Just a few minutes into his Friday afternoon set at Day N Vegas, as a few thousand people gathered at the main stage, the New York rapper Bas stood extra vigilant over his crowd.
“Cut the music. You all good over there?” he said, pointing to a fan in some sort of discomfort near the front of the stage. He paused his set for about 30 seconds to let the fan catch their breath and make their way to open space. “We’re gonna let security do what they do.”
On the first day of the Las Vegas hip-hop and R&B festival featuring headliners Kendrick Lamar, Post Malone and Tyler, the Creator, the crowd-crush disaster from Travis Scott’s Astroworld Festival was at the back of everyone’s mind. From the fans gingerly returning into the festival scene, to the artists onstage with a wary eye on moshing and a trio of police helicopters hovering near-constantly over the grounds, it was clear that the stakes were high this weekend.
Day N Vegas, from Coachella promoters Goldenvoice and AEG, came just a week after nine fans were killed and hundreds more injured at the Houston festival from Scott and mega-promoter Live Nation.
Fans still thronged see Kendrick Lamar’s first festival show in two years (60,000 attended the first Day N Vegas in 2019) and sets from emerging superstars like Polo G and Roddy Ricch. But with Post Malone taking over Scott’s Saturday headline slot, the Astroworld disaster hovered over the crowd’s conversations.
“I really wanted to see Travis. I still like his music but that was a very, very sad thing to see,” said Carl White, who traveled to Day N Vegas with a pair of fellow thirtysomething friends from Minnesota.
Kendrick Lamar headlines the first night of the Day N Vegas festival in Las Vegas on Friday.
(Allen J. Schaben/Los Angeles Times)
The news of the disaster hadn’t undermined his festival experience so far, but he did pause to think about whether it would impede his Scott fandom.
“It’s not all on him, but that video where the ambulance is driving into the crowd, it didn’t look good,” White said.
“But this basic layout looks really safe,” added his friend Chelsea Bohmer, gesturing at the Day N Vegas main stage with its divvied-up viewing areas and wide passages between the three stages. “You can see at lot of medics walking around too.”
Representatives from Las Vegas’ Public Safety department did not immediately respond to requests for comment on any updates to the festival’s safety protocols after Astroworld. But unlike other recent Southern California festivals like Hard Summer, guards checked for proof of vaccination at the festival gates. Masks were relatively common any time crowds pushed closer in the thoroughfares.
Between sets, the screens on the stages encouraged fans to speak up if anyone looked in distress. Several on-site security guards from the firm Apex Security Group declined to talk about the day’s work, but they and guards from CSC Security were a prominent presence throughout.
Fans watch YG perform at the Day N Vegas festival on Friday.
(Allen J. Schaben/Los Angeles Times)
Even the rowdiest live acts seemed to know that this festival was going to be a crucible for good behavior. Rico Nasty — whose punk-inspired noise-rap has kicked up plenty of mosh pits — halted her set to reach out to a fan getting a bit banged up.
“You, in the red hat. You look you’re getting crushed, bro, you can come sit up here,” she said. The fan got their bearings, and Nasty dove right back into her brash and bawdy performance.
For emerging acts, Day N Vegas was always supposed to be a post-COVID return to the kinds of stages that can change a career. The singer Khamari is a new Boston-to-L.A. transplant with an ear for deep, suave R&B and Beatles-y melody.
He’s playing his first-ever festival set at Day N Vegas on Saturday afternoon.
“I got a little lucky in the casino last night so I don’t want to jinx anything,” he said and laughed. “There’s definitely been a learning curve to playing live again, but this festival is dope because there’s no boxes for genres here.”
He added that Astroworld made him understand his role as a performer a little differently as well.
“It definitely makes you think in terms of security, but it also reminds you that you have a responsibility to make sure people aren’t just having a good time, but feel safe too,” he said. “It’s been dope to see people looking out for each other.”
For the young fans who drive today’s hip-hop culture, festivals like Rolling Loud and Day N Vegas have become clearinghouses to check out all the favorite acts that emerged on streaming services and social media over the last year. The idea that a mass casualty event could occur at one definitely shook them up.
“I was pretty upset when it happened,” said Priscilla Gamboa, an 18-year-old from Las Vegas, about the news of Astroworld’s tragedy. But she was eager to see Polo G later in the evening, and happy to have Day N Vegas as a new fixture in her city. “People have to live in the moment too,“ she added.
Javier Lopez, another 18-year-old from Las Vegas, was glad to see Day N Vegas taking extra precautions, both formally and culturally, as fans kept an eye on each other.
“I’m not too worried, it all seems pretty safe here,” he said, leaving the merch tent with a armful of new clothes. “I think most festivals are like this one. Astroworld was just one that got out of hand.”
Fans pose in front of the Day N Vegas sign at the first music festival since the tragedy at Astroworld.
(Allen J. Schaben/Los Angeles Times)
”Travis is bearing the brunt of Astroworld,” said Tim Gilbert, a fan in his 30s who traveled to Day N Vegas from Minnesota. “But there were bigger problems with that whole thing.”
But few expressed reservations about returning to shows in the future.
Day N Vegas was the first-ever music festival for 28-year-old Gabrielle Sims from Washington, D.C. “I made a pact to go see Kendrick” as soon as the star hit the road again post-COVID-19, she said.
Astroworld left her a little nervous about her debut into festival culture. But as she surveyed the scene at Day N Vegas, she felt safe in her decision to fly cross-country to see a favorite rapper perform.
“The festival really did a lot of communication about safety beforehand,” Sims said. ”They’re checking vax cards at the door, and it’s not too crowded. I saw someone passing out water bottles into the crowd. I think everyone’s on high alert to take care of each other.”
Source by www.latimes.com
