Article Contributed by Jamie Huenefeld
Published on 2026-08-28
Pretty Lights arrived in Port Chester on August 21 carrying more than a tour opener. The three-night stand at The Capitol Theatre marked Derek Vincent Smith's first appearance at the historic Westchester County room, the launch of the Soundship Space Bus tour, and the first extended live look at A Trip Thru Time Fantastic, his first album in thirteen years. This landed in a theater celebrating its own centennial, a 1,800-capacity movie palace that opened in 1926 and reopened under Peter Shapiro in 2012. For a project built on amphitheaters, arenas, and festival fields, a room this size was a deliberate step toward intimacy.
The evening began with frequent collaborator Mikey Thunder on the turntables. He warmed up the floor before the full ensemble took the stage.
Pretty Lights opened with "Vigs Drop," from the recent A Trip Thru Time Fantastic material. Smith took a moment to address the crowd and share his excitement for the venue. The band performed the "Adriance Remix" of this hip-hop-inflected cut, which soon thickened into a dense groove. Dave Najarian added sharp scratching on the turntables as images of the bus filled the LED screen. This was a direct nod to the rebuilt rig. The "Swirl Bridge" that anchored recent tours had been dismantled and reassembled as the Soundship Space Bus, retooled for off-grid operation by a production outfit Smith calls Bridge Industries.
"Aimin At Your Head," from 2008's Filling Up The City Skies, followed fluidly and spliced in warm analog soul vocals. Drummer Alvin Ford Jr. held firm on the kit. Each track slid into the next, with "Summer's Gone," from the same 2008 record, arriving without a seam.
Older cut "Vibe Vendetta," off 2013's Grammy-nominated A Color Map of the Sun, brought dance-friendly synth work from Borahm Lee in its "Griz Remix" form, riding an edgy bass-line. A sample of "Just the Two of Us" bridged the way into a thumping "Can't Stop Me Now," from 2009's Passing By Behind Your Eyes. The "Father Figure Remix" of "City Of One," pulled from that same album, crept in next, with the prism display at center stage lit in stretches. The tempo sat slightly under what preceded, danceable all the same. Both Wu-Tang Clan's "C.R.E.A.M." and Rihanna's "Disturbia" were folded in. The low end ran filthy while the synth took on a Nintendo cast.
"Give Your Love Away" emerged with a spooky synth line and drenched the stage in purple and blue. Juicy vocal samples brightened the arrangement as the band pushed the tempo toward a peak, then unleashed more heat on the other side. Delicacy on the keys balanced the weight underneath. Smith picked up what appeared to be a bass and likely captured a riff for later use. The music then descended into a mellow passage that landed in "Hot Like Rox."
Newly issued in studio form on A Trip Thru Time Fantastic, it has circulated live since its debut at Denver's Mission Ballroom in August 2023, and this was roughly its twentieth performance. Michal Menert played electric guitar through the slow simmer, an ominous and hip-hop-leaning piece that hit particularly hard, driven by an evil bass tone. Smith worked the room like part orchestra conductor and part mad scientist, merging four musicians' output through a delay. At 15:54, it was the longest song of the first set.
Set two opened with "Still Rockin," from 2010's Making Up A Changing Mind, built on a sample of "California Sunset" by The Originals. Midway through, Mikey Thunder reappeared alongside Najarian on the decks, the two layering different break-beat elements over this low-key production. A sliver of Queen's "Bohemian Rhapsody" surfaced as the music shifted into "Funnel of Love." Thunder stayed through the changeover into "The Sun Spreads in our Mind," which Smith identified from the stage as the "Labrynth Remix." He returned to bass here. The juxtaposition of scratching, heavy low end, and samples against the elegance of the keys proved grounding. The arrangement wound down through further keyboard filigree into an ambient close. At over twenty minutes, it stood as the longest performance of the night.
"Celestial" came next, drawing on Andy Bey's "Celestial Blues" and hometown heroes Wu-Tang Clan by way of "Tearz." It opened with a dark bounce and no shortage of synth. Paul Basic's "Reach Higher" followed, a track Pretty Lights collaborated on for the studio release.
"Future Blind," also from Making Up A Changing Mind, extended that mood with a menace of its own. The thirteen-minute reading blended piano elegance with heavy bass and industrial effects. "Watch Discipline Fall" delivered what some fans call a "Billy Swirl," where Trap House Mafia's "Discipline," The Fugees' "Fu-Gee-La," and Billy Strings' "Watch It Fall" are stitched in. Smith offered a message of positivity before the band moved into "Still Night," from 2010's Glowing In The Darkest Night. The room came fully alive for "Hot Like Sauce," the 2008 staple that has turned up at roughly a third of all Pretty Lights shows since its January 2008 debut at Cervantes' Masterpiece Ballroom.
The encore arrived as mellow funk, a pairing of Janis Joplin's "Mercedes Benz" with "Thinkin' Bout It" by Opiuo & Thought Process, and also tagged with a tease of "A Million Tomorrows."
Pretty Lights will spend the fall alternating between festival fields and theaters. The run continues at Secret Dreams Music & Arts Festival in Marengo, OH (Sept. 4-6), then heads west for the second annual edition of Smith's own curated gathering, Yahn Dawn, returning to Meadow Creek in Buena Vista, CO (Sept. 18-20) as a three-night event. From there the schedule turns south. The project will appear at Mempho Music Festival, held at Radians Amphitheater in Memphis, TN (Oct. 9), before swinging through Hulaween at the Spirit of the Suwannee Music Park in Live Oak, FL (Oct. 24). Headlining duties resume in November with three nights at The Fillmore New Orleans in New Orleans, LA (Nov. 6-8). The tour closes with three more at the Fox Theater in Oakland, CA (Nov. 19-21), landing just ahead of the November 25 date Smith set for delivering the final constellation of A Trip Thru Time Fantastic. Visit Pretty Lights' tour page for the complete itinerary, ticket information, and additional details.
Check out more photos from the show!
Band: Pretty Lights
Location: Port Chester, NY
Venue: The Capitol Theatre
Date: August 21, 2026
Set One: Vigs Drop [1] > Aimin At Your Head > Summer's Gone > Vibe Vendetta [2] > Can't Stop Me Now [3] > City Of One [4] > Give Your Love Away > Hot Like Rox [5]
Set Two: Still Rockin [6] > Funnel of Love [7] > The Sun Spreads in our Mind [8] > Celestial [9] > Reach Higher [10] > Future Blind > Watch Discipline Fall [11] > Still Night > Hot Like Sauce
Encore: Mercedes Benz [12] x Thinkin' Bout It [13] > A Million Tomorrows (tease)
Notes:
Mikey Thunder performed a DJ set before Pretty Lights.
[1] Adriance Remix
[2] Griz Remix
[3] "Just the Two of Us" (Grover Washington Jr. & Bill Withers) sample
[4] Father Figure Remix; "C.R.E.A.M." (Wu-Tang Clan) and "Disturbia" (Rihanna) samples
[5] Michal Menert on electric guitar
[6] Mikey Thunder joined Dave Najarian on the decks; "California Sunset" (The Originals) sample
[7] "Bohemian Rhapsody" (Queen) sample
[8] Labrynth Remix; Derek Vincent Smith on bass
[9] "Celestial Blues" (Andy Bey) and "Tearz" (Wu-Tang Clan) samples
[10] Paul Basic track
[11] "Discipline" (Trap House Mafia), "Fu-Gee-La" (The Fugees), and "Watch It Fall" (Billy Strings) samples
[12] Janis Joplin
[13] Opiuo & Thought Process
#image_title
