The first night of the Life is Beautiful music festival was in full swing downtown Friday.
Even early in the day, when anticipation still outweighed everything else, festival-goers were excited to be there.
"I wanted to go because Stevie Wonder's performing, he doesn't perform that often," said Devyn Smith, a UNLV student. "Snoop's performing tomorrow and Kendrick Lamar. A couple good performances for sure."
Once night fell, weeks of preparing for some people came to fruition.
"I've been saving some money, like my last paycheck, I'm saving it all for this weekend so I can do what I want and not have to worry," said Ivana Saginova, a Las Vegas resident.
There are downtown restaurants that rely on spillover from the festival.
La Comida off Fremont says this is its biggest weekend of the year.
"Right at the end, after all the big concerts are done, we get really really busy," said Paloma Cuellar, La Comida's executive chef. "We don't close until three in the morning."
Inside the restaurant, all hands are on deck.
"Everyone's working, nobody's off, there's no exceptions and that's how we do it here," Cuellar said.
Other restaurants don't react to Life is Beautiful the same way.
A restaurant on Carson says it treats this weekend as business as usual. Any extra business is a bonus.
