Hi,
I was fortunate enough to see one of my favorite current artists live this week in L.A., Emiliana Torrini. The show was at a converted movie theatre, alot like the Wiltern but smaller, called the El Rey Theatre. This venue wasn't used for concerts when I lived in L.A. before '98. It is very intimate but the acoustics are good and the ambience is nice.
The opening act was Anya Marina. I must admit that I wasn't very knowledgeable about her catalog but she was entertaining nonetheless. She was personable, witty, intelligent as her songs reflected. She played for about 45 minutes and was well received by the audience.
Emiliana and her band went on stage around 10pm. She was dressed in an outfit that needs to be seen and not described, see it below this paragraph. It looked like a round piece of material with holes cut in it so her arms could protrude outwards. Occasionally, her arms would disappear into the dress. Someone yelled out, "What are you doing in there?". She replied, "Pulling up my trousers". Everyone laughed at this response.
Her setlist included most of my favorites, sans three. She started out with the song called "Fireheads", the first song on her latest release Me & Armini. She was in good spirits throughout. She played several more songs from the latest album and mixed in a few from the other two.
Three of my favorites from the first album, Love In The Time Of Science called "Summerbreeze", "Unemployed In Summertime" and "Tuna Fish" were executed to perfection. She didn't sing my favorite song from the same album called "Telepathy". Perhaps it was due to the large orchestration backing needed to pull it off.
She sang several songs from the second release titled The Fisherman's Wife. This included mainstays "Nothing Brings Me Down", "Lifesaver" and "Heartstopper". Noticeably missing, though, was "At Least It Was".
From Me & Armini, she also played "Ha Ha", "Hold Heart" and "Beggar's Prayer" among others. In several countries around the world, including her native Iceland, the song "Jungle Drum" reached #1 on the charts! I really had hoped to hear "Birds", which she played, and "The Bleeder", which she did not.
Describing Emiliana's presence on-stage is a pleasure. She was constantly smiling throughout the show. She appears to be a very happy person. It was infectious as I found myself smiling throughout as she sang. She talked to the crowd before many of her songs. There were stories about the construction of the songs and anecdotes regarding the writing or instrumentation. In her story before she sang "Nothing Brings Me Down", she talked about the hot weather after a long rain storm. She opened the windows for the warm breeze to come through, drank a bottle of wine and turned the stereo up to 11 while listening to Megadeth.
She was in the middle of another interesting story when a girl from the crowd yelled, "Just sing it already". She got this surprised look on her face and, without skipping a beat, said in a friendly voice "I have the mic, you don't". This drew a strong round of applause from the audience.
She talked about her show performed the previous night in San Francisco at a beautiful venue called The Great American Music Hall. She said that it was like performing on top of a cake with the ornate decor looking like "yummys" and such.
If I had to give a one word description of the performance, it would be "heart". Emiliana spoke, sang, smiled and related to us all from the heart. Her demeanor, expressions, and inflections emitted an inner beauty that I have always taken from her music. She appears as if she really enjoys her journey through this life through everything that she does.
I am so glad that I was able to make it to her show and plan on making it a ritual to see her everytime that she hits the west coast with a tour. I strongly recommend catching her show if she passes your way.
K
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