Spent a very pleasant afternoon in the sun, then lengthening shadows, today, soaking up some Morricone-themed music and vibes. The centrepiece act was the aptly-named Ennio Morricone Experience, a five-piece who've made a name for themselves around Melbourne with their live recreations of classic themes and songs from Morricone scores. I've been meaning to check them out for a while, and a lazy Sunday afternoon seemed like a suitable time to finally do so.
Anyway, they didn't disappoint. The music was all from the spag-western scores with which Morricone made his name (I don't know if the outfit always focus exclusively on the genre in their performances), complete with live whistling, trumpets, assorted sound effects, re-enactments of famous scenes, much villainous laughter and a good time for all. I'm not actually particularly familiar with the Morricone oeuvre, but I'm too much of a pop culture tragic for themes such as those from "The Good, The Bad and the Ugly" and "A Fistful of Dollars" not to be inextricably woven into the patterns of my musical landscape, and I've always responded to the grandeur and the mythos (old west americana styled as open plains/endless skies/merciless sun/solitary wanderers/shootouts in border towns/vengeance and old testament morality/love & death & money/etc) that they evoke, and so all of the music felt familiar and resonant, even if I'd never heard it before.
The EME was also joined on stage at various times by a David Thrussell, who did some vox and also spun a few movie-type records in the gaps, and by a comedy outfit named the Four Noels who got some audience participation going in enacting a spaghetti western (with the audience providing various dialogue and crowd scene sound effects as cued by the performers (eg, 'scared hubbub')).
All in all, it was v.g.
