A&E

Sights and sounds from Life Is Beautiful’s 2021 Las Vegas return

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Glass Animals, performing September 17 at Life Is Beautiful
Photo: Wade Vandervort

The Look of LIB After so many months of quarantine isolation, it was a revelation to see actual crowds. Thanks to the comfort of knowing every Life Is Beautiful attendee had either been vaccinated or recently COVID-negative, it was easy to forget that a worldwide pandemic had ever put the fun on hold. Still, it felt weird to see so many people together at once, like walking out of a dark bar into the midday sunlight.

This year, Market in the Alley and Fergusons anchored the east end of the festival footprint with shopping and lifestyle experiences galore. Countless artisans shared their talents, offering attendees a chance to peruse jewelry, art, tie-dye and more.

If imitation is the highest form of flattery, selfies are the highest form of fandom. LIB’s extensive art program proved to be superbly interactive, with attendees turning each mural or art installation into a well-deserved photo-op. As always, the giant, standalone Life Is Beautiful letters were a big hit. This year, it was painted by Las Vegan Mary Felker, aka MaryOnAdventures. Her bright, whimsical designs were perfect for the scene.

The art curators, Just Kids, are experts at using the sprawling LIB footprint in their favor. Select’s Astro Alley turned what would otherwise be a boring thoroughfare into a magical, glowing portal. Similarly, Scott Froschauer’s altered street signs made for equal parts inspiration and meeting points. Who doesn’t love a stop sign that reads “START?”

This year’s Bacardi Art Motel was a literal celebration of art, with surprise DJs, murals, bars, patio games and even a DIY friendship bracelet station. It was a far cry from the more academic first incarnations of the Art Motel, but it seemed to be a popular favorite.

Life is Beautiful 2021, Friday

Artist Laurie Shapiro partnered with Weedmaps for an immersive art installation called “Flowers Are Not a Crime.” With screen-printed fabric hung over a giant wire frame, her installation felt like a temporary chapel to nature. Colorful lamps hung from the inside, completing the sacred feel.

As always, the murals are one of the most fantastic—and lasting—aspects of LIB. The bright colors and vibrant designs by international artists formed the backdrop of the fest. They live on as a burgeoning tourist attraction long after the music has stopped. Las Vegas’ Pretty Done, South Africa’s Keya Tama and Mexico’s It’s a Living were standouts. Argentina’s Spidertag lit up the night with abstract neon shapes. And France’s Nicolas Barrome offered playful sculptural characters. As for what remains and what will remain, viewers will just have to stroll the streets of Downtown, camera phone in hand, to find out. –C. Moon Reed

Willow Smith (Friday, Bacardi Stage) Bounding onto the stage with her buzz-cut hair, bright pink dress and knee-high boots, Willow assumed her rightful role as the punk-rock princess. After opening with the subversive rock track, “Don’t Save Me,” Willow addressed the roaring crowd: “My heart is literally overflowing with gratitude. Thank you for just giving all of your love.”

Willow amped up the theatrics on songs like “Time Machine,” singing with way more gusto than on the vibey track's studio version. On “Wait a Minute” she pranced the stage like a seasoned performer, matching the energy of the dancing crowd. Things took a rowdy turn as Willow brought Tyler Cole, her collaborator on 2020’s The Anxiety, onstage for a few songs—including the riotous “Fight Club.” “Anybody who doesn’t want to be in a mosh or anything should probably stay on the side,” she warned. The singer set the crowd ablaze, wailing over grungy, hammering guitars. And to her delight, a moshpit formed in the front row. That moment would’ve been hard to top, if not for Willow’s punk rendition of “Whip My Hair,” a performance that had the entire crowd headbanging. –Amber Sampson

Glass Animals (Friday, Downtown Stage) The British indie-pop band brought its Dreamland aesthetic to the Downtown Stage, bathing the atmosphere in neon pink and blue hues, alongside set pieces designed to make the stage look like a hotel pool. Lead singer Dave Bayley hopped up onto a teetering diving board, hitting precise notes and soaking in the crowd’s energy like a pop preacher on his pulpit. Bass heavy tracks like “Tokyo Drifting” pumped through the audience so powerfully, it felt less like a show and more like a defining moment in a movie. Bayley maintained that vibe throughout, dancing unabashedly during “Life Itself” and extending his microphone so fans could sing along to “Heat Waves.” One singular experience, shared amongst many, and Bayley made damn sure of it. –AS

Tame Impala (Friday, Downtown Stage) Everyone already expected Tame Impala’s headlining set to be a trip, but the show’s visuals took fans to another plane entirely. A large, circular ring served as the centerpiece of the stage, orbiting and glowing above like a spaceship ready to beam frontman Kevin Parker up at a moment’s notice. Vivid, psychedelic art scapes on the stage screens tumbled into the shape of Parker’s face, like a lifesize Etch a Sketch as he grooved through album favorites from The Slow Rush, Currents and Lonerism.

“I don’t know about you guys, but this is my first festival back, and I just want to say it feels f*cking good,” he told the crowd. Theatrics amplified the energy of every song. During “The Less I Know the Better,” a huge burst of multi-colored light beamed out from the center of the stage into the crowd, like a real-life display of Thor’s Asgardian bridge. And later, confetti rained down as Parker sang the last moments of “New Person, Same Old Mistakes.” The experience served as a great return for live music. –AS

Life Is Beautiful 2021, Saturday

Megan Thee Stallion (Friday, Bacardi Stage) Calling Megan Thee Stallion’s performance a “set” might be underselling it. Those who caught the Houston rapper on Friday witnessed a hot girl house party.

Fans of the “Hot Girl Summer” star matched her bar for bar on hits like “Freak Nasty,” “Realer” and “Captain Hook.” Fitted in a bedazzled orange getup, Megan twerked tirelessly alongside her dancers, never missing a beat—even under the blinding hot lights. "Real hot girl sh*t," the crowd chanted like a mantra as she dove into the flex-heavy “Cash Sh*t,” which noticeably removed controversial rapper DaBaby’s verse.

Megan talked at length about her love for her fans. “I just want to take a second to let the motherf*ckin hotties know that I appreciate y’all,” she said. And at one point, she asked security to bring some of the girls from the front row onstage. When that didn’t pan out, she had a guard carry her off the stage, greeting fans with a bashful “Hi,” before touching their hands and launching into another song. Overall, Megan brought her own kind of heat to the desert. –AS

White Reaper (Saturday, Huntridge Stage) Rock might not maintain a major presence at Life Is Beautiful these days, but those looking for squealing guitars can still find them on occasion. White Reaper drew a small-but-excited, older-skewing crowd to the Huntridge Stage Saturday evening for an energetic set that saw the Louisville, Kentucky, five-piece fight through some technical difficulties in the best way possible: by having fun with it. After launching into their time with the familiar opening riffs from Metallica’s “For Whom the Bell Tolls,” the band went on to deliver two full covers—the Ramones’ “Beat on the Brat” and Nirvana’s “Aneurysm”—while Sam Wilkerson tried to get his bass guitar working.

Keyboardist/human party Ryan Hater also helped keep things light, playing the crowd more than his instrument. And White Reaper’s own songs, which resurrect the bar hooks of Cheap Trick and Thin Lizzy, didn’t hurt either, affixing smiles on the faces of those pregaming for Modest Mouse. –Spencer Patterson

Modest Mouse (Saturday, Downtown Stage) Catching Isaac Brock and company at a festival can be a dicey endeavor (see: Coachella 2013, when the frontman’s meandering between-song banter forced organizers to pull the plug on the band mid-”Float On”), but there were no such issues at Life Is Beautiful. Brock and his mates strung together a pro set reflective of their 30-ish years on the indie-rock circuit.

The song sequence bounced between hits (“Lampshades on Fire,” “Dashboard” and, yes, “Float On,” which predictably elicited the wildest reaction), old favorites (opener “Dramamine,” the always-intense “Doin’ the Cockroach” and closer “Paper Thin Walls”) and cuts from June record The Golden Casket, and the group fluidly moved from style to style.

The peak might have come during “King Rat,” which featured trumpet and banjo and produced that trademark Modest Mouse moment when your body just starts moving toward the stage as Brock’s vocals grow more and more feverish. Come back soon, guys. –SP

Jamila Woods (Sunday, Huntridge Stage) Playing Sunday evening on the Huntridge Stage, Woods showed off her emotive voice and creative lyrics. But as was sometimes the case on her strong 2019 album Legacy! Legacy!, her band’s style—a sort of electric smooth jazz—felt at odds with her music, at times overpowering the set’s main attraction.

Woods became (at least) the second act to cover Nirvana (“Smells Like Teen Spirit”) on that stage and also debuted a promising new song, but in terms of instrumentation and presentation, she could take a page from the woman who followed her a few moments later on the next stage … –SP

Life Is Beautiful 2021, Sunday

St. Vincent (Sunday, Downtown Stage) Life Is Beautiful bills itself as a “music and art” festival, and the two intertwined beautifully during Annie Clark’s Sunday night set.

As much performance art as traditional concert, St. Vincent’s full 50 minutes felt entirely thought out, from her cityscape backdrop to her backing vocalists’ choreographed movements to her own blonde hair and series of outfits. It all served to create a slinky electro-lounge vibe that would make for an all-timer of a Las Vegas casino residency.

Having longtime Beck cohorts Jason Falkner (guitar) and Justin Meldal-Johnsen (bass) added to the funky feel, but it was Clark’s presence and personality—her magnetic, ultraconfident, icy/sexy aura; her effortlessly powerful voice; her noisy, No Wave-y guitar sounds—that ruled over all else.

Her song selection—and reconstruction—also shined. Though her six-disc solo catalog has taken her all over the sonic map, on Sunday her career felt fully unified, as older songs were reworked just enough to fit them alongside numbers from her latest, May’s Daddy’s Home. Opening duo “Digital Witness” and “Down” set a psychedelic-dance tone reminiscent of Sly Stone or Funkadelic, before a three-song run from 2017’s Masseduction showed off the group’s range, going from tearful ballad (“New York”) to robotic groover (“Los Angeless”) to scratchy rocker (“Sugarboy”) in a few minutes’ time.

The bouncing “Slow Fast Disco” came through big, the obvious encore to the aforementioned, hypothetical Vegas production, whereas here, Clark ended with a trio of challenging, but no less successful, art-pop numbers: “Cheerleader,” “Fear the Future” and “Your Lips Are Red.”

The only thing about St. Vincent’s set that fell flat? A between-song phone-call gag about betting her entire festival guarantee on Vegas table games. Guess she’s got one minor thing to iron out before she signs on long-term. –SP

Billie Eilish (Sunday, Downtown Stage) “You guys, it’s been so long. This feels like a dream I’ve had many, many times in the last year,” Billie Eilish said before playing “I Didn’t Change My Number” live for the first time. “You guys wanna give me all the energy you’ve been saving for the past year-and-a-half?”

Both parties gladly obliged over the course of Eilish’s 22-song Life Is Beautiful set: Eilish floated serenely about the stage as if she was still having that dream, and the crowd went nuts. This was the 19-year-old Grammy winner’s first concert since the March 2020 shutdown, and she gave her all to it, tearing into songs both recent (“NDA,” “Therefore I Am”) and slightly less recent (“Bury a Friend,” “All the Good Girls Go to Hell”) with confidence and sheer delight.

Backed by Andrew Marshall on percussion and her brother Finneas O’Connell on nearly everything else, Eilish delivered a booming, sonically-rich set that swung between stomping party beats and subdued, introverted moments that bordered on the hypnotic—and yet still had ample room for the artist’s love of goofball fun. (Between needle-sharp versions of “Therefore I Am” and “My Strange Addiction,” Eilish puckishly declared “I’ve had a wedgie this whole time.”) And the unusual stage setup—a series of giant platforms covered with digital screens, accentuated by a giant ramp and a catwalk that extended deep into the crowd—allowed the performer to adjust her level of crowd connection: Sometimes she’d strut out into the crowd to connect, and other times she’d retreat to the top of the ramp and hunch down, distant but still elevated.

“No Time to Die,” Eilish’s James Bond theme song, provided a telling moment. The movie hasn’t yet come out—this year, for sure!—but since we’ve lived with the song for a year, Eilish was able to deliver it with the panache of a shopworn Vegas showroom standard, her own “My Way.” She reared back and blasted it, trading her iconic murmur for long, sustained notes that hinted at bigger, possibly jazzier musical avenues Eilish would like to explore. (Eilish’s Disney+ concert special, featuring her performing in an empty Hollywood Bowl with a full orchestra, is another indicator that Eilish is interested in changing things up.)

But every song in the set got her fullest commitment, from “Ocean Eyes” to “Oxytocin.” And by the time she brought the evening to a close with a stomping version of “Bad Guy,” she’d achieved a giant stature, taking several huge steps to catch up with the year-and-change she’d lost to waiting and dreaming. And she graciously scooped up the crowd and brought them along. –Geoff Carter

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Geoff Carter

Experts in paleoanthropology believe that Geoff Carter began his career in journalism sometime in the early Grunge period, when he ...

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Spencer Patterson

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Amber Sampson

Amber Sampson is a Staff Writer for Las Vegas Weekly. She got her start in journalism as an intern at ...

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