May in Las Vegas: EDC, WSOP and Memorial Day Weekend

^{The EDC music festival from above is quite the spectacle. In 2024, more than half a million people attended the event over three days at the Las Vegas Motor Speedway. (Image: Maverick Helicopters)}

May is a special month in Las Vegas. It starts and ends with holiday weekends, and the weather is often nearly perfect.

Las Vegas casinos tend to celebrate holidays when it’s most convenient. That isn’t always on the day of the holiday. Visitors at the beginning of the month will notice Cinco de Mayo parties starting on the second day of May.

The first weekend in May is traditionally a sneaky-great weekend for sports fans and bettors in Las Vegas. The running of the Kentucky Derby is accompanied by a major boxing match in the evening. In between, there’s a full day of MLB games, along with NBA and NHL playoff action.

This weekend will also mark the return of a downtown Las Vegas tradition. The Plaza will resume its Friday night fireworks show this month.

The combination of everything makes for an explosive start to the month that might offer the best weather of the year. Temperatures begin creeping toward the 100-degree mark but aren’t there on a steady basis until June. 

This year, AccuWeather’s long-range forecast for May doesn’t even reach that marker. While this is a decent gauge, don’t be surprised to see Las Vegas brush up against triple-digits before month’s end.

Music festival season continues in May before temperatures get too high during the heart of the summer. One of the shows is one of the biggest music events of the year in Las Vegas.

While pool season is already underway, the action at the dayclubs kicks into high gear on Memorial Day weekend. The long weekend is also the beginning of summer vacation around the country. There aren’t many places better to get in holiday mode than an eventful holiday weekend in Sin City.

While many visitors are hitting the pools during the long weekend, poker players will once again gear up for the 56th World Series of Poker at Paris and Horseshoe. The event begins May 27 and continues until mid-July.

Music Residencies and Limited Engagements

This month, Kenny Chesney, Josh Groban and Sammy Hagar kick off new limited engagements up and down the Vegas Strip. Other residencies during the month feature familiar names like Manilow and Bruno.

Sammy Hagar at Park MGM: May 2, 3, 7, 9, 10, 14, 16, 17 
Barry Manilow at Westgate: May 8, 9, 10, 15, 16, 17
Josh Groban at Caesars Palace: May 9, 10, 14, 16, 17
Brad Paisley at Wynn: May 9, 10
Kenny “Babyface” Edmonds at Palms: May 9, 10 
Pitbull at Resorts World: May 9, 10 
Dead & Company at Sphere: May 9, 10, 11, 15, 16, 17
Tom Jones at Wynn: May 14, 16, 17
Bruno Mars at Park MGM: May 21, 24, 25, 28, 30, 31
Janet Jackson at Resorts World: May 21, 24, 25, 28, 30, 31
Kenny Chesney at Sphere: May 22, 24, 25, 28, 30, 31
Air Supply at Westgate: May 23, 24 
Rod Stewart at Caesars Palace: May 29, 31 

Lookahead: New Kids on the Block start their Las Vegas residency at Park MGM next month, beginning June 20

Las Vegas Music Festivals in May

Electric Daisy Carnival (EDC) returns to the Las Vegas Motor Speedway for the 14th year on May 16-18. The largest Las Vegas music festival had more than half a million attendees last year. The concert is fun for attendees and visitors, just watching ravers navigate their way through the casinos. 

There are hundreds of DJs dropping beats throughout the weekend, including Tiesto and Paul Oakenfold. You can find more information on EDC here. If you’re curious about the music, check out the official EDC Las Vegas playlist on Spotify.

Punk Rock Bowling is another long-running Las Vegas music festival. The main festival show at the Downtown Las Vegas Events Center across from The D features Social Distortion, Frank Turner, Bouncing Souls and more. You can find more information on the festival and club shows here.

Big Tours in Las Vegas 

The summer touring season is underway, and there are more arena and stadium concerts in Las Vegas than usual. Variety is the spice of life, and each of these concerts features performers with different sounds.

Las Vegas residencies and limited engagements are often shown exclusively in Sin City. They sometimes take place in more intimate venues than during national tours. For example, Katy Perry is playing the 20,000-capacity T-Mobile Arena this month. Her residency at Resorts World Theatre was in a much smaller 5,000-capacity venue.

Post Maloney and Jelly Roll at Allegiant Stadium: May 3
J Balvin at Mandalay Bay: May 3
The Queens (Chaka Khan, Patti LaBelle, Gladys Knight) at Mandalay Bay: May 9
Katy Perry at T-Mobile Arena: May 17
Hardy at T-Mobile Arena: May 23
Disturbed and Daughtry at MGM Grand: May 17
Kendrick Lamar and SZA at Allegiant Stadium: May 31

Lookahead: Coldplay is playing at Allegiant Stadium on June 6 and 7

Las Vegas Sports In May

The sports calendar in Las Vegas this month is relatively light, with the focus on the NBA and NHL playoffs. As usual, there’s combat sports action, and the home teams will play some games.

The big fight for Cinco de Mayo weekend is the Top Rank Boxing card featuring Naoya Inoue vs. Ramon Cardenas at T-Mobile Arena on May 4.

Later in the month, the PBC boxing matches at Mandalay Bay on May 31 will spotlight Caleb Plant vs. Armando Reséndiz and Jermall Charlo vs. Thomas LaManna.

The Las Vegas Aces of the WNBA will begin play for the season at Mandalay Bay between the two boxing cards. There will be two preseason games, followed by the tipoff of the regular season.

Dallas Wings: May 2 (preseason)
Phoenix Mercury: May 6 (preseason)
Washington Mystics: May 23 (regular season)

Keep an eye on the Vegas Golden Knights' playoff run. The team could have more home games this month.

WSOP + Two Poker Rooms Reopening

The World Series of Poker begins at Horseshoe and Paris Las Vegas on May 27 with the $1,000 No-Limit Hold'em Mystery Millions event starting at noon. There will be multiple events every day through July. You can see the full schedule of WSOP tournaments here.

The WSOP is truly an “only in Vegas” experience. You won’t find this much live poker played under one roof at the same time. 

WSOP admission is free, and it’s worth taking some time to walk around and watch the action in person just to see the organized chaos of such a large event.

Caesars will open two of its shuttered poker rooms this month. The Planet Hollywood poker room will reopen in a new location on the mezzanine level. The new dedicated poker room will have 12 cash games and 11 tables for tournaments.

The Caesars Palace poker room is finally reopening after closing almost a year ago. The new poker room will be in the Appian Way retail area off the main casino floor. 

Moving poker rooms off the main casino floor has been a trend. Last year, the Venetian poker room was moved to the second floor of the Grand Canal Shoppes.