- Double creativity energizes OK Go’s Hering performance - May 3, 2019
- Ever hunger for that spotlight? - May 3, 2019
“I think it was a really unique performance for Fairbanks,’ said Pete Webley, referring to the OK Go’s mix of showmanship and information. “Its design, with the videos and live music at the same time and questions between each piece.’
Sarah Manriquez, had her doubts about attending what was billed as a band playing along with its own videoes. “I was super curious just how they were going to present a ‘live video concert.”
The experience transformed Hering Auditorium’s textured fabric seats and wooden armrests into personal lazy boy chairs for audience members sharing a collective living room saturated with colorful lighting, outfitted with speaker arrays hung above that blasted soundwaves waves into the balcony.
Confetti exploded and floated down on more than 1000 concertgoers as OK Go accompanied themselves playing along with the band’s own “Get Over It‘ video.
Jill Shipman, a student in art and sciences at UAF, was impressed by the band’s candor. “From young children to senior citizens, it was nice to give the credibility of answering questions on stage.”
The lead singer, Damian Kulash, interacted so much with the audience that he latterly walked four rows in and serenaded the room with a lovely tune.
On screen, the band described that there was laser etched images on a thousand pieces or so of toast to create the stop motion animation video “Last Leaf.’
The show, put on by Fairbanks Concert Association this March, opened with OK Go’s very first dance video from an appearance on the Chic-a-Go-Go television show. The embarrassing number was an ice breaker, introducing the local audience the quirky attitude of the band.
One of the dance numbers that made the band famous was actually a rehearsal video. It wasn’t supposed to be their first song released but circulated in an email to friends that spread virally on the internet in 2005. The dance is choreographed by the lead singers Damian Kulash’s sister Trish Sie, and the is filmed with them just dancing in Damian Kulash’s back yard.
…working with physics and engineering in their videos to breathe life into something that is visually stimulating.
–Jill Shipman, UAF Arts & Sciences student
The performances went through all of their major music videos and was a two-hour performance with an intermission in between.
During intermission, the OK Go crew had merchandise for sale; from stickers to lunch boxes, to t-shirts. The photo at the top of the page is the OK Go t-shirt printed just for the Alaska tour.
“They (OK Go) integrate the arts and sciences very seamlessly,” Shipman said, “by doing innovative things from color splashes or slow motion, and working with physics and engineering in their videos to breathe life into something that is visually stimulating.” She was referring to a video that lasts four minutes, 12 seconds, but was all shot in 4.2 seconds, with everything timed exactly on the beat, delivering “The One Moment‘s’ slow motion.SHipmannelaborated with her interest in the matter by saying “I am a dually enrolled student at UAF in both the graduate program in geophysics and also in theatre and film and I have always had a passion for the art and sciences.”
Shipman has taken part in outreach efforts raising children’s interest in combined art and sciences, she seemed pleased seeing similar inspiration in OK Go’s videos.
To me,” she said, “it was the most energy and the most electric crowd at Hering Auditorium.’
For more: https://www.youtube.com/okgo
