Hot Vegas

Cases of COVID-19 are ramping up again in the United States -- and the omicron variant has firmly planted roots -- but that doesn't mean things will slow down on the Las Vegas Strip, which is set to go buck wild for NYE.

We've spoken with club sources across Sin City who all tell us the same thing -- their hyped-up party plans to ring in 2022 aren't changing a bit. In fact, Vegas might become an even bigger party destination for the big night if other cities start to shut down.

As for some of the bigger events ...
- The Chainsmokers will be at XS Nightclub
- Zedd at Zouk Nightclub
- Lil Jon at JEWEL Nightclub
- Rick Ross at Drais
- Steve Aoki at Omnia

Almost every party still has tickets available online, meaning venue capacity can still hold more people.

However, we are told casinos and clubs will continue to adhere to the mask mandate put in place by NV Governor Steve Sisolak. The mandate asks patrons to wear masks while inside indoor spaces unless eating or drinking, but as you can imagine, there will be plenty of drinking on NYE.

Of course, those government regulations could get much stricter if the situation worsens -- but as of now, it's full steam ahead.

Gene Simmons is selling his Las Vegas home overlooking the strip for $13.5 mil -- turning a massive profit if he sells -- but he doesn't want just any knucklehead to live in it.

The "Kiss" Frontman joined us on "TMZ Live" and we asked why he decided to sell his beautiful estate and why the price has been reduced -- originally listed as $14.95 mil.

The 11,000-sq-ft home has 6 bedrooms and has many unique features -- including a courtyard, private oasis and 11-seat theater. The singer says he bought a half-acre lot next door and planted 137 trees, so it's really like no other property seen in Vegas nowadays.

Simmons stressed that Vegas is the perfect place to live with no income, state or local tax. So, why in the world is he selling it?! He says his family doesn't want to deal with the Vegas heat or any strippers -- for that matter.

His family might share an unpopular opinion, because in recent years out-of-state buyers have flocked to Vegas, and as far as the prices of homes? Soaring!!

In fact, Simmons says he could really sell the home for nearly double its price, but insists that he doesn't just want any random knucklehead living there. Instead, he wants to meet the next tenant and for them to enjoy living there.

How do you celebrate a big-time win in the Octagon?! If you're UFC star Jose Aldo ... you hit up the LV Raiders game, and then pop bottles and dance to music played by Diplo!

35-year-old Aldo beat fellow UFC star Rob Font at Fight Night Saturday night ... in a 5-round unanimous decision.

Aldo was ranked 5th before the fight ... and since he toppled the 4th ranked fighter, he is very much in title contention.

So, a reason to celebrate ... and celebrate he did Sunday afternoon.

We're told Jose attended the Raiders-WFT game (unfortunately for the hometown fans, the Raiders lost 17-15) ... hitting up the Wynn Field Club at Allegiant Stadium with 7 friends, where they watched football.

FYI, Aldo's Brazilian ... so it's unclear if he's an American football fan, or if he just went for the atmosphere and booze.

After the game, we're told Jose stayed for the game-day afterparty hosted by Diplo ... where he enjoyed bottle service with his friends, dancing up a storm.

DaBaby is putting his Sin City battery case behind him -- we've learned the charges against him have been dismissed.

According to online court records, the misdemeanor battery charge was dismissed with prejudice ... meaning the case is over and done, and can't be refiled.

The Clark County District Attorney's Office tells TMZ ... the charges were dismissed because DaBaby satisfied everything prosecutors asked him to do in order to resolve the case, including paying the alleged victim $7,500 and staying out of trouble.

TMZ broke the story ... a driver in Las Vegas came forward with allegations against DaBaby back in February, claiming the rapper attacked him during a ride in November 2020. DaBaby's camp described the allegations at the time as a "money grab."

DaBaby's attorneys, David Chesnoff and Richard Schonfeld, tell TMZ ... the rapper denied the allegations and was prepared to fight the case in court.

A UNLV student tragically passed away just days after taking part in a charity boxing event for his fraternity ... and now the incident is under investigation.

20-year-old Nathan Valencia -- a member of the Sigma Alpha Epsilon fraternity -- was part of the main event for the Kappa Sigma-hosted "Fight Night" on November 19 ... when he collapsed shortly after his match with a fellow student.

Valencia -- who had no prior boxing experience -- was taken to a nearby hospital with critical injuries ... where he passed away four days later.

Valencia's girlfriend told KTLV she had a "weird feeling" while attending the event ... and said Nathan was visibly trying to get away from the other fighter to regain his breath.

UNLV President Keith Whitfield sent a letter to students after the tragedy ... saying, "We are shocked and heartbroken as we mourn the loss of one of our own. Coping with the loss of life is always difficult, especially under these circumstances."

"UNLV is committing all available resources to review the incident and determine how off-campus events like these can be as safe as possible."

Valencia was a junior studying kinesiology ... and was described by peers as a loving and happy person.

"The amount of pain I’m feeling can’t be put into words," his girlfriend said on Instagram. "I love you more than I love myself. You have always been so amazing to me. I never knew what love was like until I met you."

"Every moment spent with you was a memory I knew I would cherish forever."

The Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department special investigation section launched a probe into the event. We also reached out to the Nevada State Athletic Commission for comment ... so far, no word back.

Trey Songz is the subject of a sexual assault investigation in Las Vegas.

Law enforcement sources tell TMZ the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department is currently looking into claims of a sexual assault incident at The Cosmopolitan. It's unclear what day the alleged assault happened, but we're told the report was made to the police on Sunday.

Our sources say at this time, Trey is cooperating with the investigation ... no arrests have been made.

As for why he was in town, Trey celebrated his 37th birthday at Drai's Nightclub Saturday night. A source at the Cosmo tells us Trey and his entourage brought a group of females back to the hotel from the club, and that's where things allegedly took a turn.

We've reached out to a rep for Trey, so far ... no word back.

Fears a Las Vegas strip club tryout would turn into an Astroworld-esque fiasco got officials to shut down the event, and video shows organizers openly worrying they'd end up in the same shoes as Travis Scott.

Club Ice is a new strip joint in Vegas, and owners hosted open tryouts for dancers this week at Blume Lounge. We're told more than 1,000 girls signed up to show off their stuff, but interested patrons also showed up in droves to watch the dancers.

Problem is, too many people crowded into Blume ... pushing in from the back and squeezing people at the front.

In this video, obtained by TMZ, you can hear one of the event organizers telling everyone to take a step back to avoid a possible Astroworld crush situation. He yelled at the crowd, "Y'all gonna try and trample each other. Y'all not gonna be suing me, talking about 'I let y'all do this s**t.'"

We're told that effort still wasn't enough, and the fire marshal shut down the audition to avoid any potential injuries.

Canelo Alvarez has hands like cement and apparently a voice like a baby angel -- 'cause after the boxer beat Caleb Plant in the ring Saturday ... he showed off his amazing pipes at a nightclub!

Alvarez hit up Zouk in Las Vegas to celebrate his big TKO win ... and at some point during the party, he grabbed the mic from Zedd and blessed the packed crowd with an impromptu singing performance.

The star boxer belted out "Eso Y Mas" -- a popular Mexican love song by Joan Sebastian -- and it was great!!

According to Zedd -- who posted the footage of Canelo's pipes on his TikTok page -- the pugilist sang for about 20 minutes ... and you can see by the DJ's face and everyone else's in the crowd, they were stunned by it all.

Canelo looked awesome on stage -- he was calm and cool, hittin' melodies we never knew he had!!

Macy Gray put together an impromptu private party with a bunch of Chippendales hunks ... and she had the guys act as her backup dancers as she belted out some tunes!!!

Sources tell TMZ ... Macy was having dinner with some friends Wednesday night in Vegas when they had the idea to celebrate the world opening back up, so she enlisted the male revue.

We're told Macy rented out the Star Piano Cocktail Lounge, with a few requests ... 5 Chippendales dancers and enough musical equipment set up for a gig.

Macy and her crew rolled up to the piano bar at 10:30 PM and stayed until about 1 AM ... singing some Fugees and even some of her own hits like "I Try."

With Macy showing off her pipes and playing the piano, the Chippendales did what they do best ... dance.

We're told the booze was flowing ... Macy bought a bottle of Casamigos tequila and a bottle of Champagne ... and she cracked jokes in between songs.

What happens in Vegas certainly shouldn't stay in Vegas -- at least when it comes to pregame hockey shows -- 'cause the Golden Knights unveiled a wild one on Tuesday, and it was INSANE!

Just minutes before the Knights opened their season against the Seattle Kraken ... the team showed off a virtual masterpiece on their ice to hype up the home crowd.

The show started with a giant octopus circling underneath the rink, while a knight mascot skated above it.

Eventually, the squid busted through and put the knight in danger ... and the optics of it all looked like a scene straight out of a Hollywood movie.

The knight, of course, ultimately came out on top of the giant creature ... which sent the crowd into a frenzy and absolutely lit up social media.

The pregame juice seemed to help the Knights too ... 'cause Vegas ended up winning the season-opener against the Kraken, 4-3.

UFC fighter, Alexander Hernandez, told the media he wanted to "party his d*** off" after nearly flatlining Mike Breeden ... and while he says the D is "intact", the 29-year-old fighter did run up a MASSIVE tab in a Sin City club.

TMZ Sports talked to Hernandez following his 1st round knockout at UFC Fight Night ... and asked him about the nights festivities.

"D*** is intact, but the partying was out of control, dude."

"I wanted to just go to old town Vegas and hang out with the locals, and just do simple pleasantries, and just have a good time out there, walk past some shady guy, hand me some s*** in the bathroom, and I'll be like, 'Okay, whatever, in Vegas.'"

But, the Fremont wasn't meant to be, and Alex says he got "coaxed into some goddamn Tiesto club party ..."

Hernandez says they ended up getting a table ... and they dropped an insane amount of cash.

"I got a text message about a $23,000 tab. And, I'm like, 'the AT&T user you're trying to reach is no longer in service.' You're gonna have to speak to somebody else about that."

David Lee Roth says he's getting ready to hang it all up, but first, he's going out with a bang on the Las Vegas Strip ... where he'll pay homage to his Van Halen days.

David, the former VH frontman, announced his retirement plans Friday ... saying his 5 upcoming shows in Las Vegas will be his last onstage hurrah.

DLR dropped the bombshell news in a phone interview with the Las Vegas Review-Journal, saying ... "I am throwing in the shoes. I'm retiring."

Diamond Dave says the Van Halen era comes to a close in January at the House of Blues at Mandalay Bay with a handful of shows from New Year's Eve to Jan. 8 -- and you can bet he'll be jumping and dancing the night away every night.

David says he already gave old pal Alex Van Halen a heads up on his retirement ... and it sounds like Eddie Van Halen's death, and David's upcoming 67th birthday, are a factor in his decision to walk away.

David says he thought he'd be the first member of the iconic rock band to die, not Eddie, and says his doctors and handlers tell him every time he goes onstage he endangers his future.

AJ McLean says postponing the Backstreet Boys' upcoming Vegas residency was the right thing to do for 2 good reasons ... the pandemic and their international fans.

The BSB singer joined "TMZ Live" Monday -- along with NSYNC's Joey Fatone -- and explained it was only right to push his group's Vegas residency until 2022, because a lot of fans from outside the U.S. still can't travel here.

The 'Boys were slated to begin their residency in November at Zappos Theater inside Planet Hollywood. They were also set to simultaneously drop their first-ever Christmas album. AJ says the residency and the album, which is still in the works, go hand in hand ... and it's why the album release was also delayed.

That being said ... AJ, Joey and others are still slated to perform this upcoming weekend in Miami at Fountainbleu for its 90's Pool Party. We had to ask ... why still move forward with that, while delaying the residency? AJ gave us the deets.

Mark Davis is having no trouble adjusting to his new home in Vegas ... 'cause the Raiders owner just made a chunk of change at the slot machines earlier this week -- and TMZ Sports has the pic!!!

We're told the son of legendary owner Al Davis hit up the Virgin Hotels in Sin City on Tuesday night to test his luck ahead of the 2021 season ... posting up at the Wheel of Fortune slots around 11 PM.

As it turns out, the man worth reportedly $500 million seemingly got a bit richer ... raking in about $1,800 on one turn!

Of course, things haven't always been fine and dandy for Davis -- as we previously reported, he got in a bit of a fender bender with his Mini Cooper in a shopping center parking lot right off the Strip back in June.

We're sure Davis is gonna hope this luck continues as the Raiders take their home field at Allegiant Stadium against the Baltimore Ravens on Monday Night Football.

Kate Beckinsale has been rushed to the hospital in Las Vegas.

Sources connected to Kate tell TMZ ... the 'Underworld' star has been staying at The Signature at MGM Grand while in town to shoot the film, "Prisoner's Daughter." We're told around 10:30 AM Friday morning, her back went out and it was bad enough that she was rushed to a nearby hospital by ambulance.

We're told at the time of this posting Kate is still in the ER. Her condition is unclear ... we're told this is all happening in real-time.

Kate posted a photo on social media Thursday from Vegas ... we're told she's been there about a week shooting the movie.

Beckinsale became a Hollywood starlet in the late '90s after starring in "Brokedown Palace," but really broke out the next couple years with roles in "Pearl Harbor" and "Serendipity."

She went on to star in "Van Helsing" and landed a leading lady role soon after with the 'Underworld' franchise.

Tiffany Haddish never passes up an opportunity to put on a show -- and that was certainly the case this weekend during a double date in Vegas ... where she took the building by storm.

The comedian was at dinner Saturday night at Delilah (the Wynn resort one), with none other than her BF, Common, and Chelsea Handler ... who was with her guy, Jo Koy -- all of whom were in attendance, we're told, for a group outing.

There was a live jazz band performing for the guests there, and at one point -- TH felt the urge to get on stage herself and do a showstopping number with the help of the musicians.

Check out this video of Tiff doing exactly that ... performing a cover of Tina Turner's "Proud Mary" to what we're told ended up being a lot of fanfare. Word is ... she got a standing O after, and you can kinda see why. Tiffany's busted a move and got her sing on, big time!

Definitely a cool moment ... but it's far from the first time Tiffany's gotten a hold of a mic to entertain a crowd on the spot. She actually does it pretty often -- we've seen her do a pop-up show during Thanksgiving last year, and even at a Golden Globes after-party in 2020.