When I was a kid my parents had a subscription to the Saint Louis Symphony and I quickly became indoctrinated to the all-so-civilized world of Bach, cocktails at intermission, and polite applause. Often the music itself was so soothing that before long my eyelids became heavy and I sank deeper and deeper into my cushy, red seat.
I would dream that I was in one of those British period dramas. Sitting up in my box. Nodding down in approval. Peering through opera glasses. Turning to my cultured friends and smiling knowingly, “This is the shit.”
But that was ages ago, the ’80s, and this is a new millennium. I need modern symphonic pleasures and futuristic lullabies. Music that I can drift in and out of while sitting in my box and nodding to Bruce Willis, Gary Oldman, and the rest of the cast of The Fifth Element. “Now, this is the shit.”
Music from the likes of Amina and Sigur Ros.
Chris Tucker couldn’t make it, but last night I had the pleasure of sitting in a box seat in Cincinnati’s Taft Theatre while the atmospherics of both Icelandic quartets floated about. My wife and I nodded to each other with sleepy smiles and soon I felt her head on my shoulder. Occasional seizures of sound erupted from Jon Thor Birgisson sawing away on his guitar but then his angelic voice would return and lull me back into a trance. It was, in a word, otherworldly.
This all may sound prosaic and precious, and it is. But it is without pretense and it is the perfect way to prepare yourself for a weekend of sleeping in.
Great photo, and sounds like a fun concert experience. Maybe it’s just about getting old, but nodding off to pleasing music sounds like the best kind of concert.