[Photo Credit: Powers Imagery]
Life is Beautiful Festival launched its second year in Downtown Las Vegas on Friday, October 24, 2014, attracting tens of thousands of people to explore the 15-block music, food, art and learning event. It was an amazing spectacle the first day, featuring Kanye West and Panic! At the Disco closing out, Duff Goldman and Hubert Keller demonstrating the best in culinary arts, and The Pussy Riot and Adam Braun speaking at the Learning @ Western stage. If you’re missing out on the fun in Sin City, stream the festival live at http://streaming.lifeisbeautiful.com/.
Here are some highlights from Day 1:
· Kanye West performing to an uproarious crowd, which included his A-list wife – and birthday girl – Kim Kardashian, her mother Kris Jenner and sister Khloe.
[Photo Credit: Powers Imagery]
· The Weeknd performed at his first festival in more than two years and serenaded the crowd with a sexy rendition of Beyonce’s hit single, “Drunk in Love.”
· An energetic crowd danced to the masterful musical mashups of Girl Talk, who ended his set with an explosion of confetti.
· Hometown artists Jenny Lewis and Panic! At The Disco returned to Las Vegas for performances on the Western and the Ambassador stages, respectively.
· Punk rock political activists Pussy Riot spoke to an overflowing audience inside The Western Hotel, where they discussed finding laughter in even the most dire of situations.
· Duff Goldman added some spark to his banana fosters demo during Chefs on Stage, adding Grand Marnier, Vegas Rum and Everclear to light the pan on fire under the Vegas desert sky.
[Photo Credit: Jeff Kravitz/FilmMagic]
· Artists and festival guests indulged in a 130-lb. tuna hand sliced by Blue Ribbon Sushi Chef Toshi Ueki and enjoyed by Chefs Bruce and Eric Bromberg, Jonathan Waxman, Marc Forgione and José Andrés, who fed each other the delicacy.
· During his Chefs on Stage demonstration, Jet Tila used his smartphone to record a special message with his audience for his Cutthroat Kitchen co-star, “Hi Alton Brown, we love you. From, Life is Beautiful.”
[Photo Credit: Powers Imagery]