Pretty Lights at UCF Arena Recap

If one enjoys epic laser lights, a legit city theme, party atmosphere and drums/bass intense enough to vibrate the entire body, then Pretty Lights is the place to be.

Derek Vincent Smith, founder of Pretty Lights, takes previously existing songs or makes his own mix by adding drums, deep bass, and occasional rapping intertwined. Using a variety of software programs and Macbook Pros to do so, he creates music with a hip-hop/synthesizer vibe—in short, electronic music. Maybe if the music wasn’t so loud and the beer/smoking smells weren’t so malodorous, one could better listen to the quality of the music at his live performance Wednesday night.

However, the whole theme of the concert was partying, so many didn’t care as much about the tone or quality of the music as they did a good beat to grind to.

The two openers to Pretty Lights were SuperVision and 12th Planet, the former of which seemed inexperienced as compared to the latter. The crowd got significantly wilder with screaming and hands waving to the variety of remixes by 12^th Planet.

Very danceable music, SuperVision started off the night with some fun clip-its of “Back to the Future” quotes mixed into his sample beats. Other common sounds in his mixes included jazz piano, light savers, piccolo sounds, and high-pitched chipmunk-sounding voices. The foundation of basically the entirety of every performance at Pretty Lights Wednesday was drums.

12^th Planet began with more powerful orchestra sounds, accompanied by haunting echoes similar to the Harry Potter theme. He also got a lot more of the crowd involved, having them scream the words “burst” and “swag” at random moments. People were singing, and getting more hyped than ever.

The moment everyone was waiting for finally arrived after a five-minute countdown, and Pretty Lights showed up with green flashes all around him along with his “Phantom of the Opera” remix. Remarkable red and light laser beams filled the arena, along with a recreation of a city on stage (with LED lights), and slideshows of the city of Chicago above the DJ.

By Pretty Lights’ official arrival at 10pm, the entire floor was filled with young college partiers, jamming out to the ghetto rap music the DJ had to offer.

The freestyle music was intense, to say the least, and Smith is not the first of his kind—however, his remixes are catchy and he has fans, which is enough, regardless of uniqueness or creativity. Some may prefer listening to the recorded versions if they want to keep their hearing and avoid deafness, or simply do not prefer the chaotic drunk-party atmosphere.

Click here to view photos of the event.