Bright Eyes in Honolulu

21st November - Bright Eyes supported by Shopping List at Hawaii Theatre Center, Honolulu

Bright Eyes ended a year of touring with a final night in Honolulu – as I also happened to be in Honolulu and there appears to be a lack of well advertised live music in this tropical paradise, other than the clichéd performances that accompanies eating in hotels along the Waikiki strip, it gave me one of two opportunities while away from the onset of winter in London to feed my growing addiction to live music.

The Hawaii Theatre Center must have been the only venue of a suitable size available as it was far from ideal for the event; all seated venues just don’t allow the atmosphere that is possible when standing at a “rock concert”… Had they been able to remove the chairs from the stalls and make downstairs a standing area it would have worked well – but that didn’t look like it was an option. As a result the overly polite audience remained in their, admittedly very confortable, seats until cagouled into breaking out and standing at the close of the evening! The situation could have been assisted if the band had positioned themselves at the front of the enormous stage – rather than spreading themselves across the back…

From Bright Eyes 2011

The support act were the local band Shopping List. Given the small number of gigs, the opportunity to be the “local support to travelling big act” must be hard fought for – and Shopping List filled the roll well – their music matching the genre of the main act and being up beat so as to warm up an audience primarily there to support the headliners. It did appear, that beyond the usual friends and family, they also had a substantial number of their own fans in the auditorium, which was well deserved for a band that gave a polished performance.

When Bright Eyes took to the stage I was a little worried that the vast array of instruments, including two drum kits and two keyboard positions would lead them in to the trap I’ve heard others fall into of over complicating the performance with different instruments and distracting from the music itself – they neatly avoided that.

 

Their music had elements of two other bands from the US that I’ve recently heard live in London – Group Love and My Morning Jackets. For me the most successful parts of the evening were those where the music was stripped back to the primary members of Bright Eyes with voice, guitar, single synth and occasional brass contribution.

Included in the set where a number of anti-war songs, I’d suggest targeting the recent conflicts which the US has involved itself in in the middle east, rather that the campaigns in Asia that inspired a previous generation of song writers – war appears to inspire more musicians than most topics, possibly other than love, to write – I’ve yet to hear too many serious songs prompted by the other current trend of hating the investment banking industry – maybe because that is mainly stoked up by the political classes themselves to deflect from their duplicity in the current world wide finical troubles by pointing the finger at the investment bankers, but contrast the anti war songs were/are directed against the political elites risking the lives of the young for their own causes…

I’m sure if I hunted hard enough, I’d find the smaller venue in Hawaii where the likes of Shopping List are developing – and being 6 flying hours from anywhere must be a distinct downside to other bands adding Hawaii to their tours – but it is such a pleasant place to be that I’m surprised it isn’t on more round the world musical adventures – especially considering the place it is 6 hours flying from, LA, is such a mecha for musicals – and that so many of the most successful of musicians have made homes in the island state.

Post card from Waikiki

It is easy to forget that even in Hawaii’s tropical location in the middle of the Pacific, being north of the equator – and actually not as far south as some would think – it is only just further south, for instance than Miami – so it is only just the most southerly state of the USA, November is officially “winter”… as such most of Oahu has actually been overcast most of the time since I arrived – Waikiki appears to have been fortunate to avoid this fate, and has probably benefited from the slightly cloudy sky to moderate the temperature a little…

One of my primary reasons to travel 1/3 of the way round the world at this particular time of year was to enjoy, what has been, during my previous two visits, the spectacular photographic opportunity of the worlds best surfers taming the mountainous surf on the North Shore… I’ve not been so lucky this year – apparently because of a second year of the El Niño, the surf has so far been too small at the location of Reef Hawaiian Pro for competition to begin – but the forecast is that there will be sufficient swell for a compressed event in the last 3 days of the scheduled 12 day window before the Thanksgiving break… Hopefully the winter waves will be back after Thanksgiving for the second event of the Vans Triple Crown on Sunset beach.

The lack of surfing has meant days of soaking up the sun, and the slightly less sunny conditions have given my London skin a more gentle introduction than it might otherwise have had… I’ve almost adjusted to the 10 hour time difference – but it has given me the chance to listen to the ATP World Tour finals during the day rather than into the late evening, which I’d probably have be watching in live in person if I wasn’t so far away, via the wonders of the internet and an iPhone application that appears to overcome the restrictions on listening to Radio 5 Live Extra outside the UK!