Monday, June 21, 2010

Imogen Heap + The Greek = Bliss






There are probably a hundred things I could say about how much I loved Imogen Heap's concert at The Greek this weekend. I've decided to spare you a huge run-on sentence, in which I would probably repeat the word "and" over and over, and make a little list instead. I've been making a lot of lists lately, so it feels right.

1. First Point. Imogen Heap is amazingly talented, and her music is awesome. I've loved it since I was introduced to it years ago, around the time the movie "Garden State" came out in 2004 (She had a song on the soundtrack.). She's also been nominated for a few Grammy Awards, which supports my prior statement about her talent. :)

2. Rather than just picking her own set list, she polled the future concert attendees beforehand and made her set based on the top requested songs, which made the show feel a bit more "personal." She also told little anecdotes about her inspirations for each of the songs she played in the interesting sort of way that only a cheeky Brit is capable.

3. This:




4. Sequin leggings.

5. There tend to be a lot of "electronic" bits in her music, but instead of just playing prerecorded segments, she recorded everything live. At one point her percussionist played a saw, as in the tool you use to cut down a tree, and she recorded it to loop in the song. Awesome.

6. She preformed the song "Earth" with an a cappella group called "Sixth Wave" that had won a Youtube contest that she set up. The song was so good that the entire crowd gave them a standing ovation. I found out later that I've actually met one of the women in the group because she's a friend of a good friend of mine. Kinda cool.

7. At every show she has done during this tour, she's played a totally original song with elements selected by the crowd, then sells the song online for $1 with all of the proceeds going to a local charity. Our crowd in LA requested: E flat minor 4/4 count in 156 tempo, which doesn't really mean much to me, and I have no idea if that's what she actually did, but it sounded great, and the proceeds will go to Tree People.





8. Mia Michaels, a choreographers and judge from So You Think You Can Dance, which is one of the best shows ever, was sitting in the section to the right of us. Mia's choreography is always really powerful and she has even used Imogen Heap's songs for her routines.

9. She didn't do an encoure. It wasn't because she didn't deserve one, or because the crowd didn't ask for one, she just explained in her cheeky way that it's silly to walk of the stage when everyone knows they'll be going back on. So she gave us a warning around the time when an encoure would have happened and said they'd do a few more songs. Done and done. No incessant screaming or sore palms. Genious.



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