Posted on: June 21, 2024, 03:05h.
Last updated on: June 21, 2024, 03:08h.
This year, life will still be beautiful but much smaller.
The annual “Life is Beautiful” Las Vegas music festival — held on 18 city blocks along East Fremont Street for 10 years — is being rerouted to a single vacant lot next to the Plaza Hotel & Casino downtown.
The year’s event, renamed “The Big Beautiful Block Party,” has also been scaled back from its usual three days to two.
“For a number of reasons, it was appropriate to hit pause on the Life is Beautiful Festival this year,” according to a news release from festival organizers that explained none of those reasons. “We are hard at work reimagining and evolving the festival experience for the sake of you, the fans, and the incredible community that surrounds us.”
The largest audience ever reported for “Life is Beautiful” was reported as 180,000 over three days. The 10-acre vacant lot that will host “The Big Beautiful Block Party” holds an estimated 25,000.
“This event is not intended to replace the festival,” the press release continues, rather optimistically. “For now, it gives us the opportunity to continue the annual tradition of gathering in Downtown Las Vegas to uplift one another, to express ourselves, and to connect. In time, the two will coexist.”
“Life is Beautiful” was founded by the late Tony Hsieh, former CEO of Zappos, in 2013. A controlling interest in the festival was purchased by Rolling Stone magazine in February 2022. Five years earlier, Rolling Stone laid off 30% of its editorial staff in a cost-cutting move as it shifted from bi-weekly to monthly print publication.
Last year, the festival celebrated its 10th anniversary in typically grand style, with headliners including Kendrick Lamar, ODESZA, and The 1975.
This year’s event is the first in which Rolling Stone is the sole owner.
The vacant-lot party will take place on two stages Sept. 27 and 28, from 5 p.m. to 2 a.m. The acts on those stages will be announced at 10 a.m. on Tuesday, June 25, with two-day passes, starting at $199, going on sale 10 a.m. Thursday, June 27, via lifeisbeautiful.com.
