After a stunning performance last Friday night, Pretty Lights & The Analog Future Band geared up for the second night of their two-night run at Telluride. While some fans spent the day exploring the Colorado town’s natural splendors, others rested up and recharged for some of the most essential Pretty Lights live performances to date.

Mikey Thunder started the evening off with funk and hip hop oriented remixes, a sound that has helped cement his reputation as a True OG in Denver’s vibrant music scene.

However, it was Derek Vincent Smith and his band of New Orleans and New York based musicians who wasted no time in getting into some of the more soulful and thoughtful content from the Pretty Lights catalog. Opening track “Change is Gonna Come” reminded everyone to slow down and enjoy this beautiful moment. 

Later in the set, Smith cut out most of the sound and started reflecting on his 20 years living in Colorado, art and friendship. He then introduced his collaborator on the 2006 debut Pretty Lights LP, Michal Menert, to sit in on keys for “Try to Remember”, one of the more ambient and downbeat tracks from Pretty Lights’ catalog. The mellow grooves of the first set were capped off by a remix/rework of Pink Floyd’s “Time”, which featured Eric Krasno soft touch on the guitar.


Set Two was highlighted by a number of Pretty Lights classics, like “So Much in the Dark”, “Fly Away Another Day”, and “My Other Love”. Each tune was which sprinkled with organic and unique sounds coming from the group of musicians on stage, an ensemble that included Adam Deitch, Eric Krasno, Brian Coogan, Borahm Lee, Eric Benny Bloom, Chris Karns and Scott Flynn.

The closing track of the night was “We Must Go On”, and everyone in Town Park recognized the truth in the title. The weekend ended on a musically profound note in tune with the mountainous backdrop, many fans left town hoping that they might have a chance to all come back to Telluride some time in the future.

Photos by Djivan Schapira (B.a.D Photography), Words by Brian Jonke