I met Emilie Simon with much enthusiasm at Pasadena’s outdoor Levitt Pavilion for the Performing Arts on Friday night. Emilie is making a modest tour of the States and one of her stops was in Pasadena. The Levitt Pavilion puts on Summer concert series every year and the funny thing about going to see them is that you get such a mixed crowd: people who live around the neighborhood that are familiar with the series and looking for something to do, vagrants (is that a politically correct term?), fans, vendors, and dogs! I like to watch the people leave when they realize that they are not into the music, but most of all I like to watch the people who stay and discover something they were not familiar with and would not ever experience if not for the Summer series. I was pleased to see so many people drawn to stay and watch Emilie Simon.
When Emilie walked onstage she was greeted with an enthusiastic applause. I was naively shocked to see how many fans she had, but I guess that was because I had barely heard of her a couple of weeks ago. Emilie Simon is pop/electronic and I’ve heard a bit acoustic, but I didn’t see the acoustic side of her performance. She came onstage with a gold dress and her signature “Brissot” arm controller that allows her to remotely control her voice with effects; it was very futuristic looking. Her songs were met with sweet ‘mercis’ between one another and she was very gracious and happy to be in Pasadena.
One of my favorite songs that she played was “Opium” in which her vocals emit perfect dreamlike sounds and her instruments provide the perfect tinge of tinkering. Emilie performed all original music with two covers. One of her covers included Peter Gabriel’s “Mercy Street.” During her encore, Emilie closed her set with Nirvana’s “Come As You Are.” Emilie Simon plays a perfect specimen and L.A. is pretty lucky to have her visiting us.
C. Sanchez
Tags: Emilie Simon, Levitt Pavilion
