Bright Eyes Gets Orchestral

There’s one concept in music that’s extremely hit or miss, to the point where I don’t know whether to look forward to it happening or simply dread it. No, I’m not talking about reunion tours, because lets be honest, those are mostly misses. I’m referring to the rock band-orchestral mish-mash concert. Two of my favorite bands, Collective Soul and Metallica, have both attempted an orchestral concert, and the results were drastically different. Metallica’s S&M turned out to be breathtakingly beautiful – I still get chills every time I listen to it; while Collective Soul’s Home was extremely flat and horridly disappointing. I suppose either way there’s no denying one thing: it’s got to be a ton of work for the band to put it all together, which is why I’m willing to give anybody that tries a fighting chance.

It appears as though the next band who’s going to take up the precarious challenge is Bright Eyes, an act that I’m not very familiar with. I know a couple of their songs and I could see myself really liking them, but I’ve just never gotten around to giving an in-depth listen to their stuff. Regardless of what I think, Bright Eyes will be taking the Hollywood Bowl stage in Los Angeles on September 29, with a full symphony orchestra behind them. And for band member Nate Walcott, it’ll be when months and months of hard work finally come to fruition. "It was the biggest project I've ever worked on as far as arranging is concerned," Walcott tells Billboard.com. "It's almost music math."

I’m really rooting for this to work, because now that I know about it I’ll definitely have to purchase the disc they’ll undoubtedly be releasing – so I’m hoping it isn’t a waste of money. But selfish reasons aside, it sounds like they put a lot of work into this and are quite enthusiastic about doing the show. So who am I to put a damper on things?