Year Seven, you read that right! Year seven of LIFE IS BEAUTIFUL in Downtown Las Vegas is back!! Now the lineup has been out for just about a month and taking a step back, what a heater we are in store for! Can’t wait to see all the smiling faces September 20-22! Give a listen to the official playlist via Spotify, HERE!
Late Monday night Coachella dropped its 2016 lineup. With Guns n’ Roses and LCD Soundsystem as headliners (and both reuniting) leaked early on, the anticipation was only building for the remainder of the lineup. My hats off to the Goldenvoice team for putting together yet another massive lineup for music fans to salivate at. This year is clearly very dance heavy (as expected) and obviously there is going to be more electro(nic) incorporated into the Coachella Stage and Outdoor Theater stage. Also with Calvin Harris drawing the largest crowd in Coachella Stage history in 2014 it’s no surprise to see him headlining as well this year. I’ll get to may favorite small line artists below but I think the most interesting part of the lineup is at the bottom which states “DESPACIO All Weekend Long;” and should get every LCD Soundsystem (and music) fan excited because if you aren’t familiar, DESPACIO is a side project of James Murphy and 2manydjs! It’s so rad, see for yourself, HERE.
The top line artists speak for themselves but let’s get into the fun stuff, discovery. Here are my quick hits to the artists you may not know but should by April. If I had to name just one of the below for your to really get lost in, Gallant. Oh baby!
Friday: Ibeyi, Black Coffee, Years & Years, HEALTH, Mavis Staples, Goldroom, Gallant, HAELOS, Miami Horror
Saturday: Chronixx, AlunaGeorge (who dazzled in 2014), Shamir, Moon Taxi, Ex Hex, Mr. Carmack, Alvvays, Algiers, Cloves, Phases
Sunday: HudMo, Kamasi Washington, Melody’s Echo Chamber, Anderson .Paak, Nosaj Thing, Epik High, Tensnake, Alessia Cara, Crystal Fighters, PRAYERS, Young Fathers, the Heavy, Girlpool, AC Slater
Bonnaroo 2014. It was halfway through Jack White’s thrashing rock and roll set, @808Dave, @JoleneMannina and I knew it would be tough but we had to leave to make sure we were on time for the Superjam ft. Skrillex & Friends! So off we went, leaving our nearly front row spot for a chance to see something amazing happen. As we ran through the farm we finally arrived at The Other Tent with time to spare, or so we thought! Thanks to a fellow Bonnaroovian, he informed us that a push notification announced a switch in for Frank Ocean with the Superjam so off to This Tent we marched. Finally we really had made it! Thanks to some friends we had been tipped off to the remaining unannounced special guests and just knew this was going to be one of the most incredible performances we’d ever witness. And as people who weren’t there soon after found out, it was just that, an epic performance from incredible musicians. Just click play below to see the Danny Clinch directed documentary showing the preparation leading up to this unreal late night evening of music which started out with the “house band” of Skrillex and Big Gigantic with Thundercat on bass, Mike Einziger of Incubus on guitar and Joel Cummins of Umphrey’s McGee on keys. From there it was on with the special guests as Fatman Scoop hyped the crowd on a couple of tracks, Mickey Hart of the Grateful Dead sat in for a few, Craig Robinson and Mystikal (yes, really), followed by the ladies of Warpaint, the incredible Janelle Monae, A$AP Ferg, Zedd on drums, Robby Krieger of The Doors, Matthew Shultz of Cage The Elephant, Damian “Jr. Gong” Marley and then a four song encore with Ms. Lauryn Hill. It was simply incredible and something I was in awe of. Hands down one of the coolest performances I had ever been witness to. To this day that memory on the farm stands out. If anything it set a new bar for where Superjam’s of the future need to go. Sonny Moore, Paul Peck and the Bonnaroo Crew, bravo and I can’t wait to see what awaits at Bonnaroo 2015 in June! SET LIST and WORDS.
Oh man, just 24 hours from the 2014 Life is Beautiful lineup! I cannot wait to share this year’s lineup with everyone. Each minute we get closer to releasing it the more excited I get. I hope my enthusiasm and love for the talent assembled for year two of the festival is shared by you as well after tomorrow. I hope that as you watch this video below which recaps the music portion of Life is Beautiful 2013, you get pumped to create a whole new set of beautiful memories that will last a lifetime.
“A music festival is a gathering of a lot of strangers but I must say that music by the end of the night it always makes me feel like I know everybody that I shared that experience with and there’s nothing else in the world that can do that like music.” – Dan Reynolds, Imagine Dragons at Life is Beautiful Festival
Just dropped this evening, the 2014 Coachella lineup. Take a look and maybe I’ll see you out in Indio this April. Pretty strong from top to bottom and boy oh boy are there some gems in the tiny font.
Thanksgiving gave me a minute to sit back and have a little fun putting together a Top Tracks of 2013 playlist. This clearly doesn’t include all of the great music that has filtered our ears this year but it is a collection of music that has been on rotation for me in 2013. I tried not to duplicate artists (I could have gone on for days with whole albums from the likes of Vampire Weekend, Cayucas, White Denim, Bastille, etc.) so I hope you like this playlist which should keep you going for hours and perfect for some holiday road trips.
Cheers!
We’ve hit the single day countdown! Cause for celebration?! If that’s the case, perfect time to listen to a little Zedd! Hope you can join us at the Ambassador Stage at 8:05 pm on Sunday, October 27 to catch his show at Life is Beautiful.
I know I posted this video previously but the whole 23 seconds are worth it, Zedd at The Independent the night before Outside Lands 2013.
Here we go……just a month away from the inaugural Life is Beautiful Festival in Downtown Las Vegas and now the fun for you can really begin as this morning we released the single day schedules! Give a look and let me know what day and who you’re most excited to see!
Also this Friday at 10 a.m. SINGLE DAY TICKETS go on sale!
See you in a month!
Peace + Love + Music
Craig
Do You Hear The Music? 