The Armory was home to a triumphant return this weekened! Pretty Lights came out of hiatus last year and this weekend was his first return to the twin cities area in a very, very long time – so what better way to celebrate the occasion than by throwing back-t0-back-to-back jamfests at one of the best venues in the cities?
Derek and co. kept it pretty simple – all three nights were a pair of groovy, funky and chilled-out improvised sessions with a bevy of stage musicians to flesh out his laid-back sound and really add a bit of oomph and sincerity to the music on display. Each night had two two hours sets – with a brief intermission – and each of those sets was totally original, front to back, with a mesmerizing and suffused light show to go along with it.
Each of these sets felt formless and effortlessly flowing – the collection of musicians on stage were able to settle into a flow state so quickly and so easily that it was actually rather difficult to tell that they weren’t playing pre-written material. This emulated authenticity was really impressive – and also why jam-oriented live shows can ascend to unparalleled heights. This was elevated even further by the audio-visual display, a wide cast of videographers and smartly placed cameras providing a live feed of these friends jamming out and having a good time on massive display, two screens akimbo to the enormous light show.
Normally such a large video presence can impact or take away from being able to focus on the act, but it seemed to make sense that Pretty Lights’ focus with these shows was that the experience had nothing to do with him – it was all about the fans and making community through groovy music, and with that the video feeds seemed to focus more on bringing you closer to the musicians rather than focusing on any single performer. It was really well thought out and executed and left you feeling with the impression that you were exploring sound with Pretty Lights right up there on the stage.
