The air is thin at 8,000 feet. Honestly, if you’ve ever stood in the middle of a field in the Arkansas River Valley, you know that the wind does this weird thing where it carries sound differently than a club or a standard stadium. When Derek Vincent Smith announced the Pretty Lights Buena Vista dates for his "Soundship Spacesystem" tour, people didn't just buy tickets; they planned pilgrimages. It wasn't just another stop on a comeback trail. It felt like a homecoming for a specific brand of Colorado-bred "Electro-Hip-Hop-Soul" that had been quiet for far too long.
Buena Vista is a small town. It's beautiful. It is also, for lack of a better word, rugged.
Hosting a multi-night run at the Surf Hotel’s "Ivywild" and the broader Cottonwood Meadows area wasn't an accident. Pretty Lights has always been about the intersection of the digital and the organic. Bringing a massive, modular-synth-heavy production to a place where the Collegiate Peaks loom over the stage is a statement. It says that the music isn't just a file on a hard drive. It’s an environment.
The Soundship Spacesystem Lands in the Mountains
Pretty Lights didn't just play a set. They "swirled."
For the uninitiated, the term "swirling" refers to the band's ability to take a known track—say, "I Can See It In Your Face"—and deconstruct it in real-time. It’s more like jazz than EDM. Michal Menert, Borahm Lee, Alvin Ford Jr., and Chris Karns aren't just backing tracks; they are a living, breathing organism. During the Pretty Lights Buena Vista run, this was on full display. The improvisation was heavy. You could hear them listening to each other, catching a drum fill and turning it into a fifteen-minute breakdown that sounded nothing like the studio version.
The light show, designed by Lazer Shark (Greg Ellis), had to compete with the stars. In the Colorado high country, the sky is black—inky black. When those lasers hit the thin mountain air, they looked solid. It created this weird, immersive ceiling over the crowd.
People were crying. I'm serious.
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There is a specific nostalgia attached to this music. For many, Pretty Lights was the soundtrack to their college years in the late 2000s and early 2010s. Seeing Derek back on stage, healthy, focused, and clearly having the time of his life, meant more than the music itself. It was proof of life.
Why the Venue Choice Matters So Much
Most touring acts stick to Red Rocks when they come to Colorado. It’s the safe bet. It’s iconic. But Red Rocks has rules—curfews, noise limits, and a certain "industry" feel that can occasionally stifle the vibe. Pretty Lights Buena Vista was different. It felt like a festival without the corporate bloat.
- The intimacy of the Surf Hotel setting.
- The literal backdrop of the Rocky Mountains.
- The community vibe where you'd see the band grabbing coffee on Main Street.
This wasn't a "fly-in, fly-out" gig. The band stayed. They soaked in the altitude. You could hear it in the tempo of the jams—sometimes slow and heavy like the river, other times frantic and jagged like the peaks.
Breaking Down the "Swirl"
If you're trying to explain the Pretty Lights Buena Vista sound to someone who only listens to Four-on-the-floor house music, you're going to struggle. It’s messy in the best way possible. Derek is up there with a modular rig that looks like a 1950s telephone switchboard. He’s sampling the band live, looping Alvin’s drums, and then pitching them down until they growl.
There was this moment during the second night—a total standout—where they teased a Radiohead riff. It wasn't a cover. It was a ghost of a song that floated through a sea of analog bass. That’s the magic of the current Pretty Lights iteration. They aren't pressing play. They are hunting for a feeling.
The technical setup is a nightmare for most engineers. You have live drums, keys, a world-class scratch DJ in Chris Karns, and Derek’s electronics. Keeping that from becoming a muddy mess in an outdoor mountain setting is a feat of engineering. The crew deserves a raise. The low end was tight, vibrating through the grass, while the soul samples remained crisp enough to hear the vinyl crackle.
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Logistics and the Reality of Small Town Takeovers
Let’s be real for a second: Buena Vista isn't built for thousands of bassheads to descend all at once.
There were concerns. Residents worry about the noise. Environmentalists worry about the impact on the meadows. But the Pretty Lights community—often called the "PLF" or Pretty Lights Family—tends to be a bit more conscious than your average festival crowd. There was a genuine "Leave No Trace" effort.
The local economy, however, took a massive hit of adrenaline. Restaurants were packed. The gear shops sold out of hoodies because, surprise, the mountains get cold at night even in summer. If you didn't bring a puffer jacket to a Pretty Lights Buena Vista show, you were basically asking for hypothermia.
A Shift in the Scene
This run proved that there is a massive appetite for "event-based" music travel. People don't just want to see a show in their home city anymore. They want an experience that matches the scale of the music.
By choosing BV over a standard Denver venue, Derek Vincent Smith tapped into the "destination concert" trend that is currently dominating the industry. It’s the same energy as the Grateful Dead at Cornell or Phish at Watkins Glen. It builds a mythology. Years from now, people will brag about being at the Buena Vista "Check-In."
Common Misconceptions About the New Sound
Some old-school fans show up expecting the 2010 version of Pretty Lights. They want the hits played straight. They want Filling Up the City Skies start to finish.
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That’s not what happened in Buena Vista.
- The Tempo is Fluid: They might drop into a 90 BPM hip-hop groove and stay there for twenty minutes.
- The Visuals are Integrated: The lights aren't just flashing; they are synced to the modular triggers.
- Vocals are Samples, Not Lead: Don't expect a pop concert. The "soul" in the soul-hop comes from the crate-digging, not a singer on a mic.
Honestly, if you go in expecting a standard EDM show, you might be confused. If you go in expecting a psychedelic soul journey, you'll be enlightened.
What This Means for the Future of Pretty Lights
The Pretty Lights Buena Vista shows were a proof of concept. They proved that the band can handle high-stakes, remote productions without the safety net of a major city's infrastructure. It signals a move toward more "curated" experiences.
We are likely moving away from the era of 50-city tours. It's exhausting. Instead, look for more "curated weekends" like this one. Three nights in a scenic location, deep-dive sets, and a focus on the "stream" culture. The fact that every show is live-streamed for free on Twitch has changed the game, too. It builds a global community in real-time. Even if you weren't in the mountains, you were watching the chat move at 100 miles per hour, "swirling" from your living room.
Derek seems different now. There’s a clarity in the compositions. The Buena Vista run wasn't just a party; it was a sophisticated display of musical maturity. It combined the grit of Detroit techno, the soul of Memphis, and the experimentalism of the West Coast bass scene.
How to Prepare for the Next Mountain Run
If you’re looking to catch the next iteration of this experience, you need to be fast. Tickets for these boutique locations disappear in seconds.
- Hydrate: You are at altitude. Water is your best friend.
- Layers: I cannot stress this enough. The temperature drops 30 degrees the moment the sun goes behind the peaks.
- The Stream: If you can't go, watch the Twitch archives. The "Illuminated" community records everything, and the fan-made remasters are often better than official live albums.
- Respect the Town: Buena Vista is a community, not just a venue. Be cool to the locals.
The legacy of Pretty Lights Buena Vista isn't just the music. It’s the fact that in a world of AI-generated beats and pre-recorded DJ sets, a group of guys got on a stage in the middle of the mountains and actually played instruments. They took risks. They messed up occasionally. They found new pockets of rhythm that had never existed before. And that is exactly why we keep showing up.
To make the most of your next Pretty Lights experience, start by diving into the "Buena Vista Swirl" archives on YouTube or SoundCloud. Focus on the transitions between tracks—that's where the real songwriting is happening now. If you're planning to attend a future high-altitude show, book your lodging at least six months in advance, as small-town inventories can't handle the surge of the PLF. Finally, keep an eye on the official Discord and Reddit communities; that’s where the "secret" set times and local meetups are coordinated long before they hit mainstream social media.