Dayglow is the kind of musical experience that every self-proclaimed “partygoer” should have at least once. Picture a sea of rowdy teenagers dressed mostly in white, flashing lights, neon paint, and thumping hard house music and you can start to get an idea of what the thing is kind of about. Dayglow’s latest creation — the Blu Tour — came through Philadelphia for two nights last week, and we got to check it out when Laidback Luke was on the decks Friday. Wanna see what happens when you combine a little bit of dirty talk with a whole lot of paint and throw in the Devil from Acapulco just because you can? Click past the break.

If you don’t quite understand the prospect of a paint party, let us quickly break it down for you. It’s customary to wear white and walk in a blank canvas before playfully splashing everyone around you with water-soluble paint. Getting messy is encouraged, and if you do it right you can even walk away with an abstract neon souvenir to remember the time you spent there (if our Facebook photos don’t suffice, of course).

Opening DJ Christian Falero kept the decks warm and the crowd hopping in Temple University’s Liacouras Center. The entire floor of the arena was carpeted and lowest section of seats was covered in protective tarps. Still, a mix of dayglow-friendly tracks came through the sound system in the center of the arena like Clockwork’s remix of “Levels,” “Party Rock Anthem,” and even the offhand A-Trak concoction “Big Bad Wolf.” He also dropped “Cinema” and “Polkadots.” The highlight of the opening was undoubtedly R3hab’s remix of “Bounce,” whose first drop was perfectly timed with the first big paint blast of the night.

Avicii – Levels (Clockwork Remix)

Calvin Harris – Bounce (DJ R3hab Remix) 

The second big blast of the night occurred as Luke took to the tables himself, opening with the obvious choice, “Turbulence.” He played Nero’s “Me and U” and Chuckie’s bootleg of “Paris Satisfaction” (which you can download for free). “Babylon” from Congorock worked well, and then Luke gave us a little deja vu when he too dropped Clockwork’s remix of “Levels.” He also dropped Tiesto’s “Maximal Crazy” which is a nearly perfect track for Dayglow, and should definitely be the official song of the the tour.

Tiësto – Maximal Crazy (Original Mix)

Other notable tracks included a funky old school bootleg of “Jump Around,” followed by “Knas” and “Cinema.” He then got into a Luke-only sequence starting with “Natural Disaster” before “Till Tonight.” “Better Off Alone” was another nice throwback before falling perfectly back into the drop of “Turbulence.” We should mention that the entire time there were female acrobats on either side of the mega DJ (see for yourself in the gallery at the end of the post).

The end of the set consisted of “Mutate,” another track that seems to be built for Dayglow and the always enjoyable Mata bootleg of “All Of The Lights.” He finished off with “Dirty Talk” before an exquisite mashup of “Pressure” with “Rolling In The Deep.” It was an absolute way for Luke to end his set on a high note — but Dayglow wasn’t done just yet.

Kanye West – All Of The Lights (Mata Bootleg)

Most of you out there have probably never heard of the Devil from Acapulco, but he is a legend in the clubbing scene. He emerges from his lair completely painted in silver with a skull and laser-encrusted headdress and bright torch lights. He incites his subjects to get in touch with their bad side, all the while dancing around to tracks like “Riverside” and his very own anthem. He riled up the Dayglow crowd for a solid fifteen minutes, and was another highlight of the night.

Dayglow resident DJ Anthony Pisano closed out the night with a mix of funky house tracks with a bouncey feel. It was a nice change of pace from the thumping progressive house that had been on full blast for the prior hours.

As we said in the beginning of this article, Dayglow is one event that everyone should try to experience at least once. At the end of the musical marathon you will be drenched, multicolored, and won’t feel your feet — but in some weird way it’s totally worth it.

Special thanks to Max and Bill from Dayglow for their help in facilitating this article!

Tags: dayglow, laidback Luke

Categories: Music