[ATTENDED: July 10, 2016] Pokémon: Symphonic Evolutions
We have been really enjoying the Mann Center this year. And since Clark (whose birthday was not so long ago) has been really enjoying Pokémon this year, this seemed like a perfect evening–orchestral Pokémon music at the Mann.
A friend of ours had seen it and said it was fun, so we bought some balcony seats (never been up there before), had a meal en route at Red Robin (yum), and made it with minutes to spare. There were no baseball cards for this event (pity), but there was plenty of people watching.
I really didn’t know who would come to this show. I assumed it would be families with little kids. It never occurred to me that there would be hundreds of cosplayers here too. There were people in costume (!)–I didn’t get any good pictures–there were 20- and 30-somethings in Pokémon hats and shirts and there were plush Pikachu all over the place (including in the orchestra!).
The conductor was Susie Seiter and the music was composed by her husband, Chad Seiter and his co-worker Jeron Moore. The original press release states:
This has been the brainchild of me [Chad] and co-creator Jeron Moore for over 7 months now…. We have all been working very closely with The Pokémon Company International to create an authentic Pokémon experience, and all the music is approved by original Pokémon composer Junichi Masuda himself.
The show is turning out awesome – we have a large 80+ piece orchestra, and I’ve been working on 80 minutes of new arrangements, putting the Pokémon music into an epic symphonic Hollywood context. The show will be conducted by my wife, and LEGEND OF ZELDA: SYMPHONY OF THE GODDESSES conductor, Susie Seiter – who has also painstakingly orchestrated all the music. It will also feature innovative percussive and electronic accompaniment by Andrew Aversa.
So we sat down and out came the conductor. But before the show started, Chad came out and introduced the show. He said that this was the first show they had performed since Pokémon Go came out and they took a photo of all of us holding up our login screens. For some reason our game wasn’t connecting there, which was very disappointing since we heard everyone saying–there’s Charmander, there’s Squirtle. There’s even a photo of someone catching a Pikachu in the audience.
I have seen a few orchestral shows before, but there was something really amazing about this one. Perhaps it was where we sat–the angle was great–or perhaps the size of the orchestra, but it was so much fun to watch this spectacle. And, yes, the music was pretty fantastic too.
What made the show especially fun, though, was the audience. Typically an orchestral show is quiet and reserved. Not here. The crowd went nuts before each piece and went absolutely crazy when their favorite Pokémon came on screen. I had to assume the orchestra really enjoyed getting wild cheers instead of polite applause. (more…)
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[ATTENDED: July 23, 2016] Esmé Patterson
A friend of mine in college first got me to listen to Phish (circa 1992), but it wasn’t until the LivePhish releases starting in 2001 that I really got into them. [Incidentally, if you bought those discs and kept them in that plastic liner thing, check your discs because those plastic things have eaten away most of the whatever is on them that allows a player to play music. Most of my discs have sections that are totally see-through and register an error. I don’t think anything can be done about it DIY and I’m quite sure that Elektra isn’t about to give us new copies or anything.]
