Las Vegas Sun

March 28, 2024

Festivalgoers mostly well-behaved, full of praise for Life is Beautiful

Life is Beautiful

Yasmina Chavez

Cosmic Suckerpunch performs on the Huntridge stage at the Life is Beautiful festival on Sunday, Oct. 27, 2013.

2013 Life Is Beautiful: Day 2, Part 1

Life Is Beautiful festival attendees walk by a lit-up Downtown Container Park on Sunday, Oct. 27, 2013. Launch slideshow »

2013 Life is Beautiful: Day 1, Part 1

Childish Gambino performs during day one of the Life is Beautiful festival in downtown Las Vegas, Saturday, Oct. 26, 2013. Launch slideshow »

The inaugural Life is Beautiful festival downtown continued to run smoothly on its second and final day, with an expected 24,000 attendees flocking to the festival grounds to take in dozens of bands, gourmet eateries, art installations and lectures at the weekendlong celebration.

However, the day was not completely without incident. One of the towers at the entrance to the festival on 6th Street at Carson Avenue toppled in the wind around 4:45 p.m. No injuries were reported. Several hundred people were herded from 6th Street to 7th Street, where security personnel did hurried pat-downs and checked bags. Because the electronic scanners could not be moved to the 7th Street entrance, the microchips in individual wristbands were not checked.

Crowds were largely well-behaved, though several aggressive fans were seen being taken away by Metro Police during the late afternoon set by rowdy Detroit rapper Danny Brown.

The day's warm weather faded into a cool evening, with thousands of fans gathering early at the festival's main stage in anticipation of local favorites The Killers, who headline Life is Beautiful tonight at 9:40 p.m.

Other popular acts throughout the day included soul-pop singer Janelle Monae, on-the-rise electronic artist Robert DeLong and reunited hip-hop greats Jurassic 5.

One observer and downtown resident close to festival, who asked to remain anonymous, said the festival was phenomenal, adding that he expects the price of next year's tickets to be significantly higher.

"There were no long lines for anything ... it was lovely and everything was accessible and manageable, and there were big enough crowds to maintain a lot of energy," he said. "But for a festival to be sustainable at that size, ticket prices I think have to be twice as much."

Life is Beautiful was Tucker Gumber's 19th festival this year — he goes to festivals for a living, operating the website thefestivalguy.com.

He was disappointed with the overflowing trash cans of Saturday night — a common complaint from other fest-goers — but said that problem seemed to have been taken care of on Sunday. Beyond that little glitch, he thought the first-time festival "killed it."

"Stages have been great, sound is great, the food was incredible," Gumber said. "There was tons of art, the speaker I saw yesterday was really, really great. I'm stoked to come back next year."

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