It was kind of a big fat Louisville night last night for this old girl.
The Louisville Orchestra’s WOW event, in which the orchestra played behind a road show group of vocalists/guitarists led by Brody Dolynuik who sang the music of Queen tickled my giggle gadget.
And I wasn’t the only one!
After the opening song, there wasn’t a foot that wasn’t tapping or a fat bottom on a girl or a guy that wasn’t jiggling. And, after the first set, not a face without a smile! The excitement paralleled that top of the hill roller coaster feeling just before the descent.
The conductor, Brent Havens, was simply marvelous and engaging. Havens shared the podium for one song with a hilarious guy who had won a radio contest to conduct the orchestra in Crazy Little Thing Called Love… I could barely contain myself with what a cool promotion idea this was and how much unadulterated fun the guy had stepping up on the box and dancing with his hands and his hiney. He turned around a couple of times to us in the audience to make sure we were watching.
What a great idea, Louisville Orchestra! The programming smarts is consistent in the WOW category with showing really great cinematic classics while the Louisville Orchestra plays the original score. Making classical music accessible to the audience is the first step and the orchestra has been doing such a fine job of this of late.
The Louisville Palace wasn’t full but it wasn’t close to being empty, either. But that’s not the fault of anybody but the dolts of you out there who were too busy at the track for opening night or whatever else you chose to do in this fun town on a prom-laden Spring Saturday night. If there had been more rain, the place would have been more populated, surely.
All the great Queen songs were there and we all sang along — some of us more loudly than others!
Everybody who’d ever cheered on a basketball team in tournament play knew how to clench their fists, pound them in the air to the front like a cheerleader and stomp one foot to the percussion opening of We Will Rock You. Then came the marvelous lead in to We Are the Champions. I was especially pleased with I Want It All (And I Want it Now), but that’s just me.
I’m always impressed with how road shows with engaging singers try to localize their show to make the audience think they 1. Know what city they’re in and 2. Keep the crowd going and excited. Dolynuik, who claims Las Vegas as his home, made a small gaffe (which was very large to me) by erroneously introducing the Louisville Orchestra as the Louisville Symphony Orchestra – which is really only a faux pas in name.
But, I think this is something a lead singer ought to either practice or write on his hand to get right. There’s great dialogue about what makes an orchestra an orchestra and a symphony a symphony orchestra or a philharmonic a philharmonic orchestra, but it’s not worth deliberating here. I guess I’m going to give the guy a hall pass, but I do think this incorrectness is a distraction, albeit a tiny one, from the experience.
But, the pianist redeemed the lead vocalist’s mistake by digressing off the transition medley to include a subtle verse of My Old Kentucky Home that wasn’t missed on me.
Well done, sir, and good form.
Under Pressure, Fat-Bottomed Girls, You’re Making Me Live, Somebody to Love, Bohemian Rhapsody and Another One Bites the Dust … there just didn’t seem to be much they didn’t play and little this fat-bottomed girl didn’t enjoy.
Louisville Orchestra, you had a good night!
