Vegas Marathon Relocates Concert After Route 91 Shooting

This year’s edition of the Rock ’n’ Roll Las Vegas Marathon was supposed to begin with a concert by the Goo Goo Dolls at the Las Vegas Village. That was before the worst mass shooting in U.S. history took place at the exact location, the site of the Route 91 Harvest Festival, just a month ago.

– Las Vegas Sign
The route for the marathon will go past the fabulous Vegas sign, as well as the scene of the Route 91 Harvest shooting.

The Goo Goo Dolls’ free gig, which is open to the public, has been moved up a day and relocated to the Las Vegas Festival Grounds. The band will take the stage at 7:30 p.m. on Nov. 11 after a performance by an opening act that coincides with the 6 p.m. start of Saturday’s 5K.

Marathon runners were supposed to take their marks on Sunday, Nov. 12 outside the Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino, the hotel where the gunman opened fire onto festivalgoers below at the Las Vegas Village. The start for the marathon and half-marathon will instead take place approximately one mile north on the Las Vegas Blvd., outside the New York-New York Hotel and Casino.  

Another change to the marathon’s program – rather than having local bands performing at each mile of the course, like in years past, the first two and half miles will be silent to honor the victims of the Route 91 Harvest Festival, the Wall Street Journal reported.

Of course security is at the forefront of everybody’s minds. WSJ points out that the Goo Goo Dolls’ concert will have a security perimeter around the Las Vegas Festival Grounds, while “organizers will conduct surveillance and operate a central command station with its own medical team and law enforcement agencies.”

As for the marathon course itself, the security plan includes 350 police officers, surveillance cameras and sniper nests, as well as a police helicopter keeping an eye on the event from overhead. The festival is also safeguarding against attacks carried out by vehicle, with the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department promising 180 police vehicles, along with trucks and barricades, stationed along the route, according to the WSJ.

Pollstar reached out to Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department captain Andy Walsh for comment but hadn’t heard back at press time.