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So much has happened in the five years since a sociopathic high roller opened fire on the crowd at the Route 91 Harvest Festival from his 32nd-floor sniper’s nest in Mandalay Bay, killing 58 people and causing the injuries of more than 850 others. Two more of the injured died later.Memorials have gone up and been taken down, though the Las Vegas Community Healing Garden, with a tree for each victim, remains a soothing sanctuary. Event promoters and venues canceled or moved shows, tightened security, and then continued business as usual. Law enforcement agencies completed investigations, issued reports, changed their crisis response tactics, and ultimately concluded that no one would ever know why the shooter did what he did.And, along with the rest of the world, Las Vegas has been swept up in the chaos of political turmoil, global pandemic, and economic recession.Through all this, carrying the colossal weight of acute trauma, survivors have kept on getting their kids to school, showing up for work, and putting food on the table.But now, they say, everything’s different. In the aftermath of 1 October, life is tinted by a purposeful hue — something deeper than the self-indulgent cliché of seizing the day. They’re moving through every moment with the intention of making it count, for their loved ones, for each other, and for those who didn’t make it out.Their existence is a triumph of resilience, a source of hope in a world that sorely needs it.

Craig Nyman

Photo of Craig Nyman sitting on the edge of his pool looking reflectively into the water
Photo: Aaron Mayes

The Life is Beautiful programmer turned his trauma into purpose, keeping the thrill of live music a reality for Las Vegas — and for himself

Craig Nyman is doing great. But it took him an awfully long time to get to that point: four years, one month and six days, as he reveals it. That’s nearly 1,500 days of getting back the everyday joy he’d felt before that tragic night at Route 91, which he attended with a group of friends. The day before his epiphany — November 6, 2021 — he’d gone to the Rolling Stones’ concert at Allegiant Stadium with his brother and parents. It was a full-circle celebration: Nyman’s first-ever concert was a 1989 Stones show, also experienced with his family. The next morning, he woke up and said to himself, “I feel genuinely happy.”

If you know Nyman even casually, the first thing you envision when you hear his name is his perma-smile. Even before 2013, when he landed his dream gig as head of music and programming for Life Is Beautiful — the annual festival in Downtown Las Vegas — his face always suggested his very life was a dream gig. But October 1, 2017, dimmed the light that naturally emanated from him.

Improbably, the road to recovery began exactly one week after the shooting, at the very same resort from which the gunfire rang out. Nyman attended a House of Blues concert headlined by Billy Idol, mostly to reunite with managers associated with both Idol and Tom Petty, the latter having suddenly passed away five days earlier. Grief hung in the air that night, but Nyman miraculously steeled himself and regained his purpose. “That moment, for me, was just like walking right back into things,” he says. “Like, I can’t be fearful of stuff, as much as it may be hurtful, painful stuff like (the shooting). It was just, my path is to move forward collectively to heal people and bring joy and bring happiness.”

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Which meant throwing himself into two things: therapy and work. The former came from a professional who specialized in trauma and offered her services at no cost to the festival’s survivors. (“That one gesture saved my life,” Nyman says through tears.) The latter was possible because his Life Is Beautiful colleagues shielded him from any security concerns — which now included added exits and law enforcement, helicopters and police drones — so he could focus on the event offerings. The 2018 edition went off safely and violence-free.

The same can be said for most other entertainment events in Las Vegas since. Venues have been paying closer attention to security, as well as audience capacities. Nyman nowadays stands outside crowds and looks for anything suspicious. Mostly what he sees, though, is a culture and industry that seems ambivalent to violence at public events; even the see-something-say-something warnings have all but disappeared.

“It shouldn’t be something that, when an October 1st anniversary comes, we’re just moving (along), and there’s a plethora of entertainment and concerts in the city,” Nyman says. “And I get that we’re a city that’s open for business … But it’s not something that should be lost or forgotten, especially in the city, let alone in our country.”

If there’s a silver lining for Nyman, it’s that 1 October solidified his resolve to renormalize large gatherings and experience the elation that comes with communal music experiences. “I knew there was no way that night that person was going to take away the joy I have from attending live music and putting on events,” he says, defiance in his voice. “It’s one of the things in this world that I believe connects all of us … And that part doesn’t happen if I give up. There was no chance that I was going to give up.” Φ

 

Mike has been a producer for State of Nevada since 2019. He produces — and occasionally hosts — segments covering entertainment, gaming & tourism, sports, health, Nevada’s marijuana industry, and other areas of Nevada life.