Experience Brian Eno performing live onstage for the first time ever in Australia!
Prepare for PURE SCENIUS when the LUMINOUS mastermind joins forces with Underworld's Karl Hyde, guitarist Leo Abrahams, synthesist Jon Hopkins and Australia's undisputed maestros of improvised minimalism - The Necks.
One day. Three improvised concerts. Two intervals. Each concert picks up where the other left off. Choose your own one, two or three part adventure in sound and vision. The first concert is based on a predetermined sequence of events and parts two and three will progress from there - each will have its similarities, each will have its differences. Like a laboratory conducting an undisclosed experiment, PURE SCENIUS will be a combustible, spontaneous, must-see mix of intellect, innovation and instrumentation.
And the experiment goes beyond audio; offstage Toby Vogel will be filming, mixing, re-processing and projecting layers of imagery on three massive screens - just like he does for Underworld's live shows.
Whether you're fascinated by process or performance, improvisation or collaboration, minimalism or chaos, you need to experience the grand finale to the LUMINOUS festival.
Concert structure
Go to one, go to two, or go to them all! You've got three options. You decide.
Option 1: see any one concert in the series and pay $60
Option 2: see any two concerts in the series and pay $120
Option 3: for the complete experience, see all three concerts and pay $180
PURE SCENIUS PERFORMERS: ALL OF THEM ON STAGE AT THE ONE TIME
Karl Hyde is the poet and voice of Underworld... lager, lager, lager - remember the track Born Slippy at the end of Trainspotting? In the early 90s, along with band mates Rick Smith and Darren Emerson, Hyde assimilated techno into the art-rock tradition, lacing pulverising rhythms with frantic cut-up lyrics, eccentric humour, subtle textures and waves of improvisation.
Jon Hopkins is a musical shapeshifter: a composer, pianist and a self-taught studio wizard. He makes affecting, bold electronic music using walls of synths, lustrous melodies and amorphous bass rumbles. Co-producing Coldplay's Viva La Vida with Eno, his own ethereal compositions transcend genres, melding digital coldness with subtle, bucolic textures; veering from simple elegance to strange, unsettling sonic depths.
The Necks are one of the great cult bands of Australia. Pianist Chris Abrahams, drummer Tony Buck and bass player Lloyd Swanton conjure a chemistry together that defies description in orthodox terms. Working in every field from pop to avant-garde, the deceptive simplicity of their music throws forth new charms on each hearing.
Discovered by Eno tinkering on a guitar in a music shop, Britain's Leo Abrahams has since worked with the man himself as well as Paul Simon, Grace Jones and Nick Cave. An uncompromising and innovative musician, he pushes the guitar to new levels. Rejecting traditional techniques such as sampling, sequencing and computer effects, he instead relies on ambient sounds generated exclusively by the guitar to create pure music unaffected by commercial considerations.