When Rolling Stone magazine announced earlier this year its parent company Penske Media Corporation had acquired a majority stake in Las Vegas’ homegrown Life Is Beautiful music and art festival, many locals and festival fans in other places might have been concerned about the future of their favorite annual event. That was a natural response, says festival CEO David Oehm.

“You see the term ‘acquisition,’ and, a lot of times, it’s met with a negative tone," he says. “But it’s really been the opposite for us. This festival will never lose its roots in Vegas. We love the idea that we could be delivering other experiences to fans and have Rolling Stone there to support that, and we have had inquiries about entering new markets and that’s definitely a possibility.

“It really boils down to delivering more amazing moments to fans, and we’re so happy with this partnership so far.”

Life Is Beautiful will be back on the streets of Downtown Las Vegas September 16-18, featuring such acts as Arctic Monkeys, Gorillaz, Calvin Harris, Jack Harlow, Lorde, Migos, Beach House, Kygo, Big Boi and Cage the Elephant. It will be the ninth edition of the festival that started in 2013 and came back from COVID last year, and as Oehm points out, the event has always proudly incorporated unique-to-Vegas programming and installations.

“We wanted to be a beacon of hope [last year] and the fans responded well, the city responded well, and we were able to navigate our way to having a great show,” he says. “We try to be different every year but always with that Vegas DNA ingrained in that. You can see that in the lineup poster that pays homage to Fremont Street, and in the programming that incorporates elements like Cirque [du Soleil] and Blue Man Group and … local brands and partners in the music, culinary and art.”

Oehm joined the festival in 2019 and says he has experienced the “full cycle of hitting some of our lowest points and really some of the highest in helping bring live [entertainment] back to the city.” He previously served as COO of the Snowglobe Music Festival in Lake Tahoe, California, before working in investment development. Being a leader with LIB, which has been such a revitalizing force for Downtown Las Vegas, marries those two fields.

The festival’s discussions with Rolling Stone began in February of 2020, initially focused on a sponsorship. “We found a lot of overlap in vision and where we wanted to go with the festival,” Oehm says, adding that the deal became understandably more challenging after key festival supporter and Downtown developer Tony Hsieh died in November of that year.

Terms of the deal were not disclosed, but the initial announcement stated Penske Media plans to expand LIB into new territories and broaden its digital presence while maintaining the original event in Las Vegas every year.

“I think we’ll see some stuff pop up [this year] that feels natural,” Oehm says of the Rolling Stone impact. “They are excellent with content and we’d love to see them integrating some artist interviews into our livestream. The approach is always, what can we add for fans. Over the course of time we’ll see how these things start to play out, but we definitely are hoping for some cool integrations for this year.”

Rolling Stone might be looking to the future of this successful Las Vegas brand, but the LIB team is all about September—and hopeful that the pandemic challenges of the past two years are in the rearview mirror.

“If you think back to last year when there was the first show at Allegiant Stadium in early July, COVID concerns where pretty much nonexistent, and then … there was such a quick change in conditions,” Oehm says. “I think we met the moment well and we were fortunate to have a successful event, and now we feel great confidence from fans. And we’ve learned live entertainment is truly irreplaceable. There’s nothing better.”