Last night I went to the iMOGEN HEAP concert in downtown Salt Lake City. This is the third time I have seen her live, and she just gets better every stinkin' time! Her set started about 9 o'clock and went all the way until 11:20. The ticket was definitely worth the money. She's such an amazing artist and person, for example before each of her opening performers would start she would come out on the stage and introduce them beforehand. This shows her great love for the art and other performers, a quality rare among popular musicians. I showed up to the show late, but my friends Ariel and Steve were at the front of the stage and I was determined to stand by them. After a few disgruntled audience members I made it to the front! I heard some comments like, "don't people like that make concerts great?" Or, "some people are just so rude sometimes." Either way, I got one of the best seats in the house, besides the fact that I was right in front of a speaker, but let's face it, my ears are shot.
Above is her legendary clear piano. I love how she has trademark items and instruments at each of her concerts. For each of her concerts she recorded an original track at the concert for a local charity. She literally called upon someone in the audience and asked them for a small two measure melody that she could start with. The entire audience decided the key and time signature. Her stage presence is extraordinary. At another point in the show the feedback on the microphones were acting up, she while it was getting fixed she talked to the audience and did an impromptu Q&A session. During that time my friend Ariel gave her a wedding invitation! It was so funny because Immi just looked at it and said something like, "shall I invite everyone?" Then she put the invitation on one of her pianos. I have faith that she actually looked at it afterwards. Wouldn't it be amazing if she showed up?!
This is her percussionist, Chris. When I played at her concert in November he was probably the nicest guy to talk to, not to mention extremely talented! For example, above he is playing a saw with a bow! Ariel remarked how her song "Speeding Cars" would be nothing without him. I think that's true for half the songs she plays. It's just natural that great musicians play together!
Ah, the red lights. I swear that good lights at a concert can make all the difference. One of her opening acts (Geese) is pictured above. Although they seemed extremely talented, sometimes I questioned how they were adding to the music. For example, on the song "Aha!" (which I played) they played random noises by rubbing the bow against the string instead of a solid accompaniment part. I felt way slighted that they didn't incorporate the cello part at all. However, they made up for this with an awesome pizzicato entrance to the song "Tidal."
My favorite part of her concerts are all the instruments she uses. From wine glasses, to saws, to Keytars, it's just absolute brilliance. On the right is her singing "Hide and Seek," with the famous Keytar accompaniment. However, my favorite use of the Keytar was in the song "Tidal" when she had her assistant backstage put some glasses on her and she ended the piece with raging solo guitar. It was awesome to see her have so much fun! I feel like I didn't get as much out of this show because I didn't get to talk to her personally or anything, as I met her at the first and second shows I attended. Boo. (Yes, I'm extremely spoiled for typing that statement.) I would see her again in a heart beat!
2 comments:
I assume you would know - why does she call herself Imogen Heap? And was she in Frou Frou?
Her real is iMOGEN HEAP. Her name also used to be Frou Frou. It's a cool thing to do.
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