The evening started with a stop at Gallery 5 for the Silent Music Revival, this time featuring Ghastly City Sleep coming all the way from New York. The film shown was the 1933 film “Lot in Sodom,” a short silent experimental film based on the Biblical tale of the city of Sodom and Gomorrah. The movie used experimental techniques, Avant-Garde imagery and strong allusions to homosexuality.

The strangest thing was that the band performed behind the movie screen the entire evening which took me off guard a bit (I like seeing the band perform as I’m watching the movie). The band was plagued with problems early on as equipment kept messing up and guitar strings broke. The sound was also off the entire show and you could barely hear what makes Ghastly City Sleep’s music good in the first place. It was just a wall of noise and hurt my ears constantly. If they had only turned down the speakers a bit, it would have improved the quality of the sound.

Ghastly City Sleep – I Never Left My Hand

When that wrapped up, I headed over to the National to catch Pretty Lights as I was eagerly excited for this show. After waiting in a line that wrapped around the block, I get inside to catch Chali 2na from hip-hop group Jurassic 5 and his set was some of the best hip-hop I’ve heard in ages. This show was enjoyable, unlike the rapper who opened for Matt & Kim. He got the crowd moving and you could tell there is a lot of talent behind that mic.

chali 2na – Across the Map

Electronic mix master Bassnectar also had a show that night at the Hat Factory, so to give the fans a speacial treat, Bassnectar opened for Pretty Lights at The National while Pretty Lights opened for Bassnectar at the Hat Factory. This was actually a really cool thing they did since the scheduling was unintentional and fans didn’t have to choose who to see. Bassnectar played a short 20-minute set, which was full of electronic goodness. The crowd seemed to lose its mind and erupted into a giant dance party.

Bassnectar – Timestretch

Finally, the time came for Pretty Lights to take the stage. At this point, the crowd was overhyped, drunk and very obnoxious. One girl spilled her beer on me … Some guy dry humped me … A couple was litterally making out on top of me … and everyone was pushing the crowd without any regard for others. Douchebags always ruin shows and there will probably be a rant post on this coming soon.

But Pretty Lights began the set and the only word to describe it was epic. Lights, sounds and emotion took over the National and made everyone forget about all their problems and just let go. Dancing was non-stop and it felt like the party would never end. I knew there was something when I first heard Pretty Lights’ music and the live show amped it up tenfold.

Pretty Lights – A Million Tomorrows