Festival to feature live music and some of the top skateboarders, BMX riders in the country
By AMANDA LLEWELLYN
VIEW STAFF WRITER
View File photoNick Happel launches off a jump during the Extreme Thing sports and music festival at Desert Breeze Park in 2006. The festival returns this Saturday.
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What do you get when combining the under 30 crowd with a frenzied, 11-hour festival featuring extreme sports and a concert line up showcasing some of the hottest alternative rock bands in the country?
The answer is one that most college and high school age kids in Las Vegas could rattle off with three simple words: Extreme Thing 2008.
The music and sports festival returns to the valley for the 13th consecutive year beginning at 11 a.m. Saturday at Desert Breeze Skate Park, 8275 Spring Mountain Road, with a lineup of concerts, professional BMX and wrestling demonstrations and skate competitions.
Sponsored and produced by Clark County Parks and Recreation and the House of Blues concerts, Extreme Thing is a nonstop ruckus-ride where loud rock music and BMX dirt jumpers reign supreme.
"It's 11 hours of fun-filled activities, music and antics," Clark County Parks and Recreation program administrator Brian Saliba said. "While the festival is fun for everyone, the demographic it probably most appeals to is the one that is forgotten so often in this town -- the high school and college age kids."
According to Saliba, the festival has blossomed in the past few years, evolving from a small community shindig to a global event.
"The festival began as something really small back in the day," Saliba said. "It was originally held in the Whitney Springs Community Center. But, in the last five to seven years especially, it's blossomed into this huge sports and music festival."
Desert Breeze has a 12,000-square-foot concrete skate park, a facility that is known for attracting skaters and bike enthusiasts from around the world.
"This sports event is a big deal," Saliba said. "We're an X Games qualifier. The guys competing are professionals who have been invited and selected from thousands of competitors from around the world. Some are already X Games gold medal winners."
Pro-BMX rider Ricardo Laguna has been perfecting tricks at Clark County skate parks for years, and while his career in extreme sports has taken him around the world, the Las Vegas native can't deny that Extreme Thing is the contest all the pros look forward to.
"Extreme Thing is the first event of the season where riders will be watching to see the newest tricks, and by the time summer rolls around, you will see people putting a new spin on jumps that debuted at Extreme," Laguna said. "The festival, and the facilities, both are great exposure for the extreme sports culture here."
This year's roster of headlining bands will include national acts like Pennywise, Chiodos, Escape the Fate, Nonpoint, Streetlight Manifesto, Alesana and In This Moment.
Escape the Fate drummer Robert Ortiz grew up in the valley and said that he can remember attending Extreme Thing just a few years ago, dreaming of the day that he would get the chance to play the stage.
"It's surreal," Ortiz said. "I mean, a few years ago I was going to Extreme to watch my favorite bands just wishing, hoping, someday I'd get the chance to play. Now I am."
Escape the Fate played the festival for the first time last year, and according to Ortiz, it was an amazing experience.
"We weren't even big enough to have techs yet," Ortiz said. "So I was setting up my drums, and when people saw me on stage, they went crazy and started screaming. To hear 10,000 people chanting the band's name, it didn't feel real."
Ortiz said that fans could expect to hear some of the band's latest hits, and maybe even some tunes from its upcoming album.
"We're working on some new material that we may debut, but I'm not sure," Ortiz said. "Of course, fans will hear the songs that they love, but we may throw in some new stuff."
Tickets are $17 in advance and $20 the day of show and can be purchased online at www.ticketmaster.com or www.hob.com or by calling 474-4000.
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