ARTICLE AND PHOTOS BY CHRIS MØLINA/AUBURN SKY IMAGING
Photo Gallery: Spiritualized at Orpheum Theatre
OCTOBER 16 | Los Angeles— A revival. A spiritual space rock revival, unlike the regular steady stream of shows that pass through DTLA. Even as the lights dimmed at the historic Orpheum Theatre there was something electric in the air. "J. Spaceman!" was declared at the top of one gentleman's primal shout and for that instance, it felt like the steep drop of rollercoaster had manifested as the familiar tones of “Come Together” began to energize the venue.
While the vast sum of attendees remained in their seats a man in the fifth row was waving his entire body in erratic circles (see photo gallery) as he fed off a power, magic, and energy that remains palpable even after the fact. Part of that magic could be attributed to the array of resonance cast by the ensemble of orchestral strings, percussion, keys, choir, guitars, and of course J.'s raspy voice. Couple this with the widescreen visual projections and you've got yourself a proper show. It should be noted that all these elements could easily blowout or distort in some fashion but on the contrary, the production crew's expertise seamlessly balanced in a manner which leads us all on a gentle descent. By the time I took my seat "Stay With Me" had already begun to weave its hypnotic chords. Scanning across the audience, the crowd were completely inhaling the experience in a way that I simply cannot articulate but it was evident in their carefree swaying body language and facial expressions of pure sonic joy. Later in the set "On The Sunshine" dropped and a psychedelic jump to light speed blasted our eyeballs with a healthy dose of cinematic abstract projections. If there is any sentiment worth echoing it's that we could use regular tour appearances of Spiritualized. Why? So we are reminded that rock music has a cosmic-visceral accessibility that hasn't completely slipped away.
Set List
Hold On
Come Together
Shine a Light
Stay With Me
Soul on Fire
Broken Heart
And Nothing Hurt
A Perfect Miracle
I'm Your Man
Here It Comes (The Road) Let's Go
Let's Dance
On the Sunshine
Damaged
The Morning After
The Prize
Sail on Through
Encore
So Long You Pretty Thing
Out of Sight
Oh Happy Day
Play Video
Hold On (Reprise)
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