Surrounded by positive people and good vibes, Lights All Night was the place to be for your New Year’s celebrations. Last year, it was the days before, so there was no countdown at the show like there was this time. When the clock hit midnight, everyone was either going in for a smooch or excitedly embracing their buddies. After the quick celebration, Galantis hit the drop and the party kept on going. At the last minute, LAN moved its location from the Dallas Convention Center to the Dallas Market Hall. The venue was perfect. They had toilets inside the venue and outside, though unfortunately some of the ones inside flooded somehow and the VIP section at the main stage was catching quite a whiff of it for a while.
They also lined a wall on both sides of the Market Hall with concession stands where you could hydrate or intoxicate with plenty of people working the stands. There was plenty of space and it was very well organized. This year they stepped it up with rows of suspended white balls that illuminated and moved vertically over the crowd at the Mothership stage, which was the main stage. The silent disco this year featured two acts at the same time, where people could flip back and forth between channels on headsets they handed out at the stage to hear either performance. They even had a mechanical shark (like a bull, but cooler)!
The production this year was phenomenal. You couldn’t look around without seeing neon wearing, wide eyed, smiling ravers. There wasn’t too much of a kandi scene from what we could see, but we were able to make a few trades, and give a couple of people their first piece! My girlfriend is a HUGE HeRobust fan, and when we were at his set, just a few feet from front row, she saw some girls at the front with kandi on. They all traded and then they let us get up to the front on the rail with them, which was awesome.
My favorite set from this year is a really difficult decision to make, but I have to give it to Snails. His set at the Satellite Stage, sponsored by Suicide Bunny, had so much energy. The whole crowd was eating up that vomitstep like crazy! Here is a video from that set!
There were so many great sets this year. Some of the other sets that I really enjoyed were Porter’s DJ set and Flosstradamus. If you’ve ever seen Porter Robinson before, then going to his DJ set is sure to be a totally different experience. He threw down some nasty drops, but kept to his familiar beautiful originality. Floss brought the trap and the hype, and you could feel their energy whether you were 2 feet or 100 feet away. Be sure to check out the videos of their sets below.
Lights All Night brought in some great local food trucks for vending, just outside where people could walk freely in and out within the venue. There was plenty for all at Lights All Night this year, and personally I can’t wait for what they have in store for us the next time around.