Hard Rock International, of course, purchased the operations of Mirage, and the resort will be Mirage until Hard Rock finishes its renovation—including construction of the new tower—sometime in 2025.

The tower will sit on the site of the Mirage volcano. Cue the wailing and gnashing of teeth.

Yes, a few folks are bemoaning the loss of the volcano, but most of them haven’t actually visited the free attraction since 1994.

Vegas moves forward. We don’t ruminate or dwell. We don’t pine. And we don’t bemoan. Stardust is excluded, but that’s entirely different. Just because that’s why.

Anyhoo, Hard Rock’s guitar tower will be 660 feet tall and will have 600 suites.

The new hotel tower won’t just be a new source of revenue for Hard Rock International, it will also be a spectacle. The Florida version is sparkly and there’s a light show with music and the whole nine. Here’s more on the Hard Rock site.

The guitar tower is mesmerizing and Las Vegas needs one, stat. (Today we learned “stat” comes from the Latin word, “statim,” meaning “immediately.” If we have to learn things, you’re damn well going to learn them, too.)

Here’s how it’s described on the Hard Rock Web site:

“The Guitar Hotel Light Show is a daily spectacular featuring a series of orchestrated outdoor music and lights showcasing the LED lights built into all sides of the brand-new and immaculate The Guitar Hotel. The lights are programmed to change color and intensity and are choreographed to different songs. Six high-powered beams of light accentuate the production by projecting at least 20,000 feet into the sky. The six lights mimic the strings of an imaginary guitar neck.”

At the Florida location, Jennifer Lopez has her own light show, confirming Hard Rock expects to recoup its investment on the back end.

The guitar hotel tower will be a symbol of the resort’s new brand. The Hard Rock brand, in case that weren’t clear.

Yes, that includes lots of rock memorabilia. A good deal of the memorabilia at the previous Hard Rock casino was included in the sale to Virgin, but two big truckloads were retained by Hard Rock. We trust much of that memorabilia will find its way back to Las Vegas, including the only item we really care about.

We called “dibs,” but apparently that’s not legally binding in Nevada. Go figure.

Hard Rock is owned by the Seminoles, making the resort the first casino on The Strip to be owned by a tribe. Vici Properties, a real estate investment trust, owns the land and physical assets (like buildings). Because Vici owns all the land on The Strip, pretty much.

Hard Rock’s rent is $90 million a year. Or, as it’s called in hotel-casino jargon, “a substantial nut.”

The San Manuel tribe was the first to own a casino in Las Vegas, the off-Strip Palms. Another tribe, Mohegan Sun, operates the casino at Virgin Las Vegas.

While 2025 seems forever away, it will be here before you know it, and if all goes according to plan (nobody’s really grappling with the potential of a looming glut of room supply, see also Fontainebleau), Las Vegas will have an iconic new photo op and experience to captivate people from around the world.

The Mirage volcano had its day, now, it’s time to strap in, take a whole step forward and slide into a whole new kind of action for the Las Vegas Strip.

Yes, we found a glossary of guitar terms on the Internet.

Let’s just say if Hard Rock Las Vegas doesn’t have a Whammy Bar, they’re leaving money on the table.

Let’s rock! Within reasonable decibel level limits, of course.