As promised, Dayglow invaded Louisville and left its neon paint colored mark; and like many others that attended, I am still recovering and still finding leftover paint in my hair and on my clothes. Having never experienced a rave before—let alone a paint party rave—I was very excited to experience Dayglow for the first time.  

At the beginning of this event, my friend and I stayed as close to the stage as possible determined to leave covered in paint. We soon learned, though, this was probably not the brightest of ideas, after all. Younger members of the crowd, less experienced in free-standing general admission events, soon began pushing and shoving through the crowd forcing those in front to be smashed into the stage barrier. Numerous attendees unable to handle the massive crowd began asking security to lift them out of the crowd so they could make their way to the back, which security dutifully and diligently did without a hitch. So, I spent most of the beginning of Dayglow being kicked by crowd surfers, elbowed by attendees, and pushed into the barrier gate. However, after the paint started spraying, and my hair became a beautiful shade of neon green, I, too, decided to ask for security’s help and made my way towards the back of the arena and experienced a much better time.

The back, away from the pushy crowds, was most definitely the most entertaining place to be during Dayglow. There were even beer stands, food stands and bathrooms galore. The entire crowd seemed to be enjoying themselves as they danced along to the DJ music, played with glow sticks, and sprayed each other with bottles upon bottles of neon paint. During the show, large projector screens displayed images that grooved along with the music and canons shot paint from the stage. There were also crew members with paint squirt guns walking around spraying audience members throughout the night. During the show’s finale, balloons were released from the ceiling, confetti was launched from the stage, and DJ Porter Robinson headlined the show. This was most definitely an event worth attending and one most of Louisville, including myself, will not soon forget.

If Dayglow ever decides to invade Louisville again, which I hope it does, I offer you the following pieces of advice. First: wear comfy shoes because you will be standing most of the night. Second: don’t bother bringing purses or jackets because they will get messy. Third: stay towards the back of the crowd if you want to maintain the ability to breath, and don’t worry about being able to see because you will still be able to see the stage just as well as you would from the front. Lastly: have a good time and experience the biggest paint party in the world! So as you recover from your Dayglow experience, surf through my slide show of event pictures. Who knows, you may even be featured in a few of them.
   

Photos: courtesy Kari Haney, Nicole Wilson

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