Running Up That Hill · Tesla Light Show
by Kate Bush
Kate Bush released it in 1985, and Stranger Things sent it back up the charts in 2022 as the song that pulls Max out of the Upside Down. That driving drum pattern runs the show: the tail lights lead with the signature bar matching them hit for hit, busy and even, and it holds one level for nearly five minutes rather than climbing. It sits on the brighter side of the catalog. Pair it with the Stranger Things Theme on Halloween night, theme first, and anyone who has watched the series will stop walking.
How this one is choreographed
This is a busy show. The lights re-fire about 1.0 times a second, near the top of what the catalog runs. It holds a level: right around 35% of the car stays lit from start to finish, with no single section stealing the show. The fullest ten seconds come early, starting at 0:49 with about 43% of the car lit, so have people watching from the first bar. Most of the work falls on the tail lights, re-firing about 1.3 times a second, with the signature light bar and daytime running lights answering back at 1.3. The work is split close to evenly between the two ends, 48% front to 52% rear, so it plays from either end, or side-on from the curb. The quietest part of the car is the inner main beams, at about 0.7 re-fires a second. It runs 4:53 and averages 83 of 255 across the light channels, a bright show that stays close to full through its busiest passages. The values are mostly hard on or hard off, only about 15% of samples sitting at a partial level, which reads sharp and percussive from across a parking lot. Once it starts there is no full blackout at all: at least one light is on the whole way through.
Measured from the exported light sequence for this show, not estimated from the song.
Get it for your Tesla
This show downloads for every Tesla: Model 3, Model Y, Model S, Model X, and Cybertruck. Preview it on your model with the View-on picker above, add it to your library, and it re-tailors to your car's lights automatically.
How to play it on your car
- Open the show above and add it to your library (remix it in the builder first if you want).
- Add your own copy of the song: an MP3/WAV you own. We distribute only the light pattern, never audio.
- Export the
.fseqbuilt for your model, then place your song next to it (or let the one-click USB writer do both). - Put both files in a
LightShowfolder on a USB drive. Or skip the manual steps: in Chrome/Edge, click 🔌 Write it to my USB drive for me right after exporting and we do it all, verified byte-for-byte. Then plug in and start it from Toybox → Light Show. Full walkthrough in the setup guide.
Car says Light Show instead of Custom Light Show, or the drive is not detected at all? That is the USB format, the folder name, or filenames that do not match. If it plays but drifts out of time, that is the audio sample rate. Fix both here.
Running this on Halloween night? The Halloween guide covers timing it for trick-or-treaters, keeping the battery happy over a long evening, and what to do about the neighbours. Read the Halloween guide.
