Bob Marley & the Other Vegas Shows That Reached the End of Hope Road in 2025

Posted on: December 17, 2025, 02:01h. 

Last updated on: December 17, 2025, 02:21h.

Corey Levitan Read More
Expertise: Commercial Gaming, Entertainment, Expert Insight, Las Vegas, Restaurants, Vegas Myths Busted.
  • “Bob Marley Hope Road” is the latest of seven Las Vegas shows to either close, or announce their impending closure, in 2025 
  • All experienced low tickets sales either caused or exacerbated by a 6% decline in Las Vegas tourism for the year

“Bob Marley Hope Road,” the Mandalay Bay attraction dedicated to the late reggae legend, will close on Jan. 5, 2026 — a little over six months after opening.

“Bob Marley’s Hope Road” is executive-produced by Marley’s daughter and son, Cedella and Ziggy Marley. Two of the late reggae legend’s granddaughters, Shacia Päyne and Zuri Marley, serve as resident DJs. (image: MGM Resorts)

The experience was a self-guided museum covering the singer’s career, including a recreation of his Trench Town home, that also featured live music performances every 30 minutes.

Back in October, less than four months after opening, the attraction’s financial struggles became apparent when an unspecified number of cast members were laid off before a planned daytime complement to its nighttime experience even opened.

We are seeing some impact of market conditions affecting Las Vegas as a whole,” organizers said in a statement to the Las Vegas Review-Journal at the time.

On Wednesday, the newspaper finally dropped the expected bad news.

The show’s producers claim, as Bob once sang, that every little thing is gonna be all right. It will only close for “a brief hiatus” and then return after “retooling” in spring 2026.

Specifically, they said, the pause will “allow some much-needed rest from the production’s strenuous demands” and allow organizers “to broaden the show’s creative content to provide an even more expansive guest experience moving forward.”

The Reality

Most Las Vegas Strip shows that announce a pause for retooling never reopen. The announcement serves to stave off press coverage about why the show failed while allowing the search to continue for an angel investor who could still swoop in and properly finance a future for it.

“Hope” is this show’s middle name, after all.

But 2025 was a bad time to be in the business of Las Vegas shows. It was the year that 6% fewer overall visitors visited. And most with entertainment plans more elaborate than just walking the Strip and gambling came to see a superstar residency or a sporting event — or the Sphere for the first time.

This year, box-office sales for mid-level shows were especially brutal, with reports of 50% declines year over year commonplace.

Here are the seven biggest shows that either closed this year or announced plans to do so next year:

  1. “ILuminate” (The Strat): Closed May 2025
  2. “Lady Like” (Virgin Hotel): Closed May 2025
  3. “Terry Fator: One Man, a Hundred Voices, a Thousand Laughs!” (The Strat): Closed September 2025
  4. “Timeless” by Jabbawockeez (MGM Grand): Closed September 2025
  5. “Raiding the Rock Vault” (Hard Rock Café): Closing December 30, 2025
  6. “DiscoShow” (The Linq): Closing January 3, 2026
  7. “Bob Marley Hope Road” (Mandalay Bay): Closing January 5, 2026

Whatever reasons these shows gave for closing, if they even provided any, there is only ever one reason: low ticket sales. As Vital Vegas is fond of saying, no show or restaurant ever closes in Las Vegas if it’s a financial success — barring a sex scandal.

And the overwhelming majority of Las Vegas shows that close never get to come back — unless, like Terry Fator’s, their principals are willing to suffer the indignities of smaller and smaller Las Vegas venues until all are exhausted.