There’s no such thing as a bad electro music concert, and Baltimore is obviously one place to keep to that standard.
As Pretty Lights is getting quite famous now (the group got up to one million free EP downloads on its website last September), they had to stop by the city for their 2010 fall tour, which they did last Tuesday at the Bourbon Street Ballroom.
Pretty Lights has released three very good EPs this year: Making Up A Changing Mind, Spilling Over Every Side, and Passing By Behind Your Eyes, and I was really impatient to hear the songs live.
And I’m glad I did, because the show was without a doubt successfully epic.
The floor and balconies of Bourbon Street were pretty packed for a Tuesday night, with a good mix of Baltimoreans and students from all the surrounding universities.
Producer/band founder Derek Smith and drummer Cory Eberhard started playing at 11, while the door opened at 8, which was good timing, and didn’t keep people hanging around too late.
From the minute the duo hit the stage, people were pumped and almost everybody kept dancing during the two-hour performance.
Pretty Lights is a fantastic band to see live: they offered a pretty long, but enjoyable show, with a 45 min encore, which was amazing.
They played a mix of new and old songs off their albums such as “Finally Moving” (this is my favorite and they did it twice, yes!), or “Hot Like Sauce”, along with some remixes and exclusive songs.
Add the cool lightshow to all that, and you get a great concert experience.
Each song featured indeed lighting effects that matched the texture of the grooves, and the changing backdrops created both unique, colorful, kind-of-psychedelics designs.
Pretty Lights is very musically accessible, even for non-electro listeners.
As a result, you can easily get swept up by the music and enjoy the performance in an intense, connected way.
They mesh some elements of hip-hop, soul, rock and even classical music to solid club beats and the result sounds always precise and unique.
Moreover, they play a wide range of tunes so you can listen to them for a long time without getting sick of one sound.
Last Tuesday’s show was faithful to these principles, showing the group off as accomplished artists.
My only regret however, is that as the DJ seemed to be too focused on his music and did not interact with the public that much.
Regardless, after this performance, I would say two things: I can’t wait for new releases, and yes, I will definitely see them again.
