Pretty Lights is coming to town and you better hold onto your face because it’s about to melt.
The audio/visual spectacular that is Pretty Lights, a.k.a producer Derek Vincent Smith, is ramping up for a return to Reno on Tuesday, Sept. 6, at the Reno Events Center and it will be unlike anything you’ve seen before from him. Pretty Lights always has been about pushing sonic limits and this time he has broken new boundaries, boasting a flavorful band and whole new light show that will bring his electronic soul anthems to the stage.
You can point to Smith’s 2013 album “Color Map of the Sun” as the starting point for the last two-year arc of his career. As it was, Smith always took what he could from diggin crates to pull out samples and loops to help create his kaleidoscopic vision. But on “Color Map of the Sun” he brought together musicians, including members of Lettuce, to create his own songs to sample. He then recorded those to vinyl and used the LPs as the bedrock of the album. His innovative process is just another reminder that Smith always is looking to push boundaries and break down walls.
The inspiration for Pretty Lights’ tour this summer and fall was his monumental two-day festival in Telluride, Colorado, in 2015. He has been playing multi-day “Episodic Festivals” across the country, with stops in Nashville and Chicago, as well as Red Rocks Amphitheater and Telluride in his native Colorado. His bands features Smith, Brian Coogan, Borahm Lee, Alvin Ford Jr. and Chris Karns. Every stop also has produced a myriad of special guests, curated by Smith himself. Reno’s stop will include Lil Uzi Vert, Big Wild, and Mikey Thunder.
The show begins at 7 p.m. and tickets cost $50.
– Garrett Bethmann
