Solar/Lunar Shines with Promise

Last night TALK stopped by LOgO to check out a free performance of The Illumin8tor's Solar/Lunar, a rock opera based on the Chinese folk tale of Houyi and Chang'e, a classic yarn told during China's Mid-Autumn Festival. At the beginning of the show, drummer and MC Dave Hampson (as Jade Rabbit) informed the audience in his dry, humorous manner that this would be the first time that the group would perform the opera in its entirety, complete with dancers and audio-visual effects. Due to the cramped confines of the venue, the group's dancers took over the floor in front of the stage, forcing the audience to move into the periphery to watch the spectacle. 

Extra-musically, the group's work is indeed impressive. Although the group's dancers loooked as if they could use a few more practices, the choreography and performances accompanying the songs 'Eat My Pill', resembling a high school cheerleading squad and 'Climbing Up the Stairs' , featuring the frenetic stylings of Olga Merekina were ready to go, proving to be both captivating and entertaining. The dynamic visuals projected on LOgO's teeny screen above the stage were simple, yet intriguing, helping to illustrate the narrative. They'll be great to have on a larger screen for sure. The costumes, especially the colorful raiment of Estel Vilar (as Emperor Yao) and the giant bulbous head gear of Yusuke Shimizu (as the Sun dude), were effective and entertaining without being distracting.      

While a project of this magnitude could be detrimental to the quality of the music, there was none of that here. The music in this rock opera was rock solid.  Shimizu's driving bass riffs and the effortless guitar playing of Adam Gaensler (as Wu Gang)  provided the right backdrop to the pitch perfect vocals of Becca Smith (as Moon lady) and Vilar's flute playing. Musically, the real show-stopper in this night of solid tune-age proved to be 'The Hare's Great Sacrifice', featuring local Hindu-core band Upnavala Groove's sitar player Sal Haque (as Monkey).

The only possible complaint on the night was the difficulty in understanding the lyrics for each tune. The soundsystem at LOgO has a reputation for being a bit finnicky, and the frequent bouts of feedback on the microphones proved that. Still, in future performances The Illuminat8ors might consider simultaneously projecting the lyrics to its songs, in both English and Chinese if possible. This would make for a deeper appreciation of this promising rock opera.

All in all, it was an enjoyable preview of what will be in store for us November 10th at Mao Livehouse.