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Plenty of Las Vegas venues have embraced the creation of a more immersive, festival-like atmosphere in recent years to draw younger guests to music events, and it makes sense—there are plenty of full-on festivals now calling the city home on an annual basis.
But Wynn Nightlife and Framework have been ahead of the curve. Their partnership created the first Art of the Wild weekend, multiple days of themed parties built around cutting-edge, underground dance music, way back in 2018. The mini-fest at XS Nightclub is back this Halloween weekend, and it continues to set the standard.
“We’ve been through many different iterations of Art of the Wild, but what has carried through from start to finish is the partnership between Framework and Wynn, and the dedication to bringing underground music here to Las Vegas,” says Ryan Jones, Wynn’s VP of nightlife. “It’s a sound that wasn’t very prevalent in town but after the years since we started this, it’s now seen as a mainstay in the city, at this property and … it carries through to almost every venue in town.”
The music is the foundation, then comes the well-rounded experience that sets these parties apart. “Obviously we want to create an incredible music-first scene, but we want to pair that with an experience that shifts and changes from night to night,” Jones continues. “It’s four days long. You come on one night and that room is going to be completely transformed the next night, new décor, new uniforms for the staff, so of course the music will change, but also the experience.”
Jones calls this year’s Art of the Wild lineup “arguably the best we’ve ever had,” crammed with deep house and experimental electronic dance music artists. Night one on Thursday, October 30 features Xenaa, Marten Lou teaming with Maxi Meraki and Bob Sinclair opening for Hugel. Friday’s headliner is the legendary Black Coffee, supported by sets from Bedouin, Ahmed Spins, Erez and Fergie. Saturday at XS will bring Jon Fong, Desh and Bob Moses leading up to Odesza. And Sunday’s closing headliner Mau P caps a night with Vintage Culture, Wakyin and DMTRI.
“With the brand growing the way it has, we now have a lot of artists, agents and managers reaching out, asking to be part of the weekend,” says Jones. “So, it’s all about which DJs work together well on each individual night to make it feel like the right move, the right sound musically. And we’re going super late each night, staying open longer so we can pack in four or five DJs in one night.”
ART OF THE WILD October 30-November 2, 10:30 p.m., $70 four-day pass. XS Nightclub, wynnsocial.com.
English (US) ·