The lights go down and the music comes up to shaking-the- dental-work decibels. Suddenly, in an explosion of changing colors and images, you feel as if magically transported inside a kaleidoscope.
Or maybe a time machine.
Remember laser light shows? Those sensory immersion experiences (with or without controlled substances) that were a hallmark of the hippie era?
Well, they’re back. To be more precise, they never really left.
This year marks the 30th anniversary of the light show set to Pink Floyd’s “Dark Side of the Moon” that has been playing continuously since 1976 at the University of Colorado’s Fiske Planetarium in Boulder.
With students at the controls – most of whom were not born when the show began its run – the pas de deux of light and music now played on oldies stations still draws a mix of generations.
“This really has a retro component to it. This is what their parents went to,” says Suzanne Traub-Metlay, education program manager for the planetarium.
“It goes in cycles,” she adds. “In the 90s nobody wanted to touch laser shows. But now we’re seeing a steady stream of students coming in on Friday night. There is definitely a resurgence of interest.”
In addition to the 10:45 p.m. Pink Floyd laser show, which features music from both “Dark Side of the Moon” and “The Wall,” there also are Friday evening shows with music from an array of artists – Beastie Boys to Creed, Nine Inch Nails to Mozart. On Saturday afternoons there is a more family- oriented show.
And at the Denver Museum of Nature & Science, a digital light show set to contemporary music is called SonicVision: How Do You See Your Music?
SonicVision was created by the American Museum of Natural History in New York, MTV2 and the musician Moby, who mixed the music and even threw in some of his own songs.
Think animation meets M.C. Escher as 16 speakers and 11 digital projectors weave together music and rapidly morphing images across the planetarium’s dome.
Creators of the show are quick to say theirs is a more sophisticated incarnation of the laser light show. Still, they admit comparisons are inevitable.
“I think there’s a nostalgic factor at work,” says Laura Holtman public relations manager for the museum.
The SonicVision show is scheduled to close Dec. 31 but Holtman says plans are underway to replace it with another.
SEE THE LIGHT
Fiske Planetarium: Friday, 9:30 p.m. and 10:45 a.m.; Saturday, 3:15 p.m., University of Colorado, Boulder. $5.
Denver Museum of Nature & Science: Friday, 7 p.m., 8 p.m. 9 p.m.; Saturday, 3 p.m., 7 p.m., 8 p.m., 9 p.m.; and Sunday at 3 p.m. $7 museum members; $10 non-members. After 5 p.m. enter through south door. Arrive at least 15 minutes prior to show. Late entry not permitted.
