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Eugene “Big U” Henley Jr. has pleaded not guilty to a flurry of charges he’s facing in connection with racketeering, gang violence, and murder. The mother of one of Big U’s alleged murder victims, Rayshawn Williams, believes that the music executive and assumed gang boss committed the crime.
TMZ Hip Hop spoke with the mother and sister of Rayshawn Williams outside of a Roscoe’s Chicken & Waffles location in California. Shadonna Brown took questions from the outlet’s reporter regarding Big U’s ongoing case, and she didn’t mince words about her assessment of Henley and his alleged involvement in the death of her son.
Court documents highlight that Henley carried out a hit against Williams, who was a rapper signed to Henley’s Uneek Music label, after a dispute in Las Vegas went awry. FBI agent Andrew Roosa said that Williams was flown to Las Vegas in January 2021 by Henley and was slated to record music, but didn’t show up to the sessions. This appeared to anger Henley, who flew to Las Vegas to oversee the sessions. After that, what occurred remains a mystery.
Brown says her “mother’s intuition” is what led her to believe Big U was responsible for her son’s murder. Even further, it appeared that Williams recorded a song dissing his label boss, even down to how he would pass away. Williams was found shot several times in a Nevada landfill, and some suggest that the hit was carried out due to the diss track.
Williams and Henley’s son played football together in high school, highlighting the depth of the bond they seemed to share. Brown has since launched a GoFundMe to relocate for what she says are safety reasons. She also added that Henley never contacted her after the death of her son.
—Photo: Getty
Penske Media Corporation (PMC) is in talks to open a Rolling Stone Hotel and Casino in downtown Las Vegas, sources tell Billboard.
The potential property would open on the site of the Downtown Grand Hotel & Casino, which PMC (owner of Rolling Stone as well as brands including Billboard) is currently in talks to acquire from CIM Group, the sources say. As reported by Vital Vegas, which first reported the news of PMC’s possible acquisition, PMC is just one of several potential buyers for the property; suitors have also included John Unwin‘s Corvus Collective, which dropped out after failing to come up with the $30 million in cash needed to complete the purchase. Downtown Grand is currently managed by Fifth Street Gaming.
If talks are successful, the Rolling Stone Hotel and Casino could well be the future site of the Life Is Beautiful Music & Art Festival, which PMC acquired through Rolling Stone in 2022. As a PMC spokesperson told the Las Vegas Review-Journal in February, the festival “is in the process of making a long-term investment in Las Vegas real estate for the festival’s new home downtown.” A version of Life Is Beautiful, A Big Beautiful Block Party, was staged for two days and nights last September at the Plaza Hotel and Casino in downtown Vegas with headliners Peggy Gou, Justice, LCD Soundsystem, Jamie xx and Jungle.
While nothing is confirmed — sources say the due diligence process for PMC’s potential acquisition of the Downtown Hotel & Casino is underway — Rolling Stone and its sister brands have been looking to strategically invest in opportunities that create brand extensions. Indeed, licensing and experiential opportunities have been a major part of the brand strategy for PMC and Rolling Stone. On March 12, Rolling Stone opened Rolling Stone Presents: Amplified, The Immersive Rock Experience, a first-of-its-kind 360-degree immersive music history experience at Illuminarium Las Vegas at AREA15 that included more than 1,000 photographs, 200 videos and 1,300 Rolling Stone covers and featured more than 300 iconic artists.
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“While we do not comment on specific investment or acquisition details, Penske Media is always looking for strategic opportunities that meet the long-term goals of our brands,” said a spokesperson for Penske Media. “We are committed to growing our international and domestic footprints in both experiential and hospitality for Rolling Stone. As producers of over three hundred events annually across the portfolio, Las Vegas, like other entertainment centers, remains an important market for us.”
Rolling Stone is looking into several additional real estate opportunities around the world and will consider those that meet strategic long-term goals for the brand, sources say, with the Rolling Stone name being licensed for casinos and hotels, similar to Peter Morton‘s Hard Rock Cafe playbook.
PMC and its brands produce more than 300 live events per year and have several events planned in Las Vegas, including the 51st American Music Awards — part of PMC-owned Dick Clark Productions — which will return to the city on Monday, May 26. There is also talk of the 61st annual Academy of Country Music Awards moving to Vegas next year, sources say.
Two of the world’s most iconic names in electronic music — U.S.-based Insomniac and Belgium’s Tomorrowland — are joining forces for the first time ever to debut a groundbreaking new experience titled UNITY.
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The collaborative project will premiere over Labor Day weekend (Aug. 29–31) at Sphere in Las Vegas, one of the most technologically advanced venues on the planet.
Billed as “just the beginning,” UNITY marks the first chapter in a broader partnership between the two powerhouse festival producers and promises to transport audiences into a new dimension of immersive music and storytelling.
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“Through the past decades, we both have strived to create festivals and experiences around the world that foster beautiful, unique communities of individuals,” reads a joint statement from Insomniac and Tomorrowland. “Music is our universal language, the dance floor our sanctuary, and every one of you, our family. Now, for the first time in history, our worlds become one.”
“Now, for the first time in history, our worlds become one. In UNITY, we join together to create a brand-new experience that harnesses the magic, love, and awe-inspiring moments within our events—and there’s no better stage on earth than Sphere.”
Merging Tomorrowland’s signature dreamworlds — including Planaxis, Adscendo, and Orbyz — with Insomniac’s flagship universes like Beyond Wonderland, Escape Halloween, and Electric Daisy Carnival (EDC), the UNITY experience is being described as a guided audiovisual journey through the imagination. The story will unfold across an original orchestral-meets-electronic soundtrack, featuring cinematic compositions and iconic dance anthems, building toward surprise DJ performances during a climactic finale.
The event will take full advantage of Sphere’s next-gen immersive capabilities, including its 16K resolution wraparound LED display and Sphere Immersive Sound system, allowing UNITY to blur the lines between fantasy and reality, bringing fans inside the shared creative visions of both brands.
Vibee is offering exclusive hotel and ticket packages from March 27–30 at unity.vibee.com, with general presale access beginning March 31 at 10 a.m. General on-sale begins April 7 at unityxsphere.com.
03/21/2025
What was new compared to last year’s run of Dead Forever shows?
03/21/2025
When the Eagles began their residency at Las Vegas’ Sphere back in September, they also debuted a Third Encore fan experience at the neighboring Venetian Resort. The space allowed fans to go inside a re-creation of the famed Troubadour venue where the California rockers got their start in the 1970s; legend has it that Don Henley and Glenn Frey met at the West Hollywood club.This year, Live Nation’s travel and music company Vibee expanded the VIP experience to include a Hotel California pop-up, paying tribute to the band’s 1976 album and its immortal title track, which has opened each Sphere show in epic fashion. Just like the Troubadour re-creation, the Hotel California installation includes memorabilia from the band’s archive, including Joe Walsh’s personal collection of hotel keys, a neon sign from the original Hotel California Tour, and unseen photos from the era.
A hotel lobby desk in the space also doubles as a bar — serving pink champagne on ice, of course — with the “Manager on Duty” listed as Irving Azoff, the band’s real-life manager for the past 50-plus years.
The most interactive piece of the space is three hotel room doors that open to three different moments in the song, with each room number representing the time code of the corresponding lyrics. Room 052 takes you to a “dark desert highway,” with a circa-1970s car dashboard leading the way; room 118 has a “mission bell” hanging above the doorway; and room 354 leads to a spooky mirrored hallway in search of “the passage back to the place I was before.”
On Thursday night (March 20), Dead & Company return to Sphere for their second-round residency, and their own Vibee space has popped back up on the floor above Third Encore. But Eagles fans can make their way back to the Troub and Hotel California when the band returns next month for four more dates.
Earlier this week, Eagles announced even more Sphere dates, with four concerts set for this September — marking their one-year anniversary of first playing the venue. Other Sphere concerts coming this summer: the first residencies for country star Kenny Chesney (starting in May) and pop all-stars the Backstreet Boys.
For more information on Vibee VIP travel packages that include Third Encore access, which also allows fans to buy exclusive merch not available at the concerts, click here. And for your first look inside the Hotel California pop-up, see the photos below.
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The resentment against Elon Musk and Tesla continues to increase. Arsonists have set fire to the vehicles in both Las Vegas and Kansas City.
As spotted on The Verge, Tesla facilities are now being targeted as part of protests against its polarizing CEO. On Tuesday (March 18), an unidentified individual wearing all black threw several Molotov cocktails at Tesla cars at a Tesla collision center in Las Vegas. Each of the automobiles immediately caught fire prompting local first responder teams to arrive on the scene. Thankfully, the fire department was able to extinguish the fire before any of the batteries exploded. According to The Las Vegas Review-Journal, bullet casings were also found as well as graffiti that read “RESIST.”
A similar incident occurred in Kansas City where someone set fire to a Cybertruck in a Tesla parking lot. A local police officer responded and attempted to put the fire out with an extinguisher but was unable to. Soon, the fire spread to another vehicle parked next to the Cybertruck. Kansas City Police Captain Jacob Becchina says that the “circumstances are under investigation, but preliminarily, the fire is being investigated for the potential of being an Arson.”
As expected these incidents are not being taken lightly by the United States government. Attorney General Pamela Bondi released a statement calling both acts “nothing short of domestic terrorism.” She added that the Department of Justice would “continue investigations that impose severe consequences on those involved in these attacks, including those operating behind the scenes to coordinate and fund these crimes.”
Elon Musk commented on the matter saying these are terrorist attacks. He doubled down adding that Tesla “just makes electric cars and has done nothing to deserve these evil attacks.”
You can see footage of the fires below.
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Las Vegas is known for its iconic music residencies, and the new kid on the Strip, the Sphere, is becoming the hot-ticket destination for immersive live music and concerts. Since opening its doors in 2023, the impressive venue has gathered an even more impressive lineup of musical acts to grace its futuristic stage.
For those who haven’t made their way to Sin City yet or seen the many viral emoji face memes gracing the Internet, the Sphere is a massive, spherical venue known for its immersive entertainment experiences, including concerts and films, featuring a state-of-the-art 16K resolution wraparound screen and a powerful sound system.
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From U2, to Phish, to the Eagles, the Sphere is already home to some legendary rockers. U2 helped launch the space with a concert residency, U2:UV Achtung Baby Live, which went on to sell out 40 dates through its extraordinary run from September 2023 through March 2024. The show has since concluded, but fans can still experience their captivating performance through an immersive concert film showing exclusively at the Sphere.
For Eagles fans, the band has recently added four additional shows to their residency this fall, thanks to overwhelming demand. Their run now features a total of 36 shows over 18 weekends, which started Sept. 20, 2024, and so far concludes this Sept. 13.
But what about other genres? As of late, the venue is slowly expanding its array of shows, including a historic run by Anyma, the first electronic artist to grace the stage; hosting the UFC 306 event; and more recently, announcing its first-ever pop act to hold a residency with the Backstreet Boys. There were even rumors circling of Harry Styles planning a 35-date run at the venue, but the news was unfortunately squashed.
If you’re planning a trip to Las Vegas or looking for an exciting new way to experience live music, the Sphere should be high up on your list. To help you plan your next getaway, we’ve gathered a complete list of current Sphere residencies in 2025, as well as where to buy tickets.
See below for a roundup of Sphere residencies to check out this year.
March 2025:
April 2025:
April 2 – 29: U2: V-U2 Immersive Concert Film at the Sphere (Buy tickets here or here)
April 4 – 12: The Eagles at Sphere (Buy tickets here or here)
April 17 – 26: Dead & Company: Dead Forever at the Sphere (Buy tickets here or here)
May 2025:
May 9 – 17: Dead & Company: Dead Forever at the Sphere (Buy tickets here or here)
May 22 – 31: Kenny Chesney at the Sphere (Buy tickets here or here)
June 2025:
June 4 – 21: Kenny Chesney at the Sphere (Buy tickets here or here)
July 2025:
July 11 – 27: Backstreet Boys: Into the Millennium (Buy tickets here or here)
August 2025:
August 1 – 17: Backstreet Boys: Into the Millennium (Buy tickets here or here)
September 2025:
Sept. 5 – 13: The Eagles at Sphere (Buy tickets here or here)
Ticket sales for Beyoncé’s Cowboy Carter Tour are off to a galloping start. Barely a month after pre-sales began and with six weeks until opening night, the world tour is at 94% capacity across all dates, according to new stats from promoter Live Nation. The Cowboy Carter Tour was announced on Feb. 3 with 22 […]
Janet Jackson is taking immersive audio to new heights with her new Las Vegas residency at Resorts World Theatre in Las Vegas.
The two-hour show runs through 43 of Jackson’s biggest hits, including tracks “What Have You Done For Me Lately,” “Nasty” and “When I Think of You,” the single from her 1986 Control album that became her first No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100. Powering the show is L-Acoustics’ most advanced loudspeaker deployment to date, with 242 speakers spread out across the stage and proscenium to evenly deliver high-quality sound to each of Resorts World Theater’s 5,000 seats.
The brains of L-Acoustics’ loudspeaker systems is L-ISA, the pioneering immersive audio platform that utilizes patented acoustic algorithms and proprietary technology to create ultra-high-resolution spatial audio with precise sound placement. By utilizing L-ISA, Jackson’s audio team was able to develop a carefully detailed soundscape for the show that’s designed to reinforce the artist-audience connection.
Started in 1984 by French physicist and Pink Floyd fan Christian Heil, L-Acoustics is best known for creating the modern speaker line array, a configuration for evenly distributed amplified sound that came to replace the stacked sound configuration rock bands relied on during the 1980s. L-ISA is an extension of that technology, equipping sound engineers with tools to sonically place any of the show’s 99 channels into specific locations throughout the theater. In using L-ISA for Jackson’s show, sound engineer Caram Costanzo was able to sonically space out instruments for better sound clarity, send other sounds in loops around the audience and enable Jackson’s vocals to follow her across the stage — with her voice even rising in height for one scene in which she utilizes a lift to hoist her atop the stage.
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“Whether you’re seated right in the middle or on the right or the left, the sound draws the audience in and creates greater intimacy,” says Scott Sugden, director of project management at L-Acoustics. “And as an artist on stage, [they] notice the audience is more captivated and engaged and it leads to a better experience for both the artist and the fan.”
This is far from the first time L-Acoustics has had a presence in Las Vegas. Adele used the company for her Weekends with Adele residency at the Colosseum at Caesars Palace, as did fellow Resorts World alums Katy Perry, Carrie Underwood and Luke Bryan for their respective residencies at the hotel and casino. But Jackson’s show represents the company’s most advanced deployment on the strip to date.
Resorts World Theater — named the world’s highest-grossing venue with a capacity of less than 5,000 on Billboard’s annual Top Grossing Venues list for 2023 — boasts the first fixed install of L-ISA in Las Vegas, powered by seven line arrays across the front of the stage, each outfitted with 14 of the company’s k2 loudspeakers and complemented with a complex mix of out-fill and center hung arrays, subs, coaxials and processors.
“This theater is very unique in terms of sound design,” says L-Acoustics CEO Laurent Vaissié, noting the intimate interior design by Quebec theatrical architecture firm Scéno Plus at the venue, where the furthest seat from the stage is just 150 feet away. However, he adds, “It’s L-ISA that creates the show’s unique soundscape and brings it into three dimensions.”
Sugden says that while many audio aficionados have described the L-ISA system as immersive audio because of its ability to fully immerse the listener with sound, he prefers the term “hyperreal” because it “enhances the reality of the show.”
“It’s localizing her voice and making sure that it’s really intelligible and separated from the rest of the instruments we can localize on stage,” he said. “It’s much more than just surround sound; it’s the ability to position sound and the artist’s voice in ways that make the most sense. We have this canvas which allows the engineer and the artist to paint sound in three dimensions, and what they do with that is completely a creative choice.”
Janet Jackson: Las Vegas runs through May 31 at Resorts World Theater. For more information, visit rwlasvegas.com.
Kelly Clarkson is heading back to Las Vegas!
The superstar announced on Thursday (Feb. 6) her new residency at The Colosseum at Caesars Palace called Kelly Clarkson: Studio Sessions. She previously hosted residencies at PH Live at Planet Hollywood Resort & Casino in 2023 and 2024.
“I’m so excited to be back in Vegas,” Clarkson shared in a press statement. “We’re bringing the studio to the stage this time with ‘Studio Sessions!’ See y’all there!
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The series of dates kick off on July 4 and will continue throughout July and August. The “Since U Been Gone” singer will then take a few months off before returning for four shows in November.
Citi cardmembers will have access to presale tickets staring on Friday (Feb. 7) at 10 a.m. PT via the Citi Entertainment program. See more information here. After that, fan club presale will begin on Feb. 8 at 10 a.m. PT. Presale for Caesars Rewards members, Caesars Entertainment’s loyalty program and Live Nation and Ticketmaster customers will begin on Feb. 10. Lastly, public onsale begins on Feb. 14 at 10 a.m. PT via the Ticketmaster link here.
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It’s gearing up to be a busy year for Clarkson, whose popular daytime talk show The Kelly Clarkson Show, was renewed for a seventh season in December. Since the show’s launch in 2019, it has earned 22 Daytime Emmys, with Clarkson personally winning eight of those awards.
See the full dates for Kelly Clarkson: Studio Sessions – The Las Vegas Residency below.
July 2025: 4, 5, 11, 12, 18, 19, 25, 26August 2025: 1, 2, 8, 9, 15, 16November 2025: 7, 8, 14, 15