dasradiohead Posted September 26 Share Posted September 26 WBEZ Twilight Override Release Celebration! 7:30 P.M. Feel Free One Tiny Flower Caught Up In The Past Forever Never Ends This Is How It Ends KC Rain (No Wonder) Amar Bharati Twilight Override Lou Reed Was My Babysitter Cry Baby Cry Enough 9 P.M. Feel Free One Tiny Flower Caught Up In The Past Forever Never Ends This Is How It Ends Western Clear Skies Amar Bharati Twilight Override Lou Reed Was My Babysitter Cry Baby Cry Enough Please comment if any stats below are incorrect. Live debut: Twilight Override Full band debut (not solo): Forever Never Ends, This Is How It Ends, and Amar Bharati Full band with Finom debut: One Tiny Flower Once the show was announced to take place at Adler Planetarium the day before, I wondered if and how much they would be projecting images onto the dome. While the show started with two purple lights projected onto the top of the dome, they were quickly replaced by stars and constellations. By the second song, we were looking at earth from space with the city lights of Chicago and familiar shape of the southern tip of Lake Michigan upside down before us. We pulled away from earth, reminiscent of leaving Haight-Ashbury during Dead and Company’s Sphere shows, only never to return. Throughout the rest of the show, we toured our solar system visiting several major celestial bodies like the moon, the sun, and the rings of Saturn. Once we arrived at Saturn, the visuals became more imaginative as white, enduring circles traced orbits around the rotating planet. For the last two or three songs, stars became the focus again with shapes resembling constellations connected by red lines. As the songs progressed, the stars veered one way or another obscuring any meaningful shape the red lines had possibly created until a new universe, with its furthest edges linked to the central node, revealed itself before us. As the show came to a close, we had long ago departed Earth to gaze upon the rainbow tapestry of galaxies that make up our universe. I haven’t seen one of the regular shows at the Adler Planetarium, so I don’t know if this was a typical production or if they combined elements to produce something special for the band. There was a videographer and photographer to document the show, so signs requested phones remain in pockets. There were two blocks of chairs, roughly ten rows each with a center aisle dividing them and the band set up on the floor in front of us. I sat in the last row during the 7:30 PM show and let the music carry me through the universe as there wasn’t a lot of stage banter beyond ensuring the audience was enjoying the show and thanking all involved who made these special shows possible. I moved one row closer for the 9 P.M. show but was on the center aisle, so I had a clear view of Jeff and focused more on his musical talent. Jeff was more talkative during the second show but still kept the visits to banter corner brief. The highlight for me was when the moon was above Jeff in between songs and he stopped for a second to turn and look up at the fairly large reproduction in all its glory before giving an approving nod, then turning back to the audience without saying a word, still nodding, showing how grateful he was to be playing in such a unique setting. I certainly started nodding in agreement as a huge smile spread across my face. Having been to five shows at the Sphere for Phish and Dead and Company, I was surprised how similar the effect of the visuals were in the smaller space. In fact, once we started moving through our solar system, it really impacted me when I tried to focus on the band early during the first show. I often had to look up at the center of the dome as the stars were moving quicker near the edges where the band was performing. However, I didn't experience the same disorientation during the second show because there was a row of lights behind the band and with my clearer view of the stage, the lights obscured some of the movement. I also may have grown more accustomed to the motion as time went on, but it was very entertaining to zoom out from the performance as our interstellar captain steered us through space. 5 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Albert Tatlock Posted September 27 Share Posted September 27 Ta. Music of the spheres indeed. 1 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
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