I had high expectations for Amon Tobin’s show and I can confidently say that he exceeded them. The Warfield has the segregated levels of the Wiltern with the elaborate adornments of the Music Box. I was about 4 rows from the front of the stage and when the curtains opened to reveal Amon’s masterpiece, I was surprised at the size.  Although it was massive and took up the entire length of the stage, it was smaller than I imagined it to be. In hindsight the structure did not need to be any larger.

Amon took me on a journey into an alternate reality, essentially showing me a story.  The visuals were an acid trip…a complete mindgasm. Sometimes the visuals were very straight forward, showing stars in a galaxy or blue fluid looking waves, while at other times the visuals were left to the imagination of the viewer.  There was a point where I saw a person with two hands in the air that were eminating orange waves from the fingertips and other times it was like a transformer monster stomping throughout the city.  At times it looked like the structure was coming closer to us or growing in size but it was just the way the images were being projected.  It was almost like watching a 3D movie without the glasses.

The combined effect of the reverberating floor the heat emanating from the structure created a massaging effect.  Nobody was really dancing or moving, perhaps from too many drugs or sheer awe of what was being viewed, but the visuals were too intense for some as many people in the front turned to retreat further back.  Sometimes I turned around to look at the crowd and the wide eyed guy behind me had his hand over his mouth for most of the show.  Thank you Amon Tobin for setting the standard for set design.  It’s going to be hard to beat.

Below are a few video’s we took from his October 1st show at the Warfield in San Francisco.

//www.youtube.com/get_player