagement through 2008.
“Manilow: Music and Passion” is an exciting, multi-faceted production that features contemporary hi-tech music and effects mixed with the classic entertainment values of Las Vegas legends such as Sinatra, Presley, Davis, and Martin. It stars Manilow and a cast and band of 14, offering not only a full-scale production but also the intimacy of a state-of-the-art 1,700-seat theater, unique “on-stage” seating, incredible songs and a concert that changes on a nightly basis.
Think about how far technology has come. When Elvis headlined the same room, they just put his name up on the sign–no big deal. Now, you can wrap an entire building in your superstar attraction.
I’d like to get a look at some of these contracts and see if there are provisions specifying how big the performer’s mural must be–in some of the old Sands files that we have, you can see contracts that are very definite about whose name is biggest, and by how much. For example, if Sammy Davis had pulled up to the Sands and seen his name smaller than “Will Mastin Trio,” he would have walked–or at least his contract would have let him.
After pool wars, headliner wars, buffet wars, cashback wars, and spa wars, are we now going to see face wars?
And will future buildings, even for upscale properties, be designed without ornament, to better accomodate these mega-billboards? Or will huge stretches of the building be wired for shifting light displays, like Harrah’s Atlantic City’s tower?