Blue Man Group founders Matt Goldman, Phil Stanton, and Chris Wink (shown sans face paint at right) have been busy little performance artists since we talked to them for last April's "Blue Men Exposed," opening a spectacular surround sound-filled arena on the Vegas strip and a much more intimate plasma-drenched theater in Toronto. Must-see-and-hear stops for any diehard home entertainment fan, these two high-tech venues are well worth a pilgrimage.

LAS VEGAS

When the group vacated the Luxor resort last year for more upscale digs across the Strip at the Venetian, they took advantage of the hotel's offer to build them a state-of-the-art performance space to up the sound and performance ante. The seriously Vegas-size 1,760-seat theater not only has a massive stage that can accommodate a whole tribe of drum-thumping musicians, but also features live surround that keeps you awash in Blue Man's mesmerizing rhythms.

Rock aficionados will recognize the imprint of legendary stage designer Marc Brickman, responsible for Pink Floyd's groundbreaking The Wall show as well as the Group's own rock tour, The Complex, elements of which have worked their way into both the Vegas and Toronto shows.

TORONTO

That the blue boys aren't just into high-tech audio is obvious as soon as you walk up to their Toronto theater, which, thanks to Panasonic, features an attention-grabbing band of pulsating plasma TVs across the marquee. But that dazzling strip of video is just a high-def teaser.

As you stand in the lobby sipping a blue martini before the show, you'll find yourself surrounded by a phantasmagoric glimpse of things to come as televised Blue Men cause various Day-Glo splatters to fly out dizzily across the six 50-inch plasma sets on the central column and thirty-two 42-inch sets arrayed across the ceiling. And once inside the 700-seat theater, you'll see the Group's love for flat screens literally go to their heads.

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