Wouldn’t you know it; there’s a music festival that shares the same kind of adage that we do? Sure it’s without the self-aggrandizing hyperbole and probably doesn’t spend as much time as we do pacing in front of the mirror trying to find the perfect flex-pose, but the Life Is Beautiful Festival does celebrate life, and it’s about to light up Las Vegas like it’s never been lighten before. Lighted? Lightered?
When we wake up in the morning, before we go to bed, two or three times during the day and … well at least five or six times during the day … we’re congratulating ourselves on just how beautiful we actually are. If we’re not zoning out to our own reflection in a mirror – held by fancy gilded frame – we’re out asking strangers if they’re shocked knowing who we are as a human being. Do you even know us, bro?
Because life is flippin’ beautiful, that’s why.
Wouldn’t you know it; there’s a music festival that shares the same kind of adage that we do? Sure it’s without the self-aggrandizing hyperbole and probably doesn’t spend as much time as we do pacing in front of the mirror trying to find the perfect flex-pose, but the Life Is Beautiful Festival does celebrate life, and it’s about to light up Las Vegas like it’s never been lighten before. Lighted? Lightered?
Festival founder and all-around stellar gentleman Rehan Choudry says his earlier gigs working with some of the biggest names in entertainment were learning experiences that he undoubtedly enjoyed, but they all missed positive social intention. His last major role, opening a measly $3.9 billion dollar project called The Cosmopolitan, was where his “working for the man” train let off.
“When I took a step back towards the end of my job with the Cosmopolitan, I said, ‘You know what, every single event that we created had an underlying purpose of profit,’” he says. “I wanted to start my own path and create a brand that had a more valuable place in the world, especially socially. Life Is Beautiful is as much a mission and a statement as much as it is a brand and festival.
“Maybe (we won’t) physically make the world better the way organizations do that fight global poverty, but (we can) make the way people experience the world and experience life a little better because we’re changing their experience on what it looks like. All the past experiences I had are just leading up to something far more fun and far more meaningful.”
The Life Is Beautiful experience is plenty more than a few fancy headliners thrown on stage in the midst of festival-loving revelers. It’s a social movement, which puts a high focus on food, art and charity and one that Choudry says can open doors to self-acceptance, self-awareness and social responsibility.
“I heard somebody say in a speech recently,” says Choudry, “’Bad things in life don’t happen to you, they happen for you, because it’s an opportunity to grow and an opportunity to learn.’ It’s an interesting perspective.“
“When you think about bullying,” he continues, “there are people being bullied as teenagers, but at another level you’ve got 30, 40, 50 year olds that never really recovered and never came to terms with whatever kind of bullying and social situations they had to deal with. People carry that their entire lives. What’s interesting about both the festival and the social platform is that it’s very relevant to people of all ages.”
He says the music portion of the festival can be seen as targeting the 16-28 year old demographic while the culinary leans towards the 35-45 – and the art is a fusion of both. The reality, however, is that everyone struggles with something in this thing called life, so the positive message as a whole can be embodied by all.
“Whether you’re a 13 year old getting bullied or a 25 year old struggling to come out, or a 45 year old who’s been in the same career for the last two decades … has a family, has kids, and struggles with the idea that they don’t think they’ll ever be able to change their career to do what they love.“
And he walks the walk in providing others the opportunity to do what they love. Before Life Is Beautiful came to fruition, he and friend Craig Asher often mused about starting their own festival while wandering around the lands of others. Asher, a successful music blogger and owner of a PR company, woke up one day to a call from Choudry that would alter his course as he knew it to be.
“He called me one day and, not thinking much of it, Rehan said, ‘Hey remember that idea? It’s happening,” says Asher. It was a phone call that solidified his role as Head of Music and Live Performances, and the ability to curate some of the biggest names in music.
“Last year it was a no brainer to have The Killers headline because they’re one of the biggest rock bands ever from Vegas,” he says. “For this year looking at Kanye West, he regularly sells out when he plays MGM Grand and Foo Fighters are one of the biggest rock bands on the planet, but haven’t played a real show in Vegas since 2008. The city is electric with having them come to town! And Outkast hasn’t played Vegas since 2002.”
The headliners are a big deal and obviously a large input into how well the festival actually sells. Mid-level bands, however, can be just as alluring. Asked whether or not Asher chooses acts based on selfish taste, he responds:
“There’s a small piece of me that says that,” he says, “but it’s more of taking my experiences, and recognizing bands, and knowing they’d be a great fit for the lineup and for people to see. I’ve seen the Arctic Monkey’s a half-dozen times and it’s just a pure rock show, I love it. Taking those experiences into account makes it an easier target to want to add them to the lineup. The big thing for us this year is to balance it out between multiple genres.”
But having such a large festival with so many types of people gathering isn’t without its issues. Choudry admits that the large-scale events have gotten a soiled image because of the negative connotations that come with popular culture and the image of Las Vegas. Positive festivals like his, he says, are going to change all of that.
“I’m banking that the next generation of festivals are going to resemble Life Is Beautiful and resemble festivals like the Global Citizens Festival or the Sweet Life Festival; something far more anchored in driving social good and becoming a beacon of celebration for a yearly message that people take back to their homes,” he says. “If I’m right, I think in the next two to five years you’re gonna see a quick rise in festivals that have that broader sense of purpose that people can socially align with beyond just the weekend of.”
Along with the positive vibes and era-defining music performances, the festival aligns itself with environmental standards that continue to evolve and lighten the load of these kinds of massive affairs.
“There’s a ton of innovation taking place,” says Choudry. “We take all of our trash, separate it, and deliver based on processing of the trash. It’s not just taking bags and dumping it in a landfill.”
Preparations still continue, but the meat of the cookout is already in place. Artists have been on site for weeks designing and creating murals, fencing is mostly up and the only thing left to do, says Choudry, is hold on, because there isn’t much more him and his team can do to prepare any more than they already have.
“The first three weeks in October are actually not that bad, I mean they’re exhausting, but there’s nothing else we can do,” says Choudry. “We’re in it. We’re going. Everything’s planned.” It’s go time.
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