Lights All Night Review - 2 days of music bliss

​As the year 2018 comes to a close, electronic music lovers from all around the world gather to attend one of Texas biggest year-end music fest Lights All Night. Held In Dallas,Texas at the Dallas Market Hall, this massive 200,000 square feet warehouse featured 5 stages and over 50 performing acts. With a lineup that stacked a fully decked out venue that big, this 2 day event amounts to an epic night for all EDM lovers.

I consider myself a music lover. I love all genres: hip-hop (oldschool, thank you), rock, indie, metal, you name it. My main passion in music, though, is EDM. The last time I was in Dallas was for Electric Daisy Carnival’s short-lived Dallas stint, so I was excited to get back to the city and see how they throw down. I finally got a chance to scratch Lights All Night off my bucket list.

On Friday my friend and I loaded up and began our journey to Dallas. Once we arrived semi-frozen we realized we had just barely missed Kaskade’s set thanks to traffic in every city we passed through on the way. We got over our disappointment immediately though as Sofi Tukker’s performance on the Supernova main stage immediately got our hearts racing and feet moving. I watched her perform on the amazing stage which consisted of 7 massive LED panels and all the lasers and lights you could ask for. As much as I wanted to watch Sofi Tukkers set I was  too excited and I wanted to check out the other stages. I made my way to the Second main stage in time to see Oliver Tree with his signature bowl-cut hair and rad attire. The LA-based singer/producer got the crowd hyped with his killer, unique sound. Some other acts that I was looking forward to seeing the first night were Diplo and REZZ. Since I have already seen Diplo before I took this chance to check out Rezz. I’ve always heard great things about her and I must say I was impressed. The set’s mixture of dubstep and futuristic sounds made her one of my top fave sets of the night.

(I like to give a quick shout out to my good friend caffeine. I wouldn't be able to survive without you. You da real MVP!)

One of the first acts from day 2 we made sure to catch was Ekali, his future bass and house music got my blood pumpin’. Day two also brought me my favorite sets of the fest: Shiba San and What So Not. I am a huge Shiba San fan and this was my first time seeing him. His set got me dancing and wanting more- that alone says a lot about him. Also, I am a huge House head so that makes it even better.

I was also able to catch some of Excision’s set in the beginning and it was the most grimy/dirty/intense dubstep act I’ve ever seen. I mean I don’t mind dubstep but he just takes it to a whole new level it was just too intense even for me. I consider dubstep the new metal, which was confirmed by the number of kids headbanging and moshing. It was quite a stark contrast, then, to the big house mixed with some vestigial trance roots sound that Tiësto brought to us immediately afterwards on the main stage.

I’ve already had the privilege of seeing Tiësto multiple times before, and prefer his older, purely trance sets, so I decided to skip out on his set, which closed out the Supernova stage, and headed over to the Intergalactic stage for What So Not. His Experimental bass music just threw me in some sort of bass trance state. I didn’t want it to end.

I was also able to check out some of the vendors and art installations, including the awesome Silent Disco which had a 50+ disco-style mirror ball fixture reflecting off light projectors making it feel like you’re dancing in space.  

As an avid festival-goer I always prefer electronic festivals over other genre music festivals. There’s no beating the atmosphere at events like Lights All Night; you’re surrounded by club kids who dress up in costumes, onesies, and some that practically wearing nothing. At these events there’s no judgment, only good vibes. You can be youreself— we’re all here for the same reason and that’s to dance the night away, put reality aside and live in the moment.

Overall, this was an unforgettable experience, even considering the sleep deprivation. I can’t think of a more epic way to end the year and I highly recommend taking the chance to attend Lights All Night. I promise you that you won’t regret it.