Yesterday, Friday, September 16, the streets of Downtown Las Vegas came to life as the gates to Life is Beautiful opened for the first day of the three-day festival. Attendees from all over the world gathered together for the unforgettable celebration of music, art, food, ideas, and everything that truly makes life beautiful.
Day one kicked off with powerful headlining performances by Cage the Elephant and Arctic Monkeys on the Downtown Stage. At the BACARDÍ® Stage, fans gathered to see acts like reggae icon, Shaggy, and the award-winning singer, songwriter and producer, T-Pain. The Huntridge Stage was a pop-lover’s paradise with performances by THE BLSSM, Blu DeTiger, Wet Leg, Tai Verdes, and Life is Beautiful alumni, Charlie XCX, who returned to the Downtown Vegas festival for the first time since 2013. Back for the second year in a row, music fans gathered at the Rising Stars Stage to hear new and emerging artists who were selected through Sessions Live’s Road to Life is Beautiful contest. The Rising Stars talent lineup for day one included two local acts from Las Vegas, SECOS and The Dollheads. The night ended with a high-energy set by EDM superstar, Alison Wonderland, on the Fremont Stage.
People lined up at the door to The Kicker Comedy Club to see fan-favorite comedians like Saturday Night Live cast member Sarah Sherman, star of HBO’s Hacks Hannah Einbinder, writer and comedian Joel Kim Booster, and more. In addition to the hilarious comedy acts, The Kicker hosted a chat with podcaster’s Steven Phillips-Horst and Lily Marotta for a live episode of “Celebrity Book Club with Steven & Lily.”
All day long, dance parties raged around the festival, with non-stop sounds from the Ferguson’s Downtown DJ Collective, the CASA BACARDÍ Latin dance party, presented by BACARDÍ Rum, and The Kicker’s 90s Nite dance party, featuring nostalgic throwback jams.
Fans were also seen celebrating Mexican Independence Day today at CASA BACARDÍ with a live performance by Mariachi Sol De Las Vegas, salsa lessons with the Sin City Salseros and a full day of Latin DJs.
Yesterday, The Western Country Club also had a dance party of its own, as Stoney’s Rockin’ Country taught line dancing lessons to festivalgoers. The club will host line dancing sessions throughout the weekend. Up-and-coming artist Jordan Harvey also hit the stage at the Western Country Club today. Fans got to see Harvey perform on his road to stardom, as he was recently signed by the agent responsible for making stars like Luke Combs.
Over at the McDonald’s ‘Golden Access’ hub, fans got the VIP treatment receiving prizes including a meet-and-greet for Saturday night with featured artist and McDonald’s fan Coi Leray, as well as ticket upgrades with access to the ‘Golden Access’ VIP Suite, the Golden Access Merch Pack and fan-favorite menu items such as McDonald’s World Famous Fries® and McFlurry® desserts. Festival goers can stop by all weekend for a chance to win these prizes all weekend.
For fans who couldn’t make it to the festival, the musical performances were streamed live on Life is Beautiful’s Twitch channel. The festival will be live streamed on Twitch throughout the weekend, so fans can catch all the action.
The excitement will continue today as Life is Beautiful kicks off day two, with gates open at 2:00 p.m. Day two headliners include Gorillaz, Lorde, Kygo, and more.
For more information on Life is Beautiful, please visit www.lifeisbeautiful.com or follow along on social media on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter.
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About Life is Beautiful
Life is Beautiful was born in 2013 as part of the major transformation of Downtown Las Vegas as a cultural hub and has since contributed over $350M of economic impact and cultural capital to the area. During the three-day festival, premier musical acts, experiential artists, comedians, thinkers and culinary talent flow into the urban streets of DTLV, in addition to the festival’s 170,000 attendees. What started as an event has become something more: a symbol of connection, joy and creativity. Life is Beautiful continues to be driven by its core mission to create a holistic experience which aids in positive community transformation and individual empowerment by collectivizing and inspiring through shared experiences driven by art and culture.
