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‘Life is Beautiful’ Vegas Music Fest Scaling Way Back

This year, life will still be beautiful but much smaller.

This year’s “Life is Beautiful” festival will play to an audience only one-third of the festival’s maximum size. (Image: Digital Music News)

The annual “Life is Beautiful” Las Vegas music festival — held on 18 city blocks along East Fremont Street for 10 years — is being rerouted to a single vacant lot next to the Plaza Hotel & Casino downtown.

The year’s event, renamed “The Big Beautiful Block Party,” has also been scaled back from its usual three days to two.

“For a number of reasons, it was appropriate to hit pause on the Life is Beautiful Festival this year,” according to a news release from festival organizers that explained none of those reasons. “We are hard at work reimagining and evolving the festival experience for the sake of you, the fans, and the incredible community that surrounds us.”

The largest audience ever reported for “Life is Beautiful” was reported as 180,000 over three days. The 10-acre vacant lot that will host “The Big Beautiful Block Party” holds an estimated 25,000.

“This event is not intended to replace the festival,” the press release continues, rather optimistically. “For now, it gives us the opportunity to continue the annual tradition of gathering in Downtown Las Vegas to uplift one another, to express ourselves, and to connect. In time, the two will coexist.”

“Life is Beautiful” was founded by the late Tony Hsieh, former CEO of Zappos, in 2013. A controlling interest in the festival was purchased by Rolling Stone magazine in February 2022. Five years earlier, Rolling Stone laid off 30% of its editorial staff in a cost-cutting move as it shifted from bi-weekly to monthly print publication.

Last year, the festival celebrated its 10th anniversary in typically grand style, with headliners including Kendrick Lamar, ODESZA, and The 1975.

This year’s event is the first in which Rolling Stone is the sole owner.

The vacant-lot party will take place on two stages Sept. 27 and 28, from 5 p.m. to 2 a.m. The acts on those stages will be announced at 10 a.m. on Tuesday, June 25, with two-day passes, starting at $199, going on sale 10 a.m. Thursday, June 27, via lifeisbeautiful.com.

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Boring Co.’s Next Vegas Loop Tunnel Reaches Virgin Hotels

Digging on the next tunnel in the Vegas Loop has reached Virgin Hotels (the former Hard Rock Hotel) 1.5 miles east of the Strip.

The Vegas Loop, known colloquially as the Tesla tunnels, is eventually expected to connect all of the Las Vegas Strip with the airport and downtown. (Image: The Boring Co.)

On Friday, Elon Musk announced the milestone for his The Boring Co. (TBC) via its X/Twitter account.

“Within a few years, you will be able to get to all major destinations in the city super fast with electric cars in tunnels,” the richest person in the U.S. posted, though the average speed of the Teslas is currently only 30 mph.

The tunnel is part of the University Center Drive Loop, which began digging on 2 acres of land across from UNLV’s Thomas & Mack Center on Paradise Road. This parcel, which TBC purchased in January for $7.2 million, will eventually be known as Paradise Station.

A TBC boring machine emerges near Virgin Hotels. (Image: The Boring Co.)

Digging on this tunnel, the longest so far, will continue until it reaches the Las Vegas Convention Center’s Silver Lot. By April 2025, according to the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority (LVCVA), which commissioned the Vegas Loop in May 2019, it is expected to move passengers underground in two “Tesla tunnels” between the three sites.

So Close But Yet…

Though Paradise Station is only 2 miles from Harry Reid International Airport, it will not connect to it.

A separate expansion, approved by the Clark County Commission in October 2021, will begin at the airport, proceed to Allegiant Stadium, and then stop at 50 other stations before terminating 30 miles later at the Fremont Street Experience downtown.

Until this future loop opens, the Teslas may be permitted to drive the 2 miles on surface streets to Harry Reid.

“Go to the airport, drop somebody off, pick somebody up and get back in the system,” LVCVA president and CEO Steve Hill told the Las Vegas Review-Journal in April. “At this point, it really starts to be a valuable and viable transportation system for everybody that’s connected.”

Work continues on expanding the TBC’s only currently operational tunnel, which connects the three halls of the convention center with Resorts World. The next casino resorts connected via that loop will be the Westgate and Encore.

Rides on this loop are currently free. Once the University Center loop opens, however, riders will be required to pay a fee to TBC.

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Resorts World Las Vegas Eliminates All Free Parking

Resorts World announced on Thursday the end of free parking even for its rewards club members. As of June 1, only club members who have attained a new “Elite Tier” status or above can park without paying.

Resorts World’s parking garages, once free for all to use, are now a perk of spending at the property. (Image: vegasfoodandfun.com)

Elite requires players to earn 3,000 tier credits from dining, shopping, or gambling at Resorts World.

For all non-Elites, self-parking will cost a flat $18.

When the glitzy $4.3 billion integrated resort, owned and operated by Malaysia-based Genting Group, opened on the Strip’s unhappening north end in June 2021, it promised perpetual free parking to all.

Resorts World broke that promise two years later, reserving free parking only for patrons enrolled in its Genting Rewards loyalty program, regardless of their spending record with the property.

Final 4

As of June 1, the only Las Vegas resorts to still offer free parking will be TI, Circus Circus, Casino Royale, and the Sahara.

The Sahara’s parking is still free. For now. (Image: KSNV-TV/Las Vegas)

However, upgrades to the Sahara’s two garages earlier this month, which, according to the resort’s website added “the latest technology to improve your safety and experience,” have cast doubt on how much longer this will be the case.

The Sahara’s website now reads that parking is free “for hotel and property guests.” This suggests that the aforementioned new technology may have been installed to prevent people from parking there to visit the adjacent Wynn and Encore, which only offers free parking for three hours to anyone not registered at their hotels.

In case you’re not keeping count, the last time we updated the list of Strip resorts with free parking, it included the Tropicana, which is currently being demolished. The next time, Casino Royale may also go the same way, since plans are being made to replace it with a 699-foot tower.

Free self-parking also remains available on the Strip at the Fashion Show Mall and the Shoppes at Mandalay Palace. Aria’s Shops at Crystals also offers free valet parking.

A bank of parking ticket machines at New York-New York on the Las Vegas Strip. MGM Resorts, New York-New York’s owner, became the first Las Vegas resort chain to charge for parking in 2016. (Image: travelzork.com)

Fee For All

Free parking was a staple of the Strip from the day it began until 2016. That was the year MGM, which operates the Bellagio, Aria, MGM Grand, Mandalay Bay, Park MGM, Mirage, New York-New York, Luxor, and Excalibur, became the first casino company on the charge for the Strip tradition.

For a year or two, most competitors kept their self-parking free as a selling point. Eventually, all caved. Longtime holdouts Wynn and Encore finally relented last year, blaming pressure from The Sphere.

That you once parked for free at all Las Vegas Strip casinos will be a story you tell your grandchildren one day, just like the stories you tell them about drinking in them for free and (if you’re old enough), once getting your room comped because you gambled $100.

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Iconic Mirage Casino to Close for Hard Rock Las Vegas Transformation

the_mirage_casino_which_ushered_era_of_las_vegas_strip_megaresorts_is_closingThe iconic Mirage hotel-casino on the Las Vegas Strip will shut its doors this summer, marking the end of an era for a property that played a pivotal role in transforming Sin City into a premier luxury resort destination.

The closure on July 17 will pave the way for extensive renovations and new construction on the 80-acre (32-hectare) property. In 2027, the site will reopen as the Hard Rock Las Vegas featuring a hotel tower shaped like a guitar, rising nearly 700 feet (about 210 meters) above the Strip.

“We’d like to thank the Las Vegas community and team members for warmly welcoming Hard Rock after enjoying 34 years at The Mirage,” Jim Allen, chairman of Hard Rock International, said in a statement on Wednesday.

This will be the second casino on the Strip to close this year. The Tropicana Las Vegas ceased operations in April after 67 years to make way for a $1.5 billion baseball stadium, planned as the future home of the Oakland A’s, who are relocating.

From Polynesian Themes to Mega Resorts

The Mirage, developed by former casino mogul Steve Wynn, opened its doors in 1989 with a Polynesian theme, becoming the Strip’s first megaresort. This milestone spurred a building boom on the famous boulevard throughout the 1990s. The Mirage’s volcano fountain was among the first of the Las Vegas Strip’s sidewalk attractions, setting a trend that would later include the Venetian’s canals and the Bellagio’s dancing fountains.

For years, tourists flocked to the Mirage to witness Siegfried and Roy taming white tigers or to enjoy a Cirque du Soleil performance set to Beatles music. The final performance of the Beatles-themed show, which brought Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr back together for public appearances during its 18-year run, will also be in July.

Employee Transition and Future Plans

Hard Rock International announced that more than 3,000 employees will be laid off, with an expected $80 million in severance payouts. The Culinary Workers Union, representing about 1,700 Mirage employees since its opening, stated that last year’s contract ensures laid-off workers will receive $2,000 for each year of service. Additionally, the contract offers these workers the option to be called back to work and retain their seniority when the hotel reopens.

“Culinary Union will continue to ensure workers are protected and centered in the property’s future,” the union stated.

The Mirage made history in 2022 as the first Strip property to be run by a Native American tribe. Hard Rock International, owned by the Seminole Tribe of Florida, purchased the Mirage from MGM Resorts in a cash deal worth nearly $1.1 billion. At the time, Hard Rock assured that the property would remain operational under the Mirage brand while renovation plans were finalized.

The Mirage is currently accepting no bookings beyond July 14, with all reservations past that date to be canceled and refunded.

Source: “Mirage, a landmark Strip resort, prepares to vanish”. May 15, 2024.

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Off-Strip Casino Sues F1 Over Las Vegas Grand Prix

The owners of Ellis Island Casino are suing F1 for monetary damages it claims to have suffered at the hands of last year’s inaugural Las Vegas Grand Prix.

The grandstands Ellis Island erected in front of its property for Las Vegas Grand Prix viewing. (Image: Nevada Independent)

The suit — filed last month but first reported on Friday by the Las Vegas Review-Journal — seeks more than $50,000 in compensation and also names Clark County and the State of Nevada as defendants.

Ellis Island claims that the race, and the six months of setup and teardown on either side of it, impeded both employees and customers from accessing its property, which is located on Koval Lane right next door to F1’s now-permanent, $500 million paddock building.

The night before the first practice round, according to the lawsuit, “plaintiffs’ graveyard shift team was informed by F1 or its agents that no one [was] allowed to come or go” for three hours.

The lawsuit also faults the county for categorizing the race as a special event without requiring F1 to file for a special use permit, and faults F1 for promoting this year’s race before the county held a debriefing on the first one.

Ellis Island was a Grand Prix sponsor that erected a 1,000-seat grandstand in its parking lot for viewing the race — reportedly paying a handsome but undisclosed sum for the right to do so and charging $1,500 per three-day pass.

“We saw the value of Formula One and having the facility right next door, we knew we wanted to find a way to get involved,” Ellis Island VP of Development Christina Ellis told the Nevada Independent last September. “We got into conversations pretty early on how we could be good neighbors.”

Not the First

This is the second lawsuit against F1 over the race. Last November, a group of 35,000 fans filed a class action suit last November for being cleared out of a grandstand because of a delayed practice round they paid hundreds of dollars each to view.

The outcome of that lawsuit was never reported.

In February, more than a dozen businesses near the circuit threatened to sue F1 for the $30 million they claim to have lost when race preparations cut them off from their normal customer base.

No lawsuit has yet been filed on their behalf. However, six of the businesses filed a Change.org petition calling on the Clark County Commission to deny a special use permit to close the streets for this year’s Las Vegas Grand Prix, which is scheduled to take place Nov. 21-23.

 

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