I successfully negotiated with the family to begin our vacation with a night off for me to catch Clint Mansell live in LA. I met up with forum member @horrornasties for a quick dig at Amoeba Music on Sunset Blvd before the show.
After that, we grabbed some street tacos, and then went over to the venue:
The Theater at the Ace Hotel is easy on the eyes with towering decorative ceilings in the lobby/bar.
After grabbing a glass of spirits, we took our seats and the show started up. A full band took the stage with three violins, cello, piano/synth, guitar, bass, and drums. Mansell was front and center with lead keyboards and another guitar.
Mansell was very congenial with his introduction, and spent some time talking to the audience. He said he would be performing suites devoted to a specific film score. He actually opened with Noah, which was surprising, as we had been joking about possibly hearing too much of that before the show. It came off really well, and included some original visual material that looked to be created for the show (not just clips from the film). I haven't seen or heard Noah yet, and I was pleasantly surprised. Other suites included Pi, Moon, Filth, Black Swan, High Rise, Requiem for a Dream, and he closed with The Fountain. All of the suites included original visual material that was very well-done and had some relation to the film's subject matter.
Mansell played keys for a lot of the material, and added in some shredding guitar for the peak of Black Swan, which was incredible to hear. The Requiem suite was "rough on the violin strings" and they had to retune them after, heh. The last piece was specifically
Death Is The Road To Awe from The Fountain, which I was really hoping to hear at this show. Before starting, Mansell related a very touching story about the death of his girlfriend, and how it had affected his life, and the music from this film especially. With that type of emotional connection in place, it made the music even more poignant. It was everything I had hoped for, and Mansell again picked up the guitar toward the peak to add another layer of chugging emotion to the band's intensity.
Mansell leading the ensemble from Hell. Great night.
