Imogen Heap
June 2, 2010
The Fillmore Miami Beach at The Jackie Gleason Theater, Miami, FL
Written by Kate Dingle
Some would say that it has been entirely too long since London’s own Imogen Heap has graced a South Florida stage. Well, the wait was over for fans Wednesday night as Heap invaded the Fillmore in Miami for an unforgettable performance. From the moment she walked onstage, Imogen Heap did what she does best. She combined sounds from ordinary things and created extraordinary masterpieces that took listeners down the rabbit hole and into an electronic yet organic Wonderland.
Kicking off the set (which local fans voted for on her official website) was the heartbreaking tune “The Walk”. With opening act Ben Christophers, as well as several other musicians from the supporting acts joining her onstage, “Swoon” was introduced by the haunting sound of a saw being played that was eventually looped throughout the entire song. Before supporting act Geese joined the melting pot of musicians onstage, Heap and company brought the house down with “Between Sheets” and crowd favorite “Come Here Boy”.
The UK based duo, Geese, joined the fun onstage for tunes like “It’s A Bird”, and “Must Be Dreaming”. At one point, Boca Raton high school students (who had auditioned via video and were picked by Heap) joined the singer onstage to perform “Earth” acapella.
When Imogen Heap was left alone onstage, she explained that someone had once asked her to improvise and play whatever came to her mind. After adding the element of giving audiences the power to choose key, tempo, and time signature, she decided to make it a fixture on this tour and have some good come out of it too. In each city of her tour, she records her improv piece and sells it on her website. The proceeds then go to a local charity. The charity that the proceeds will go to for the Miami improv piece is Radio Lollipop, and the track can be purchased here http://www.imogenheap.com/charity/
Other set highlights included “Just For Now”, “Aha!”, “Goodnight And Go”, “Headlock”, and the hit from her side project, Frou Frou, “Let Go”. Watching Imogen Heap onstage was kind of like watching a mad scientist. We would all watch in awe as she bounced around the stage recording different sounds to loop together to make the electro-pop we all love her for. At times, it seemed as though she forgot she was standing in front of a room full of people as she rambled on to herself.
But in the end, she always regained focus on what was most important, the music. As we said goodbye to Imogen Heap Wednesday night, the thought running through my head was simple. Even though we are a ways South, don’t be a stranger, we’d love to have you back.
Photos by Christina Mendenhall
Leave a Reply