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Downtown’s Neon City Festival adds two dozen acts

Updated October 1, 2024 - 6:58 pm

Neon City Festival is a “festival without fences,” which is a good thing. It isn’t easy to contain the new performers announced for the inaugural festival.

About two dozen acts are joining headliners Alison Wonderland, Neon Trees, Russell Dickerson and Seven Lions. The event will take place Nov. 22-24 in downtown Las Vegas. Originally announced rap star Macklemore was removed from the lineup after making anti-American comments during a show in Seattle last weekend.

A first-of-its-kind music, arts and culinary event, NCF is free for all ages. Vegas food-and-beverage outlets, art exhibits and fireworks are on the bill.

“Neon City Festival will be a great way for music lovers of all genres to come together in a thrilling environment,” Neon City Festival CEO Jeff Victor said in a statement. “The lineup includes everything from rock and hip hop to country and EDM; on every corner, there will be an incredible artist performing a free show.”

The entertainment lineup additions provided by event organizers are below. Set times and stage locations will be announced soon.

The festival’s footprint extends from the Fremont East district to Fremont Street Experience and the Downtown Las Vegas Events Center, to the Arts District to Las Vegas Boulevard and The Strat. The FSE’s three outdoor stages, which are active seven days a week, are being used for live performances.

NCF will also feature food and drink specials from local Las Vegas restaurants and bars, laser art shows, strolling entertainers and a 3D graphic display on FSE’s Viva Vision, the world’s largest LED canopy screen. Block parties, pop-up performances, street festivals and unbilled entertainment moments are planned.

Neon City Festival was created by downtown Circa, the D and Golden Gate co-owner Derek Stevens, with a $1 million grant from the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority. All downtown resorts, and FSE, are on board as founders.

The event is presented during the same dates as the Formula 1 Las Vegas Grand Prix, giving visitors a downtown entertainment option while the race is held. The Raiders are also in town that weekend, hosting the Denver Broncos.

And of course, F1 is back for its second run. The goal of the event is to provide widespread entertainment options throughout Las Vegas even as the race and related events take place.

“There were many reasons to say the inaugural year of F1 was terrific, or some people might say it was terrible,” Stevens said in an interview this month. “So what we really tried to do is focus on, ‘How can we make that weekend better?’ We felt we could do something that’s an alternative to F1, and give people more of a reason to come downtown on that same weekend.”

John Katsilometes’ column runs daily in the A section. His “PodKats!” podcast can be found at reviewjournal.com/podcasts. Contact him at jkatsilometes@reviewjournal.com. Follow @johnnykats on X, @JohnnyKats1 on Instagram.

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