“And every day I’m learning about you. The things that no one else sees.” – The xx, Angels

The xx, along with The Chromatics and Austra (who we didn’t make it in time to see), played at The Hollywood Bowl this past Sunday. We got to our pretty solid seats in the terrace section right before The Chromatics went on.  The Chromatics are very enjoyable but the Bowl is an odd place to hear shoegaze-y, head-noddy, synthpop. Should we all be swaying back and forth in our seats or eating our fried chicken and drinking wine from our picnic baskets?

I said as much before The xx hit the stage. I might have even suggested this was my last time coming to the bowl for this kind of non-orchestral, non-spectacle show. And then Romy, Oliver, and Jamie came out and amazed for over an hour. Pretty spectacular what two kids on guitars and an electronic music guru can do to make great use of an enormous stage and entertain with the power of their performance. 

And then the Hollywood Bowl Orchestra joined them and took it higher.  

Anyway, I took terrible pictures that I didn’t post to instagram but other people took much better pics. Here are some of them: 

That last pic is from Ray who graciously allowed me to buy his good seats at a fair price when he found himself with even better ones. Thanks Ray! 

And thanks The xx.