Tag: shrine auditorium
Robots Need Music Too: Kraftwerk 3D at the Shrine Auditorium
Rob Shepyer
July 12, 2022
Kraftwerk are a legendary band and it’s not until you see them perform that you truly comprehend the impact they’ve had on every genre, from hip hop samples to electronic music, these strange German art rockers created sounds that were essential to the world’s musical fabric. At first, I wanted to go to this show just to enjoy the sheer spectacle of it. Kraftwerk 3D, or any 3D show, must be a mind-expanding experience, I surmised. Then, very quickly, my understanding of the band deepened much further than I expected. These guys are artists in the highest regard in the sense that this robot rock is a veil for heavy political and social commentary. The song Computer World for instance features the lyrics: Interpol and Deautsche Bank, FBI and Scotland Yard CIA and KGB and total data and memory This song isn’t so much minimalist poetry but the suggestion these forces collaborate and misuse your personal data. People are rather ambivalent to the impact data mining and control have over their lives but as society draws closer to what can really be considered a “computer world”, it’s control of data that will sculpt your user experience simply living in reality.
Read More
Ahead of his Timelessness: David Byrne at The Shrine Auditorium
Jessica Moncrief
August 29, 2018
A lone brain sits on a fold out table complete with a wooden chair directly under a spotlight. This abstract scene of living art set the stage perfectly for a journey into the psyche and imagination of the legendary David Byrne. With bare feet, white disheveled hair, and a cool gray retro suit to boot, Byrne looked like a mad scientist or guru to a new age religious cult, the church of Byrne. He walked out onto the stage, sat in the chair and picked up the brain. While solemnly singing into his headpiece, a glittery beaded curtain raised from the floor. From there, the production went full psychedelic with a marching band of smiling, dancing, barefoot instrumentalists and back up singers, all uniformly dressed in the same retro grey suits. They gracefully emerged from the curtain in what would be the beginning of a fully choreographed spectacular production that was completely wireless. No amps on stage, no cords dangling from instruments to step over, the drums were attached to their player’s bodies instead of fixed on a kit. related content: Finally Admitting It’s Real: Portugal. The Man At The Shrine This had to be the most avant-garde concert tour
Read More
Low End Theory Festival Wobbles The Shrine Auditorium
Danny Baraz
August 12, 2015
When The Gaslamp Killer commandeered the decks at The Shrine for his set at Low End Theory Festival, I instantly started peaking. The interesting thing about that is that I wasn’t on any drugs. Something about how the visuals on the screen behind him were synched to the music in his set wobbled my eyeballs and made me question reality. That is what good art is all about. When Low End Theory convened for the very first time at The Airliner in Lincoln Heights on a random Wednesday in 2006, there is no way founders could’ve predicted how far reaching it would become. Even as dreamers dream, the reality of the waking hours and empty rooms is a deterrent that slows most people into a “it wasn’t meant to be” mind frame. But even the inconceivable becomes a minor afterthought when all you care about is shaking walls and windows and the impulse to entertain yourself and your friends as much as entertaining strangers. The second annual Low End Theory Festival at The Shrine Auditorium this past Saturday was a far cry from the empty rooms of the Airliner 9 years ago. 5000 people packed The Shrine to pay homage
Read More