Hey Marseilles @ The El Rey - LA (11.10.12)

Hey Marseilles

In a strange occurance tonight, Seawolf opened for Hey Marseilles after they left the stage.  It's unusual for a headliner to play before the opener, sure enough, but that's what happened.

Ever since I heard To Travels & Trunks I have been waiting for Hey Marseilles to do a show in Southern California. Their uplifting enegetic music is so well composed that it can be played with just an acoustic guitar or with full orchestration, 12 part harmony and all kinds of groovy things like that.

Matt Bishop

Often when you hear songs live, they are stripped down, missing some of the more essential intricate elements.  Fortunately, Hey Marseilles travels large.  There are at least six guys in the band, most of whom are musical slashes playing whatever is needed for a particular song.  This means that the full sound you hear on the album you get live too!



Philip Kobernik

They played some songs from their upcoming second album, sadly I did not write the names down (as I was running around with a camera).  It looks like they will maintain the feel of the first album with a slightly more electric sound.  For those of you anxiously holding fists full of dollars to buy it, the release date appears to be February 2013... assuming the Mayans are wrong that is.

 

Hey Marseilles and Friends

When they played "Rio," they brought out everyone who was hiding backstage to help with hand percussion, backing vox, clapping, etc.  Their entrances were staggered which added a nice build into the song, until at very last Alex Brown Church walked out. 

    

Hey Marseilles and Friends

I thought at this point that the band had peaked and they would be done for the night, but strangely they continued for one more sans guests.  This was fortunate though because the intesity they picked up during the previous song continued through.



Philip Kobernik

It was clear that the band was less known to the audience than Seawolf, but as they played they won the them over.  As the audience got more excited the band in tern became more energetic in their performance.  Honestly, its unfortunate they finished when they did.  I think another 20 minutes and they would have really been kicking.  Alas, such is the short set.  Hopefully the next time they come to town, Seawolf will be opening for them before them! 

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* Side Note:

Seawolf also played, and I really wanted to like them.  I respect them, but I just haven't been able to get excited about their music.  A few photos follow for anyone interested:

Seawolf

Seawolf

 

Seawolf



Seawolf

The Book of Mormon @ The Pantages Theater (11.8.12)

The Book of Mormon

Spoiler Alert: If you are still planning on seeing the Book of Mormon you may want to avoid this post. Continue at your own discretion.

Never before has female circumcision, dying of dysentery or having aids been so funny. It's difficult to walk that line between offense and hilarity, but it's something Trey and Matt have done for years. The best part of the musical was the windup. For the first few scenes it really felt like a happy go lucky musical if for no other purpose than to lull the "musical crowd" into a confidence and then hit them over the head with it when they got to Africa.

Amazingly excepting intentional exaggeration, they stuck to the facts of Mormon Church. Clearly they were laying into them a bit about said secret Mormon plates and other things, but nothing worse than what they already had. With all this ribbing going on, the Mormon church took it quite well. In fact, they bought 3 full page adds in the playbill.

I am absolutely in love with Trey Parker's composition skills. Melodies, layers, and comedy built together. As with the South Park movie, during the first half he put together all the musical themes together in a montage of overlaying melodies where each character was discussing their motivations. The lyrics of most of the songs were very South Park like. Raunchy numbers about dysentery and fuck you god, were well received. Sadly, my favorite song from their Joseph Smith episode (Joseph Smith wrote the book of Mormon dum dum dum dum dum).

The Book of Mormon

Given it's the traveling cast I was still very impressed with their voices and ability to project their character's to the audience. They did an especially great job casting "neutrogena" or whatever her name was. She may have been the best of the bunch. The male lead appeared to have a bit of an issue breaking, but did a great job covering by pulling them into the part.

Before the show I was talking to a friend and she mentioned she had heard mixed reviews. Some people loved it, others were horribly offended. I really do have to say, if at this point you go and don't know what you're getting in to, that's your own fault. In any case, our seats were kind of towards the back, so I kept an eye out to see if anyone would walk out. Not surprisingly, everyone stayed.

To sum up, good show, raunchy, offensive, funny and it beats the hell out of "Cannibal the Musical."