Life Is Beautiful music festival made its way back to downtown Las Vegas this past weekend (September 16 – 19), and when it came to upholding the glitz and glamour of Sin City acts like Gorillaz, Arctic Monkeys, Lorde, and Sylvan Esso, it didn’t disappoint.
NME‘s photographer Jenn Five was on hand to capture all the live action and grab some of the weekend’s biggest and best acts for some exclusive backstage portraits. Here’s your all access pass to the 2022 BandLab NME Award winner for Best Festival In The World.
Arctic Monkeys
Arctic Monkeys closed out the first night of Life Is Beautiful with a five star out of five performance, even playing the track ‘I Aint Quite Where I Think I Am‘ from their upcoming album, ‘The Car’.
Shaggy
We also spent time with Shaggy, or as some call him, Mr. Lover Lover backstage before he brought his hits to the Bacardi stage.
Lorde
Lorde was brighter than all the neon in downtown Las Vegas, as she brought her own ‘Solar Power’ to the desert.
Grandson
Grandson took a break in the grass before taking on the festival’s main stage.
Wet Leg
Wet Leg put on a crowd-pleasing performance hotter than the desert heat.
Oliver Tree
Oliver Tree showed off his best western fit and hung out with a “mini-tree” backstage before putting on a crowd-pleasing set.
Alison Wonderland
Alison Wonderland hung out with us on a Vegas balcony before performing to one of the festival’s largest audiences.
T-Pain
T-Pain snapped his finger and did the step but thanks to a crowded audience, he did not do it all by himself.
Sylvan Esso
Sylvan Esso got down backstage before playing tracks from their latest album, ‘No Rules Sandy’ for an ecstatic festival crowd.
Slowthai
Slowthai got off stage and decided to close the barrier between him and his fans.
Pussy Riot
Nadya of Pussy Riot shined backstage before lighting up the stage as well.
Gorillaz
Gorillaz closed out the second night of the festival by showing the crowd what feeling good and keeping rhythm is all about.
JPEGMAFIA
JPEGMAFIA spent time with NME backstage before hopping into the crowd during his fiery festival set.
Alessia Cara
Alessia Cara was all smiles backstage before putting on a dynamic festival set that the crowd sang along to word for word.
Lexi Jayde
We caught up with Lexi Jayde before her fun festival set and found her colour coordinating with Vegas’ graffiti.
Coi Leray
Coi Leray gave a performance with so much electricity it could light up all of the Las Vegas strip.
Rico Nasty
Rico Nasty was all smiles during her powerful and punk festival performance.
ericadoa
Ericadoa took it easy in his trailer after bringing all his energy to the festival stage.
Claire Rosinkranz
Claire Rosinkranz followed up her upbeat main stage performance by sitting down for a much-deserved break with NME.
Dermot Kennedy
Jack Harlow
Jack Harlow gave his packed festival crowd a ‘First Class’ performance.
Dermot Kennedy brought his charm and vocal chops all the way from Dublin to Nevada.
Georgia Barnes
Georgia Barnes took a break from the desert pic to take a bright pic with NME.
Calvin Harris
Calvin Harris gave an electric festival set filled with feel-good hits that were a perfect sign-off to the Vegas festival.