A Las Vegas fixture for more than 40 years, Wayne Newton gets away from his gig at the MGM Grand for as many as seven or eight performances across the United States each month.

Among those is the Adler Theatre in Davenport, where he performs later this week in a show rescheduled from May 8.

In a telephone interview with the Quad-City Times — shortly after he woke up at 1:30 p.m., his time, in the mansion he shares with his wife and 7-year-old daughter — the 64-year-old Mr. Las Vegas talks about the upcoming concert and other topics:

Q: What do you get out of these rare performances away from Vegas?

A: Complacency is a bitch. When you get really comfortable in one of these showrooms out here — where you have sound you can depend on and get used to, and the production values that they have here — the band starts getting lethargic and starts phoning it in. I have never fallen into that, frankly, but my group has. So I have found when I go out on the road, it gives them a shot in the arm in two ways: The people who see us in those cities don’t get to Las Vegas, so they’re an incredible crowd; and we’re dealing with new sound, new lights and a new venue. Everyone is a little more on their game.

Q:  Is the show fairly identical to what you would do at the MGM?

A: Yes it is, to the extent that I really don’t have a “set” show per se. I will tell the orchestra what the opening number is and what I perceive the closing number to be. Then I will call the songs as we go. Depending on geographically what part of the country we’re playing, (the South and Midwest) will enjoy a little more country music than a New York or New Jersey crowd would enjoy. ... I’ve got the freedom to go and do what people want to hear.

Q: The last time you were in the Quad-Cities was in January ’08 on the “Dancing With the Stars” tour. What did the appearance on the “Dancing” TV series do for you?

A: Besides almost kill me? (Laughs.) It was a hell of a lot tougher than I thought it would be, but I stay in pretty good shape anyway because I work so much. I’m better disciplined working that way. I was truly not ready in a couple of ways: The amount of time you had to put in and ... how every step of the dance you do each week is choreographed. ... The other thing I was not prepared for was the demographics of the audience and how it does run from 5- and 6-year-olds up to 85. The recognition from that show is phenomenal.

Q: What’s it been like to see the changes that have taken place in Vegas over the past 40 years?

A: It’s been cyclic, as life is in many ways. In the ‘60s, we had the “star policy” with Frank (Sinatra) and Dean (Martin) and Sammy (Davis Jr.), and thank God I was in there somewhere. Every hotel had a star who was truly recognized by the hotel they worked at. ... In the ‘70s, Siegfried and Roy broke out of the production shows they were in as a specialty act; they built a major show around them. Then the town went to magicians. You could drive up and down the street and see six or seven shows with magicians. Then Danny Gans comes to town and impressionists drove it for a while. (This interview was conducted before Gans’ sudden death earlier this month.) Then you’d see people on the marquee you’d never heard of. And then the Cirque shows, seven of them. Now it’s back to star policy again. ... For those of us in that quote-unquote star policy era — Elton (John) and Cher and those kind of people, it’s a tremendous time. It’s a resurgence of what I grew up with, certainly.

Q: What’s in the future for you? Are there thoughts of slowing down your schedule or retiring?

A: If I retired, I’d have to get a job. As corny as it sounds, going to work is always something I look forward to. It’s better now than when we were doing two shows a night, seven nights a week. That’s all you get done with that schedule. But the town has moved away from that, to one night a week. You can have a life outside the showrooms that way. I would give it up before it gave me up, but I hope that’s no time soon.

Q: What’s the best and worst part about being Wayne Newton?

A: The best part about being Wayne Newton is that you never know what peoples’ image of Wayne Newton is. ... I do a meet-and-greet for a certain number of people and I’ve had a couple of people who’ve said, “You know, you’re on my Bucket List.” As much as that’s a great compliment, it still points up your mortality. That is a tremendous compliment, and the best part of being Wayne Newton.

The worst part of being Wayne Newton is that there are people out there who are having financial problems or show business problems and they think you can fix it. That’s impossible to do, too. It cuts both ways.

I’ve never been anything but Wayne Newton, luckily, so I just take it with a grain of salt both ways.