Life is Beautiful Festival 2016 has come and gone. New friends have been made, relationships have a little more love in them, my smile is a little bit bigger, and my life battery has been fully charged. It took me all of 48 hours after the festival was finished to book my hotel for Life is Beautiful 2017, promising my third consecutive year. Life is Beautiful Festival was my favorite festival of 2015 even with the temperatures breaking well into the 100’s. This year I had been expecting the same but the weekend weather stayed in the 80’s, surpassing my expectations.
Words cannot explain how delicious the hydraulically pressed lemonade is at the Las Vegas Kettle Corn shop in Container Park. I can't begin to tell you how clean they kept the grounds all weekend. This article will not allow you to hear how heavy the bass was at the Troubadour stage. Pictures won’t show you how perfect the sun set was during the Bob Moses “sunset dance party”. You will not have the pleasure of Two Stepping in unison with a packed crowd to Chromeo when you read this. And you definitely will not have entered a Zef Mode like the lucky ones who stood in awe at the Ambassador Stage while Yolandi and Ninja of Die Antwoord showed us how raw they really are. You can’t fathom how awesome the Space Wench stage (which I dubbed the Bass Boat) that was tucked away in it’s corner where only the bass heads could feel the vibrations through the grass that was put out for you to lay on and melt.
There are always conflicting times when you have this many artists performing in just 3 days and this festival had a major one for me. As soon as the lineup was released I prayed to the music gods, whatever you do please don’t put Seven Lions on against Die Antwoord. This is my luck we are talking about here and sure enough that is exactly what happened. With some divine intervention and a bad break for Gramatik; literally he broke his leg and had to cancel, the musical gods shined down upon me and they moved Seven Lions set back just enough for me to run from the front of the stage at Die Antwoord to the barrier of Seven Lions followed by Excision and on to Bassnectar’s set completing what was the best consecutive four hours of the entire festival for me.
Even though I was here to cover the EDM acts for edmsauce.com I was very much blown away by the pub songs of Mumford and Sons. I was amused by the onstage banter between Tegan and Sara. Chills ran down my arms feeling the soul amplified by The Heavy. As I danced from stage to stage I could hear a song or two from the Lumineers and Jimmy Eat World as the crowds roared with delight.
Life is Beautiful is much more than just a festival. Where in the world can you enter a festival in less than 15 minutes greeted by the nicest security crew in the game. You are not held captive inside the walls of a stadium, at LiBF you are strolling down roads where the view outside of the festival is the blinking lights of downtown Vegas. The streets are lined with beautiful artwork, delicious food, adult and not alcoholic beverages with short lines. There is top notch comedy and everything from heavy hitting bass music, to indie rock, acoustic jams, synth rock and beyond, there is something for everyone. Beyond the music there is the entire vibe of the weekend. It is like a gigantic block party where everyone is having the time of their lives. The amount of laughter I heard this weekend the gleam in people’s eye or the never ending hugs and high fives I received made me realize how much I love this festival. But what you can’t explain is the things that happen outside the festival. For example; when you are all hyped 4 hours after the festival has ended and you are listening to the words leave your friend’s mouth explaining why Crystal Castles was the best set of their weekend, at the exact moment Ethan Kath is walking past you and you find out he is not a fan of his picture being taken but agrees to anyway… You never know what is going to happen in Vegas.
