REVIEW: Star Wars in Concert with the LA Phil

Xanthe, James, Christina, and Ender review Star Wars in Concert—which we attended at Walt Disney Concert Hall on November 21, 2024. Anthony Daniels hosted the evening, Sarah Hicks conducted The Los Angeles Philharmonic, and Robert Istad directed the CSUF University Singers.

Discussion timestamps:

• 0:00 - Intro to "Star Wars in Concert"
• 1:41 - Highlights from the show.
• 8:50 - Venue, technical aspects, sound mix, click track.
• 13:35 - Tendency to compare live performances to the recordings we know.
• 20:12- Sound effects and dialogue tracks.
• 30:57 - Very 2000's-esque stylization in the episode 1-6 portions.
• 33:52 - Broader cultural context of John Williams in the concert hall.
• 44:40 - LA Phil's somewhat baffling "John Williams Spotlight" series.
• 50:38 - Different structural approach for the sequel trilogy additions.
• 1:00:39 - Retroactive hagiography of the sequels.
• 1:09:10 - Questioning some of the musical selections.
• 1:28:09 - Encores.
• 1:45:16 - Conductor Sarah Hicks.

Things to Check Out:

• LA Phil event page: https://www.laphil.com/events/performances/3023/2024-11-22/star-wars-in-concert
• star wars || war pigs (Black Sabbath): https://youtu.be/SWUrl7FpkAo?si=LPeq2ZNznHvtgNOE
• Star Wars In Concert Review (2009): https://www.onpdx.com/events/star-wars-in-concert-review/
• Xanthe's review of "A Century of Film Music" John Williams spotlight concert: https://www.sfcv.org/articles/review/la-phil-classic-film-music-leads-john-williams

Chrysanthe Tan (they/them)

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James Waterman (he/him)

• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jameswatermanmusic
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/JamesWaterman
• YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/jameswaterman
• Website: https://www.jameswatermanmusic.com/

Christina Ward (she/her)

• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/xtverse.studio/

Ender Smith (he/they)

• Twitter: https://twitter.com/AurekFonts
• BlueSky: https://bsky.app/profile/aurekfonts.bsky.social
• Womprat (Star Wars font): https://womprat.xyz/
• More fonts: https://aurekfonts.github.io/

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