Downtown Las Vegas Kicks Off First R&B and Soul Festival This September

The first-ever Paradice Festival will introduce a new sound, soul, R&B, and funk, to Downtown Las Vegas on Sept. 27. The festival is put on by local music collective We the Beat, will be held at the Downtown Las Vegas Events Center, and intends to be an annual event that fosters new talent and adds to the city's entertainment portfolio.

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The lineup features standout acts like Thee Sacred Souls, rising R&B artist Ravyn Lenae, and Colombian psych-funk band Balthvs. Tickets start at $86. The festival's mission goes beyond just entertainment — it's about giving a larger platform to artists poised for breakout success.

"We've seen this music, this genre, this community, do so well on a smaller level," says Kirk Reed, co-founder of We the Beat. "I was a director of marketing at Brooklyn Bowl when Thee Sacred Souls first started selling out that venue, and I just couldn't believe that so many people ... came out and loved real soul music like that."

Paradice also underscores a growing demand for genre-specific festivals in Las Vegas, a city traditionally dominated by electronic and rock-focused events. "We saw this bubbling genre community in Vegas that didn't have its own festival on a big stage, and we thought Downtown was perfect for it. We're not just doing it because we think it'll sell," Reed adds. "We really see a lot of these artists getting bigger. Like Balthvs—why can't they be as big as Khruangbin? It's just about giving them a platform and a stage."

By celebrating rising stars and authentic musical expression, Paradice aims to become more than just a festival — it seeks to shape the future of live soul and R&B in Las Vegas.