Pretty Lights Boots Jellyfish-Wielding Totem Man From Front
In today’s dance music landscape, totem poles go hand-in-hand with music festivals like “kandi” goes with raver kids. Totem poles have popped up all across major music festivals and raves, and despite being an eye-sore for those directly in the line of sight, the general consensus stands that they’re are useful as hell when trying to locate friends.
Think back to a time you’ve ever been lost and tried to navigate your friends to meet you. Sometimes it’s a lost cause, but sometimes screaming on the phone, “I’m to the left of the Crying Kim K Pole!” actually works. Having a descriptive landmark certainly ups your chances of finding your group. But mostly totems are just down right funny. Pretty Lights’ production team is not laughing however.
Over the weekend at the ninth Episodic Festival in New Hampshire, a totem-wielding man was asked to leave, or at least move from the front row as it blocked the sight of spectators and the production team. What bold caricature yielded the man to be removed from the front row you ask? A jellyfish totem. To add insult to injury, the dude got called out personally on the LED screen. “No totems” read the jumbo screen.
LazerShark, a.k.a. Greg Ellis, Pretty Light’s lighting designer later chimed in on “the controversy” by stating,
“Just to be clear since some people think it’s their right to be an inconsiderate douche. Your right to “self-expression” has not been banned at our shows. We simply just want both our crew and our audience to be able to enjoy the show how they intended. We could have simply confiscated this stupid jellyfish bit instead we decided to have a little fun and prove a very simple point. Stand to the side dummys. Or I’m coming to your job with a giant sign that says fuck you and you can explain to your boss why some guy is interfering with your work.”
He has a point. Use common sense where it is necessary.
