A Las Vegas residency is a long series of shows in a single Las Vegas venue. Instead of chasing audiences around the world, the star settles into one stage for months or years and lets the fans fly in.
Elvis Presley set the template at the International Hotel, later the Las Vegas Hilton, from July 1969 to December 1976. A statue and plaque at the hotel credit him with 837 consecutive sold-out shows, but that number is best treated as a legend: Graceland’s chief archivist counted the showroom performances and reached 636, and nobody seems sure where 837 came from. The modern era arrived in 2003, when Caesars Palace built the 4,298-seat Colosseum for Celine Dion’s show A New Day. Elton John, Cher, Shania Twain and Britney Spears all followed her there, and Elton dubbed the venue the house that Celine built.