Downtown’s Neon City Festival has announced its initial line-up of acts, featuring Alison Wonderland, Neon Trees, Russell Dickerson, Seven Lions and a smidge of musical festival drama involving Macklemore.
The inaugural Neon City Festival happens Nov. 22-24, 2024, right on top of the F1 Las Vegas Grand Prix, entirely by design.
To-date, the festival has announced 23 acts, with the biggest selling point being the fact the festival is free.
First, the glorious drama.
On Sep. 19, 2024, Neon City Festival announced its initial slate of acts, including rapper Macklemore.
On Sep. 22, 2024, it was reported Macklemore said some pretty stupid things at a show in Seattle, including leading the crowd in a “Fuck America” chant.
The organizers of the Neon City Festival were as blindsided by Macklemore’s behavior as we were. We should know as we were the first one to forward them that NY Post link, before which they were unaware of the incident. It seems Neon City Festival organizers also had no idea about Macklemore’s history of anti-Semitic dumbassery.
The performer’s heart might be in the right place (everyone sympathizes with the plight of civilians in Middle East conflict zones), but the individuals involved with the new downtown festival were having none of it and pulled the plug on Macklemore’s appearance.
Circa owner Derek Stevens is super patriotic, for starters, and stands whenever the National Anthem comes on before sporting events in his sportsbook. The owner of El Cortez, Kenny Epstein, is Jewish, as is the CEO of Plaza, Jonathan Jossel. No way this was going to fly.
Macklemore’s cancelation was handled swiftly and decisively with a simple statement, “Due to unforeseen circumstances, Macklemore will no longer be performing at Neon City Festival (NCF). We are excited to announce new artists joining the NCF lineup shortly.”
To put it in pop culture terms, Macklemore was the Coca Cola Spice of the first Neon City Festival.
Which brings us back to the Neon City Festival line-up!
Here are all the acts, copied and pasted from the news release so it appears we actually spent some time writing this story. We took out the stylistic affectations and Oxford commas.
408 – The Orlando DIY act features a prolific blend of pop-punk and modern pop, hip hop and EDM from members Mark Faroudi, Nick Hanus, Nick Roque and Jake Cerretani.
Adelita’s Way – This American rock band was formed in Las Vegas in 2006 and their debut single “Invincible” broke them into the mainstream scene. The group consists of Rick Dejesus, Trevor Safford and Andrew Cushing.
Alison Wonderland – Alison Wonderland is known for wearing her heart on her sleeve. Her songwriting is visceral and raw, often feeling like entries from her own diary, twisting the familiar burns of heartache into empowering anthems for festival crowds to sing along to.
American Mile – Formed in 2018, American Mile has been carving their name into the roots of southern rock and country music around North America. Their powerful sound has garnered them important shows in front of thousands at festivals and stages.
Beauty School Dropout – Los Angeles-based Beauty School Dropout emerged as a rising force in 2022. The band is comprised of three talented musicians—Colie Hutzer, Beepus and Bardo—and boasts a nod from A&R legend Mark Hoppus of Blink-182 and the backing of Verswire label.
Bubba Sparxxx – The rapper is known for his Billboard-charted hit songs “Ugly” and “Ms. New Booty.” For the record, this was the only performer leaked prior to the official line-up announcement. We’ll take it.
Free Neon City Festival (Nov. 22-24) will announce its line-up on Sep. 19. They’re doing a good job of keeping this quiet, unfortunately—we’ve heard Bubba Sparxxx, but that’s it. @neoncityfestlv
— Vital Vegas (@VitalVegas) September 16, 2024
Cassadee Pope – Cassadee Pope is known for her work in the seminal pop-punk band Hey Monday. She’s also the season three winner of “The Voice” and a Platinum-selling (“Wasting All These Tears”) artist and Grammy-nominated (“Think of You,” a duet with Chris Young) singer/songwriter.
Charlotte Sands – Influenced by a mix of acoustic storytelling and powerful pop-rock performances, Sands has remained a fully independent artist, all while charting on Top 40 radio for over 15 weeks in the United States.
Ekoh – The multifaceted musical force hailing from Las Vegas, Ekoh has etched his distinctive mark on the industry by skillfully blending hip hop, rock and alternative genres.
Elijah – Fresh off the viral success from his single, “Harder to Lie,” Elijah has perfected his signature hook-driven choruses, caught somewhere between active rock and pop. His song “Virus” quickly became one of the most played tracks on SiriusXM’s Octane, reaching a peak at #10.
Filter – Richard Patrick’s career is a vision of multifaceted creativity, which he has delivered throughout his 30-plus years producing music professionally through his band Filter, various collaborations, side projects, super groups, scoring films and writing for soundtracks.
Kaleido – Straight out of Detroit, Kaleido is fronted by Christina Chriss and the group is rounded out by Joey Fava (drums), Cody Morales (bass) and Drew Johnston (guitar). Together, they seamlessly stir hard rock, punk, metal, alternative and pop into a combustible and catchy signature style.
Krewella – Krewella is the boundless electronic duo comprised of sisters Jahan and Yasmine Yousaf. Born in Houston, their multicultural background influences their art. Always experimental, they’ve carved out their own niche in EDM.
Kruse Brothers – Phoenix-based duo The Kruse Brothers, Chandler and Miles Kruse, are transforming country music with their blend of diverse influences and musical styles. Originally rooted in classical music, the brothers bring a unique sound to the genre, infusing it with elements of blues and rock.
Lit – Lit is considered one of the preeminent bands to have come out of the post-grunge era of the late 90’s. They helped define an entire generation of SoCal power punk with hard-charging hits like “My Own Worst Enemy,” “Miserable,” “Zip-Lock” and “Lipstick & Bruises.”
Lovelytheband – Lovelytheband is a Los Angeles-based alternative rock group. Their debut single “Broken” made Billboard history as the longest charting alternative rock song in history (charting for 76 weeks and reaching number one on multiple charts). The song has recently been certified triple platinum.
Luniz – Luniz is a rap duo out of Oakland consisting of Yukmouth and Numskull, two friends who have known each other since junior high. Their debut album, Operation Stackola, was released in 1995 and knocked Michael Jackson’s “HIStory” off the top of the R&B charts on the strength of the hit single “I Got 5 on It.”
Mr. Carmack – Carmack finds inspiration from a range of sources, from his friends and fellow musicians in production cliques, Team Supreme and Soulection, to his travels and numerous sold-out tours of five continents over the past two years. This includes sharing stages with folks like Hudson Mohawke, Just Blaze, Cashmere Cat and alleged revenge porn enthusiast Diplo.
Mystery Skulls – Luis Dubuc was looking for a change of pace when he started his dance/electro-soul act, Mystery Skulls, in 2011. Fans were quickly enchanted by the upbeat, groovy sounds Mystery Skulls was producing. The result is an impressive discography that has amassed over 100 million streams.
Neon Trees – Since debuting in 2010, Neon Trees have cemented themselves as a dynamic, engaging band who has consistently put in the work for over a decade. Led by Tyler Glenn, they have performed at major festivals like Coachella, Bonnaroo, Life Is Beautiful and Bottle Rock and opened for My Chemical Romance, Maroon 5 and Taylor Swift as well as headlined sold-out tours of their own.
No Proof – No Proof is a rock, heavy rock and blues rock band from southern Utah. The band consists of Sarah Jane, Locklin Hammett, Hunter Harrison, Dave The Dreaded (Anderson) and Michael Westrich.
Pertinence – Pertinence is a musical artist known for his hip hop hits “Drop the Beater” and “Bobby Boucher.”
Restless Road – Made up of three different but complementary voices, country band Restless Road (Zach Beeken, Garrett Nichols and Colton Pack) is “one of the most intriguing and exciting acts of the year” (Wide Open Country).
Russell Dickerson – After bursting onto the scene, this Tennessee native quickly stood out from the pack as he released four consecutive career-starting singles that reached #1 on the Billboard Country Airplay chart. Since then, Dickerson has earned platinum or better status on singles including “Yours,” “Blue Tacoma,” “Every Little Thing,” “Love You Like I Used To” and “She Likes It” (ft. Jake Scott). Just last year, he clocked his fifth No. One with “God Gave Me A Girl.” This year, he released “Good Day To Have A Great Day,” followed by his latest single “Bones.”
Seven Lions – Catching his break after winning a Beatport remix contest in 2012 with his dubstep-focused version of Above & Beyond’s, “You Got to Go,” Seven Lions (born Jeff Montalvo) garnered support from the likes of Anjunabeats, Casablanca Records, OWSLA, Viper Recordings, Republic Records and Monstercat.
Twista – The American rapper is well known for his chopper style of rapping and holds the title for fastest English-speaking rapper.
Vampires Everywhere – Vampires Everywhere is an American metalcore band based in Las Vegas and started by Michael Orlando, later known as Michael Vampire.
On the bright side, we’ve heard of Lit!
Oh, and free festivals are still free, so stop your whining.
The Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority (LVCVA) threw the festival a million bucks to help avoid a full-blown mutiny from downtown casinos related to lost revenue from last year’s F1 debacle, but that’s a lot of talent for a million bucks. We suspect Derek Stevens is sinking a substantial amount of his own money into this festival. He’s a gambler, after all.
Music festivals don’t tend to make money in their first few years of existence. Some never make money.
The slapped-together Life is Beautiful: A Big Beautiful Block Party (Sep. 27-28, 2024) is getting some pretty underwhelming buzz given the low attendance and hit-or-miss performances. Festivals are risky bets.
The Neon City Festival is an attempt to bring visitors to Las Vegas during a slow period, made worse by F1 disruptions on The Strip. They aren’t calling it the “FU F1 Festival,” but we are, because we don’t live by society’s rules.
The Neon City Festival is described as a “first-of-its-kind music, art and culinary event is free for all ages and will feature local food and beverage vendors, art shows and fireworks.”
Don’t get us started on the whole “all ages” thing. No event is perfect.
From what we can tell, the intention is for this festival to take up where Life is Beautiful ended (it was sold to Rolling Stone, and they have no clue about the festival’s original intent or its importance to downtown) and to endure far beyond F1’s presence in Las Vegas.
Given the financial constraints and short timeline, the first Neon City Festival is shaping up to be a good time and a unique experiment.
It’s not just the first time all the downtown casinos have collaborated (including Plaza, Strat, Downtown Grand and El Cortez, not members of the Fremont Street Experience collective), there’s a good chance it will deliver an overall greater benefit to Las Vegas than F1 (if you calculate all the financial losses of the vast majority of casinos and other businesses).
F1 and other officials have cherry-picked metrics showing an economic benefit to Las Vegas that tries to justify the Grand Prix’s take-over of The Strip for months (including blocking the iconic Bellagio fountains, see below), but that’s not how facts work. You can’t tout the benefits without calculating the damage. It’s like saying the Titanic gave passengers an incomparable experience for four incredible days! First class suites on the Titanic went for the equivalent of $130,000 in today’s dollars, much higher than the average on other luxury vessels of the time! Several companies are suing F1 for their losses, myriad others are quietly grumbling behind the scenes.
Fun fact: The F1 grandstand in front of Bellagio is constructed of copper wiring, catalytic converters and Sudafed.
— Vital Vegas (@VitalVegas) October 1, 2024
Of course, the goal of the Neon City Festival is to drive revenue to the founders (downtown casinos), but it feels like more than that. Communities are built around cultural events where commerce might be the driver, but everyone can benefit from coming together and vibing to the universal language of music. Music festivals are a shared emotional experience, a vehicle for connection, a place to dance like nobody has an iPhone.
We can all benefit from more ways to socially bond in this ever-batshittier world. The Neon City Festival could very well end up being that.
