Written by Eric B. Thornton
If you came up on late-2000s festival culture, you know the exact feeling of a Pretty Lights track dropping: that dusty, soul-sampled glitch-hop that basically soundtracked a generation of parking-lot afterparties. Then Derek Vincent Smith went quiet. No new albums, a long hiatus, years spent tinkering with immersive stage tech while the rest of us wondered if he was ever coming back. Well, he’s back, and this September he’s turning his own festival into a three-night victory lap.
Yahn Dawn, the boutique festival Pretty Lights curates at Meadow Creek in Buena Vista, Colorado, expands to three days for its second edition, September 18 to 20, 2026. Tucked into the Collegiate Peaks with the Arkansas River running past and 14,000-foot summits handling the backdrop no LED wall can fake, it plays less like a festival than a mountainside family reunion, which is pretty much how last year’s inaugural run felt.
The through-line this year is “A Trip Thru Time,” a chronological ride through the Pretty Lights catalog aboard what the fest calls the Soundship Space Bus. It’s built around his new album “A Trip Thru Time Fantastic,” his first in over a decade, a sprawling 45-track set whose first fifteen dropped in July. The weekend opens Thursday, September 17 with an Early Arrival pre-party, a set billed “Taking Up Your Precious Time” from Smith and founding partner Michal Menert, plus sets from Paul Basic and Mossy Projects. Even the nightly set titles are lifted straight from his lyrics. Here’s who to catch once the gates open.
Friday
LP Giobbi — The Femme House founder opens the weekend with a special “Dead House” set, splicing Grateful Dead classics into rolling piano house. She’s one of the most joyful live players in dance music right now, and a Dead-meets-house experiment in a Colorado meadow is exactly the kind of only-here moment Yahn Dawn does best. Rounding out the night: Maddy O’Neal’s bass-forward MADHAUS alias, Mikey Thunder, Midicinal, Faceplant, TheBusiness., and R!AHT.
Saturday
Emancipator — Doug Appling brings his full ensemble for the weekend’s most cinematic set, all violin-laced downtempo made for a mountain sunset. It’s a low-end day from there: a liquid drum & bass set from Thought Process, underground dubstep from Pheel and WeSelects, plus Shooka, Underlux, Parrott, and Dark City Agent digging deep into the bass.
Sunday
Gramatik — The Slovenia-born, funk-obsessed producer headlines the closer and remains one of the most reliably nasty live acts in instrumental electronic music. Right below him is RJD2, the crate-digging architect whose “A Beautiful Mine” you know as the “Mad Men” theme, with Saturna, Homemade Spaceship, TF Marz, Mithridates, Mondokoosh, Pants, and Hyperspace Sky all making their Yahn Dawn debuts.
Single-day and weekend passes are on sale now, with GA and VIP weekend tiers offering add-ons like Thursday Early Arrival, glamping, RVs, and parking. The top-shelf VIP Total Fascination Package throws in a pre-set Luna Bell tent and a campsite with the shortest walk to the stages. Expect the rest of the Yahn Dawn extras too: wellness programming, live art, and the connection-to-nature touches that make this one feel different from your average grounds.
Yahn Dawn 2026 runs September 18 to 20 at Meadow Creek in Buena Vista, CO. Grab tickets here, and connect with Pretty Lights on Instagram, Spotify, YouTube, and at prettylightsmusic.com.