Lights All Night 2011

 

Dec 31st 2011
NYE in Dallas at Lights All Night!

You really couldn’t pick a better band for the gig. is known for their intense light shows and dedicated, often costumed fans. Their show, it seems, was made for a New Year’s Eve party. They sounded great, and surprisingly there did not seem to be any issues with acoustics in such a cavernous space. The band’s lasers reflected off all the metal and glass above made for one of the unique and coolest things I’ve ever seen at a concert.

 

GIRL TALK – Ringing in the New Year

Going on at around 11:30pm he had a good half hour to get everyone pumped up and excited, which was no problem has I mentioned before his shows are like the most over the top party you have ever been to regardless of what day it is. Obviously this was going down in the Really Large Room where I already was for Ghostland. Thankfully someone had the sense to move the backstage hospitality tent from no-man’s land a half a mile away down the corridor to right next to the stage.
By this time I had been chugging champagne, met this whole group of girls from San Francisco, was wearing some ridiculous hat and party favors and was generally getting down. The people at his shows in the past have been some of the most annoying and trying people I’ve ever been around at some of the festivals I have been to where he has performed. The indictment of the culture I layed out earlier is not far from a Girl Talk show in terms of shallow self-promotion, so normally I would never get on stage for this but hey, its New Year’s Eve. Let’s get do

Shaking my ass, a drink in my hand,   I was having a good time.It was a banner year for electronic music, so it seemed fitting to pay tribute to it by counting down the final moments of 2011 to the sound of some of the best electronic musicians around. Their was a nervous energy in the air as the midnight hour approached. You know that feeling, but it was at a fever pitch, as the party was building up to it – my stomach was in knots and I prepared myself for the mania that was about to occur – 3…2…1… HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

But nothing could have prepared me for the earthquake of emotion and excitement that rang out as we hit midnight and it was balloons & confetti as far as the eye could see. A really great moment. I

Now for some the moments immediately after the countdown and things have died down from that initial peak are with filled with different emotions. For some, its the end of the party, end of the year and time to go home. I’ve been this person a few times in the past (regardless if I wanted to be or not) – for others they spend the rest of the night aimlessly trying to maintain that high and feeling disappointed (I’ve been that guy a few times before too) – or for some, and this was me on this night – was that was the end of the year, but the beginning of the party.
Still in the Really Large Room, by now I had a little entourage with me of people I had met and picked up along the way as we kept the party going with MSTRKRFT.

Great set and after they were done and I went walking around exploring and just taking in the whole scene – in the Really Large Room they had  and seeing everyone dancing and having a good time.

The GoGo Gadgettes

As I mentioned earlier about the evolution of the Raver Girl – alot of it its derivative of the Go-Go dancer, and over time even the go-go dancers have take a page or two out of the colorful and unique/sexy styling of the raver girls. Well it was only a matter of time before someone organized and branded a team of this hybrid – if at first out of competition and maybe later as necessity, and finally as commerce, as almost every event like this I’ve been to/performed at in Texas the last few years have featured just a team – and this one was no different. As I went exploring I saw these little mini-stages setup all over the convention center with members of this team doing their thing – I give you the GoGo Gadgettes

 

No word if their is a rival gang led by Dr. Claw (if you got that joke, you are old) – imagine if the tough but hot as hell punk looking cheerleaders from the Smells Like Teen Spirit video combined with Hugh Hefner’s Girls Next Door if they all went to an Anime convention and you have the Gadgettes.
Their bio describes them as:

Whoever wrote that is probably the most annoying person alive, but they do make good on what their saying.

The hour was getting late and when I would walk from room to room the walls were lined with those coming down, still glowing in the dark but necks barely bobbing.
Nothing makes me feel older than learning about a new drug at a music festival.
Did you know “Cotton Candy” is a mix of LSD and cocaine? To which I responded, “I DON’T THINK YOU SHOULD TAKE THAT!”

So the hour became even latter and as the clock stretched toward 4am it was time to say goodnight. The option to stay longer became mute as well as they were officially winding it down and having everyone head back down the long stairs.

 

You know that scene whenever en masse is leaving a large event and they are still so hyped from it and then having to be in such close proximity with one another they start to get visions of revolution? – That was this scene – my ears never rang louder than getting through this herd has around 3k people were exiting and screaming and cheering at the top of  their lungs. All I could think about was that the people staying at the hotel next door probably called it a night hours ago and suddenly theirs a sovereign nation of naked glowing young people taking to the streets on New Year’s Eve at 4am. This was awesome and the national news the next day said it was the biggest New Year’s Eve party in the country. Happy New Year!(Epilogue: – Thanks so much for reading all about this adventure and all of the adventures of this year – Professionally and personally its been one of the best years of my life and I can’t believe all the things that I got to do personally and all the things that we managed to accomplish professionally –
This was a banner year for us starting with endorsements at the NAMM Convention in January, to making national headlines with the insanity of our dueling showcases at SXSW in March.
April saw us hit California to host a suite at the Coachella site that brought the Big Four of Thrash all together in the States for the first time, and we managed to spend five nights with the Purple One while we were there.
The Summer was a confusing blur of mass touring that lead us to the Fall that found us back with the Big Four one again, this time on the East Coast with a legendary blowout at Yankee Stadium.
We were honored to participate with All Tommorrow’s Parties for their I’ll Be Your Mirror festival in Asbury Park a few weeks later and having the privilege to spend four days with Portishead.
After just celebrating one of the best Christmas seasons I can ever remember, we rang in the New Year with the above tale.We have got so much coming up in the New Year –  appearances all over the country and much much more, stay tuned, Happy New Year and we will see you in 2012!!)

Photos –Roy Turner
Mike Brooks
Loran Jatunov
Calder Wilson
Daniel Rorigue
Terry Walsh
Daniel Akers
Roger Ho