Beck conquers the Hollywood Bowl

Beck plays one-off shows at the Echo and Spaceland practically every time he leaves the house to run errands, but last night, Silver Lake's golden-locked son traded in those humble but iconic venues for another iconic but much more grandiose space. Beck Hansen, the godfather of '90s flanneled irony once known for cranking up a leaf-blower midshow, played the Hollywood Bowl for the first time.

It wasn't what anyone expected when they first heard that slide guitar hook in "Loser" in 1994, but that was the beauty of the show. It was a homecoming parade for grown-up slackers drinking vodka at the Bowl, shouting along with Beck's lyrics, those famous junkyard word clusters like "mouthwash jukebox gasoline."

So how did he do? Great, once he got "Loser" out of the way. For the first song of his 90-minute set, which would wind him through all eras of his songbook, aided in part by the Hollywood Bowl Orchestra Strings, Beck looked tense and uninspired. But then he gave away to "Nausea," from his 2006 album, "The Information," and the show started gathering strength.

In fact, the stronger material from the first part of the show was from the later albums. "Que Onda Guero" sounded street-sonic with its patchwork of honks, food cart bells and snatches of Spanish. His cover of Bob Dylan's withering "Leopard-Skin Pillbox Hat" was also a nice choice, a folk song with bite, like many Beck songs at their roots. Guitarist Jessica Dobson, who has her own band, Deep Sea Diver, contributed strong supporting guitar and vocals, her young, fresh voice chiming in with Beck's like a fan had joined him onstage.

Perhaps most surprisingly, two works from "Midnite Vultures," Beck's somewhat misunderstood 1999 album that could be seen as an antecedent to the cocaine-hipster era, were given electrifying, cool treatments. "Nicotine & Gravy" was slow and funky with shivery, glassy keys from Brian Lebarton. "Mixed Bizness" was vampy, soul-erotic fun. All of it was stunningly accompanied by the background video screen, which projected hugely pixelated metallic images of tree branches or other abstract shapes and was reliably beautiful throughout the night.

Before Beck was joined by the Hollywood Bowl Orchestra Strings, he and his band abandoned all their instruments and strapped on headsets and sampling machines and jammed out "Hell Yes," a silky suite made for pop-and-locking. It was lo-fi prank pulled off in a hi-fi setting, the kind of tossed-off mischief Beck does best. He chatted in rhythm with his fellow bandmates and made a joke about 808 machines, looking like a kid at play in his oversized flannel and loosely tied scarf.

The collaboration with the Bowl string players, conducted by Beck's father, David Campbell, an Oscar- and Grammy-award winning composer and arranger, produced a few songs where the orchestra contributed only a few gratuitous strokes. But that was countered with more songs where Beck and the orchestra seemed to be working in tight symbiosis. "Round the Bend" was a particularly gorgeous moment, wintry and resplendent, with only Beck and the strings onstage. For "Chemtrails," the screen beamed fast-motion images of people staring into the camera, the orchestra swirling at the center of the soft, dizzy '60s-style song.

For the two-song encore, Beck and his band returned to kick up the energy and come full circle. "Where It's At" is still Beck's most lasting legacy as a mad sound-scientist; it could come out on the radio right now and sound new. "E-Pro" is all Dust Brothers scorched chaos and it zoomed the clattering spacecraft of Beck to home base.

Accompanied by MGMT, the latest hip young things, and Spoon, a reliable and much more disciplined fellow funk master, Beck fit in at the Bowl. We knew it already, our sunsets splashed with orange and pink, but the new pollution is here to stay.

-- Margaret Wappler

Photo by Benjamin Reed/Los Angeles Times

Comments

[Jim Inscore]

Also on stage for the stellar "Round the Bend" was Beck's new bass player Bram Inscore on string bass. Bram, who fills the big shoes of bass legend Justin Meldal Johnsen on the Modern Guilt tour, has toured with Jem, Mike Patton, Benji Hughes, and the Watson Twins in the past several years and fronts his own LA band B.R.A.M.

[Artist formerly known as...]

I was actually quite disappointed in this show for some reason. I have been to several of Beck's shows throughout his career- and I felt like this one he was a bit too non chalant about. He just ripped right through the songs, not talking much with the audience- and was even sort of semi-obscured by his band mates and stage set up, I suppose you can't expect that sort of intimacy anyways with such a large venue-but it felt much more pressurized rather than flowing. It seemed though that the anticipation didn't match up with the outcome?

[Jim I]

"Round the Bend" video

[B-Pro]

I have to disagree with this review. Beck's Hollywood Bowl outing was, at the very best, short, uninspired and rather boring. MGMT should have been the first hint as to what was to come. Spoon was the highlight, and that's saying something as I don't consider myself a fan (until now). The only positive thing about Beck's set was fellow musician Jessica Dobson's performance - She constantly upstaged him and undoubtedly, knowing the diva that is Beck, will be fired for doing so. For once, I appreciated Beck's laziness on Saturday night, thankful he left the stage when he did. Man, I wish I was with those 'grown-up slackers drinking vodka'. Maybe I would have enjoyed it more. Then again, probably not.

[martin]

Beck conquers the Hollywood bowl - wow, I don't think the writer was at the same concert as the rest of us! I thought Beck seemed disengaged thoughout and this was overall a disappointing gig. Shame I'd really been looking forward to it... martin

[Lina]

Any night at the Hollywood Bowl is a night to remember. I wish MGMT would've played longer and later; Spoon was great (seen 'em before three years ago and Brett was in great form); and I'd never seen Beck before live and I thought it was a fantastic show and the string accompaniment was wonderful. Spending the afternoon in Silverlake before the show added to the "Beck-ness" of the evening.

I also thought the audience (the people we were sitting near in L1) was quite fun and well-behaved!

[LZ]

I agree with the other disappointed folks. I've seen Beck many times before and he was much more animated and interactive with the audience than tonight. Also, I'm glad at least someone else sat near fun and well-behaved fellow audience members, because the people I was sitting near showed no respect for the artists onstage, or the people around them (like me), who paid to watch the show, not drink and party and chatter loudly throughout the band's sets. The show was a bummer!