The tour for the 10th anniversary of LIC hit Nebraska for Life In Color Lincoln, featuring Zeds Dead & Kayzo on February 11th.
Lincoln, the state capital and home of the University of Nebraska, played host again to Life In Color featuring Zeds Dead & Kayzo on Saturday, February 11th. Thousands of fans gathered at the Pinnacle Bank Arena for Life In Color Lincoln to dance under the paint cannons and listen to hard bass music. Overall, I had a lot of fun attending the show again this year with its artists and performers. The venue comfortably held everyone on the dance floor with plenty of room to rage to dubstep. Entry into the venue was fast and easy making our time spent in the cold only brief, which is important when you’re donning light clothing that you’re ready to have blasted with paint.
Kayzo brought a fantastic blend of hardstyle, hardcore, and dubstep to the stage. The majority of performers in the Nebraska area tend to only be bass music so it was refreshing to hear something different. After experiencing what it was like to be one of Kayzo’s dogs for a night, I would best describe him as a blend between Darren Styles and Dillion Francis. It was fun to hear the crowd chant the lyrics to a remix of “I’m On A Boat” by The Lonely Island. Kayzo has been in the headlines recently with his collaborative new release on Insomniac’s record label with Gammer called Periscope.
After an intermission of intensive paint blasting, an announcer came over the microphone to let us know that only one of the two members of Zeds Dead would be DJing tonight due to flight complications. DC took to the stage and promised that he would throw down an even harder set than they would normally play. He did not disappoint as he played some of their newer hits, a lot of their remixes of classic songs, and weaved the heavy hitting dubstep with atmospheric chillout.
The Official Life In Color Lincoln After Party was hosted at Vega near the arena. We purchased our tickets into the club while still attending the show so we could gain access quickly into the after party. The design of the club impressed me compared other clubs I have attended in the area; it was clean and the staff was nice. The stage had lights, lasers, and a projection screen filled with psychedelic imagery and the DJs played bass music that you wouldn’t find on the Beatport Top 10. Most of the club attendees were those who still had the energy to party after the hours of paint cannons at Life In Color; many were also exchanging kandi, and keeping PLUR alive.
Compared to last year’s Life In Color Kingdom tour with Steve Aoki, it felt as though this year was missing the theatrical aspect of the show at Life In Color Lincoln. The theme felt more cohesive between the MC, the dancers’ costumes, and the stage because of the Kingdom safari concept in 2016. I think the production team should have chosen a theme again this year instead of pushing the show as the 10th anniversary. One has to wonder if the reduction in stage design has to do with the changes at SFX Entertainment in the last year.
After investigating Life In Color’s Official Instagram, it appears other stops on the tour have gotten an expanded “X” Stage. Our stop only had 3 rectangular LED displays, which left a sizeable gap between the DJ decks and the visualizers. We may have gotten a reduced sized stage due to technical limitations, which is understandable but still disappointing after getting a full stage last year. One notable improvement between this year and last year’s stage was the improvement on lighting. An increased amount of lights filled the stage coming from the stage and the suspended hanging lights. It appears they have doubled the sources of light which filled the arena with blasts of color.
The Life In Color Miami Festival kicked off their 2017 season boasting over 25,000 wild attendees all witnessing the debut of the ‘X’ Stage, broken in by the likes of Diplo, Marshmello, Mija, Ookay, Illenium, Carnage and more. Check out the dates below to see if Life In Color will be stopping in your city next and buy your tickets here!
