Bawdy rappers and silent discos: Life is Beautiful is back

Tongue retired similar a Great Dane connected a blistery day, the feline teetering connected the articulator of a diving committee encapsulated the mood.

“Don’t wanna talk, baby, I conscionable wanna dance,” sang Dave Bayley, frontman for British indie popsters Glass Animals, performing connected a signifier designed to look similar a edifice excavation area. “No much surviving successful the past, baby.”

The 10,000 oregon truthful revellers pistoning up and down connected the asphalt earlier him echoed the sentiment.

It was Friday night, and Life is Beautiful was back.

Perhaps the bumble bee enactment it best.

“It is truthful breathtaking to beryllium backmost retired again,” enthused Las Vegan Nikki Claphanson, dressed arsenic said insect, implicit with antennae cap. “It’s been a agelong clip coming.”

More connected Life is Beautiful.

Claphanson’s been to each Life is Beautiful, the three-day, music, arts and nutrient festival dispersed retired implicit 18 metropolis blocks downtown, present successful its eighth year.

She was anxious for its return.

“With the pandemic, everybody’s conscionable been unopen successful and isolated,” she said amid the quality postulation jam, the gridlock of soma that was Fremont Street aft sundown. “So, it’s bully to spell and formal up again.”

And formal up this assemblage did.

They came arsenic rhinestone cowgirls and blue-haired unicorns, 1 blessed mates sporting matching, bottom-less leather chaps, their derrieres and emotion for 1 different exposed successful unison.

With the scent of Mexican thoroughfare maize roasting implicit blistery coals successful the air, the capableness assemblage boogied down soundlessly successful glowing headphones astatine a soundless disco successful the bottommost of the El Cortez parking garage, clambered atop low-slung ceramic walls to drawback selfies adjacent to paintings of grumpy-looking, anthropomorphic blistery dogs and salsa danced astatine a DayGo House of Yes, whose jellyfish-festooned, blacklight-lit decor had the consciousness of a stoner mermaid’s dorm room.

It wasn’t each monkey-business-as-usual, though.

With the pandemic persisting, attendees were required to supply either impervious of vaccination oregon a antagonistic COVID-19 test, overmuch of the assemblage downloading a mobile heath app, Clear, which provided a QR codification that could beryllium scanned upon entry.

A sizable chuck of the assemblage wore masks — though they weren’t mandated, since the fest was mostly outdoors — including Megan James, frontwoman for Canadian imagination popular duo Purity Ring, who delivered ethereal vocals implicit brooding, minor-key chords done a look covering astatine the Huntridge Stage.

Las Vegas autochthonal Jonathan Morales, who was attending his 5th Life is Beautiful, was doing truthful without his friends for the archetypal time, arsenic they chose to skip this year’s fest owed to lingering coronavirus concerns.

“It’s a small spot different, but I’m inactive trying to bask myself,” helium said, sporting a achromatic shot cap, matching vessel apical and Golden Knights socks. “It’s bully to spot everybody retired here, trying to get backmost to somewhat of the normalcy we utilized to have. Just bully vibes, you know?”

Morales was waiting to spot rapper Megan Thee Stallion, who headlined the Bacardi Stage.

A mediate digit successful a dress, Stallion rapidly lived up to that billing: it took each but 1 opus earlier she was, successful fact, flipping the vertebrate to everyone/no 1 successful particular, her songs bawdy testaments to woman-in-charge feminine assertiveness.

In caller years, large euphony festivals ranging from Chicago’s Lollapalooza to Dover, Delaware’s Firefly person been publically criticized by pistillate performers similar Halsey and Ellie Goulding for not featuring capable women successful their lineups.

This surely wasn’t the lawsuit connected Friday astatine Life is Beautiful — and continuing connected passim the play — where, successful summation to Stallion, determination was a deep, divers roster of female-centered acts.

In the span of 1 hr connected Friday evening, for instance, determination was Ashnikko and her Smurf-colored hairsbreadth doing a sharp-tongued re-interpretations of Avril Lavigne’s “Sk8er Boi,” Willow Smith channeling her ain Lavigne fandom connected their popular punk duet “Grow” and the country-tinged Noah Cyrus giving beardown dependable to aching tunes astir mislaid emotion and getting precocious capable to spot Jesus.

Speaking of country, determination was besides the debut connected Friday of the Western Country Club, a caller honky-tonk successful the aged Western Hotel building.

It yet answered a fewer questions that person haunted Life is Beautiful for years now: Where, ohio wherever does 1 to larn to enactment creation and play cornhole beneath paintings of Dolly Parton dressed arsenic Harley Quinn?

“Welcome to Life is Beautiful, the top state euphony festival successful the world,” quipped Larry Reha, the refrigerator-sized frontman for Vegas honky-tonkers The Rhyolite Sound, during 1 of their fantabulous sets connected the venue.

The far-out moments continued erstwhile Australian psych-pop changelings Tame Impala headlined the Downtown Stage.

Now, successful the discourse of modern mainstream music, progressive stone mightiness beryllium seen conscionable a tad antiquated, close up determination up with dial-up net connections and laser disc libraries.

But with a airy amusement intelligibly designed by a star flare connected mushrooms that bordered connected the hallucinatory and a penchant for jamming retired their songs to the satellite and back, this clump surely embraced prog values and showmanship, though they besides gave a motion to Black Sabbath (“Elephant”) and spectral ’60s store stone (“Feels Like We Only Go Backwards”) during a show that transfixed eyeballs similar a hypnotist’s swinging pouch watch.

“I’m acceptable for the infinitesimal and the sound,” frontman Kevin Parker sang connected “Let It Happen.”

He wasn’t unsocial connected this night.

Contact Jason Bracelin astatine jbracelin@reviewjournal.com oregon 702-383-0476. Follow @jbracelin76 connected Instagram.