Is It Me?

Or must Vegas residencies be good financially for artists, but less than awesome quality of life-wise? If you're going to be rich and famous and on tour, one of the benefits has to be the variety. And if one place is going to be your home base, anywhere near the strip on Vegas has to be awfully unpleasant. (That may just be my bias speaking, I didn't particularly like Vegas when I went there for the first and only time last June, although seeing a Cirque show was rather fun and Mario Batali and Tom Colicchio sure run them a pair of fine dining establishments). And most importantly, perhaps, you're committing to years with a shifting audience that only wants the most familiar of you, rather than stuff you liked but that didn't take off, or new material you're working on; if they've come there, and paid as much as Vegas shows cost, they want only your greatest hits. I can't imagine Madonna ever taking one, or really any other artist who is still recording and promoting new material.