Whispers of curiosity and confusion met Las Vegas’ annual Life is Beautiful music festival’s recent announcement. Their rather downsized event, now drolly branded as “A Big Beautiful Block Party”, has left many scratching their heads at the mildly familiar names gracing the lineup.
The new venue for this year has shifted from the sprawling 18 city blocks along East Fremont Street to a comparatively quaint 10-acre vacant lot behind the Plaza Hotel. Though smaller, the scene promises to be as enlivened and vibrant when the new ‘Block Party’ kicks off on September 27.
Taking center stage will be an intriguing smorgasbord of artists comprising of French electronic music duo Justice, pop savvy South Korean DJ Peggy Gou, English DJ Jamie XX, the pulsing rhythms of British dance band Jungle, soulful pianist James Blake, and the acclaimed American rock band LCD Soundsystem.
Initial reactions from the public seemed lukewarm, displayed through a string of amusing social media comments. To assuage initial bewilderment, the block party indeed booked James Blake, otherwise known as the other half of TV actress Jameela Jamil, who stars in the popular comedy show “The Good Place.”
This year’s lineup features a few artists from Life is Beautiful’s earlier editions, with Justice performing in 2018 and Jungle setting the stage in 2022.
The Block Party ensures an immersive and uninterrupted festival experience, scheduling the performances from 5 p.m. to 2 a.m. over both nights, with no overlapping set times. In an insightful move, the event’s organizing team dialed back crowd capacity from a whopping 180K over three days to a manageable 50K over two nights, foreseeing subdued crowd demand due to the lesser-known talent lineup.
In a groundbreaking development, this edition of the festival will be the first under the new stewardship of Rolling Stone magazine.
Two-day passes for the festival, starting at $199, go live on lifeisbeautiful.com by 10 a.m., Thursday, June 27.
On a related note, Pete Townshend of The Who expressed his intrigue regarding a performance stint at the Vegas Sphere, viewing it as an exhilarating challenge to transcend the theater’s framework.
Meanwhile, legendary musician Tom Jones is scheduled for performances at the Wynn Encore Theater on September 28-29, with tickets available from Friday, June 28 via WynnLasVegas.com.
Matching the beat, country superstar Thomas Rhett has confirmed a four-night extravaganza at the BleauLive Theater inside the Fontainebleau Las Vegas. The shows are set for December 6, 7, 13, and 14 to coincide cleverly with National Finals Rodeo Week. Tickets go on sale at 6 a.m. PT Friday, June 28 at thomasrhett.com, with presales starting at 6 a.m. PT Wednesday, June 26.
