Haute Event: Jay-Z Holds a Private Party for Celebs Galore at Marquee at Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas

It was a night unlike any other the Vegas Strip has ever seen at the grand opening of Marquee Nightclub & Dayclub at the Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas on New Year’s Eve. Acclaimed global superstar DJ Erick Morillo kicked off the night with a set in the club’s Main Room and led the countdown to 2011, while Interscope’s Jimmy Iovine and Dr. Dre got the party started in the club’s VIP room with DJ Ross One.

After the Jay-Z and Coldplay private concert in the event center at the Cosmopolitan, the celebrities descended en masse to the new mega club for a historic opening. Kellan Lutz, who showed up wearing a black eye mask to avoid the Twi-Hards lined up outside to see him, settled into a table in Marquee’s Main Room next to Wilmer Valderamma, while 50 Cent arrived with friend Floyd Mayweather Jr., who was in anything but a fighting mood, and the two were seen dancing to music by DJ Erick Morillo before heading downstairs to the VIP room. Channing Tatum and wife Jenna Dewan, Haylie Duff and boyfriend Nick Zano, Christina Milian, Abigail Spencer Pruitt, James Marsden, Jamie Kennedy, Jessica Szohr, Deryck Whibley, Jeremy Piven and Mark Salling were also spotted dancing in the Main Room.

The club, which totals 60,000 square feet filled up to a capacity crowd of nearly 3,000 people quickly, and the VIP room, also known as The Boom Box, was taken over by the superstar rapper Jay-Z and rock band Coldplay and their famous friends. It was so packed with A-list celebrities that you couldn’t take two steps without bumping into a Grammy winner.

Rihanna and Sean “Diddy” Combs came by to party with Jay-Z, Beyonce, Chris Martin and Gwyneth Paltrow, who all held court at a center table with views of the Las Vegas Strip. Kanye West and John Mayer, who surprised the crowd with performances earlier in the night at the Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas’ grand opening concert, were also spotted at the exclusive after-party, as were Alex Rodriguez and girlfriend Cameron Diaz, Forest and Keisha Whitaker, Mark Wahlberg and wife Rhea Durham, Ellen Pompeo, Kirsten Dunst, Kings of Leon’s Jared Followill, Kelly Slater, Olivia Munn, Whitney Port and Emmanuelle Chriqui.

Celebrities looking for a more relaxed scene flocked to the club’s third floor called The Library Room. Ashley Olsen enjoyed cocktails with boyfriend Justin Bartha early on, while Jared Leto showed up later in the night, following his 30 Second To Mars performance at the Palms. Magician David Copperfield and Dylan Lauren also enjoyed the vibe in the Library Room. Meanwhile, Mark Anthony and his wife Jennifer Lopez took over a table with 25 of their friends and family members and danced up a storm with pal Leah Remini. At one point, Anthony stole the club photographer’s camera and started taking photos of Lopez, who was playfully posing for him, while a few feet away Florence Welch of Florence + The Machine and Blake Lively were spotted dancing together on a banquette late into the night.

Bottles of Ace of Spades Champagne were flowing into the early hours and Jay-Z was spotted pouring glasses for friends including Gayle King. Solange Knowles did a special deejay set for her sister and brother-in-law and fellow deejay Samantha Ronson grabbed the mic to wish everyone a happy new year.

At approximately 2:30 a.m. Kanye West continued to surprise guests when he took over the mic in the deejay booth and treated them to an impromptu performance. Soon after, Diddy ordered a bottle of Ciroc for every table in the room as he requested his new hit “Ass on the Floor.” Then Jay-Z joined Kanye in the booth and the crowd was going crazy. Jay-Z wished everyone a happy new year and the two started singing West’s hit song, “Runaway” then their joint hit “Monster.”  West and Jay-Z were then joined by Rihanna in a sing-along to her hit song, “What’s My Name” and the crowd was in a frenzy.

Following Jay-Z and West’s second performance of the evening, Jay-Z asked comedian Aziz Ansari to join them in the deejay booth and entertain the crowd with a “New Year’s Eve joke.” Ansari said no, but he would not relent and eventually Ansari took the mic and got a few laughs but not before Jay-Z, Kanye West and Rihanna were joined by Beyonce in the booth at which point Jay-Z stopped the music to wish happy new year to everyone in the room and to his wife “B.”

The party wound down after 5 a.m. on New Year’s Day, but not before Diddy and his girlfriend Cassie made a final stop to say hi to his friend Erick Morillo in the main room’s deejay booth. Morillo proceeded to play Diddy’s dance hit “Hello Good Morning” as the crowd and the cameras went crazy.  It was a star-studded beginning to a new year and a historic grand opening for Marquee Las Vegas that has set the bar for the club business once again.

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