Imogen Heap @ La Zona Rosa
Published by eightparts November 26th, 2006 on Eight Parts
Had to decide between the SC/ND game and the Imogen Heap concert, and going on the theory that it’s better to be out doing something than at home watching something, we opted for the latter. Give how both turned out, I think we made the right decision.
Imogen was exceptional. Fantastic voice, talented pianist, great songwriter. These things were fairly evident before we bought tickets. Her opening acts were, however, a mystery. They turned out to be awesome. Kid Beyond is some sort of beat box prodigy. What he does can be explained, (he makes beats with his mouth, layers live loops of those beats, and basically performs extremely full and textured sounding songs using nothing but his voice) but it can’t be appreciated until you’ve seen it. This video pretty much gives you the idea. Better still, Imogen brought both of her opening acts out multiple times during her own show, so she sang several songs over Kid Beyond’s beats, which was slick.
On her own Imogen was equally impressive with one of those voices you assume can’t sound as good live as it does on the album. Sadly for vocalist hopefuls everywhere who console themselves with assurances that her sound is all studio, she’s better in person. She also commands a stage and rolls a pretty mean Mohawk. Some people have all the luck.
The other noteworthy part of the show was the ridiculously wasted woman in front of Amy who was in the fight of her life just to remain vertical. She literally wobbled like a bowling pin for a solid fifteen minutes before finally giving up and making her friends, who’d conveniently been pretending she was fine, take her home. When I say her friends, I mean her daughter’s friends, because the best I could piece it together, she was someone’s mom. I’m sure we all remember when our own mom’s took us to a show and threatened to pass out in the crowd. Inevitable really. Her departure received applause all it’s own.
So, yeah, I missed the unique pleasure that is seeing the Irish get blown up in prime time, but that’s what ESPN is for. Soon as they start having live musical guests I can stop leaving the house.