Life is Beautiful 2017

Zaitch went last year I believe.

I've been going to this fest since their first year in 2013 and have been loving it. Honestly wouldn't miss it for the world. I don't really have any reference points in comparison with other festivals (Coachella, 'Roo, Outside Lands,etc) but they really promote a positive vibe and atmosphere there each year. While music is always going to be the most important aspect, the other 3 "pillars" are also emphasized (Food, Arts, and Learning Series).

Music-wise, each year has been slightly different so it's still tough to predict what kind of lineup they'll have. Their inaugural year was only 2 days with The Killers and KOL headlining while having bands like Vampire Weekend, Beck, Empire of the Sun, Passion Pit, and Alabama Shakes etc. It wasn't top heavy or light, pretty balanced, but leaned towards alt/rock overall. In 2014, the top 2 lines were stacked with Kanye / Foo Fighters / OutKast / Arctic Monkeys / Skrillex / Lionel Richie followed by The Flaming Lips / The Weeknd / Girl Talk / Alt-J. The lower and bottom part of the lineup had some filler however. Last year had a drop-off at the top of the lineup (Stevie Wonder / Imagine Dragons / Kendrick Lamar / Duran Duran / Hozier / Snoop Dogg / Weezer) but the undercard was very solid.

Best part of it is definitely it's location, which is in Downtown Las Vegas just east of the Fremont Street Experience. Once the festival ends around 1am, people start flooding local restaurants and bars just blocks away. It's pretty much one long party weekend. With it being in September, it WILL be ridiculously hot. While we were waiting for Kendrick Lamar to come out at 11:30pm last year, temperatures still hovered around the mid 90's. But it is dry heat (as opposed to Roo's humidity) and you'll be shaded more or less after 7pm.




Crowd-wise, it's a mid-major festival. 2013 and 2014 averaged about 30,000/day while last year it averaged around 35,000/day (so it's around the size of Bottle Rock and Hangout).

Just booked a room at 4 Queens through Priceline Express Deals. Now waiting for Thursday for the pre-sale. Can't wait!

2015 Recap video is also here.

Hmmmm, tough choice. Lolla is way more crowded but the lineup is usually better as well. Plus Lolla is in my backyard so it's easier/cheaper for me. LiB was a vacation as well. We stayed on the strip and did up Vegas everyday too before going into the fest so it was a whole experience moreso than just going to a fest 3 days. Depends on what you're looking for.

Random Headliner guesses?

I'm going with
Tampe Impala
ACDC
Drake

This is certainly on the radar this year. Big weekend in Vegas as Hall and Oates is playing MGM on Friday and the iheartradio fest is at the MGM Sat. The daytime village for iheartradio has already announced its artists, some good some awful:


Daytime Village at the iHeartRadio Music Festival
iHeartRadio Music Festival
Sam Hunt
Panic! At The Disco
Alessia Cara
Troye Sivan
Hailee Steinfeld
Good Charlotte
Lissie
Cold War Kids
Daya
Cage the Elephant
The Chainsmokers
Jeremih

Eminem - The Killers - Calvin Harris. Don't have high hopes. 

I'm getting excited!



Calvin Harris has a 3-year residency at the Omnia in Vegas so I highly doubt he'd be a headliner, much less actually at the festival.


I honestly don't know what the expect as far as lineup and headliners go for this year. All I know is that I've had an amazing time all 3 years.

1st year - safe headliners / alt-rock-indie leaning
2nd year - strong headliners / very strong top 4 lines / filler in the middle-bottom of lineup
3rd year - weaker headliners / stronger midcard / strong EDM lineup with new curated dance stage
4th year - ???

Just announced a second presale for this Thursday so "more fans can enjoy the discounted rates." This is after they promised the lineup and big news last week and then said "something happened we are so sorry." This has the Firefly lineup debacle from last year written all over it. I really am looking for an excuse to go to Vegas does anyone have scoops so I can buy presale price?

I'm thinking the lineup will be out sometime next week after Thursday's second early bird sale. It could be someone dropping out or them securing someone. Not going to get my hopes up due to the extreme homogenization of music festival acts this year but they haven't disappointed me yet and I know I'll have a blast no matter who's playing.


Their early bird sales didn't normally sell out right away until this year. When it first went on sale a few months ago, the early bird tix sold out within an hour or so. Not sure how many they'll have available Thursday but I'd recommend being on when they go onsale at 10am PT. Btw, just a warning for those that don't know but there's a 9% LET (live entertainment tax) on top of the usual service fees (it was passed by Nevada late last year which sucks because it's an extra $20+).

Good god...

I might be tempted to go if I lived in Las Vegas and got a free ticket and was given free alcohol tickets and was provided free drugs. 

RIP

They've always made some decent to big additions in each of the previous 3 years (Vampire Weekend, Alabama Shakes, Janelle Monae, Cults,etc in 2013; Bear Hands, Kimbra, Echosmith in 2014; Snoop Dogg, Chance The Rapper in 2015), so I'm *REALLY* hoping for some more good additions.


2013 (2-day): The Killers / Kings of Leon / Beck / Vampire Weekend / Imagine Dragons / Pretty Lights / Empire of the Sun / Passion Pit / Jurassic 5 / Alabama Shakes

2014 (3-day): Kanye West / Foo Fighters / Outkast / Arctic Monkeys / Skrillex / Lionel Richie / The Weeknd / The Flaming Lips / Panic! At The Disco / Girl Talk / Alt-J

2015 (3-day): Stevie Wonder / Imagine Dragons / Kendrick Lamar / Duran Duran / Hozier / Snoop Dogg / Weezer / Major Lazer / Death Cab For Cutie / Chance The Rapper

2016 (3-day): Mumford & Sons / J Cole / Major Lazer / The Lumineers / G-Eazy / The Shins / Flume / Jane's Addiction / Bassnectar / Leon Bridges


My first reaction was HOLY DROPOFF BATMAN!! How does a festival go from having 3 legit #1 headliners in 2014 to having 2 non-headliners in 2016? The lineup would look infinitely better with an additional headliner (ie Eminem) and a lower headliner/sub (Florence or The Strokes) to the top and everyone else falls into place. Something had to have happened since they were supposed to have some news a couple weeks ago and they broke their back-to-back policy with Major Lazer repeating from last year.