The Lights All Night Lineup Is a Reminder That Not All Lockdowns Were Equal

There's an old myth that misery inspires art. If that's true, the post-quarantine edition of Lights All Light should be its finest.

The pandemic put a straitjacket on performing arts, and electronic music festival Lights All Night was one of the many events put on hold. The 11th annual Lights All Night will be taking place this year, however, on Dec. 30 and 31.

Things are beginning to move along in Texas, but that’s not the case in the United Kingdom, where Graeme Shepherd (aka Grum) is coming from. He should be able to let out a Scottish-accented exhale when he starts banging bass against the Dallas Market Hall walls in late December for the festival.

“My last show was February 2020 in Manchester, England. My next show was supposed to be in Seattle, but then the border was closed, and the lockdown began,” he says from his home near Glasgow.

Like most in the U.K., the artist has been staying put — beside bicycle rides or trips to the supermarket. His new EP, the title track “Isolation,” is an introspective musical interpretation of the pandemic. The four tracks sound like empty streets, and while it's not exactly his core sound, Grum recorded the soundtrack for COVID.

“I’m interested to see how we’ll come out creatively," he says. "[Dance band] Above and Beyond has new music with breakbeats, which is cool, but for me personally, I’m not sure, I need more inspiration. My set won’t sound like my EP, though. It will be harder, I promise. But I need some time to catch up to Texas because we haven’t reopened yet. Hopefully, it happens soon.”

Grum is also the owner of Deep State Recordings, a label he defines as “more progressive, but different.”

“We get a lot of demos," he says. "but I’m looking for that spark, and I can’t explain it, but when I hear it, I know it. Mainly, just be yourself.”

Grum joins more than 30 acts that will share their pandemic musical creations. Other headliners on the bill include Above and Beyond, DJ Snake, Illenium, Madeon and Subtronics, in addition to first-time performers such as Slander, Loud Luxury, Svdden Death and Joyride.

“We could not script a better way to end 2021 than to be back at our home in Dallas at Dallas Market Hall," says Lights All Night founder Scott Osburn. "This year, we have something for everyone, and I cannot wait to see all of our LAN family join us back out on the dance floor in December.”

Additional information (such as single-day lineups, performance schedules, vendor lineups, merchants and performing visual artists) will be announced prior to the event  The festival will donate an undisclosed portion of proceeds to DFW Rescue Me, a not-for-profit pet rescue.

Here's the full performer lineup for 2021's Lights All Night:

1788 - L
4B
ARMNHMR
Above & Beyond
Apashe
Black Tiger Sex Machine (BTSM)
Blunts & Blondes
Chee
Cheyenne Giles
DJ Snake
Devault
EFFIN
Eazybaked b2b Sumthin Sumthin
Grum
Habstrakt
Hellbound!
Holly
Illenium
J. Worra
JESSICA AUDIFFRED
Jansten
JOYRYDE
Left/Right
Loud Luxury
Madeon (DJ Set)
Nik P
Oddprophet
SLANDER
Subtronics
SVDDEN DEATH
Zander

Tickets for LAN go on sale Tuesday, June 29, at LightsAllNight.com.