New York, NY (Top40 Charts) Concord Bicycle
Music will present a concert of the music of
Memphis legends Big Star, performed by an all-star lineup of musicians and guest vocalists. The event, featuring fan favorites such as �In the Street,� �September Gurls� and �Thirteen,� as well as the entire Third album, is to be filmed for Thank You, Friends, a DVD and CD release set for release in 2017 and will take place Wednesday, April 27, 2017 at 8 p.m. sharp, at the Alex Theater, 216 N.
Brand Blvd., Glendale.
Doors are at 7 p.m.
Jeff Tweedy and Pat Sansone of Wilco, Ira Kaplan of Yo La Tengo,
Robyn Hitchcock,
Dan Wilson of Semisonic, Benmont Tench from
Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers,
Jessica Pratt,
Brett Harris, Django Haskins, and Skylar Gudasz are among the guests who will be joined by a full chamber orchestra helmed by the Kronos Quartet, performing scores created directly from the original multitrack tapes from Ardent for this event. Carl Marsh, who wrote the original orchestrations, will conduct.
While the band may not be Big Star per se, the fabled group�s sole surviving original member, Jody Stephens, heads an amazing cast, whose membership includes latter-day Big Star alumni Ken Stringfellow and Jon Auer of the Posies, R.E.M�s Mike Mills, Let�s Active�s Mitch Easter, Chris Stamey of the dB�s, and others.
The concert will be filmed by Yes Equals Yes as part of a Concord DVD release, slated for
Spring 2017.
Big Star�s third album, Third/Sister Lovers, has long been revered by artists and critics as one of the most influential albums ever produced. Written and recorded when the legendary �70s band was primarily a studio project consisting of Alex Chilton and Jody Stephens, the third album was never performed in public with the original string and wind orchestrations. That changed in December 2010, when an ace ensemble unearthed the original scores, assembled an orchestra and performed Big Star�s Third at Cat�s Cradle in Carrboro, North Carolina. Stamey notes: �Now, to have Carl Marsh conduct his own original exacting, unearthly orchestrations for the first time�and to have the amazing Kronos Quartet joining all of us in bringing them to life on stage�is a dream come true.�
Much like Nick Drake, the
Velvet Underground, or other critically esteemed artists whose work only gained commercial traction long after its initial release, Big Star�s trademark mix of shimmering jangle pop with a side of elliptical melancholia was originally let loose into a world that just wasn�t ready for it. Nonetheless, an underground core of fanatical enthusiasts kept the fire burning. The Replacements famously released �Alex Chilton,� a song that paid tribute to his songwriting genius. R.E.M.�s
Peter Buck said, "Big Star served as a Rosetta Stone for a whole generation of musicians." Third is included as one of Rolling Stone magazine�s �500 Greatest Albums of All Time.�
Experience this classic of late �70s power pop through the prism of a one-of-a-kind collective of immensely talented fans of one of the most influential American rock bands ever.
Of very special guests the Kronos Quartet, Los Angeles Times wrote: �Kronos has led and continues to lead what surely must be the longest unending revolution by any ensemble ever in music history.�
Ticket link:
https://www.alextheatre.org/event/concord-music-group-presents-thank-you-friends-big-stars-third-live
