Saturday night, 8 of us went to see the legendary Jerry Seinfeld at the all new Hard Rock Hotel. I’d been to the Comedy Club, gambled and had dinner before (Abiaka, their wood fired grill is exceptional) but this is my first time inside the HRL.
Holy crap! What a difference from the old one. It’s a beautiful room, set up like a grand theater, where every seat faces the stage in many levels. We paid A LOT and sat in the 3rd row, and yeah...the seats were amazing. For people way up high and in the back, there were giant video screens. There’s also a seating area with couches, which I need to look into...More on Jerry in a minute.
First, some tips on getting into the place...on a show night it can be a challenge because there’s 7000 people all trying to get in at once, and unlike the old venue, there’s no outside entrance, so they funnel everyone into the casino, which is brilliant on their part, but it creates a bottle neck at the security entrance, which is set up like the TSA at the airport. My recommendation is to not be like us, and actually get there early. We didn’t arrive at the hotel until 7:45, for an 8pm show and traffic getting into the place was insane. Next time, I’ll get there early, gamble a bit, have some cocktails and slide into the venue early to avoid the crush. Leaving the place after the show is the same drill, all 7000 plus people shuffle out and right into the casino, nothing you can do about that. Conveniently there are bars everywhere.
Parking: Ugh. Everyone on the planet is at the hotel partying on Friday and Saturday nights, so next time I’m gonna Uber because the line for the regular valet once you’re trying to leave can be 100 people deep. Now, when you get there, you can pay $50 and your car will be up front, we decided to drop that $50 (worth it when split between two couples) and it was the best decision we ever made, because my car was there in minutes. I used the lucky street entrance on 441, coming from the north and have no idea what it’s like on the other side.
The Show: I have seen Jerry Seinfeld many times over the years, at the old Sunrise Musical Theater, at the BB & T (I think) and at the old Hard Rock Live. The first thing I’m going to say is the same thing someone said online to me this week, “wow, he got old”. Yeah, we all do...everyday we get older, the problem is, we see Jerry on TV every night and he’s 33 years old in his prime on Seinfeld, in reality he’s a 65 year old man, with a wife and 3 kids, one of which is off to college. So, yeah..Jerry got older, and you will too, you know what didn’t get old? His comedy. He was brilliant.
He skewered everything from texting, to raisins to going out. He crushed, all you can eat buffets, hydration and energy drinks. He is so good at poking holes into the everyday ordinary things that we do and say everyday, even the expression, “it is what it is”, that as a guy who tries to make people laugh for a living ...realize that his simplicity is also his genius. The whole act was new, and he didn’t disappoint.
Oh, and I lost $100 in the slots.