Life is Beautiful - 09/25 - 09/27 Las Vegas

[El Dingo]

So we are going to this: Life is Beautiful .

Basically, see Stevie Wonder, gamble, see Duran Duran, gamble, catch bands here and there (Dee Dee likes 'Royal Blood', I like 'Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeroes').

(placeholder for full review)

[Drunk Monk]

Vegas music festivals ROCK! Be sure to check out auxiliary casino club shows too.

[El Dingo]

What a great festival!

We arrived Thursday and offered great sums of money to the gambling gods (which were silently accepted). We dined on elote (Mexican corn) and veggie fajitas at the Cadillac Grille in the Golden Nugget. I'm only pointing this out because it's not on the menu and was suggested by our server.

Friday we offered additional monetary ablutions to the slot machine deities which were silently accepted. We then ventured out into the 100+ degree heat and scanned our RFID wristbands to enter the Life is Beautiful (LIB) grounds.

LIB pretty much took over the run-down, sad part of Las Vegas. Five square blocks of the city had been converted to stages, art exhibits and food/bar areas. Traffic lights were ignored as no vehicles (besides maintenance buggies) were allowed. Motels were converted into art houses. Gas stations became light beacons. A meeting room was fitted with A/C and turned into a cooling area. Sod was placed on dirt lots to reduce dust and provide places to sit/lie.

Music? Not the most notable lineup in the festival circuit but we had fun:

Fri: X Ambassadors/ AWOL Nation/ 21 Pilots/ Stevie Wonder (stayed for an hour - he got weird and preachy which drove a ton of people away during the classic "Ribbon in the Sky")
Sat: New Politics/ Night Terrors of 1927/ Royal Blood/ Duran Duran / Snoop Dogg (about 30 seconds - the crowd was huge and we bailed)
Sun: Saint motel/ Two Gallants

We had a great time due to the fact you could walk out at any time and be in the Fremont Street part of L.V.. The "Fremont Street Experience" is a 5-block part of Fremont Street covered with a ceiling. This ceiling is made of millions of lights that display rock shows on the hour. keep the streets cool and are barred of traffic. It's basically a 24/7 Spring Break and a plethora of street performers and photo ops.

We had a great time, got tons of exercize and will probably come back next year.

Now, if you'll excuse me, I have blisters that need attention.