Event Recap: Kick-Off of Life is Beautiful Festival in
Downtown Las Vegas – Day 1
On Friday, October 25, Life is Beautiful Festival hosted its official kick-off party, Grills & Guitars. The party featured a culinary feast prepared by 16 celebrity chefs, including Bruce Bromberg, Aarón Sánchez, Scott Conant, Cat Cora, Rick Moonen, Kim Canteenwalla, Susan Feniger, Mary Sue Milliken, David Myers, Jet Tila, Clayton Arakawa with musical performances by Dawes and Todd Rundgren.
The first day of the festival, Saturday, October 26, 2013, attracted tens of thousands of people to Downtown Las Vegas to explore the 15-block music, food, art and learning event consisting of five music stages, a culinary village, an alchemy garden, an eclectic street art program curated by Charlotte Dutoit, a learning program with a range of notable speakers, and much more.
Highlights of the festival so far include:
- Kanye West toured the footprint of the festival with co-founder Rehan Choudhry & Zappos CEO Tony Hsieh on the eve of the openin
- At Grills & Guitars, Nancy Silverton presented Jonathan Waxman with the Lifetime Achievement Award surrounded by Aarón Sánchez, Bruce Bromberg, Michael Symon and the festival’s co-founder, Rehan Choudhry
- Hometown favorites Imagine Dragons played their biggest show in Vegas to date, and spoke about their excitement of being part of the transformation of Downtown Las Vegas. The show ended with a surprise appearance from the cast of Mystère by Cirque du Soleil
- Childish Gambino performed his own rendition of Adele’s “Rolling in the Deep”
- Capital Cities covered a Bee Gee’s song and two different versions of their hit “Safe and Sound”
- Beck performed Michael Jackson’s hit song “Billie Jean”
- Aarón Sánchez packed the room with energetic fans during his “Chefs on Stage” cooking demonstration
- Ben McKee of Imagine Dragons joined Jet Tila during his cooking demonstration and Youngblood Hawke cooked with Cat Cora
- Speakers including Tony Horton and the creators and cast of MTV’s “The Buried Life” inspired attendees when sharing their stories about following their passions
- The Beatles LOVE by Cirque du Soleil surprised guests with a pop-up performance on Fremont Street
- Headliner Kings of Leon closed out the festival’s first night with an inspiring performance featuring a three-song encore (details and photos to follow)
Photo credit: FilmMagic
Life is Beautiful Festival Sponsors
Wirtz Beverage Nevada, Caesars Entertainment, Cirque du Soleil, Esquire Magazine, Heineken USA, Las Vegas Events, Las Vegas Review Journal, Red Bull, Sub-Zero Wolf & Westar Kitchen & Bath, Travel + Leisure, Zappos.com, Ketel One Vodka, Murphy-Goode, Pandora, Planet Hollywood Resort & Casino and Flamingo Las Vegas, Samsung, Silicon Valley Bank, Toyota, Dolce Vita + J.D. Fisk, El Cortez Hotel & Casino, US Foods, Whole Foods Market, Airstream 2 Go, Bacardi, Chef Works, Downtown Grand Las Vegas Hotel and Casino, the D Las Vegas, Le Creuset, MGM Grand, Original Penguin, Ploom, & Silver State Productions.
Life is Beautiful Festival is being developed by Aurelian Marketing Group in partnership with Another Planet Entertainment, MAKTUB Marketing and Downtown Project. Visit www.lifeisbeautifulfestival.com and sign up to receive information updates via email. Connect with the Life is Beautiful team socially at Facebook.com/LIBFestival and Twitter.com/LifeIsBeautiful.
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ABOUT AURELIAN MARKETING GROUP
Aurelian Marketing Group is a brand experience company made up of a group highly experienced brand strategists, creative directors and expert producers with a deep track record in creating and implementing meaningful and impactful branded entertainment and events. Its CEO, Rehan Choudhry is the former Director of Entertainment for The Cosmopolitan Las Vegas and was previously the Regional Director of Entertainment for Caesars Entertainment Atlantic City. He was recognized by event trade publication, BizBash as an Event Innovator for his work at The Cosmopolitan in 2011. www.aurelianmg.com
ABOUT ANOTHER PLANET ENTERTAINMENT
Since its inception in 2003, Another Planet Entertainment has produced and promoted events with artists as diverse as Radiohead, Dave Matthews Band, Neil Young, Daft Punk, Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers, Metallica, Paul McCartney and Kanye West. In its first year of operation, Another Planet was selected by a vote of its concert industry peers as “Promoter of the Year” in the United States by Pollstar Magazine. Another Planet is the exclusive promoter of several venues in Northern California also produces two major yearly festivals in San Francisco Outside Lands Music & Arts Festival (beginning in 2008) and Treasure Island Music Festival (beginning in 2007). www.apeconcerts.com.
ABOUT MAKTUB MARKETING
MAKTUB Marketing is directed by Joey Vanas. Vanas is the managing partner of First Friday Las Vegas and the Executive Director of the First Friday Foundation, a non-profit organization dedicated to supporting local and civic art. Vanas has overseen the growth of the First Friday event to 20,000+ people while creating positive media attention and awareness for the Downtown Vegas Arts scene in markets across the country and around the world.
ABOUT DOWNTOWN PROJECT
Downtown Project is a group of passionate people committed to helping to transform Downtown Las Vegas into the most community-focused large city in the world. The organization has allocated $350 million to aid in the revitalization of Downtown Las Vegas through investments in real estate, residential development, education, small business, and tech startups. With a goal of reaching residential density of 100 people per acre, coupled with ground level activities, Downtown Project aims to accelerate community and co-learning through the serendipitous interactions of the people of Downtown Las Vegas. www.downtownproject.com