Lane 8 will play Malkin Bowl (and you definitely won’t be needing your cellphone)

by Mike Usinger on January 22nd, 2024 at 3:29 PM

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More than ever, he seems like the one artist who might have been sent to save the world from itself. So ask yourself: what has you excited the most about today’s announcement that Lane 8 is headed to Vancouver this fall?

Is it that the famously immersive-minded DJ known as Daniel Goldstein will be playing one of the city’s most spectacular venues—Stanley Park’s surrounded-by-towering-evergreens Malkin Bowl? Or is the fact that, as part of Lane 8’s ongoing live-experience series This Never Happened, all cellphones will be banned from the show?

The goal of the event, taking place on September 7, will be to have everyone in attendance connecting and vibing with each other to make one loving, mass organism, instead of watching the show through a screen while liking each other’s Reels in real time on Instagram. Tickets go on sale January 26 at 10am.

Lane 8 first came up with the idea of phone- and camera-free concerts in 2016, the first show having been such a success that he’s done over 60 since then, playing for more than 50,000 house fans in countries around the world. At that time he told Vice, “Whenever I played one of my better known tracks, like ‘Diamonds’ or ‘Hot As You Want’, instead of lifting the atmosphere and creating a memorable moment in the crowd, the response was flat. Half of the crowd was on their cell phones, recording the moment, instead of experiencing it. It didn’t really make sense to me. I’ve always felt like the whole reason to go to any live event is the atmosphere!”

When concertgoers enter a venue, the cameras on their cellphones are covered over with special obscuring tape, with security dispatched to make sure no one ends up trying to break the rules.

Need more as a primer? Read up on it here:

https://www.instagram.com/p/B7mARWoJqQ6/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link

As for the Vancouver show, in addition to the aforementioned hits, expect Lane 8 to lean heavily into material from latest album Reviver, featuring collaborators including Arctic Lake, Channy Leaneagh, and Solomon Grey.

And even better is the fact that—assuming you’re not standing behind Boban Marjanovic or Victor Wembanyama—you’re going to have a great view of the action on stage, rather than someone’s Samsung Galaxy X22.

And finally, as if you still need one more reason to love Lane 8, a dollar from every ticket sold will be donated to Plus1, a nonprofit benefitting artists and events devoted to high-impact social and environmental justice initiatives.

Enjoy the moment.