thanks for all the comments!
colours are natural - huge sodium lights vs a rainy sky. there were quite a few of them, which provided pretty good light for long-ish exposures.
for anyone that read my 17-55 rant, I think I mostly figured out flare control (the flare on the lights came out like that - a friend that was shooting with me thought I PS'd them in) There's a lot less ghosting shooting wide open.. which kind of sucks if I want to extend my dof.