TOUR: Pretty Lights (a.k.a. EDM artist Derek Vincent Smith)
DATES: Aug. 16 to Nov. 27, 2013
The Design: “Specifically made for the sold-out Red Rocks shows Aug. 16-17, our hometown gig. Primarily a moving light package of 110 movers, 15 lasers, and almost 700 incandescent light sources with custom LED stripping along all edges of risers. The upcoming fall tour rig is conceived from ideas used at those shows, but it will be different. The tour will support the new album, A Color Map of the Sun.”
How does the nature of the act (EDM oriented) affect your lighting?
“This is an interesting question to me, mostly because Pretty Lights to me exists outside of the EDM moniker. There is much more to his music, and in turn much more goes into the light show. There are the obvious big drops from time to time, and it’s easy to fall into cliche dance lighting, But coming from a psychedelic rock background, and given the music’s deeper vibes, I’m given the opportunity to incorporate both big rock show looks and more sparse psychedelic ideals into the show.”
Back Story:
Home base: Denver, Colorado.
Years in the industry: 10
Years with the band: 4-plus years.
The spark: “I got into the jam band scene around 16, and went to concerts around 18. There was much experimentation going on during that time for me, and somewhere along the lines I became extremely fascinated in the power the light show had in conjunction with the music.”
First industry job: “Lighting my longtime best friend Phil Salvaggio’s college band Rezi. (Phil is also the production manager/FOH engineer for Pretty Lights.) It was the coolest thing ever to 18 year olds throwing parties in bars we shouldn’t be in.”
Industry heroes: LD Chris Kuroda (Phish) and LD Andi Watson (Radiohead). “Those two guys have such hugely contrasting shows but harness a power to affect a show better than anybody.”
Whose show designs do you pay attention to? “I have a group of LD friends I’m always keeping my eyes on to see where things stand in the lighting game. Saxton Waller (STS9), Andy Cass (Bassnectar), Michael Smalley (Stone Sour, Destroid), Johnny R. Goode ( The Disco Biscuits) and Kyle Keegan (Major Lazor, Destroid) are all guys that I keep in close contact with and am always excited to see their shows. It’s this cool little fraternity of LDs who are the byproduct of the incredible shows The Grateful Dead and Phish have produced for so many years.”
Other recent tours or projects: “I’ve been solely with Pretty Lights for the better part of these four years. I did a couple of brief runs with my good friends Leftover Salmon and Kung Fu. Last year I designed and programmed Rodney Atkins’ touring rig.”
Best advice: “Be flexible! I’ve had some incredible tools at my disposal for quite some time now, but with that comes challenges. I’ve had to design rigs that one day will go in the Boston Garden, and the next go into a 1,800-person club. Be open to things being different, be open to trying new things on the road, and most importantly don’t sweat the small stuff. We can all sit at our console and nitpick every little mistake on stage, or we can develop tricks as programmers and designers to overcome that which drives us crazy. If you chose the later of the two, you will have a much happier crew, and in the long run it will make you better at your job.”
