Fremont Street Experience

Lonely Planet review

The 1400ft (427m) canopy over downtown's Fremont St, between Main St and Las Vegas Blvd, is steroid-enhanced by 550,000 watts of concert-hall sound and a super-big Viva Vision screen. When the 12.5 million synchronized LEDs come on, cheesy sound-and-light shows are awesome enough to hypnotize every spectator (especially if you're drunk).

A decade ago, Vegas' downtrodden downtown had lost nearly all its tourists to the rapidly developing Strip. With the opening of each new megaresort on Las Vegas Blvd, the older casino hotels had lost some of their luster. Downtown was heading downhill, fast; something had to be done.

Always ready for a gamble, city and business boosters came up with a plan, which was realised in December 1995: an $87-million, five-block pedestrian mall topped by an arched steel canopy filled with computer-controlled lights. Five times nightly, the canopy over Fremont St between Main St and Las Vegas Blvd turns on a six-minute light-and-sound show enhanced by 550,000 watts of concert-hall-worthy sound. When all the lights come on, the cheesy shows are awesome enough to hypnotize most people (especially if you're drunk).

Downtown retains its happy-go-lucky feel as the origin of all the action. 'The Experience' is the eye-candy icing on the low-roller cake.