Sigur Rós at Hollywood Bowl

Reviews, Live Shows

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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

210911 Sylvan Esso at The Greek

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200221 DRUM Tao at Jorgensen Center

pina colada cotton candy

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Moving music, delightful dancing, incredible sound

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Fantastically quirky

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Amazing music, over my head

191023 Frances Cone and Delta Rae at Bootleg

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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.

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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

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190316 Miyamoto is Black Enough, at Wallis

Holy shit this was a good show!

190127 Hidaka at International Dinner 2019

Go Hidaka Taiko!

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181120 Dermot Kennedy at Fonda

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181108 Birdtalker at Hotel Cafe

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180623 Olafur Arnalds at Cathedral Sanctuary

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180614 Dirty Projectors at El Rey Theater

Amazing quirk-pop!

180310 Miyake x UnitOne

UnitOne shines!

180224 Batare at La Mirada Theater

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180223 QuiltCon 2018

Inspiring works, inspiring community.

180131 Kagami Kai at Asian Art Museum

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

170416 Sigur Rós with LA Phil

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Overwrought concept, thin music, tragic flowers

160927 Sigur Rós at Hollywood Bowl

Amazing sound needs mixed set-list

160918 Road to Kumano: Taiko Project with Chieko Kojima

Ambitious new work!

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130514 Stuck Elevator was fantastic

Powerfully uneventful ending

081012 Byron's Bottled Water Operas

Welcome. Stay and think.

Sigur Rós at Hollywood Bowl

The first time Hiro and I tried to get tickets to see Sigur Rós in 2012, we stayed up until late the night before they became available and clicked "add to cart" at precisely midnight.  The website took about two minutes to respond, and when it did, tickets were sold out.  So when a show was announced for Hollywood Bowl, I wasn't hopeful.  But this time, after the excruciating two minute wait and a few frantic technical glitches, I had two shiny tickets in my cart.  For all of $45 a piece, we were able to get tickets!

And the show was great!  We came away happy and inspired.

(But why all this ridiculous fervor over tickets?  Rarity of Sigur Rós performances?  Wide appeal of their music?  I'd like to think it's these things plus a result of Sigur Rós trying to keep tickets reasonably priced.)

The first few pieces were particularly moving.  Jonsi seemed a more confident singer than I remembered and the songs were familiar in tone but new and interesting to me.  I enjoyed the classic Sigur Rós pieces too, even though I don't consider myself a nostalgic music listener.  The sound was crystal-clear and natural, but not quite as rich as the recordings, and not as loud as I'd liked.  At one gentle break in the music, an audience member near the back of the 17,500-seat amphitheater shouted, "Engineer!  Turn this motherfucker up!" and we laughed in agreement.

The video work was thought-provoking.  International Space Orchestra, composed of ex-NASA and SETI engineers, opened the show with a set of Sigur Rós covers played (sometimes charmingly off-key) to video graphics.  I found the content of the video interesting but the design lacking... as if the task fell to an intelligent amateur.  "Here is After Effects... Make something involving the Space Shuttle and sea creatures!"  These initial graphics made me realize that I don't want to be watching pre-recorded video at a live concert.  So I was relieved when Sigur Rós started playing and the cameras showed useful close-ups of the performers.  I appreciated their simple attire and their focus on simply performing the music as opposed to emoting with exaggerated facial expressions or gestures.  All of this was captured by the cameras for those of us back in Section F2, row 13.

And what inspiring camera work!  There were a multitude of interesting angles, often tastefully blurred and in black in white, with slow, subtle camera movements.  There were no distracting camera people running around on stage, standing between us and the performers (one of my pet peeves).  The cameras were somehow completely obscured from view, perhaps by using remotely-controlled GoPro-type mini cameras on little slide rails.  It looked great, and the various camera's framing of rich layers of lighting, fog, projection, and set pieces made the video screen sometimes even more compelling than the stage itself.  Bright flashes from bulbs facing the audience were annoying when looking directly at the stage but were beautiful on camera.

I enjoyed all the music and had multiple moments where I was moved to tear up a bit by the singing and thick, distorted, bowed guitar.  That having been said, I felt the most emotional charge at the beginning of the show, as though I became acclimated to the beauty of it all.  I can't help but think it's evidence that I prefer variety over consistency in a concert -- a topic about which Shoji and I sometimes butted heads in On Ensemble.  And even the epic sound of Sigur Rós, performed with compelling simplicity, and supported by well-considered visuals, isn't enough that I'll be transported for a whole show.  While there were incredible moments when all 17,000 of us were sitting silently and contented to listen to three people pluck and tap their instruments, there were also moments when drunk people were talking, when an ambitious cricket was singing along, and marijuana smoke wafted my direction to undermine that magic.  So alongside the high-production, other-worldly moods, there is room for down-to-earth, where the performers speak to the audience.  How do you say, "Turn this motherfucker up" in Icelandic?

Notes for me

  • When composing, remind yourself how emotionally effective Sigur Rós' music is, despite it's technical simplicity.  What is the percussion equivalent of those beautiful, simple melodies?
  • Is there some thick reverb, delayed, highly-effected tonal technique like Jonsi's bowed guitar that I could develop for taiko?  He can basically play anything in tune and it adds to the tune.