Mirage reworks its famed volcano

Real volcanoes may take millenniums to form, but in Las Vegas they take just 20 years to look dated. That’s what the Mirage hotel-casino concluded before it mounted a $25-million face-lift of its erupting volcano on the Las Vegas Strip.

The faux-rock fountain first erupted in 1989 and its bursting spray of water lighted red to look like lava has become among the city’s classic sights for strolling pedestrians. Still, the casino concluded, it could be so much more.

The volcano is getting 120 new fireball-throwing devices that will be choreographed to erupt in sync with a drum score co-composed by former Grateful Dead drummer Mickey Hart. The project is expected to be completed later this year.