Kanye West has FYF Fest crowd thinking, 'Frank who?' - hit-filled set joined by Rihanna and Travis Scott

Kanye West has FYF Fest crowd thinking, 'Frank who?' - hit-filled set joined by Rihanna and Travis Scott
Mark E. Ortega
GrimyGoods.com
August 23, 2015

There were a lot of people disappointed when Frank Ocean unexpectedly pulled out just a day before the first day of this year’s FYF Fest — myself included. Even when it was quickly followed up with the announcement that Kanye West would be the late substitute headliner, it wasn’t enough on its own to calm the disappointment of those who had bought tickets specifically to see the hermit Ocean.

I’d seen Kanye at a couple music festivals in the past year and was disappointed by the amount of time he spent lecturing the crowd or ranting in general. At FYF, Kanye instead delivered a hit-filled set that also saw Rihanna join the stage for a few brief seconds, as well as Travis Scott.

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Life is Beautiful day one capped by -- what else -- a Kanye rant

Life is Beautiful day one capped by -- what else -- a Kanye rant
Mark E. Ortega
GrimyGoods.com
October 25, 2014


Downtown Las Vegas’ second-year music festival Life is Beautiful kicked off Friday capped by a typically awesome and rant-filled Kanye West set.

Now three days after being just two in its inaugural year, the festival has grown in more than just length of time. The festival grounds felt like they have doubled in size and there was a much larger international contingency than last year as well. Two British gals from London told me they came out to Vegas specifically to see Kanye.

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An interview with Craig Nyman: Get to know Life is Beautiful Festival in Las Vegas

An interview with Craig Nyman: Get to know Life is Beautiful Festival in Las Vegas
Mark E. Ortega
GrimyGoods.com
October 9, 2014


Last October, Las Vegas played host to the inaugural Life is Beautiful Festival — a two-day fiesta of music, art, food, and learning that took place on the city streets of the rejuvenated downtown Strip. The festival was such a success that this year’s festival has been expanded to include a third day and will take place Oct. 24 through Oct. 26, headlined by Kanye West, Foo Fighters, and Outkast.

This has made extra work for Craig Nyman, the Head of Music and Live Performances for Life is Beautiful, who is tasked with putting together the music lineup along with Another Planet Entertainment for the unique and up-and-coming festival. After talking to Nyman for this feature, it became clear immediately that the additional workload was exciting rather than stressful.

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Made In America Los Angeles reviewed: The good, the bad, and the fugly

Made In America Los Angeles reviewed: The good, the bad, and the fugly
Mark E. Ortega
GrimyGoods.com
September 4, 2014


This past weekend marked the inaugural Made In America festival in Los Angeles. Though this festival has been running the past few years in Philadelphia, the promoters undertook a huge effort in running one in the heart of downtown LA, with City Hall serving as the backdrop to a main stage that would showcase the likes of Kanye West, Imagine Dragons, John Mayer, Kendrick Lamar, Iggy Azalea, and a number of others from a wide range of genres.

As is the case with any first-year festival, there were always going to be growing pains. Couple that with the fact that it was run simultaneously with the festival in Philadelphia, and problems were gonna be aplenty.

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