LAS VEGAS (KTNV) — The fan-favorite Life Is Beautiful festival is returning to Downtown Las Vegas, but it will look a little different.
This year, organizers are hosting "A Big Beautiful Block Party", which has gotten mixed reactions from Las Vegas locals and festivalgoers.
Rolling Stone acquired a majority stake in the festival in 2022.
I sat down with Rolling Stone CEO Gus Wenner to talk about plans for this year's event as well as the future of Life Is Beautiful.
WATCH: Channel 13 speaks to Rolling Stone CEO Gus Wenner about future of Life Is Beautiful
Wenner said Rolling Stone started looking at music festivals to partner with a few years ago and that his relationship with Tony Hsieh led to discussions about Life Is Beautiful.
"I cold-called Tony and I was just struck with what a unique kind of brilliant guy he was and that was part of the process of coming across Life Is Beautiful. Getting here was my conversations with Tony and hearing his ideas about the world and mission about this festival and what it means to the community and his vision for things. I think on some level, we just kind of wanted to do something together," Wenner said. "From the moment that we started looking at [Life Is Beautiful] and the moment I came to see it, there was a real kind of shared spirit there."
According to Wenner, event organizers from Rolling Stone and Life Is Beautiful have been working hard to put on a special event and they simply ran out of time to plan a full festival this year.
"We have huge aspirations and ambitions and the large-scale festival will come back. The block party concept is something we're really excited about and think might be something we replicate and do more of throughout the year in addition to the larger-scale festival," Wenner said. "This year, with kind of the timing and finding a new site, we didn't have a long enough runway to go full-scale, but we really wanted to do something that celebrated community, celebrated Life Is Beautiful, is fun and great for the fans and put together a product that's unique and special."
When it comes to planning, Wenner said the team wanted to keep the heart, soul, and spirit of the festival behind all of their choices.
"I think much like Rolling Stone, there is such a strong history and legacy and kind of ideals and point of view that it was founded upon. In thinking about how to take that forward and evolve it, you have to understand that and have that kind of be the bedrock of every decision you make," Wenner said. "[It's] also feeling the sort of freedom and willingness to try new things and take risks and break stuff. It's right in the DNA of what it was founded on."
One of those risks is the block party, which Wenner said was designed to make the event more affordable, make the sets more accessible, and include artists from a similar genre where fans can enjoy all of the acts that perform.
For example, this year's lineup, which was announced on Tuesday, includes Justice, Peggy Gou, LCD Soundsystem, Jamie xx, Jungle, James Blake, Thundercat, Toro Y Moi, Badbadnotgood, Neil Frances, LP Giobbi, Empress Of, John Talabot, and Fifi.
"I think we have an unbelievable lineup, which we announced today. [They are] a bunch of acts that haven't played in Vegas for a long time. They are all acts that kind of tell one story, musically, and work together," Wenner explained. "We really kind of focused it in on a specific genre and are trying to create an experience where if you like one band, you will like all of them and there are no overlapping sets, and you can experience all of the acts together. It's both a bit of a learning experience but also, you dive in and try to make it something special."
So what plans or ideas does Wenner envision for future Life Is Beautiful events?
"The way that we integrate our coverage and our journalism into the festival itself is one of the most exciting challenges and prospects that we have going forward. Instead of just having someone on stage and perform, doing like a deep Q&A with them or interview and taking incredible images and video and using that imagery and video around the site," Wenner said. "There's a whole world to untap there and we'll do a little bit of it this year and more of it going forward."
And he adds he hopes festivalgoers and music lovers will give this year's event a shot.
"We chose the words block party because it evokes a tradition, in this country, of coming together with the community and letting your hair down and enjoying it and this is just that on steroids," Wenner said. "We've got incredible music. If you're into any one of these bands and want to have fun and be around like-minded people and have that shared experience, I think this is going to knock it out of the park."
The two-day party is scheduled for September 27 and September 28, with performances running from 5 p.m to 2 a.m. on both days.
Tickets for the festival will go on sale on Thursday, June 27 at 10 a.m. PST at LifeIsBeautiful.com.
General admission passes start at $199 and VIP passes start at $399.
