La La Land in Concert - 23/09/17


Oh my god this is the best rewatch of a film I’ve ever experienced, I’m so happy I get to log this and say I rewatched because I saw it live in concert. I’m about to ramble on, for probably far too long, about how it was the best night of my life but it’s absolutely necessary and I need to do this. So, please excuse me whilst I continue to do so. 

The moment I walked into the theatre it was already the best night of my life. If you follow me on twitter then you probably know how excited I’ve been for this. I was literally counting down the days and screaming constantly about just how excited I was. So sorry for that, if you do follow me on twitter. I sat down in my seat, which was incredibly close to the front and had the most amazing view, 15 minutes before the show started. Those 15 minutes were the longest of my life, I felt like I was counting down second by second. I’d waited so long for this and it was finally here, a mere 15 minutes away!!! I was so excited my legs and hands were genuinely shaking. I don’t think I’ve ever actually been so excited for anything in my whole entire 19 years of life and I’m really not exaggerating when I say that.

Now, I can’t even begin to describe how I felt the moment the conductor walked out on stage, knowing the show I’d waited for so long to see was about to start. I mean, the fact that he was lowkey hot and lowkey looked like a blonde Justin Hurwitz almost made my heart stop, but that’s a whole other story. I was literally on the edge of my seat. The best way I can describe the way I felt is like .. imagine a giddy child on Christmas Eve or the eve of their birthday, just like that. He introduced the orchestra (who were just absolutely out of this world, by the way, like each member has more talent just in their pinky finger than I do in my whole body). He then proceeded to tell us to laugh, cry, clap and/or dance .. which I did all of, a lot .. especially the crying and clapping part. He then said “this is la la land” which was just like the most beautiful and incredible sentence I’ve ever heard in my life .. this was it!!! It was about to start!!!! Then they proceeded to play overture. Cue the goosebumps. 

I’m not going to give a run through of the whole concert or film, you all know how it goes. Everything about it, every song, every scene, every single second was just absolutely extraordinary. I was transported, the whole show just absolutely took over my body, the other people in the theatre didn’t even matter because in my mind it was just me and the orchestra and the film going through this incredible experience together. I’ve never felt so many emotions in my life I really did laugh and cry and clap and dance (and by dance I mean some serious foot tapping and head bopping). The whole way through I could just feel myself sat there with this ridiculous big ass smile on my face. I had goosebumps for the whole 2 hours, the hairs on the back of my neck were genuinely stood up. I’ve never experienced a feeling as amazing as I did sitting watching this and I know, for a fact, I won’t experience anything that amazing ever again in my life. Nothing could ever come close to this. I was in my own world with this incredible work of art and I absolutely loved it, every single second of it. I’m so thankful I got to see this and my life is now defined by pre la la land in concert and post la la land in concert. That’s it, the two stages of my life. I can’t remember what my life was like before I saw this. It was empty and meaningless and now it’s like all colourful and happy and whole again and suddenly I have meaning and a purpose!? 

When the ending came I did just genuinely start crying, like there were tears real tears rolling down my cheeks. I don’t know if it was just epilogue itself, hearing it live or knowing that this incredible experience was coming to an end. Probably a combination of all three. As soon as they finished and ‘the end’ came up on screen everyone just jumped out of their seats and the place just absolutely roared with noises of cheering and clapping. I clapped so hard my hands were stinging afterwards. The orchestra even played the music on the end credits, which I didn’t expect, and for the whole time the whole place was just stood up clapping, absolutely in awe and overwhelmed of what we’d all just experienced. I did take a small video of that ending which I did post on my twitter and which I’ve watched non stop ever since I left the theatre. 

I don’t even know how to end this. Nothing I’ve said in this probably makes much sense. I feel like I’ve just been rambling, but it’s just so hard to express the feelings I felt last night. I just hope I managed to put across just how amazing it was and how it really was the best night of my life. 

I guess I just feel so so honoured, priveliged and god damn lucky that I got the chance to see this. This is by far the best viewing I’ve had of this film, or of any film ever in my life, and I know when I do come to watch la la land again I’ll be missing that insanely talented live orchestra taking me through the film with them. I wish I knew all the names of the people in that orchestra because I’d individually thank them all, but I don’t so I guess for now I’ll just give a salute to Justin Hurwitz for being the most talented man on the universe. He’s created something so timeless and incredible and I really do think the music in this film will always make me feel something that I’ll find impossible to describe.