Article Contributed by Jamie Huenefeld
Published on 2026-08-15
Derek Vincent Smith | Pretty Lights | Photos by Jamie Huenefeld/Killahwave
Pretty Lights will roll into Port Chester, NY next weekend for three nights at the iconic Capitol Theatre on August 21-23, 2026. The stand carries more weight than a typical tour stop. This is the opening salvo of the project's Soundship Space Bus tour, the first extended look at material from Derek Vincent Smith's first new album in thirteen years, and the first time he has brought Pretty Lights to the historic Westchester County room.
On July 1, Smith ended a long wait with the announcement of A Trip Thru Time Fantastic, the follow-up to 2013's Grammy-nominated A Color Map of the Sun. The scope is unusual even by Pretty Lights standards: forty-five songs, recorded between 2017 and 2026, arranged into nine five-track "constellations." The first fifteen arrived that night, streaming free on the project's website, with the remaining tracks set to debut by Smith's forty-fifth birthday on November 25.
The early constellations lean on the musicians who have anchored the live band through the current era. Longtime collaborator Michal Menert appears on nearly every track, handling keys, guitar, and additional production, while keyboardist and bassist Borahm Lee turns up across most of the first 15. Drummer Alvin Ford Jr., turntablist Chris Karns, keyboardist Brandon Butler, and horn player Scott Flynn all contribute as well. Songs including "The Sun Spreads In Our Mind," "Time To Build A Home," "Wake Up," and "Trip Thru Time" have circulated in live form for years. Hearing them in finished studio shape reframes what the band has been building toward since the 2023 return.
Those players will be on stage at the Capitol Theatre under a new banner. Smith is billing the outing as PL Presents: Soundship Space Bus Goes Off the Grid to Cross the Bridge featuring Fantastic Pretty Lights, Prismatic Fleet & The Cosmic Caravan. The "Swirl Bridge" rig that defined recent tours has been dismantled and rebuilt as the Soundship Space Bus. This shift included retooling for off-grid operation by a production outfit Smith calls Bridge Industries. He has kept the accompanying visuals under wraps and has described Pretty Lights as flexible by design, with no two nights alike.
Everything will unfold in a room that seats 1,800. Peter Shapiro's theater reopened in 2012 after a multi-million-dollar restoration and has since become one of the Northeast's essential rooms for multi-night runs. This year marks their centennial, having opened as a Thomas W. Lamb-designed movie palace in 1926. For a project accustomed to amphitheaters, arenas, and festival fields, three nights in a theater of this size is a deliberate move toward intimacy.
Doors open at 6:30 p.m. with an 8:00 p.m. start each night. Tickets remain available for Friday, August 21, Saturday, August 22, and Sunday, August 23, with three-day passes and premier parking also on sale. The shows are 18+ unless accompanied by a parent or legal guardian.
After the Cap run, Pretty Lights will spend the fall alternating between festival fields and theaters. The first stretch is festival-heavy, beginning with Secret Dreams Music & Arts Festival in Marengo, OH (Sept. 4-6). Smith then heads west for the second annual edition of his own curated gathering titled Yahn Dawn, making a return to Meadow Creek in Buena Vista, CO (Sept. 18-20) as a three-night event. From there the schedule shifts south. Pretty Lights will play Mempho Music Festival at Radians Amphitheater in Memphis, TN (Oct. 9), then swing through Hulaween at the Spirit of the Suwannee Music Park in Live Oak, FL on 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 out with three more at the Fox Theater in Oakland, CA (Nov. 19-21). This lands just ahead of the November 25 deadline Smith set for delivering the final constellation of A Trip Thru Time Fantastic. Visit Pretty Lights' tour page for more dates and details.
