Blue Man Group Tickets in Las Vegas

The Blue Man Group is an exciting show that features three enigmatic bald and blue characters who take the audience through a multi-sensory experience that combines theatre, percussive music, art, science and vaudeville into a form of entertainment that is like nothing else.

Come and get BLUE!

We provide the best available seating in the section ordered, and this show has been rated TN - appropriate for teenagers or older.

Book online and save or call us toll free for assistance with reservations, group tour bookings, and private charter services.

Founded by Phil Stanton, Chris Wink, and Matt Goldman, Blue Man Group is a creative organization centered on a trio of mute performers who present themselves in blue grease paint, latex bald caps, and black clothing. Blue Man Group's theatrical acts incorporate rock music (with an emphasis on percussion), odd props, audience participation, sophisticated lighting, and large amounts of paper. It is also noted for having a "poncho section" of the audience; in the front rows, audience members are provided with plastic ponchos in order to protect them from various food, substances, paints, and so on, which get thrown, ejected, or sprayed from the stage. The shows are family-oriented, humorous, energetic and often employ thought-provoking satire on modern life. Most of the humor breaks the fourth wall; for example, interrupting the show to ridicule latecomers in the audience.

Blue Man Group Instruments

Blue Man Group has developed a set of custom musical instruments, many designed from the observation that common materials make interesting noises when struck.

PVC
The PVC is an instrument made out of 2" PVC pipe. The pipes are cut to exact lengths and the Blue Man plays the instrument by striking one of the open ends with a closed-cell foam rubber paddle. PVCs are somewhat based on the bamboo instruments used in Gamelan joged bumbung & Gamelan jegog ensembles. In the live shows, three separate PVC instruments are used, one for low, mid, and high octaves. This instrument also comes in a "backpack" variety for portability, which comes optionally equipped with confetti/streamer shooters. The "floor" PVC units are generally painted with phosphorescent dye invisible under normal lighting conditions, but of visibly different colors under ultraviolet light. During a performance, levels of such are generally adjusted to give the PVC the appearance of changing from white to colorful. Along with the tubulum and drumbone, PVCs can be classified as plosive aerophones. A prime example of a PVC style instrument is the Thongophone.

TUBULUM
Similar in concept to the PVC, the Tubulum uses 4" PVC pipe and has cardboard or rubber "reeds" on the end that are struck with drumsticks. This gives the Tubulum a more "updated" sound than the PVC; in fact, the synthesizer-like sound quality of the instrument inspired Blue Man Group's cover of "I Feel Love" by Donna Summer. The Tubulum is designed for playing bass notes, so the tubes must be sufficiently long to generate the low sounds. Because of the unavoidably large size of this instrument, the performance venues for the theatrical shows in New York, Boston, and Chicago are not physically large enough to contain it. A more compact instrument was used on the Complex Rock Tour and in the video for "I Feel Love"; the tubes twist around for extra length, below the frame that holds the tube "heads". Backpack tubulums, with the same streamer-launching abilities of the backpack PVC, are used in the Las Vegas, Berlin & Toronto shows. Another variation of the Tubulum is the Paddle Tubulum, which allows the Blue Man to play bass notes with the ease of paddles, as on a PVC; this instrument was used on The Complex and the Complex Rock Tour.

AIRPOLES
Airpoles are hollow fiberglass boat antennae of various lengths. The instrument is sharply swung to create a "swoosh" sound. These instruments come in three varieties. Sword airpoles are short and held on the end like a sword. Wiper airpoles are longer versions of sword airpoles. Angel airpoles are very long and are held in the middle so that both ends move in unison to create syncopated rhythm. This is supposedly one of the most difficult Blue Man instruments to learn, as it requires very precise muscle control that can take a long time to develop. Unlike most of the other instruments listed here, airpoles were not, strictly speaking, "invented"; they were discovered when one of the founders of the group swung a boat antenna through the air while experimenting to find new instruments.

DRUMBONE
The Drumbone is another instrument made from 4" diameter PVC; this one uses two movable sections to alter the pitch. One Blue Man plays the instrument with drumsticks, another moves the horizontal slide, and the third Blue Man moves the vertical slide. It is also capable of being taken apart into two separate instruments which harmonize with one another. Curiously, when disassembled, the horizontal slide section is held vertically, and the vertical slide section is held horizontally. The Drumbone is only used in the song of the same name, an audience favorite, due to the fact that all three Blue Men are needed to play it properly and are unable to play any other instruments during the song. Blue Man Group used a special Drumbone shaped like the number 4 for the Intel Pentium 4 commercials.

DRUMULUM
The Drumulum consists of a drum and a length PVC pipe (or "ulum") over the drum. The length of the tube, when in harmony with the pitch of the drum, creates the sound heard at the beginning of the hidden track "Mandelbrot 4" on The Complex.

HAMMERED DULCIMER AND CIMBALOM
Although they are not inventions of Blue Man Group, these instruments are played with drumsticks rather than the usual felt hammers. This gives the instrument a much more aggressive sound with a sharp attack. Because of the nature of Blue Man Group's music, only a few notes of each instrument tend to be used on any given performance; to minimize the odds of sour notes, multiple adjacent strings are generally tuned to the same note.

CHAPMAN STICK
Used in the backup band, the Stick is most notably heard in the "Mandelbrot" series of songs (of which there are 4), "Synaesthetic", "Your Attention", and the main riff in "Utne Wire Man". In addition to "tapping" the instrument, the Stick player also "bows" the lowest two strings (with a .110 gauge bass string cut approx 10" long) in the "Mandelbrot" songs.

ZITHER
Along with the Chapman stick player & drummer(s), the zither player fills out the "basic" backup band for Blue Man Group. Blue Man Group uses a custom-built, 81-string electric zither. Similar to standard sized zithers, Blue Man Group's zither is composed of a harp and chord section. The characteristic sound of the harp can be heard during the main riff of "Klein Mandelbrot" and during the Marshmallow & Gumball piece of their live performances. The dense sound of the chord section sounds similar to an electric guitar played with a slide, most recognizable as the lead instrument during the second half of "Utne Wire Man". However, unlike standard fretless zithers, Blue Man Group's zither is several feet wide, typically deeper in note range, and utilizes many more strings. It is frequently used in a fashion similar to a pedal steel guitar, with 'fret' markings on the soundboard beneath the chords to be played with a pyrex glass slide. The zither is played with the aforementioned glass slide on the left hand and standard guitar and/or fingerpicks on the right hand, though this combination may change depending upon the song being played. The zither signal typically runs through a series of guitar pedals and then into an old "Orange" vintage guitar amp. When played through a delay effect and phaser, the zither is sometimes referred to as the Pressaphonic, which supplies the main riff in "Rods & Cones."

DOGULUM
This instrument is "played" by taking Chris Wink's dog and stroking him rhythmically until the dog enters a state of Zen-like complete contentment; the dog is then recorded, and the vibe is included on the album mix.

PIANO SMASHER
The Piano Smasher is a piano stripped down to its frame and stood up on its side. It is played by hitting the strings with a large soft mallet, resulting in a clangy, almost discordant sound. In live performances, this instrument is generally played with a MIDI system, using sensors behind the strings, as the instrument goes out of tune very quickly. Each Piano Smasher is tuned to only one note, as it would be otherwise impossible to get anything resembling a musical tone from the instrument.

SHAKER GONG
A Shaker Gong is a matrix of ball bearings inside a steel casing, suspended from a frame by surgical tubing. It is struck with a mallet to produce a sharp, lingering sound vaguely reminiscent of a rattlesnake.

ARONOPHONIC
The Aronophonic was invented by Blue Man Group instrument technician Aron Sanchez in order to reinvent cymbals, shakers and other high frequency percussive instruments. It consists of multiple pieces of metal laid out on a rack so the drummers can hit them with drumsticks and allow the pieces of metal to stay together.

ELECTRIC DOG TOY
Blue Man Group took a dog toy that had a whale sound sampled in it and moved it in different ways near an electric guitar pickup. The result was a high-pitched squeal that can be heard at the end of "Drumbone."

DUMPSTULUM
Two steel garbage dumpsters laying on their sides. They are played by having 5 people rhythmically jumping on them, and are also played with massive hammers as demonstrated by Chris Wink on the Discovery Channel's "Daily Planet" show. The Dumpstulum is heard in "Clap your hands, Stomp your feet."

TICKETS FOR THIS SHOW MUST BE ORDERED A MINIMUM OF 24 HOURS IN ADVANCE OF THE SHOW. This show has been rated TN - appropriate for teenagers or older. Hotel pick-up is NOT included. Price includes tax. There is no child price discount. Best Available Seating in the section ordered. Reserve online, or call us toll-free at 888-888-7501.