John Carpenter’s Debut Show Lights Up Los Angeles
David Bronstein
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The Master of Horror turned into a Master of Ceremonies this past Friday night (May 20th) when John Carpenter played his first ever live show at the Bootleg Theater in Los Angeles. Backed up by a band featuring his son, Cody Carpenter; Daniel Davies (his godson); John Konesky; Scott Seiver; and John Spiker, this performance was nothing short of spellbinding.
The constant plastered smiles could not be removed from fans who were waiting for Carpenter and his band to take the stage, and when the lights dimmed and the shadow of bodies emerged, the place, as you would expect, went crazy. But put that up another tenfold when the first keys to the first track of the night reverberated around the room. Ladies and gentlemen, we give you the Escape from New York main theme. As the crowd caught their breaths back, we got the main theme from Assault on Precinct 13, arguably Carpenter’s finest work. After just two songs, the word “spoiled” did come to mind.
Next up was the very first song that Carpenter unleashed on us way back on Halloween 2014 in preparation for his Lost Themes album; that song, “Vortex,” was even better live. Just one song makes it tonight from his follow-up, Lost Themes II, which was released last month. Indeed tonight is about dragging out the classic film themes more than performing from his two records; and when the classics did roll out, which was frequent, the goosebumps and the hairs on the back of your neck stood tall.
The themes from The Fog, They Live, In the Mouth of Madness, and Prince of Darkness all made appearances; and it was everything we could have ever wished for. We’d wanted to hear them live since we were kids, and it was now happening for real. Carpenter even gave us a cover of Ennio Morricone’s The Thing for good measure.
One of the highlights of the night was the main title song from Carpenter’s 1986 classic Big Trouble in Little China. Utilizing more guitars like the In the Mouth of Madness theme, it was a sheer delight to witness; and the director has said in the past that Big Trouble‘s soundtrack is one of his favorites. There was, though, the inevitable roar when Carpenter and his band launched into the one and only Halloween main theme; it made you remember if you had somehow forgotten that this man in front of you had directed one of the finest horror movies of all time.
The night ended with another theme, the main title from Christine, and sandwiched in between were “Night,” “Virtual Survivor,” and “Purgatory,” underlining that there will be an interesting balance between old and new on this tour. You leave thinking this is the type of show you want to repeatedly go to and enjoy again and again, and you’ll have ample choice to do so given that there are another 30 dates planned this year. The tour sweeps through several European cities before heading back to North America and then winding up back in Europe in the fall.
You can check out the remaining tour dates here.
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