Choosing to hold the Las Vegas International Tattoo 2011 at the University of Nevada is one of the best venue choices that could have been made. Superstars have played to massive audiences at this venue with great success. Names like Elton John, Billy Joel, U2, Van Halen, Whitney Houston, Tina Turner to name but a few have performed at the University over the past 20 years or so and audiences have gone wild at every event.

The Tattoo 2011 took place in the Thomas & Mack Center which is one of the largest indoor arenas found in Las Vegas. It sits proudly in the grounds of the University of Nevada as is named after two very prominent bankers, E Parry Thomas and Jerome Mack. These two bankers originally funded the feasibility and land studies for the arena project. It is now home to the UNLV men’s basketball team and the National Finals Rodeo is also held in the stadium every year.

Spectators were thrilled by the fast pace of the Pipes & Drums of the Scots Guards, the Vancouver Police Pipe Band, the Winnipeg Police Pipes and Drum, the US Marine Corps Air Ground Combat Center Band, the US Air Force Band of the Golden West, The US Army Drill Team and the US Navy Band South West.

The event was a massive success and went down well with the crowds who marveled at the sheer brilliance of each band that performed to perfection in this world class stadium. There were displays of military musical precision that entertained the audience with their masterful and extremely well rehearsed renditions of military music. The visual effect was spectacularly enhanced by the colorful pristine uniforms of the bands that shone brilliantly under the lights.

The Irish and Scottish contingent really got the crowd going with their unique form of dance and the Wicked Tinkers added their own very distinct touch of Celtic rock to the event. There were over 500 performers who thrilled the crowds from the very beginning of the spectacle right up to the last moment and the tribute that was paid to America’s armed forces by Canada, Scotland and Ireland went down a storm with everyone in this gigantic indoor arena.

The sheer size of the venue, the height from floor to ceiling is 104 feet and the concourse is 42,000 square feet add to this a floor space of 20,000 feet (bleachers retracted) and you can get an idea of the kind of structure that this arena represents. The floor of the arena is illuminated with large candles of metal Halide light making shows at this venue incredibly clear to see everything that happens in the arena, even in the farthest corner away from you.

The producer of the Las Vegas International Tattoo, Major Bruce Hitchings MBE, BEM,  had wanted to ‘bring together a fantastic show in a world class venue’ and he certainly did that in a very big and successful way.