Ben Howard proves sound expansive enough for Greek Theatre, plays fan favorites and Sharon Van Etten cover

Ben Howard proves sound expansive enough for Greek Theatre, plays fan favorites and Sharon Van Etten cover
Mark E. Ortega
GrimyGoods.com
October 9, 2015

Last October, I got to see British singer-songwriter Ben Howard play a sold-out gig at the El Rey Theatre just as his record I Forget Where We Were was released. It’s the kind of intimate venue that these types of musicians are best enjoyed and Howard did not disappoint – I considered it one of the very best shows I got to see in all of 2014.

Now a year later, Howard was headlining the much more expansive Greek Theatre on Wednesday night. I previously considered him to be the next Damien Rice, so it was intriguing to see how he’d compare to Rice’s own Greek Theatre gig earlier this year.

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Ben Harper & the Innocent Criminals deliver marathon set at Greek Theatre

Ben Harper & the Innocent Criminals deliver marathon set at Greek Theatre
Mark E. Ortega
GrimyGoods.com
September 21, 2015

Ben Harper & the Innocent Criminals began winding down their tour Friday night at the Greek Theatre in Los Angeles, packing a ton of material into two-and-a-half hours.

With a catalog that spans 20 years worth of material, Ben and Co. touched on a little bit of everything over the course of their 21-song set. Harper’s many dimensions lended itself to the set’s length as he alternated from playing lap steel to acoustic guitar throughout the night.

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Hot Chip and !!! (chk chk chk) inspire Greek Theatre crowd to show their moves

Hot Chip and !!! (chk chk chk) inspire Greek Theatre crowd to show their moves
Mark E. Ortega
GrimyGoods.com
August 13, 2015

One song into Hot Chip‘s Tuesday night headlining set at the Greek Theatre, I looked around and saw a bunch of people dancing with less rhythm than Elaine from Seinfeld.

It’s really an awesome thing to see at a concert. Oftentimes, people are too self-conscious to really let loose, especially if dancing isn’t their thing. But all around me, people were “team zero f*cks given” and just GETTING IT on a Tuesday night. British electro-pop group Hot Chip had everything to do with that.

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Wilco crushes marathon set at Greek Theatre

Wilco crushes marathon set at Greek Theatre
Mark E. Ortega
GrimyGoods.com
August 7, 2015

The weather couldn’t have been more perfect to take in Wilco‘s two-hour set at the Greek Theatre on Wednesday night.

With the sun setting behind them and pot smoke waffing all around, Jeff Tweedy and Co. roared through their latest album Star Wars — which can be had for free, I might add — from beginning to end. The new record has more of an alt-rock feel to it than previous Wilco releases and it was a nice tempo-setter for the rest of the evening.

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Damien Rice and Marketa Irglova stun Greek Theatre into combo of heartbreak, laughter

Damien Rice and Marketa Irglova stun Greek Theatre into combo of heartbreak, laughter
Mark E. Ortega
GrimyGoods.com
April 26, 2015

Last October, Damien Rice delivered one of the two or three best performances I was lucky to see in 2014 performing in a church in front of a few hundred people. Needless to say, the bar was high when I got the opportunity to see Rice and Marketa Irglova perform at the magical Greek Theatre on Friday night.

Somehow, Rice exceeded those expectations. Performing a handful of songs from his 2014 masterpiece My Favourite Faded Fantasy as well as old favorites, Rice kept the mood light in between delivering his usual gut-wrenching songs, regularly busting up the crowd into laughter.

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Lorde shows tremendous growth at Greek Theatre, delivering spectacular performance

Lorde shows tremendous growth at Greek Theatre, delivering spectacular performance
Mark E. Ortega
GrimyGoods.com
October 7, 2014


A few songs in front of her headlining set at The Greek Theatre on Monday night, teenaged sensation Lorde acknowledged that the last time she played Los Angeles “proper”, she was at The Belasco and The Echoplex, just a little more than a year ago.

There was no better way to note how far she’d come in that one year. Lorde said that playing Coachella this year was a moment where she felt her band had “made it,” and headlining The Greek was another such moment in a career that will undoubtedly feature many more ups along the way. It is actually quite stunning how far she’s come even just since that Coachella set in April.

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Panic! At The Disco ignites The Greek for fans both old and new

Panic! At The Disco ignites The Greek for fans both old and new
Mark E. Ortega
GrimyGoods.com
August 27, 2014


Tuesday night, I took a trip back to my high school days. No, a DeLorean and Doc Brown weren’t involved. All it took was a trip to the Greek Theatre to see Panic! At The Disco, a band whose popularity first emerged when I was still a teenager with little life experience.

One thing that struck my right away: though a decade has passed since I really was into this band, their target demographic has not changed. A new generation of teenagers comprised more than half of the crowd at the Greek as 15-year-old girls were in every direction.

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