Stalwart Las Vegas DJ Eric Forbes knows when to pick up the pace

It sounds like the epitome of coolness—a Las Vegas DJ who has rocked the party at just about every essential nightclub one could name up and down the Strip. But if this same DJ also happens to be a dad, all bets are off.

“My wife and I have been together 16 years, and she’s in the industry, a server at XS since day one. We met at Studio 54 when we both worked there,” says Eric Forbes. “So being married with a 14-year-old, I’m still on that dad life no matter what else is going on, so I’m not cool.

“All my son’s friends follow me on Instagram, and we’ll go out to ride bikes and run into the friends. They’ll be, ‘What’s up DJ Eric Forbes?’ So his friends think I’m cool, but he doesn’t. It takes me back to when I was a kid, and it’s fun to see.”

Such is life for a DJ-dad. Forbes moved to Las Vegas from the Bay Area in 1998 and started out behind the bar while he nurtured his future career behind the decks. He handled both tasks at the legendary Studio 54 at MGM Grand until he became a resident there and “went all in” on DJing.

Now his name is practically ubiquitous on club calendars. Until pool season arrives and Forbes returns to one of his favorite gigs at Flamingo’s Go Pool—“It’s really fun, kind of a hidden gem as far as Las Vegas pool parties go,” he says—he can be found spinning at Skyline Saturdays at Ghostbar at the Palms, as well as multiple monthly gigs at Tao Group Hospitality venues including Marquee Nightclub at the Cosmopolitan and Tao at Venetian.

Speaking of hidden gems, the resurrected Ghostbar might qualify for that category. “I played at Rain a couple times back in the day, and I think I did Moon once or twice, but I never did Ghostbar back when it was the original at the Palms,” Forbes says. “I love working there and it’s still one of the best, if not the best view of the Strip. I did New Year’s there this year and it was incredible.”

Forbes has seen Vegas DJ life change and evolve quite a bit through the years, and he prides himself on being able to adapt to the market. He can go heavy on hip-hop, focus on EDM, or balance multiple genres in a single set, tempered by years of staying on his game in one of the most dynamic nightlife landscapes in the world. “A lot of those years at Studio 54, it wasn’t the busiest club, but it had that huge floor and it was built to dance, not for bottle service. That made me so much better as a DJ because you have to really understand music and what you can do to keep people interested. I think that really gave me longevity and range in my career.”

As if he needed another energy source, Forbes has also turned some passion projects into side gigs. His whole family has always been heavy into motorsports and he’s been fixing up cars since before he could drive; that “hobby” has turned into Forbes Performance, a growing brand that is really just Forbes doing what he’s always done, doing custom work on high performance cars out of his garage.

One of his clients-turned-pals is none other than Shaquille O’Neal, who already spends plenty of time in Las Vegas for special events, his own DJ gigs and keeping an eye on his Big Chicken restaurant.

“I met Shaq seven years ago when I was a resident at Rehab and we connected and talked from time to time,” Forbes says. “We have similar taste in music and he’s really into cars, too, and he had a bunch of Dodge Hellcat Chargers so he hit me up. One car turned into three, and making the first one a little faster turned into two fully custom builds. I just finished one a few weeks ago.

“It’s kind of wild and surreal to have that happen, but it’s been super fun. And he’s just such a great person to begin with.”

DJ ERIC FORBES January 27, 10 p.m., no cover. Ghostbar, palms.com.

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