Third Coast Percussion with Hubbard Street Dance

Reviews, Live Shows

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220624 LA Dance Project, "Be Here Now"

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220213 Breathing Forests by Gabriella Smith (world premier)

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211203 "Seven Pillars" premier at Emerald City Music

Inspiring composition, mind-blowing performance

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Standard production, amazing music

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Low expectations, high reward!

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Monochromatic, but enjoyable.

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Heartfelt performance by one of my favorites

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Proving that streamed dance performances can move

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The Other You is my favorite choreography ever.

201010 Kaoru Watanabe: Haruka and Akira

"Kibou no Hikari" made me cry

200411 Arugakki at JCCC Montreal

First steps: shaky, exciting

200322 Nederlans Dans Theater at Place des Artes

Vladimir is mind-blowing

200221 DRUM Tao at Jorgensen Center

pina colada cotton candy

191116 Sylvan Esso at Walt Disney Concert Hall

Moving music, delightful dancing, incredible sound

191115 Ohmme at Teragram Ballroom

Fantastically quirky

191025 Hiatus Kaiyote at Novo

Amazing music, over my head

191023 Frances Cone and Delta Rae at Bootleg

Introspective, thoughtful music vs showboating

191017 Cosmo Sheldrake at Echoplex

Great samples, less-inspiring looping

191013 Oregon Symphony premier of Andy Akiho Percussion Concerto

My new favorite piece of classical music.

191009 GoGo Penguin's Koyaanisqatsi at Regent Theater

A worthwhile addition to an iconic movie

190925 Cornelius at Echoplex

Bright lights, big music.

190726 New Original Works Festival 2019 at REDCAT

Craving a "composition"

190717 Mitski at Hollywood Palladium

How to make pop songs performative?

190614 Imogen Heap at Greek Theatre

Hide and Seek and not much else

190601 Snarky Puppy at Orpheum

So Snarky!

190319 Monterey Symphony: Sound Waves Concert IV

A drifting concert. Water Concerto anchored by Chris Lamb

190316 Miyamoto is Black Enough, at Wallis

Holy shit this was a good show!

190127 Hidaka at International Dinner 2019

Go Hidaka Taiko!

190116 Third Coast Percussion with Hubbard Street Dance

Unsure why I was unmoved

181120 Dermot Kennedy at Fonda

Solid show to adoring fans

181108 Birdtalker at Hotel Cafe

A special band, early in their career

180623 Olafur Arnalds at Cathedral Sanctuary

The power of sweet/sad melody!

180614 Dirty Projectors at El Rey Theater

Amazing quirk-pop!

180310 Miyake x UnitOne

UnitOne shines!

180224 Batare at La Mirada Theater

Laudably ambitious but scattered.

180223 QuiltCon 2018

Inspiring works, inspiring community.

180131 Kagami Kai at Asian Art Museum

Amazing mochi-making skills, frustrating calligraphy, and take-home encouragement

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Overwrought concept, thin music, tragic flowers

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Amazing sound needs mixed set-list

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Ambitious new work!

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thought-provoking, inspiring, exhausting

130514 Stuck Elevator was fantastic

Powerfully uneventful ending

081012 Byron's Bottled Water Operas

Welcome. Stay and think.

Third Coast Percussion with Hubbard Street Dance

One of my favorite percussion pieces last year was Third Coast Percussion's Torched and Wrecked, by member David Skimore.  In my own music, I'm struggling to find something missing, and that piece feels like what I'm seeking.  So it was with great anticipation that Hiro and I went to see the group's recent performance alongside fellow Chicago ensemble, Hubbard Street Dance.

The first half featured dance and live percussion and the second half was dance to recorded music.  Everything was very well done -- Third Coast is tight and the dancers are amazing -- but I was less moved than I should have been.  I think I was stuck listening as a struggling composer... searching for what I might want to use, rather than viewing the performance on its own terms.  I felt distracted by the collaboration; when focused on the dance it felt like I was missing the drumming, and vice versa.  I enjoyed the dance of the second half better, perhaps because it was unaccompanied.  I didn't love the theatrical elements employed for Third Coast -- instruments staged apart from one other to allow for purposeful walking, instrument sets on rolling carts, a somber, serious mood.  I'm likely sensitive to this formality as I try to escape the taiko version of this "performed formality".  I longed for the risk and immediacy of the hip-hop battle.

Other audience members were better able to appreciate the performance than me and gave a rousing standing ovation at the concert's completion.  I look forward to trying again, seeing these ensembles together or separately.