Red Hot Chili Peppers Spice Up Las Vegas 100th Birthday Bash

Red Hot Chili Peppers Spice Up Las Vegas 100th Birthday Bash

Grammy-Award-Winning Band to Be Joined By Supporting Act Weezer, Celebrating 100 Years in Neon

LAS VEGAS, April 11 /PRNewswire/ -- Clear Channel Entertainment Properties announced today that world-renowned, multi-platinum rock band Red Hot Chili Peppers will rock America's entertainment capital as the headline act for the July 2nd Centennial concert celebrating 100 years in neon. Best of all, consumers can experience this once-in-a-lifetime event for free. Red Hot Chili Peppers and top alternative-rock act Weezer will play in an unforgettable, free live outdoor concert experience on the grounds of the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority (LVCVA).

Las Vegas, known for colorful history, an over-the-top image and never before-seen entertainment experiences, has captured the world's imagination for nearly 100 years. The city's glittering reputation has created great anticipation for a Centennial celebration that will truly do justice to its rich and storied history. The planned birthday bash will be a musically and visually spectacular live entertainment experience. Fifty thousand free tickets will be available for the Vegas Centennial celebration, and consumers can get them online at http://www.vegasrocks100.com/ beginning Monday, April 18th.

"We are excited about playing a free show in Vegas celebrating the 100th birthday of the city," said Flea, bass player for the Red Hot Chili Peppers. "We can't wait to get there, feel the energy of the crowd and rock the house." Chad Smith, drummer for the Peppers added, "Playing a free show for this many fans is awesome, it should be a lot of fun."

Sponsors of this exciting event include Beaulieu Vineyard (BV) Wines, which is also celebrating 100 years of wine-making; and American Express, the official card sponsor of the Las Vegas Centennial. As the Centennial celebration's official card sponsor, American Express will have the opportunity to team with its merchant partners to develop innovative, experiential Vegas packages and special privileges for card-members traveling to and around Vegas, including airline, hotels and restaurant perks.

"This is the first time that Red Hot Chili Peppers has given a free show of this magnitude and the first time Las Vegas has ever put on a concert of this scale," said Bruce Eskowitz, president of Clear Channel Entertainment Properties. "Our sponsors are capitalizing on a truly unique opportunity to deliver exciting, multi-platform brand messages and benefits to their customers in one of the highest-profile spectacles of the year."

"The Red Hot Chili Peppers are fun and exciting just like our City and we couldn't be more enthused to have them as a part of our Centennial," said Las Vegas Mayor Oscar Goodman, Chairman for the Centennial celebration. "No one can match the flavor and madness of Flea on bass and I can't wait for the Chili Peppers to rock Las Vegas! I love this city and I'm happy that we can give this gift of an absolutely free and phenomenal concert to our residents and visitors for Las Vegas' 100th birthday."

The Las Vegas Centennial is a yearlong celebration that will pay tribute to the exciting people, places and events that helped shape Las Vegas history since 110 acres was purchased near the first railroad in a land auction nearly a century ago. Hundreds of events are taking place throughout 2005 to commemorate 100 years in neon including building the World's Largest Birthday Cake weighing in at 130,000 pounds, Once Upon 100 Weddings promotion and the 100 Murals initiative that is creating more than 100 permanent pieces of art throughout the community. For details about the Las Vegas Centennial, visit http://www.lasvegas2005.org/ .

About Red Hot Chili Peppers

After 20+ years and over 40 million records sold worldwide, the Red Hot Chili Peppers are still going strong and creating some of their most vibrant and infectious material to date. Few rock groups broke down as many musical barriers and were as original as the Red Hot Chili Peppers. Two high school chums, Anthony Kiedis and Michael Balzary (better known as "Flea"), started playing music together in California back in the late '70s/early '80s drawing heavily on funk influences as well as the burgeoning L.A. punk scene. Blood Sugar Sex Magik was a huge hit upon its 1991 release as it spawned such hits as "Give It Away" and "Under the Bridge." Soon thereafter, the band released Californication, achieving five-times platinum with hits "Scar Tissue," "Otherside," and "Californication." The band's last studio album, By The Way, was released in 2002, and immediately peaked at #2 on the Billboard charts.

About Clear Channel Entertainment-Properties

Clear Channel Entertainment Properties (CCEP), a division of Clear Channel Entertainment, markets the organization's vast network of assets -- venues; music, motor sports, action sports, and theatrical properties; exclusive special events, exhibitions, and Emmy(R) award-winning television production services -- to corporations seeking unique brand positioning. In addition, Clear Channel Entertainment Properties specializes in creating custom, high-impact marketing programs and special events that provide flexibility for client budget and timing parameters. Services include advertising, strategic marketing and content development, national and local sales programs, product and service launches, and television/broadcast programming. The resources and reach of CCE Properties have already made them among the most sought-after partners for business and consumer marketing in live entertainment today. Parent company Clear Channel Entertainment (NYSE:CCU), a leading producer and marketer of live entertainment events, promotes and/or produces over 29,000 events, attended by more than 65 million people. The company currently owns, operates and/or exclusively books approximately 130 live entertainment venues, including more than 100 in North America and 30 in Europe. More information may be found by visiting http://www.cc.com/ and http://www.clearchannel.com/ .

Certain statements in this release constitute "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Such forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors which may cause the actual results performance or achievements of the Company to be materially different from any future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. Visit our website at http://www.clearchannel.com/ .

Photo: NewsCom: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20050408/DAF033LOGO AP Archive: http://photoarchive.ap.org/ PRN Photo Desk, photodesk@prnewswire.com Source: Clear Channel Entertainment Properties

CONTACT: Michael McGaw of Clear Channel Entertainment Properties, +1-713-693-2703, or michaelmcgaw@clearchannel.com ; or national media, Ray Yeung, yeung@braincomm.com , or Jill Gumberg, gumberg@braincomm.com , both of Brainerd Communicators, Inc., +1-212-986-6667, for Clear Channel Entertainment Properties; or local media, Lori Nelson of R&R Partners Inc., +1-702-318-4209, or lnelson@rrpartners.com

Web site: http://www.clearchannel.com/ http://www.vegasrocks100.com/ http://www.lasvegas2005.org/ http://www.cc.com/

------- Profile: Ent