Mexican Independence Day falls on Wednesday, September 16 this year, and almost nothing happens in Las Vegas on the day itself. The city runs the celebration on the weekend before instead, September 11 through 13, when four properties book Latin bills on the same nights and the Strip turns over to the best Spanish-language lineup of the year. Here's the whole weekend act by act, in order, so you can see what collides with what.
Thursday and Friday
Carin Leon opens a four-night run at Sphere on Thursday and plays straight through Sunday. In a weekend built almost entirely from single dates, that makes it the one booking you can move around: miss it Friday and there are three more chances, which is not true of anything else below.
Carin Leon at Sphere | Sphere | Thursday to Sunday
Mana take T-Mobile Arena on Friday, and the feed shows exactly one date for them all year. That's the detail that should decide your Friday, because there's no second night and no consolation date later in the run.
Mana | T-Mobile Arena | Friday only
Cristian Castro plays Resorts World Theatre on Friday and again on Saturday, 90 minutes a night. The tour is called Nada Solo Exitos, which translates to roughly nothing but hits, so the set list isn't going to surprise anybody and isn't trying to. Also on Friday, the comedian Alfred Robles has a one-night stop at the Palazzo Theatre.
Cristian Castro | Resorts World Theatre | Friday and Saturday | 90 minutes
Saturday, the night everything collides
Four separate Latin bills run at four different properties on Saturday, and three of them start in the evening. You're getting one of those three. The pool session is the only way to see two things in a day.
Los Angeles Azules bring cumbia to PH Live for a single Saturday date, 90 minutes. Worth knowing before you choose: it's the same room that hosts Los Tucanes de Tijuana the following night, so if PH Live is convenient for you, the weekend gives you two very different Mexican bills in the same seats.
Los Angeles Azules | PH Live, Planet Hollywood | Saturday only | 90 minutes
Zoe take the Colosseum at Caesars Palace on Saturday for 90 minutes of rock en espanol. The Colosseum runs residencies most of the year, so a single Saturday night given over to a Mexican rock band is the kind of booking that doesn't repeat.
Zoe | The Colosseum, Caesars Palace | Saturday only | 90 minutes
The Mexican Independence Day Concert runs at the STRAT's Swim and Social pool and lasts about four hours, which makes it the only daytime option on the list and the only one you can pair with an evening show. If you want to do two things on Saturday, this is the half of the day that has to give.
Mexican Independence Day Concert | Swim and Social Pool, The STRAT | Saturday, daytime | About four hours
Teo Gonzalez and Jorge Falcon share the Palazzo Theatre on Saturday for 90 minutes, and this is the one booking that weekend with an age limit at 16 and over. It's also the one where language genuinely matters, because stand-up doesn't survive translation the way a horn section does. Families with younger children have a better option the same day: Mago Enrique de Leon performs Spanish-language magic at The Magicians Room and takes kids from three.
Teo Gonzalez and Jorge Falcon | Palazzo Theatre | Saturday only | 90 minutes | 16 and over
Check Teo Gonzalez and Jorge Falcon
Sunday
Los Tucanes de Tijuana return to PH Live on Sunday for a norteno set, 90 minutes, one night. Coming a night after Los Angeles Azules in the same room, the weekend effectively programs cumbia and norteno back to back at Planet Hollywood.
Los Tucanes de Tijuana | PH Live, Planet Hollywood | Sunday only | 90 minutes
Soda Stereo bring the Ecos tour to Dolby Live on Sunday for 90 minutes. For anyone who grew up on Latin American rock this is the closest thing to seeing the band that defined it, and like almost everything else this weekend, it doesn't come back.
Soda Stereo | Dolby Live, Park MGM | Sunday only | 90 minutes
Wednesday the 16th, the actual holiday
An Intimate Evening with Santana plays House of Blues at Mandalay Bay on the holiday itself, 18 and over. House of Blues is a fraction of the size of the rooms Santana normally fills, which is the whole argument for this one. If your trip lands midweek rather than on the weekend, this is effectively the entire calendar.
An Intimate Evening with Santana | House of Blues, Mandalay Bay | Wednesday, September 16 | 18 and over
Check Santana at House of Blues
How to build the weekend
Pick Saturday night first and let the rest of the trip arrange itself around it, because that is the only choice on this list that costs you something. We've written each of these up in more detail: Mana at T-Mobile Arena, Carin Leon at Sphere, the two Planet Hollywood nights, Zoe and Soda Stereo, the STRAT pool party, the Palazzo comedy double bill, Cristian Castro and Felipe Esparza, and Santana at House of Blues.
