Life is Beautiful Festival wrapped up its second year in Downtown Las Vegas on Sunday, October 26, 2014, attracting tens of thousands of people to explore the 15-block music, food, art and learning event. Here’s a quick recap of Day 3 escapades:
· During his Chefs on Stage demonstration, Scott Conant revealed Wolfgang Puck and Daniel Boulud as his culinary inspirations. He then treated his guests to samples of his spice-crusted ribeye.
· Life is Beautiful paid homage to the Fab Four with a special performance from The Beatles LOVE by Cirque du Soleil and members of The Las Vegas Philharmonic. A crowd favorite, and first-ever collaboration for the two, the performance used uniquely re-mastered music arranged by Giles Martin, son of legendary Beatles producer George Martin.
[Photo Credit: Powers Imagery]
· Life is Beautiful bands continued a weekend trend of performing cover songs mixed with originals. Nahko & Medicine for the People covered Blackstreet’s, “No Diggity” and Mayer Hawthorne covered both Bell Biv DeVoe’s “Poison” and Aerosmith’s “Walk This Way.”
· Food Network’s first featured female Chef Cat Cora cooked up a masterpiece on stage when she showed attendees how to make one of her signature dishes, basque-rubbed grilled lamb chops with a feta chimichurri.
[Photo Credit: FilmMagic]
· The festival’s 2014 learning series ended on a high note with NBA hopeful Isaiah Austin speaking to a packed room about overcoming it all and how he came out the other side.
· Foo Fighters couldn’t be stopped, blowing past their allotted set time giving the audience an unforgettable performance.
[Photo Credit: Jeff Kravitz/FilmMagic]
· During his performance, Dave Grohl thanked Life is Beautiful for bringing him out to Las Vegas and making it possible for him to perform on the same stage as other rock stars like Arctic Monkeys.
· During the intoxicating Skrillex set, festival guests bounced around hundreds of LED balls which changed color to the nonstop electro beats.
[Photo Credit: FilmMagic]
“We’ve expanded this year in every way possible, but among the most meaningful to our team was the heightened integration of three of our four core pillars: food, art and learning,” said festival founder Rehan Choudhry. “Music is always a big draw – and this year’s acts knocked it out of the park – but to see guests coming to the site specifically to taste food from our award-winning chefs, hear speeches from world-class lecturers, and soak in the beauty of our murals and installations means a lot. It proves that we’ve taken a big step towards our goal of showcasing many types of artistic endeavors in one single space. This event is designed for those who see or who seek the beauty in life, and I believe they left our footprint inspired and stimulated.”
Here’s a look at this year’s festival “by the numbers:”
- 70,000: Total square footage of grassy space inside the city footprint
- 25,600: Number of man hours clocked in the building out of the festival
- 3,500: Number of total staff (and volunteers) working the festival all 3 days
- 3, 701: Number of rubber ducks in the City Motel Pool
- 1,000: Number of Love Note Easter Eggs hidden inside the event space
- 1,350: Number of tacos served from the solar kitchens
- 3,600: Number of attendees who were inspired by the Learning lecture series
- 346: Number of love letters acted out in “Reasons Why I Love You”
- 550: Pounds of confetti showered on the crowd
- 30-35: Average number of miles walked by festival attendees and staff in total
- 1: Number of on-stage marriage proposals