Metro Detroit’s casino nightlife sizzles, even for non-gamblers. Tim Sheehan couldn’t believe his luck. Sipping a beer at MotorCity Casino’s Overdrive Lounge, he felt as if he’d hit the jackpot — without once rolling the dice, slipping money into a slot machine or flipping a single card. Celebrating his 25th wedding anniversary at the casino’s Iridescence restaurant (but with no interest in gambling), he had wandered into the bar after dinner to wait while his wife, Joan, a teacher, settled in to play the slots.
As the high-energy band 50 Amp Fuse burned through Honky Tonk Woman, Bohemian Rhapsody and other classic rock favorites, Sheehan morphed from a mild-mannered suburbanite biding his time into an enthusiastic fan, bobbing to the beat.
“These guys are fantastic — I’m impressed, I really am,” he says as the band finishes a blistering rendition of Red House. He adds, “This is the best Jimi Hendrix I’ve heard since Jimi Hendrix! I generally stay home when my wife comes to the casino, but now knowing this is here, I think I might come along. This is like a free concert.”
Like Sheehan, who manages regulatory affairs for a Canton chemical firm, I was pleasantly surprised by the wide array of entertainment I discovered recently at metro Detroit’s three downtown casinos and across the Detroit River at Casino Windsor in Ontario, Canada.
Sent to check out casino nightlife for the non-gaming crowd, I became, uncharacteristically, a veritable lounge lizard for a few weeknights and weekends as the new $800-million MGM Grand Detroit Casino hotel complex made its splashy debut and the MotorCity Casino Hotel prepared to roll out expanded entertainment venues.
With Casino Windsor and Greektown Casino also poised to open new additions this year, Detroit’s entertainment action promises to sizzle even more. On any given night in the four casinos, options may include pop, rock, contemporary, Motown, blues, jazz, karaoke, open mic, occasional country or, eventually, even comedy acts. (Look for updated entertainment schedules in local newspapers or online.)
Here’s a sampler of the entertainment options you can find beyond the blackjack tables and roulette wheels.
A Room with a VU
You can’t beat the spectacular, postcard view of Detroit’s skyline from the aptly named VU Bar on the second floor of Casino Windsor, now part of Harrah’s and just a short drive from Detroit via the Ambassador Bridge or Detroit-Windsor Tunnel.
With stylish lighting, artsy murals and plush pod chairs in cranberry or periwinkle, the vibe in this contemporary-retro lounge is as cool as the views from its floor-to-ceiling windows and signature drinks such as Chunky Munky martinis and Louis XIII cognac that bartender Monica Mosimann pours for $156 a shot. Hours are 6 p.m. to
2 a.m., Wednesday through Saturday.
Smokers are especially fond of the VU Bar’s outdoor patio, the only spot at Casino Windsor where, under new Ontario laws, smoking is permitted. Elsewhere, the casino is well ventilated and smoke free, just right for rocking in the airy main bar, Cosmos Lounge, to such high-energy groups as Superfreaks and, on the Friday night I visited, Pauly and the Greaseballs.
“The music is worth coming out for,” Shirley Cassady of Windsor tells me as we sit at the stage front bar doing the hand jive with the band. “We’re going to come back for the second show after we make a ‘deposit’ (in the slot machines).”
When it comes to wagering, sports fans head for Legends, a sports bar where a digitized ticker tape of current scores rotates around the room and games are broadcast on three nine-foot TV screens and three-dozen smaller TV screens. “We get games that wouldn’t be shown on TV at home,” says Sean Doyle, food and beverage manager with the casino.
A Place to Escape
The Apollo Lounge anchors a corner of the lively Greektown Casino, with enough high-octane entertainment on its velvet-draped stage to even capture the attention of some of the nearby slot machine players who actually pry their eyes from the screens to watch the show. I joined the crowd ogling Velocity, a buff and gyrating troupe of nine women and three male dancers whose tight-fitting, sometimes-skimpy outfits run the gamut from combat-style camouflage to revealing black leather.
Against a backdrop of flashing lights and pounding sound, their versatile show, a regular Thursday night revue, includes everything from rap and hip-hop, Tina Turner and Steely Dan to Michael Jackson’s zombie-walking Thriller. Typically, some folks in the audience are moved to jump out of their seats and boogie. Other performers, including throaty torch singers and Motown acts, also get the Apollo Lounge crowd going.
Elsewhere around the Greek-themed casino, sports fans gather in Opa, a circular bar with TVs on all sides and bar-top video poker machines. Other casino-goers belly up for a quick drink or game of video poker at either Ouzo or Galleria on the edge of the gaming floor.
But one of Detroit’s best-kept secrets is a little jewel of a piano bar tucked away in Greektown Casino’s fine dining restaurant, Alley Grille Steakhouse. You’ll catch talented pianist Stefan Kukurugya most Friday and Saturday nights, from 6 p.m. to 11 p.m., crooning standards from the ’40s and ’50s, and hits by Al Green, Aretha Franklin, James Brown or Billy Joel. If you’re looking for an intimate escape from the casino cacophony, this is the place to be.
The House Is on Fire
Patrons of the sleek new permanent home of MGM Grand Detroit Casino have a choice of five distinct nightlife environments, from the hip, blue-toned Agua, with Latin-inspired music, rippling ceiling and rum or tequila specialty drinks; to the dazzling, high-tech
V lounge, designed for just 100 guests.
Every Thursday through Sunday, favorite Detroit and celebrity deejays spin turntables at the exclusive V lounge while guests dance — and sexy “V dancers” perform — amid shifting, rainbow-hued lights and state-of-the-art sound. The adrenaline-spiked action is visible in outline on the gaming floor.
Another MGM hot spot, Ignite, sparks excitement with edgy décor that includes oversize couches, a bar made of real ice and a special-effects wall of alternating fire and ice. Local deejays spin contemporary music on weekends while club-goers order tapas-style snacks, signature martinis and premium pours.
Guests may slip into Ignite’s separate, glassed-in cigar lounge to relax over a favorite cocktail or choose from two bourbons — Woodford Reserve and Knob Creek — custom-made exclusively for the casino. The clubby, red-hued space is located near the entrance to the casino’s non-smoking poker room. Bottle service is available in both V and Ignite.
Live nightly entertainment, from 8 p.m. to 1 a.m., draws visitors to Int Ice, an upscale lounge featuring pianists Sunday through Wednesday. Live bands play jazz, blues and adult contemporary music Thursday through Saturday, while Fridays feature Detroit’s own Jesse Palter, named Outstanding Jazz Vocalist at the 2007 Detroit Music Awards, and her jazz trio.
At the heart of the MGM Grand Detroit Casino, the see-and-be-seen crowd vies
for booths and comfy bar stools at U-Me-Drink, surrounded by giant carved wood and acrylic panels that slide on tracks and reflect a moving tapestry of reflections. Local deejays heat up the lounge with signature mash-ups and dance music every weekend, while a special sound system features custom musical play lists on weekdays.
Well-Heeled and Upscale
Ambitious plans are in the works to enhance the already high-energy nightlife at the bustling auto-themed MotorCity Casino, where a new 400-room hotel opened late November along with an “ultra-lounge,” Amnesia, next to the casino’s glass-front Iridescence gourmet restaurant, now on the 17th floor.
The reservation-only nightclub, open Thursday, Friday and Saturday from 10 p.m. to “whenever,” is accessible by a dedicated elevator and aims to attract a well-heeled, 35-and-up crowd, says Rhonda Cohen, MotorCity’s chief operating officer. “You do that by hiring the right deejays, offering the right music, dress codes, things like that,” she says, adding that a cutting-edge sound system boasts both live deejays and veejays – or video jocks. Amnesia’s choice mezzanine-area offers bottle service only.
Also on tap at press time were MotorCity’s new sports bar (on the site of the former Chromatics Lounge) and Soundboard, a huge new theater venue for live entertainment, including jazz, Motown and classic rock. “Comedy might be something we do and we could even put a boxing ring in there,” Cohen says. With a lobby bar and four inside bars, Soundboard will be modeled after a multi-tiered House of Blues with room for 1,200 seated or, with a mosh pit, up to 2,000 standing. Skyboxes will be reserved for VIPs, while an area on the top balcony will house four daybeds.
“We’re creating a really different dynamic in entertainment in downtown Detroit,” Cohen says. “Even if people are not really gamers, there are plenty of reasons to
come here.”
No Gambling Required
The same holds true with all of the metro Detroit casinos. So if you don’t feel like feeding a machine or sitting down for some blackjack or poker, you might want to visit anyway, just to get your groove on or listen to some of the area’s best DJs spin their magic.
Award-winning travel writer Susan R. Pollack has lived in metro Detroit for 34 years. |
