Cars or “communal catharsis”?
Motorcycles or myriad lasers?
Imagine Dragons or Chromeo?
Decisions, decisions.
And we’re here to help you make the right one, per usual.
With a pair of music-and-more festivals coming to Vegas this weekend, local concertgoers have a choice to make.
SEMA Fest?
Arkadia?
Both?
Here’s the lowdown on each one to help you decide:
SEMA Fest, Las Vegas Festival Grounds, Friday-Saturday
The skinny: Because how many times have you been at a concert and thought to yourself, “This is cool and all, but it could use more drifting.”
Enter SEMA Fest, a merging of car culture and live music. Think “The Fast and the Furious,” but with more bands and less bad acting.
Put on in conjunction with the massive annual trade-only automotive event the SEMA Show, the new fest debuts with over 20 acts on two stages, ranging from rock to hip-hop to country to indie pop.
In addition, there will be a loaded lineup of “immersive automotive lifestyle events,” including a consumer marketplace, motor sports competitions, freestyle motocross and BMX demos.
You don’t see this at every festival: High-performance automobiles smoking tires on two tracks in the middle of the fest grounds.
Five acts not to miss:
Imagine Dragons: The hometown favs play their first Vegas show since selling out Allegiant Stadium last September.
Wiz Khalifa: Expect empty shelves at local dispensaries when this reefer-loving rapper returns to town.
Starcrawler: These female-fronted, punk rock-informed fireballs are the first band up on Friday and are totally worth getting there early and then day drinking for the next 11 hours. You’ll thank us. Your liver? Not so much.
Incubus: The emotive alt-rockers drew a huge crowd when they played the same venue this spring as part of the nü metal-leaning Sick New World festival. Expect the same here, albeit with an audience whose pants fit a bit more snugly.
The Struts: These glammy British rockers know how to dress to impress. (Fringed orange leather for days? Oh, yeah.) They hit town to celebrate the release of their new album “Pretty Vicious,” out Friday.
Arkadia Festival, Area 15, Thursday-Sunday
The skinny: Arkadia bills itself as a “festival of a more beautiful world,” which means four days of sweet cat videos and endless Jager shots, right?
Shockingly, no, as Arkadia is “a festival, a community, and a container for personal transformation” that represents “a return to innocence, beyond the tragedy of our separation from each other and the Earth.”
Guess we’ll have to begrudgingly swap the booze with becoming a better person and stuff.
The feel-good festivities here include live music, immersive art installations, workshops and various speakers.
Arkadia is the brainchild of wellness author and podcaster Aubry Marcus, who’ll be speaking at the event alongside the likes of bestselling feminist author Mama Gena, spiritual teacher Biet Simkin, songwriter and National Poetry Slam Champion In-Q and others.
You don’t see this at every festival: Arkadia will boast the most lasers ever employed on the venue’s main stage during performances.
Five acts not to miss:
Chromeo: Just how funky is this electro-funk duo? Well, to put it into scientific terms, they’re as funky as a sweaty gym sock the size of Greenland.
Jai Wolf: Last summer, DJ-producer Jai Wolf became the first Bangladeshi artist to sell out a show at Colorado’s famed Red Rocks Amphitheater. See him in much more intimate confines this weekend.
Dirtwire: What does a kamale n’gon sound like? Find out by checking out this hard-grooving, electronically enhanced Americana troupe and its mastery of an impressive array of instruments.
Moontricks: Moontricks’ futuristic mountain music layers a nouveau sheen over old-timey blues and folk.
The Glitch Mob: “We Can Make the World Stop” electronic music twosome The Glitch Mob contend on one of their biggest hits. Follow their lead: Stop what you’re doing and check ’em out.
Contact Jason Bracelin at [email protected] or 702-383-0476. Follow @jbracelin76 on Instagram.