Life Is Beautiful, Las Vegas’ block-party festival, returned to the streets downtown for its ninth edition on Friday (Sept. 16). The three-day cacophony of music, art, comedy and food set amid the lights of 18 electric blocks always delivers a number of surprises for both attendees and performers. 2022 was no exception. With stand-out sets from Charli XCX, Alison Wonderland and Blu DeTiger, this one belonged to the women who dominated Friday’s lineup.

Blu DeTiger

Rising star Blu DeTiger performed not once, but three times on Friday: first her own set on the Huntridge stage, then at the Toyota Music Den and later at the official Life Is Beautiful after party at the Sand Dollar Lounge inside the Plaza Hotel, where she DJed and riffed on her bass. During her festival turn, the bass prodigy was dreamy, funky, poppy heaven on her own tasty songs such as “Cotton Candy Lemonade,” “Toast with Butter” and “Crash Course” — and then with covers of Gorillaz, OutKast and M.I.A. Closing out the 40-minute set with Vintage, and ripping on the bass, DeTiger left us wanting more and assured she would deliver.

Billboard talked after the set with DeTiger, who shared that while she embraces her following on TikTok, where she rose to fame, nothing beats the live crowd. “I released most of my music during the pandemic. I got a lot of my fanbase during the pandemic, and I started playing shows at a certain level because that’s how the trajectory was going. I suddenly had all these people that knew the words,” she says. “I’d rather the real human performance over performing to a phone.”

Alison Wonderland

Australian DJ and producer Alex Sholler, also known as Alison Wonderland, is the current reigning queen of EDM — and she straightened that crown closing out day one with a booming set that showcased her range of talents. Playing until 1 a.m. in the Fremont tent, she provided a divergent sound to the other headliner of the night, indie rockers Arctic Monkeys on the Downtown Stage. The Church of Wonderland was the theme of the set with stunning lasers and projections as she played her remix of Dua Lipa’s “New Rules,” “U Don’t Know” and numerous tracks from her new album Loner, like “Something Real.” Singing, DJing and cello playing, she offers something fans just can’t get from other EDM artists. Seeing her live is like taking a trip through her soul — raw, visceral, churning and burning, yet delicate and intricate. Sholler told Billboard that playing Life Is Beautiful in 2018 stills stands out in her mind.

“It was the energy. It’s always the energy that makes me remember a show. I remember it just being such a rush. And I was having a really good moment in life at that time, too,” she says.

Charli XCX

Playing the intimate Huntridge stage, Charli XCX easily could’ve occupied space on the main stage. It’s through her festival sets that you really get the scope of her body of work and its hits. From “Lightning” to “I Love It,” the Greek goddess-themed staging created a stunning visual presence while the sing-along quality of her catalog was pure auditory pleasure. Her energy carried over to the crowd, which bounced back to the stage and her dancers. The biggest treat of the night was “Hot in It,” a Tiësto collab — playing it in the town the DJ unquestionably dominates. 

Shaggy, Cage the Elephant and More Highlights

Other top acts included Shaggy on the BACARDÍ stage, Cage the Elephant and Coin on the Downtown stage, Wet Leg on the Huntridge stage and Sonny Fodera on the Fremont stage.

Shaggy brought the party with all fun tracks that everyone sings along to, including “Angel,” “Boombastic” and “It Wasn’t Me.” He shouted out his collaboration with Sting on the Frank Sinatra-homage album Com Fly Wid Mi, performing “That’s Life.”

Playing off the fun house vibes of the night at the BACARDÍ stage, Oliver Tree was a delicious festival snack, riding on stage in a scooter, making reference to the heat by describing himself as a pork chop and playing an extra huge guitar. Appropriately, his album Ugly Is Beautiful was prominently featured. 

T-Pain, who dropped in when Migos dropped out, was the perfect day one closer on the BACARDÍ stage. His collaborative hits “Black and Yellow” with Wiz Khalifa and “Good Life” with Kanye West are festival bangers that never grow stale.

Before closer Arctic Monkeys, Cage the Elephant could have easily been the headliner of the night. The band, fronted by Matt Shultz, moved up the lineup quite a bit from their turn in 2017, but one thing that hasn’t changed is the theatrics. Shultz has the persona of Iggy Pop crossed with Mick Jagger, and he banged out the hits, wore at least three extravagant hats and stage dived into the crowd while wrapping himself in his fishnet tights. At one point, he even stopped and started a song over as a drone show appeared in the night’s sky for the website Factz.com. Unrelated to the festival, the colorful flying devices paraded into a letter “Z” pierced by an arrow. 

Day two will feature Lorde, Gorillaz, Bob Moses, Hope Tala, Kygo and many more.

Bad Bunny isn’t tip-toeing around some of the most pressing issues facing his beloved Puerto Rico. In his most recent music video — which really is a nearly 23-minute long documentary for his blunt track “El Apagón” — the chart-topping artist addresses blackouts and gentrification, among other topics, taking aim at the local government for their inaction when it comes to these social issues.

“I hope people in PR can watch my video before the lights go out,” he posted on Instagram Stories Friday (Sept. 16), minutes after releasing the clip, which begins with the song’s intro powered by thumping beats while featuring locals singing along to his song. Then, at the one-minute-mark, the song stops and in come news reports of blackouts that’ve now become the norm in Puerto Rico, impacting the daily lives of citizens — including children having to do their homework in the dark.

There are also reports about LUMA Energy, the company the Puerto Rican government hired to “modernize and maintain” the island’s power grid, and the little action they’ve taken to fix electricity issues. The Puerto Rican power grid has been in poor shape since Hurricane Maria struck in 2017, leaving the island’s energy infrastructure in bad shape. Bunny has criticized LUMA before, specifically during his concerts in Puerto Rico right before singing this track.

The video then goes back to the song, this time featuring a handful of people at a club having the time of their lives. Shortly after, the remainder of the short film is dedicated to gentrification and displacing Puerto Ricans are facing. “They are displacing the native boricua from here,” a woman says sitting in front of a group of people who are figuring out where to go after they’ve been displaced from their own homes.

The documentary’s news reports are led by Puerto Rican journalist Bianca Graulau, who’s done significant reporting on these topics. On Instagram, she posted: “What an honor for them to trust me to tell the stories of our community. Thank you to all of those that made this project a reality. And thank you, Bad Bunny, for sharing your platform and supporting independent journalism.”

The track is part of his Billboard 200-topping album, Un Verano Sin Ti, which currently hit its 10th nonconsecutive week at No. 1. Watch “El Apagón: Aquí Vive Gente” below: