Melbourne Symphony Orchestra gave Melbourne its most powerful shows this week AND they did it with a DJ.
Armand Van Helden performed his only Australian show with the MSO at the Sidney Myer Music Bowl on Saturday night and it rocked harder than you will find with most rock acts.
Van Helden is a catalogue of dance tracks including ‘My My My’, ‘U Don’t Know Me’ and ‘Bonkers’. Alone it is your stock standard EDM. Put 70 of the worlds finest musicians behind it and it becomes epic.
The Armand Van Helden and MSO pairing was a brilliant concept for the Melbourne Symphony. The normally snooty orchestra image was thrown out for the day to attract a 20-40’s audience mainly there for Van Helden’s first (and only) Australian appearance in seven years.
The Melbourne Symphony Orchestra was conducted by Benjamin Northey and curated by Jamie Messenger and Joe Twist.
The MSO is one of the world’s most contemporary orchestras. The MSO often devolves into musical space few conductors would be prepared to go. They backed live albums for Kiss, Elton John and Meat Loaf and have played with Sting, Nick Cave and Ben Folds. Their last contemporary dance show was with Flight Facilities.
The Armand Van Helden show was something special. The crowd was standing from the first few notes and rarely returned to their seats.
This pairing was a genius idea. Let’s hope the MSO has more planned.
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