Dirty Projectors w/ Alarm Will Sound and the LA Phil @ the Walt Disney Hall

If you're an indie rock band and the LA Phil deigns to open for you, you're doing something right. Such was the royal treatment bestowed Saturday night upon Dirty Projectors, who floated onto the majestic Disney stage cloaked in cape-like frocks that could have been designed by Little Miss Riding Hood for Free City. Performing Dave Longstreth's, 2005 opus, The Getty Address, Projectors and their myriad vocalists bellowed effortless, pitch perfect notes over prominent, rumbling drums and other orchestral flourishes.

Some highlights:

- John Orfe, virtuoso pianist from the LA Phil, opening the night with a Ligeti composition so transcendant, it touched places you couldn't reach without a lobotomy. In the words of the future Mrs. Longstreth, "That brought back a dream I thought I had lost forever..." Touché.

- A 30 minute intermission seems generous until you and your 2,200 closest friends descend at once upon a bar the size of an NY apartment's kitchenette. This led to some to serious champagne bonging (I hear they do this at the Ivys) and frantic scrambling back to our seats sans bathroom run. So when you see my foot tapping, pretend it's the music or the old restless leg, I swear I don't have to pee like a racehorse.

- Following the Getty Address, Projectors followed with Dylan's "I Dreamed I Saw St. Augustine and a flawless version of "Temecula Sunrise" from Bitte Orca. If this is any indication of what DP has in store for us at Coachella, their set might be worth the price of admission alone.

- Lastly, for comparison’s sake, I saw Memory Tapes Friday night at Spaceland. They played for 25 minutes without an encore. New rule, if you don't have enough material for at least a 40-minute set, you cannot headline anywhere, even at a shitden like Spaceland.

-Matt

Below is Projectors performing the aformentioned "Temecula Sunrise" live in Williamsburg (not quite up to par with Saturday night, but we'll take it).