Moderators Lee Knight Posted September 17, 2010 Moderators Share Posted September 17, 2010 Anyone seen Jon Brion's show at LA's Largo? I hear it is something very cool with songwriting on the spot and spontaneous loop production and old pianos and lo fi Victrola vocal effects. I'm going to try and hit it up next weekend the 24th for my birthday and would love some enlightenment from those in the know... [YOUTUBE]XbZXbBnjIpE[/YOUTUBE] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members UstadKhanAli Posted September 17, 2010 Members Share Posted September 17, 2010 I can't believe I haven't gone to see him, but he's supposed to put on a really great show. I've only heard good things about it. Lots of special guests too. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Jeff da Weasel Posted September 17, 2010 Members Share Posted September 17, 2010 What Ken said. People have given me tons of {censored} for not having gone, but in any case I hear nothing but great things. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Lee Flier Posted September 17, 2010 Members Share Posted September 17, 2010 I am hereby giving ALL of you {censored} for never having seen that show, when you still live in southern California. (well, I've already given Jeff and Ken {censored}, but I'm hereby doing it again) My bandmates and I went last year when we were out in L.A. for some gigs, and we were stunned. One of the best, most original and most musical live performances we'd seen in a long, long time. I'm sure these shows can sometimes be hit or miss, because so much of it's improvisational - he thinks up ideas on the spot and some of them work, some don't. But at least at the show we saw, just about everything worked. The guy is just a phenomenal musician and the blend of different instruments (including some of his own making) and genres he runs through is amazing. That's really the bottom line is that nearly everything he does works, because he never loses sight of the underlying musicality and human-ness. And it's not by any means just "jammy" kind of stuff - as you know, Lee, Brion has a terrific pop sensibility and there's always some kind of focus, whether it's one of his own songs or a cover or standard, and he takes off from there and explores different arrangements of it. He also has awesome guest performers who sit in - Fiona Apple and Benmont Tench are regulars, and they were both there the night we went and turned in some phenomenal performances. I actually liked Fiona a lot better in this setting than listening to her usual stuff. Just. Go. Now. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderators Lee Knight Posted September 17, 2010 Author Moderators Share Posted September 17, 2010 OK!!! I'm stoked and primed and jacked up! Ready to go. I think we'll stay at The STANDARD on Sunset for giggles and usher in my 51 year old ass in L.A. style. I am a huge Brion fan. Even his less overt work with Rhett Miller kills me. He's like a great 2nd man in your band when he produces. Never upstaging the focus but man, does he bring some things to the table that somehow add to the artist's thing. It's like he switches between the roles of John or Paul or Eno depending on what's needed. Or what floats his boat at any given moment. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Lee Flier Posted September 17, 2010 Members Share Posted September 17, 2010 Yup, exactly. You'll have an amazing time, Lee. I can't believe you've not seen this before! Geesh, you people out there in California... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderators Lee Knight Posted September 17, 2010 Author Moderators Share Posted September 17, 2010 Yup, exactly. You'll have an amazing time, Lee. I can't believe you've not seen this before! Geesh, you people out there in California... Well, bear in mind this requires me and mine to cross over the great chasm better known as "The OC". Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderators Lee Knight Posted September 23, 2010 Author Moderators Share Posted September 23, 2010 STOKED STOKED STOKED STOKED. We were a little concerned about getting tickets. We called and the promised to call back with confirmation and not call for several days. Then, "Your tickets will be at will call". Tomorrow night. "With special guests". Hmmmm. I'll report back with the details. STOKED STOKED STOKED STOKED. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Lee Flier Posted September 23, 2010 Members Share Posted September 23, 2010 :thu: :thu: Have a great time! One other thing: at the end of the big theater show, there's a little side bar off to the left side (as you're leaving the place, facing the front door) with a tiny stage and an upright piano. Brion and some of his "special guests" retire to this little bar after the show and continue playing for some time - old jazz and blues standards and all sorts of things, and it's awesome! That little bar only holds like 50 people, though, so be sure to hightail it over there as soon as the main show is done. Can't wait to hear the review! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderators Lee Knight Posted September 24, 2010 Author Moderators Share Posted September 24, 2010 Another Brion fan? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members doug osborne Posted September 25, 2010 Members Share Posted September 25, 2010 I've seen him do his show at the old Largo (a small club) and the new Largo (a small theater), and he always does a great job. Unique, and not to miss. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderators Lee Knight Posted September 26, 2010 Author Moderators Share Posted September 26, 2010 WOW! Holy freakin' WOW! What musicality the guy has. The idea of the show is genius... First play a cool cardboardy, Abbey Road era sounding drum kit. For 3 minutes. Interesting. "If that's the bed that might be a little busy. Or sparse. Or... aimless? Then lay down a bass. Actually a guitar with an octave pedal. "Hmm. Yeah there is a structure and he was playing variations in the kit. I get it... ok...." But that bass sound. Not earth shattering. But man, he can play and it sounds... The he steps off the octave pedal and his old hollowbody Gretsch comes to life. He plays a pass in this tone that is to die for. And the bass all of a sudden sounds perfect. And the drums? Perfect. Like Abbey road. But that guitar. What is he doing? The chords. I mean... I've got a pretty good grasp of pop theory and... WTF? And it's beautiful. And ugly. Bigsby work that brings to mind Hawaiians playing Telestar while channeling Dick Dale, Les Paul and Eric Clapton. Page too. And each pass of the guitar has a different tone from pedals, pickup selection, technique... soul... The he runs over to his upright piano, cabinet open and miked. All the loops are stacking not to a mess but... to a perfectly engaging arrangement. The tone is godlike. And he plays piano like he has an encyclopedic knowledge of pop and jazz and classical piano. But this is vintage pop. With an edge. And a twist. Like the best. And that stacks. Then he steps up and starts singing. It all comes together into a song!!! The solo section comes and he grabs his Tele... starts playing Page's Stairway solo. The tone!!!! The feel... and his time? Now he's slipping back out of time as if he was a loop loosing sync. Intentionally. Perfectly imperfect. Amazing. Like he was an almost well placed loop of Page. Then he sends it to his Leslie across the stage. Holy mother of Buddha! Then, while the loops are all playing the most incredible music, he runs over to the piano and he's got pair of those midi type turntables? For mixing. One of two movie screens lights up and... ...old footage of the conductor Leopold Stokowski. And... W... T... F!!!! Brion is "scratching" Stowkowski's symphonic footage!!!! All on top of his nusic just created before your eyes. The symphony isn't just playing a pad in key. He's dropping in and mixing phrases perfect for the music. The conductor's projected image moves frontward and backward with Brion's turntable control! The other screen lights up and Clapton with his old psychedelic SG plays a phrase. Controlled by the turntables. Brion fuzzes it out. Reverses it... and an early 70's Clapton dances at Brion's command. And all this comes without the feeling of kitsch. But rather music! and it's still going and building and I swear the audience is building to a collective peak. I've got tears in my eyes. Corny maybe... but it's so... for a music lover? Beautiful. He finishes that song. Whew. Ladies and gentlemen, join my in welcoming my friend Robyn Hitchcock. Whoa! Hitchcock says, Jon, do you know any of Roxy's Avalon? Jon smiles like an imp. Hitchcock jumps into More Than This and Brion is the perfect companion. He's playing Chamberlin strings, with fuzz! And now he's on a kid's bell piano. And Hitchcock is flitering around the stage channeling Ferry. My wife leaves early to secure a front row spot for the after show jam in the Little Room. (Thanks for the tip Lee F!!!!!) I'm now sitting with my feet touching the front of the stage. There's one mic, a Yamaha U3 upright, an upright bassist, Robyn Hitchcock, and... Sara and Sean Watkins from Nickel Creek on fiddle and guitar. And glorious mountain style voice. Jon Brion says, "Let's finish Avalon." The Main Thing..." with fiddle? It's perfect. Everyone is big eared and listening for the changes and I'm almost sitting on the stage. God, I wanted to pick up that old Epi acoustic and join in!!! Then they decide to do 10 Bob Dylan songs in a row, Sara sings I'll Be you Baby Tonight and Alison's got nothing on her, Sean sings Don't Think Twice, Robyn and Jon trade vocals and solos... and they don't stop until 1:59. No one has left the room. Outside of watching Brian Wilson perform Pet Sounds... I have never had a better night of music without actually performing than this night. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members UstadKhanAli Posted September 26, 2010 Members Share Posted September 26, 2010 Wow!!!!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Lee Flier Posted September 26, 2010 Members Share Posted September 26, 2010 Yep... you described the show and my feelings about it perfectly! Better than I could, probably. Unreal, isn't it? I figured you'd go as nuts as I did! Glad you actually did. There aren't too many people who deserve the kind of hyperbole I use when describing this show, but Brion, I think, really does. He takes near impossible risks, that from almost anybody else would turn out to be meandering, kitschy and self indulgent. A high-wire act without a net... but somehow never falls. So glad you had such a wonderful experience! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderators Lee Knight Posted September 26, 2010 Author Moderators Share Posted September 26, 2010 And honestly, you two^^^, it's funny but Brion actually melds both of your sensibilities together into something new. Trance, loop, vintage rock pop songs. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members UstadKhanAli Posted September 26, 2010 Members Share Posted September 26, 2010 Well, all that sounds like really great stuff. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Lee Flier Posted September 26, 2010 Members Share Posted September 26, 2010 Ken, if you don't go to that show anytime soon imma send somebody over there to beat your ass. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Kendrix Posted September 26, 2010 Members Share Posted September 26, 2010 Sounds great - and consistent with other reviews Ive gotten. "brings tears to my eyes" is a musically induced state I can relate to... I wanna go. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members UstadKhanAli Posted September 26, 2010 Members Share Posted September 26, 2010 Ken, if you don't go to that show anytime soon imma send somebody over there to beat your ass. I know, I know.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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