Last weekend Ricky and I headed to Tucson.  And Tucson is, well, pretty boring.  We weren’t very impressed with the city at all, but that’s a whole different story.  But the main reason for our visit was to experience Life In Color (formerly known as Dayglow).  Life In Color is a touring “show” that includes various EDM (electronic dance music) artists along with a touch of color… in the form of massive amounts of neon paint.  Um, what?  Yep, that’s right.  You get to experience some fantastic music while having paint thrown on you.  Or shot at you.  Or squirted at you.  Or sliding in it, in some cases.  (We happened to be hanging out as press behind the barriers where there was no carpet, making it very slippery at times.)  Why on earth would you want to do that, you might ask?  Well… it’s fun.  Actually way more fun than I had expected.  And definitely a great experience to take photos of.

I honestly was not entirely looking forward to shooting photos for this event, I’ll admit.  I wasn’t too happy with the thought of getting messy or covered in paint, especially while using an expensive camera that could potentially also get covered with paint.  But, I sucked it up, ordered a rain cover for my camera, and showed up.  We weren’t sure at first if we were going to get in or not.  We waited outside the venue with all the paint party-goers and didn’t see our contact anywhere in sight.  But, we finally found him, got a quick tour and instructions on where we could and should go for the best photos and experience, and took a look around before the show started.

One of the coolest ways about this event to me is the timeline of how they put it on.  You don’t see any paint for quite a while.  Instead, the first hour or so is spent dancing to some good music.  Eventually, an MC comes out and gets the crowd excited and the countdown begins.  One hour until the paint starts!  But don’t worry, you get teased by having some water sprayed on you occasionally by the paint guys up in front of the stage.  Speaking of these guys, they have a lot of fun with their jobs.  They are basically in charge of the paint.  When we got there, before anything started, we noticed the large amount of five-gallon buckets up near the stage that were filled with loads of pink and green paint.  Lots of it.  And that’s on top of the paint guns in front of the stage and squirt bottles that get handed out.  These guys are serious about their paint.

Once the countdown stops, all craziness breaks loose.  The music keeps going the whole time, of course, but there are also performers on stage, a ton of confetti and a ton of giant white balloons that are let loose, along with (what else?) PAINT!  While before I was a bit hesitant about the whole paint thing, I definitely got more into it.  It was hard not to with this crowd!  Everyone was having fun and just enjoying the permission to be messy.  Who doesn’t want to be a kid again?  The spirit is contagious.  Between the performers and DJs on stage, the awesome music, and the fun atmosphere, you can’t help but want to be a part of it.  My camera was protected and I was wearing old clothes, so I had no worries.  In the end, this definitely turned into quite a fun night and great experience.  It’s something I’d highly recommend if Life In Color visits your city or somewhere nearby.  Don’t be hesitant… Just have fun and GO HARD IN THE PAINT!

[For the full experience, definitely check out my photos of this event here.]

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