DeVotchKa Gels With Seattle Symphony at Benaroya Hall (SHOW REVIEW)

DeVotchKa has a fascinating story that, in many ways, makes them the perfect band to play with a symphony. Formed in Colorado, they got their start as a backing band for burlesque shows (including those of former Marilyn Manson girlfriend Dita Von Teese), and they gained a broader following as their music was noticed and included in movie trailers and on television. However, they truly broke out in 2006, with both a much-lauded performance at Bonnaroo and the composition of the soundtrack to the film Little Miss Sunshine.

They are built around non-typical (for a rock band) instrumentation, with violin, double bass, sousaphone and other brass instruments, flute, Theremin, and more complementing more traditional guitar and percussion. At the center of the band’s sound is the voice of Nick Urata – a voice often soaring and plaintive, nearly always deeply emotional.

Moving on, then, to their collaboration with the Seattle Symphony. The Symphony has, in recent years, done much to broaden their appeal, playing along with screened video games and movies and partnering with contemporary musicians to leverage the gorgeous venue that is Benaroya Hall into new audiences. Further, current conductor Pablo Rus Broseta is known for experimentation, including with a Spanish chamber orchestra, Grup Mixtour, which he founded and conducts with the express aim of eclectically programming music from different eras and with diverse aesthetics.

Unsurprisingly, given the combination of DeVotchKa with Rus Broseta’s Seattle Symphony, the entire show was unforgettably beautiful. Despite a few points in which the orchestra and band seemed to not quite be in sync, rhythmically, the two groups worked impressively well together, and the orchestra served to powerfully highlight the boldly symphonic elements of DeVotchKa’s music. The DeVotchKa stagemanship brought enjoyable vigor to the Symphony – particularly the near-endless dancing, on impressively thin heels no less, of sousaphone player/flautist/double bass player Jeanie Schroder.

A few songs particularly stood out. For example, “Clockwise Witness” was a perfect exemplar of the Symphony percussion, the string section perfectly mirroring Tom Hagerman’s plucking, the bridge beautifully filled with orchestral bells. Similarly, “Undone” was made even more atmospheric, ethereal, and impressively rich through the addition of the symphony.  The main show ended with a gorgeous rendition of “The Winner Is,” in which the natural orchestral swells of the original song were perfectly, powerfully complemented by the symphony.

Following a (second) standing ovation, Rus Broseta and the band returned for a two-song encore. The first, “You Love Me,” was a beautiful play of the song, slow and soft, with the light visuals (on the organ) showing birds, hearts, and stars. And finally, the show ended with a cover that was a nod to both the recent loss of David Bowie and Northwest natives Nirvana, with DeVotchKa playing “The Man Who Sold The World” (without the Symphony). Unsurprisingly for a band known for expert covers by the likes of Velvet Underground and Siouxsie and the Banshees, they killed it – ending the show with a final standing ovation and an audience exiting on a clear high from a fantastic show.

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