Concert Reviews

The following was a question we put to artist Lilly Marin recently -- Which three concerts/performances have you attended that moved you for the musical ability and skill of the artist/ or band? What was it about the show that still stays with you?

1. Mahler’s 5th, LA Philharmonic, Disney Hall LA
2. Joni Mitchell, Genghis Cohen, Hollywood
3. Earth Wind and Fire New Orleans Jazz Fest

1. The Mahler concert was life changing. Disney Hall’s acoustics are spectacular and if you’re in the front 10 rows you literally feel like you are sitting amongst the orchestra. When it got to my favourite part...the Adagio, I was covered in goose bumps, hair standing up on the back of my neck. It was the most transcendent musical experience I’ve ever had and I’ve been going to classical concerts all my life! I talk about it to this day as being one of those moments in time you’ll never forget.

2. Years ago I’d got a tip off that Joni was going to try our some new songs in the tiny but very hip performance space attached to this famous Hollywood Chinese/Jewish eatery. I bagged a front row seat and sat in shock and awe as my idol performed directly in front of me. In those days (late ‘90s), she was still chain smoking and at one point asked “does someone have an ashtray”. It took all my strength not to reply “you can use my mouth, just keep playing!!!”.

3. My memory of ‘EW&F’ at Jazz Fest is this… hundreds of us “VIPs” crammed into the stage wings (looking more like people hanging on trains in India) dancing like frenzied fools to those delicious hits. When they started to play my all time fave ‘September’, I really thought the stage was going to collapse from all the synchronised jumping. It was the most ecstatic experience hearing that life-affirming music and seeing a sea of humanity dancing, singing, literally throbbing and certainly blissing out.

by G.M. Burns