Beck's sold-out concert with Pacific Symphony at Pacific Amphitheatre

Grammy-award winning artist, Beck Hansen, known by his professional name, ‘Beck,’ performed a sold-out concert at the Pacific Amphitheater in Costa Mesa, California. The event was hosted at the Orange County Fairgrounds on Wednesday, January 30th, as part Toyota’s Summer Concert series. The Pacific Symphony orchestra performed alongside Beck during the first set of the concert. The orchestra performed classical music at the beginning of the concert, Beck stepped onto the stage as the audience cheered. The concert was filled with diverse song performances. Beck performed cover songs, songs from film soundtracks, and tracks from his discography.

His concert set began with live song performances of his tracks: ‘Everybody's Got To Learn Sometime,’ from the film soundtrack, ‘Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind,’ ‘Lonesome Tears,’ and ‘Wave.’

Beck shared his love for Brazilian music and films. He commented that his first concert was Antônio Carlos Jobim, who was a musical influencer of Bossa Nova music. He mentioned that Brazilian music inspired the tropical vibes of his track, ‘Tropicalia,’ which he performed. He reminisced about his previous concert experience at the Pacific Amphitheatre. He shared that when he was playing at the venue, a herd of llamas appeared in the back of the theater.

Beck continued his performance with performances of ‘Blue Moon,’ ‘The New Pollution,’ and tracks from his ‘Guero’ album. Beck asked if there were any goths in the audience and joked that in Orange County you could find goths. He setup his next song performance by mentioning the song was dedicated to the preppy goths. The song, ‘Tarantula,’ was a song that he recorded for the film, ‘Roma,’ which is a haunting operatic cover song. He shared that he was excited to prepare music for the film, ‘Roma,’ and he wrote several symphonic songs that he shared with the film producers. However, only the one track, ‘Tarantula,’ was selected for the film’s soundtrack.

Beck performed a bitter-sweet cover song by Scott Walker, which is titled, ‘It’s Raining Today.’ He asked for the lighting to be dimmed to set the mood for the performance. The concert was intimate despite being in a large outdoor venue. The audience crowded tightly around the stage and were engrossed with the live show. Beck playfully joked that he was disappointed that the llamas were not at the show and shouted, ‘Where are the llamas?’

He also performed a song titled ‘Debra,’ which was inspired by a girl that he met in Costa Mesa, California and he jokingly shared the backstory of the date. He asked the audience to sing along to lyrics he recited in the chorus, and they participated in the song performance. The artist entertained and interacted with his devoted fans. When the orchestra departed the stage after their set, Beck explored the stage filled with various instruments. He hit an enormous gong located at the back of the stage and he shouted, ‘Welcome to my dojo!’ The audience laughed and encouraged the musical exploration.

Beck performed solos on harmonica and electric guitar which enticed the immersed audience. He ended with a grand encore which was a song performance of his classic track, ‘Loser,’ which the audience sang along to. The Symphonic concert experience was a memorable show for the fully engaged audience. The live show was filled with classical music, cover songs, soundtrack tunes, and comedic fun. For more information and upcoming tour dates, visit Beck’s website. For upcoming events at the Pacific Ampitheatre, visit their website.

Coverage by Veronica Potes // Instagram: @veropoteart

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