Chvrches, a trio from Scotland, is band that got a lot of praise from critics in 2013, and its easy to hear why. They debut album, “The Bones of What You Believe”, is an album that is sonically precise, bringing back to life the late 80s, synth pop sounds of Depeche Mode and Erasure, and the lead vocalist, Lauren Mayberry, is … well … cute as a button with an equally cute voice.
As their set was during the middle of the day, I didn’t get to experience the light show that usually accompanies their live performance that I’ve heard so much about, but it really didn’t matter. The music carried their set and I enjoyed the half hour that I was able to watch.
Lauren Mayberry was easy to photograph. Her natural beauty makes it easy for the camera to find a shot, no matter the angle. Ironically enough, my favorite two shots of her are the ones that some, perhaps, may not think are the prettiest. Rather, one is a close up shot of her squinting in the sun, reaching for notes a song (above), and another is a close up candid of her on stage when she stepped away from the mic and the wind caught her hair as she caught her breath. What do you think?
Phoenix, Daft Punk, Justice … France turns out some great electro, synth pop bands. Oh yeah … M83 is pretty damn good too. Named after the spiral galaxy Messier 83, M83’s music is as cosmic as that system of stars. Adding a full orchestra and choir to their already sonically complex arrangements like “Midnight City” only raised the level of their cosmic sound.
I wasn’t planning on attending the show. In fact, I had been offered to get in on tickets when they first went on sale, but passed it up since I purchased some tickets for other shows and funds, at the time, were running low. But as fate would have it, a dear friend of mine called me up last minute the day before the concert to see if I wanted to attend the sold out show, and I got to attend the last installment of KCRW Radio’s World Festival series. The stars were definitely aligned for me …
The indie pop/Electronic rock band Phantogram opened for M83. It was my first time listening to their music, but I could tell why they were opening for M83. Their songs were all dance friendly, and had catchy hooks. Sarah Barthel’s vocals were strong and sexy. The band didn’t seem intimidated by performing on the famous stage, but they expressed their humble gratitude by acknowledging the hallowed stage they were on, and thanked the audience for listening.
M83’s performance, back by the Hollywood Bowl Orchestra and its choir, was stunning. For a band whose music is already big with layered synths, guitars and voices, I wondered how the orchestral arrangements would come off and how it would alter the original arrangements. Surprisingly, the orchestra didn’t overpower the band’s sound. Rather, at least in my humble opinion, they seemed to be used only to accent the original sound. Truth be told, it was hard to me to actually note when the orchestra was playing and when they weren’t. M83’s sound, alone, is that big.
M83 used a lot visual media in their performance. Though it was hard for me to actually glean what the purpose of some of the visual montages were, I supposed that it was used to evoke mood and metaphors for the audience to come up with. As visually stunning as the montages were, personally, I think that the performance could have done without it, as I hardly spent time watching the video screens.
M83 brought up a couple of special guests during their performance: grade-school aged Zelly Meldal-Johnsen (performing “Raconte Moi une Histoire”) and Brad Laner (from the band Medicine) and though each special guest’s performance was entertaining (Zelly’s song about the frog was especially cute), I was hoping that the special guests, especially at the Hollywood Bowl, would have been more exciting or well-known…. After all, it IS the Hollywood Bowl.
Special guests notwithstanding, M83’s performance was the kind of show you hope to see- and is typically delivered- at the Hollywood Bowl. Grand in scale. Aurally pleasing. Toss in a seat in a Terrace Box, with great friends on a lazy Sunday? Perfect.
Raconte-moi une histoire (with Zelly Boo Meldal-Jophnsen)
Skin of the Night
Midnight City
Lower Your Eyelids to Die With the Sun
Encore:
Oblivion (Susanne Sundfor)
Outro
Couleurs
Unfortunately, the Flickr slideshow below is not currently available on mobile devices. If you are on a mobile device, please click THIS LINK to get redirected to the set of photos.
I wanted to catch Savages‘ set at Coachella in 2013. From what little I knew about them at the time, they were an all-female, loud, punk band based out of the United Kingdom. They didn’t have a lot of music out, but from what I was able to hear and watch online, they definitely piqued my curiosity. As fate would have it, I wasn’t able to get to the festival grounds in time and they became one of the many bands that I had to add to the list of band casualties.
But as fate would also have it, a few months later, a buddy of mine emailed me letting me know he had a couple of extra tickets to catch them at the El Rey, July 23, 2013. By that time, tickets for both of their shows had already sold out, so I jumped at the opportunity.
When I got to the venue, the opening act was already onstage performing: Johnny Hostile. Johnny Hostile is a co-founder, along with Savages lead singer Jehnny Beth, of Pop Noire Records and one of the producers of of Savages’ debut album Silence Yourself.
Alone on stage, accompanied for the most part only by a drum machine and guitar pedals, he set the mood right for what was to come. His music was moody, ethereal and heavy. Part synth-pop and part punk, with industrial drums. His set was accented with special appearances by Gemma Thompson (Savages’ guitarist) and Jehnny Beth for various songs. It was truly a perfect appetizer to the main entree of Savages. I ended up purchasing his 7” single that was for sale, and even got him to autograph it after the show. I would have taken a picture of it, but I can’t find it at the moment as it’s lost in my vinyl stack that need to be organized (and listened to).
Dressed in their trademark all black, Savages took the stage to a rousing and wild applause. I was up front about three rows from the stage. I kept my fingers crossed that a crazy mosh pit wouldn’t ensue like the last concert at the El Rey I attended, but as fate would have it, they played their most popular, and aggressive songs first. Yup, there was a mosh pit. I really wanted to get some video of “City’s Full” and “Shut Up”, but I wasn’t going to take a chance at having my camera knocked out of my hand.
Savages are about as intense as a band can get. Jehnny Beth sets the mood with her deep stare that almost makes you nervous to watch her. It’s a threatening stare that intimidates and fits the music that the band creates. Her stage presence is almost menacing, but that only adds to the effectiveness of the show. Ayse Hassan was steady on bass, and Fay Milton was relentless on drums, but I was particularly impressed with the playing of Gemma Thompson. Gemma Thompson was absorbed in her guitar play, creating her own “wall of sound”. Amazing.
Drenched in sweat after the fourth song, I had to leave the front to get some air and dry off. As I pushed my way through the crowd, I noticed that Jehnny was wearing pink pumps. With their all-black apparel, the brightness of the shoes caught me a little off guard but at the same time screamed “punk”. Yup, I had to take a picture of her shoes. I do not have a shoe fetish.
With only one album under their belt, their set was relatively short, but powerful. The set list for the show was a follows:
City’s Full
I Am Here
Shut Up
Give Me A Gun
Strife
Waiting for a Sign
Flying to Berlin
No Face
She Will
Hit Me
Husbands
Fuckers (new song)
When the set ended, I met up with my friend and we both shared our excitement for the show we just witnessed. I hung out front for a minute in case any of the players from the evening popped out to greet fans, and lucky enough I was able to get Johnny Hostile, Gemma Thompson, and Jehnny Beth to sign their respective vinyl releases. I was able to get a picture with Gemma, but was thwarted in my efforts to get a picture with Jehnny as another fan scared her away. I swear that Gemma was all smiles before the picture was taken. Savages sure do take their image very seriously.
I had a brief conversation with Johnny Hostile and I noticed that he had an accent. Slightly confused as I thought the band was UK based, he explained that both he and Jehnny were originally from France. Having studied French growing up, and never having the opportunity to use it, I started a conversation in my broken French and concluded the conversation by saying that Gemma was “tres jolie”. He told me that he would tell her that. Please do, Johnny. Please do.
#DKLPHOTOS 