|
Post by erik on Jul 25, 2014 5:52:06 GMT -8
All-Beethoven last night at the Hollywood Bowl.
Los Angeles Philharmonic Gustavo Dudamel, conductor Renaud Capucon, violin Gautier Capucon, cello Jean-Yves Thibaudet, piano
Beethoven: TRIPLE CONCERTO Beethoven: SYMPHONY NO. 5
Music director Gustavo Dudamel was on the podium for a program that featured a work of Beethoven's that isn't exactly played every other day of the week--namely the Concerto for Cello, Violin, Piano, and Orchestra, the so-called Triple Concerto. Brothers Renaud and Gautier Capucon and their good friend Jean-Yves Thibaudet were the soloists; and the fact that they were as brilliant as they were underlines not only how difficult this work really is, but why it takes three performers who are completely in sync with one another just to pull this work off at all. A fairly dramatic opening movement was then followed by a Largo that segued without a break into the finale, marked Rondo Alla Polacca. The three soloists had all they could handle, and handled it all well; and Dudamel did the same with the orchestra.
Following the intermission, Dudamel and the L.A. Philharmonic held sway with the Fifth Symphony, and its all-encompassing opening four-note motif. Dudamel did slow down the pacing near the end of the opening movement for dramatic effect, and it worked. Even the slow movement had its drama; while the somewhat sinister Scherzo set the table for the explosive finale, one in which the piccolo, the contrabassoon, and three trombones came into play (this was the first symphony to use those instruments); and of course, the work led from the Scherzo into the Finale without a pause, leading to the dramatic end.
|
|
|
Post by erik on Aug 8, 2014 6:07:36 GMT -8
Brahms and Mahler at the Hollywood Bowl last evening.
Los Angeles Philharmonic Mirga Grazinyte-Tyla, conductor Alina Pogostkina, violin Robert DeMaine, cello
Brahms: DOUBLE CONCERTO FOR VIOLIN, CELLO, AND ORCHESTRA, OP. 102 Mahler: SYMPHONY NO. 1 (TITAN)
The Russian-born violinist Ms. Pogostkina (subbing for Hillary Hahn) and Mr. DeMaine were the soloists in the very challenging Double Concerto, the final orchestral work of any kind by Johannes Brahms, one that would provoke admiration for anyone who not only does it well, but for anyone who does it at all. Fortunately, it was done well, with the two soloists helped out by the orchestra under the direction of the Lithuanian-born Ms. Grazinyte-Tyla, making her debut as an associate conductor of the L.A.P.O.
The second half of the program was given over to the massive soundscape of Gustav Mahler's epic Titan Symphony (No. 1), a work that begins with an eerie depiction of dawn in the high strings and, fifty-four minutes later, climaxes with a violent firestorm and an iron-clad brass chorale that resembles the oratory "He shall reign forever and ever" from the Hallelujah Chorus of Handel's "Messiah."
|
|
|
Post by DCXMMXVI on Aug 8, 2014 14:03:03 GMT -8
American Idol tour at Kansas Star Casino. The only complaint I have was that they ONLY sang mainstream pop hits from the last few years. I thought they would at least do some classic hits. And I knew my hopes of someone doing a Dixie Chicks song would not come true. haha. I liked Caleb (the winner.) But he seemed kind of arrogant. I get that the producers made him take charge since he was the winner, but every time he did a song with the other contestants as background singers, he kind of acted a little uppidy. He would say things like, "please give a round of applause to these lovely ladies behind me." idk, it was the way he said it. Overall a good show, but honestly, playing the slot machines was funner lol.
|
|
|
Post by erik on Aug 31, 2014 9:24:28 GMT -8
This past Friday night at the Bowl, it was mainly John Williams, but with a twist.
Every summer since 1978 (following the monstrous success of STAR WARS), Hollywood's greatest living composer of film music has made an annual sojourn to the Hollywood Bowl; and this particular concert was a pretty big deal, because the 18,000-seat outdoor amphitheater was totally sold out. Besides the music he conducted from his own repertoire (JURASSIC PARK; MEMOIRS OF A GEISHA; SUPERMAN; STAR WARS; RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK; E.T.), Williams also led the Los Angeles Philharmonic in two works by the late French-born film composer Maurice Jarre that he composed for Sir David Lean--1984's A PASSAGE TO INDIA, and the 1962 epic LAWRENCE OF ARABIA; the films themselves were projected out on the Bowl's big screens. The light sabers (three or four thousand of them) came out with the STAR WARS music, of course.
The twist here was that Seth MacFarlane (yes, that Seth MacFarlane) came on to offer us not comedy relief but a three-song set more or less rooted in the Great American Songbook, including "Luck Be A Lady Tonight" from the musical GUYS AND DOLLS. And he sounded uncannily like Sinatra--not a comic imitation of the Chairman Of The Board, mind you, but a genuine, honest-to-goodness soundalike. And unlike Sinatra, he didn't owe any favors to a couple of guys named Carmine and Muzio (LOL).
|
|
|
Post by drizzletown on Aug 31, 2014 10:30:25 GMT -8
I saw Robert Randolph, Buddy Guy & Peter Frampton at the Britt Fest near Ashland, Oregon last Thursday. Saw YES at Thunder Valley last Saturday.
Fun, fun, fun.
Thought I would be disappointed that YES replaced Jon Anderson, but I wasn't. I guess I'm not in that level of fandom for them.
|
|
|
Post by erik on Sept 1, 2014 6:21:15 GMT -8
It was AFI's "The Big Picture" night at the Hollywood Bowl last night, with David Newman conducting the Hollywood Bowl Orchestra, and actress Eva Marie Saint serving as the host. And it was all about this one man: The music that various composers did for the films of the legendary and droll Sir Alfred Hitchcock was heard last night, with clips from the Master of Suspense's classic films projected onto the Bowl's big HD screens. The films featured were (in order): STRANGERS ON A TRAIN; THE LODGER; THE 39 STEPS; SABOTEUR; PSYCHO; VERTIGO; DIAL M FOR MURDER, SPELLBOUND; TO CATCH A THIEF; and NORTH BY NORTHWEST. All of these clips still held a fascination for the audience of 12,000, as did the music, even though the man who directed those films passed away in 1980. But one sequence that still seemed shocking was the climax of DIAL M FOR MURDER, when Grace Kelly, who is almost strangled by her husband's hired assailant, retaliates by stabbing the assailant with a pair of scissors...and then, when he falls to the floor, the killer is actually impaled. And this was in a film from 1954, mind you. There were actual audible gasps from the audience when this sequence was shown. This sequence just went to show just how big a deal "Hitch" was to the art of movies when it came to toying with audiences, especially in terms of horror and suspense. Only a handful of directors since have been able to do it as well as the droll-speaking Brit with the dry and charcoal-black sense of humor.
|
|
|
Post by erik on Sept 10, 2014 6:09:24 GMT -8
Last night at the Bowl:
Los Angeles Philharmonic Bramwell Tovey, conductor Peter Erskine, drum kit Women of the Pacific Chorale
Marc Anthony Turnage: ERSKINE (CONCERTANTE FOR DRUM KIT AND ORCHESTRA) Holst: THE PLANETS
British conductor Bramwell Tovey, currently music director of the Vancouver Symphony and principal guest conductor of the L.A.P.O. at the Bowl, was on the podium for a unique program. It started off with "Erskine", a work for drum kit and orchestra by Tovey's fellow countryman Marc Anthony Turnage that was being given its North American debut. And the man who it was named for, jazz drummer Peter Erskine, who has worked with artists like Weather Report, Joni Mitchell, and Linda Ronstadt, gave us an example of the ways jazz and classical music can be interspersed. The main orchestra basically became a big jazz band for Mr. Erskine's great stick work; and he was helped out by several of the orchestra' percussionists in back of the main body of the orchestra. The influences were from jazz to rock to some Latin American influences. The applause from the Bowl crowd (it appeared that the place was two-thirds full) was enthusiastic.
Following intermission, we were treated to one of the great showcases of 20th century orchestral music, Gustav Holst's ultra-popular and ultra-influential suite for large orchestra, "The Planets." This work, whose influence can be felt in the outer space movie scores of John Williams and Jerry Goldsmith, was accompanied by projected images on the Bowl's HD screens of the planets taken by our various space probes over the decades, including the Voyager and Galileo spacecrafts and the Mars Rover. The final section, "Neptune The Mystic", featured the offstage and disembodied voices of the female section of the Pacific Chorale, whom were bought out onstage for a bow, alongside the Chorale's director John Alexander.
Another truly great night of music under the stars (and staring at the planets) at the Bowl.
|
|
|
Post by erik on Sept 12, 2014 6:09:47 GMT -8
Final Hollywood Bowl concert of the year for me last night, basically serving as a 9/11 memorial tribute:
Los Angeles Philharmonic Juanjo Mena, conductor Camila Nylund, soprano Daniela Mack, mezzo-soprano Donald Litaker, tenor Morris Robinson, bass-baritone
Los Angeles Master Chorale (Grant Gershon, choral director)
Bernstein: SYMPHONIC DANCES FROM "WEST SIDE STORY" Beethoven: SYMPHONY NO. 9 (CHORAL)
Spanish conductor Juanjo Mena, chief conductor of the BBC Philharmonic in Manchester, England, was on the podium last night; and the show began with the Symphonic Dances suite that Leonard Bernstein arranged into concert form from "West Side Story." This exceptionally familiar but welcome piece reminded us of just how incredibly popular and vital this NYC version of "Romeo And Juliet" remains, both on stage (where it premiered in 1957) and in the famous 1961 film. The snapping of fingers from some of the string players in the "Prologue" and "Cool" sections, as well as shouts of "Mambo!" during the "Mambo" portion, got a round from the 11,000 in attendance. Peter Erskine returned as drum soloist in the back and to the right of the orchestra, this being a jazzy work. It concluded quietly with the wistful strains of "Somewhere", of course.
At intermission, the orchestra seating was reconfigured, and the back aisle filled with the L.A. Master Chorale, in preparation for the work that never fails to draw a crowd, Beethoven's monumental Ninth Symphony, with its choral finale of Schiller's "Ode To Joy." The portentous opening movement, and the sinister Scherzo (indubitably identified with Malcolm McDowell's character in A CLOCKWORK ORANGE) had the proper amount of vigor. The vocal soloists came onstage in the short break between the Scherzo and the elegiac Adagio. sitting in-between the back of the orchestra and the Chorale. As has happened during the two other times I have heard this work performed at the Bowl on 9/11, this movement served essentially as an "In Memoriam" tribute to the victims of 9/11. And naturally, all the extreme emotions of the work were unleashed during the epic final movement and the choral finale, in which all four vocal soloists and the 100-strong Chorale were at their world-class best. It was a somewhat slower Ninth that I had heard before, running just over 70 minutes, but it didn't slag for a moment.
And thus ends another great year of concert-going to the Bowl.
|
|
|
Post by DCXMMXVI on Sept 26, 2014 7:30:43 GMT -8
Kacey Musgraves - Same Tour, Different Trailer - Cain's Ballroom - Tulsa, Oklahoma. What a great concert! I didn't know until the day of the show that seating was very limited. I was one of the 1st 50 people to get into the building, out of the hundreds of people that made this show sell out, and I had my pick of any spot on the benches surrounding the ballroom. But then I looked at the stage, and saw 30 or so people standing in front of it, and I saw a great spot kind of off to the right of the center of the stage. I figured, why not? So I ended up standing the entire show, plus about an hour before the show even started. My feet began aching about 15 minutes before the opening act! But I was just a few feet from the stage, so I was excited. Kacey was lovely. She did her biggest songs from Same Trailer, Different Park, and she did a few covers, including TLC's No Scrubs. She did a much better version than Miranda of Mama's Broken Heart, and she did a song she wrote that I had never heard before, and it will more than likely be on her next album. It's called Cup of Tea. I found it on YouTube, and posted it below. Check it out! She said she hasn't been doing much writing this last year, but she will begin focusing on writing a new album this fall. It was really cool to get to see her first show from her very first headlining tour! EDIT: I would also like to mention that she has quite the sailor's mouth, which, weirdly enough, makes me like her even more.
|
|
|
Post by DCXMMXVI on Sept 26, 2014 17:15:22 GMT -8
|
|
|
Post by james on Sept 27, 2014 21:00:13 GMT -8
Jill and Kate june London was the last show i was at and i have no plans for anymore at this moment.
|
|
|
Post by Kent67b on Sept 28, 2014 8:20:16 GMT -8
Michelle and I saw Garfunkel and Oates in SF last night.
|
|
Ross
Teen Chick
Posts: 699
|
Post by Ross on Sept 28, 2014 9:48:41 GMT -8
The Libertines at Alexandra Palace.
|
|
|
Post by DCXMMXVI on Oct 6, 2014 19:53:20 GMT -8
Phillip Phillips at Hartman Arena in Park City, Kansas. Excellent show.
|
|
|
Post by drizzletown on Oct 7, 2014 17:44:08 GMT -8
I'm confused. LOL Michelle and I saw Garfunkel and Oates in SF last night.
|
|
|
Post by Kent67b on Oct 9, 2014 7:42:22 GMT -8
Garfunkel and Oates are two women who perform as a comedy band. I don't know their real names but they are pretty funny as a duo. They were at Cobb's Comedy Club in SF.
|
|
Ross
Teen Chick
Posts: 699
|
Post by Ross on Oct 31, 2014 13:03:28 GMT -8
not a gig but i went to this a couple of week backs.
|
|
|
Post by hilb126 on Dec 4, 2014 20:44:58 GMT -8
Saw Brett Eldredge and Little Big Town tonight. LBT was AMAZING.
|
|
ks4rs
Teen Chick
No Taxes. Let's just tip the government 15% if they do a good job. Pat Paulsen
Posts: 997
|
Post by ks4rs on Dec 5, 2014 7:45:23 GMT -8
Garfunkel and Oates are two women who perform as a comedy band. I don't know their real names but they are pretty funny as a duo. They were at Cobb's Comedy Club in SF. Kate Micucci and Riki Lindhome are both actresses as well as singers. Lots of TV stuff, Scrubs, Big Bang Theory, Gilmore Girls, etc. Their website is www.garfunkelandoates.com/. Some of their videos are rated NSFW.
|
|
|
Post by DCXMMXVI on Mar 5, 2015 5:19:27 GMT -8
Saw Sarah McLachlan at the Stiefel Theatre in Salina, Kansas last night. (I'll be going to the same theater tomorrow to see Diamond Rio.) She was AMAZING! Her live performances are better than some of her studio ones.
|
|
|
Post by DCXMMXVI on Mar 8, 2015 7:42:49 GMT -8
Saw Diamond Rio on Friday. Good show. They were leaving Kentucky to get to Kansas, and they ran into severe weather there. So the show that was supposed to start at 8:00 (which is already kind of late) ended up starting after 10:00. Even though it lasted an hour less than Sarah McLachlan's show, we still didn't get home until after 2 AM. I was super tired by the time they got on stage. It kind of just made the night unpleasant. Stupid weather! But it was cool that the band stayed afterwards to sign autographs for free. But I certainly didn't stay for that lol.
My favorite Diamond Rio song.
|
|
|
Post by DCXMMXVI on Apr 17, 2015 15:40:46 GMT -8
Gonna see Colbie Caillat and Christina Perri in July (at the same theater that I saw Sarah McLachlan and Diamond Rio.) It's their Girls Night Out, Boys Can Come Too tour. I'm going with my cousin. I LOVE Colbie, and really like Christina. My cousin is a huge fan of both. I really just cannot wait! Too bad it's 3 months away lol.
|
|
|
Post by oregonchickfan on Apr 19, 2015 14:41:14 GMT -8
@nick
I saw Diamond Rio in 1998 and they gave a good show. That stinks it started 2 hours late! At least they had a good reason.
|
|
|
Post by oregonchickfan on Apr 19, 2015 14:43:14 GMT -8
I saw Garth Brooks and Trisha Yearwood on March 28th, in Sacramento.
The show was amazing! I wish I was able to afford more shows, it was very much worth it.
|
|
|
Post by erik on Apr 19, 2015 15:38:13 GMT -8
Quote by oregonchickfan:
Sad to think they are pricing "real people" out of these events, because the way ticket prices are going, you may need a Swiss bank account the next time around (IMHO).
|
|