Steve Reich @ 70!!!!!!

Man, I can't believe I could get into that concert.

I got there at 7.30pm, there were sooooo many people outside of Carnegie Hall wanting to buy extra tickets. They all held up two fingers on the right hand or less.

So I raised my fore finger indicating that I need one, just to try my luck.

I thought there wasn't any hope.

There's a son of a bitch who came up and wanted to sell a ticket for a hundred, I mean, fuck him. The most expensive ticket is only 68! I should call a police.

But damn, there's this guy who came up and ask if I want a ticket, he would sell it for 20 dollars, that's even cheaper than the lowest price, 28 bucks! So I got the ticket and went in!

The first piece was Electric Counterpoint that Reich wrote for Pat Metheny. It's such a great piece, simple but down-to-earth. Pat performance was totally AWESOME. He didn't miss a single note or rhythm, and yet he was memorizing the music!! I was so thrilled by it! It sounded exactly like the recording.

Then Kronos came out and tore up Different Trains. I liked it a lot too.

After the intermission, the REAL DEAL was up!

Steve Reich and Musicians!!!!!!

They performed Music for 18 Musicians. That work was 60 minutes long but man, I tell ya, I didn't fell asleep AT ALL!! The whole piece was non-stop but SO INTENSE! You could see musicians switch roles from one instrument to another, sometimes you could even see 3 musicians playing ONE marimba!

Steve Reich was very low profile. He didn't stand out to bow especially. He only bowed together with all the other musicians. He didn't show people he was Steve Reich (except his cap, maybe), not until the musicians started to acknowledge him. He already gained my respect by doing this!

What I felt from the whole concert was the joy of music, the organic side of the music --- I know it's mathematical, but I could hear it's ALIVE! And it's not machine-like. The musicians had fun playing the stuff, I could tell, they were so relaxed when they played, especially the pianist that played the off beats for more than 10 minutes non-stop!

Watching cloud is what it's like to listen to minimalist music, watching cloud changing...