Denver’s Mission Ballroom is one of the city’s most iconic indoor music venues. With a capacity of nearly 4,000 and plenty of room for massive production, concertgoers travel from far and wide to see their favorite artists there.
On Saturday, September 5th, the Mission was transformed into an entire city. Gareth Emery‘s LSR/CTY, to be exact! Iterations of the LSR/CTY tour have lit up the Mission Ballroom with beautiful light shows over the past two years. Fans of intricate lasers, trance, and progressive house music were beyond excited for its return this year. CVMRN and jackLNDN rounded out the lineup.
CVMRN Set the Right Tone
Doors opened at 8:00 PM, as CVMRN (real name Cameron Murphy) kicked off the music. The New York-based producer and DJ is 23 years old. He’s signed to Anjunabeats, the record label founded by Above & Beyond. This was just the second show of his debut tour! Murphy is supporting Emery on all eight stops on this LSR/CTY run. To get a feel for his sound, check out the recent release, “Folding Light“.
The stage setup for Murphy’s was straightforward. There was a table for the production equipment at the center of the stage and a floor-to-ceiling LED wall behind him. His logo was paired with abstract visuals playing onscreen throughout the set. White, blue, and purple lights shone out into the crowd. By the time he finished playing, the tiered seating at the back of the venue had filled in, while the floor still had plenty of room to dance.
Calling jackLNDN to the Stage
Up next was jackLNDN (real name Jack Aisher). This was a bit of a full-circle moment for Aisher — he was the opening act at Denver’s LSR/CTY last year. Fast forward to this year, and he had the honor of being direct support!
Aisher was born in London and has a background in classical music. Beyond being an accomplished DJ and producer, he’s also a singer and instrumentalist. His unique take on progressive house was the perfect sound leading up to Emery’s set.
Keeping things basic, the same stage setup was used, aside from the artist logos being swapped out. Towards the end of his performance, additional lights shone down vertically from the ceiling of the venue, illuminating the crowd. There was a noticeable increase in bass output for his set, and Aisher was grooving behind the decks.
As his time came to a close, the floor was also filling in, with the crowd concentrated near the middle to get the best views of the lasers.
Together, We Are All LSR/CTY
During the 10-minute set changeover, the anticipation in the crowd felt like static electricity. Lasers and strobes were intermittently tested, as everyone secured their spots. The same stage elements were used by Emery, but with an absolutely insane amount of lasers blasting. In total, there appeared to be a massive 24 laser projectors! They were distributed across the top of the LED wall, along the front of the stage, and on vertical poles on either side of the stage.
With a few minutes left before Emery started, a huge countdown clock appeared on the screen. Once the clock hit 10 seconds left, the entire crowd counted down together. At zero, an AI character appeared on the screen to welcome everyone; then the image and sound glitched a few times before the text “LSR/CTY” appeared across the screen.
When the music dropped and Emery took the stage, the crowd erupted in cheers. The sheer quantity of lasers was mind-blowing. Their team did not hold back at all! The AI character flashed back on the screen to say, “Artificial intelligence has disengaged. Humans are now in control.”
Huge shout-out to the laser designer for this show, Nathan Jin. The variety of lasers used was impressive, including bold, thick lasers, transparent sheet lasers, thin, sparkly lasers, and vertical, fan lasers. You have to see it to believe it! In contrast, the visuals on the LED screen were relatively simplistic: number grids, galaxies, and cityscapes. Check out a few recap videos (without giving too much away for his next shows) on Emery’s Instagram.
A selection of my favorite tracks that Emery played includes: “without u” with LSR/CTY and Annabel, “Under The Sky (Broken Tides)” with Annabel and dj try, and “burn it down” with LSR/CTY.
Join the Resistance
This show was unique because there was an engaging storyline along with the music and lasers. LSR/CTY was set in a futuristic dystopian world, where AI is in control. As the show progressed throughout the night, themes in the storyline kept returning: “Overthrow the AI” and “the resistance”. The AI was fought against fiercely, and in the end, the humans won. In today’s day and age, this concept really hits hard. Being able to hear music produced by and see an incredible light show designed by real humans is so important!
At one point, Emery got on the mic and declared that Denver would be a hard city to beat on this tour because the energy had been incredible. The vibes were high, everyone was kind to each other, and there was a lot of dancing, so I’m sure Denver agrees!
Check out where the LSR/CTY tour is touching down next. It really is a show that you have to see live at least once!
Photos by Andrew Ortega and Tyrell Castro
