Gotye Concert-Red Rocks Amphitheater

by Wendy Villalobos

Gotye has a lot going for him. His song “Somebody that I Used to Know” was No.1 on the Billboard charts for an unprecedented amount of time, his CD, Making Mirrors, was one of the best reviewed albums of 2011, he’s Australian, and he was able to score a life-changing experience by performing on the coveted stage at Red Rocks Amphitheater in Morrison,CO. Red Rocks Amphitheater, sometimes just known as Red Rocks by locals, is hands down the most beautiful concert venue in Colorado (at least, that’s how see it). Proudly boasting some of the biggest names in modern day music history, like the Beatles and U2, the amphitheater is a worthy, and noted event setting for great seats, acoustics, and is pleasantly aesthetic for all patrons who attend a concert there.

Gotye was more than prepared to bring the energy on stage as he stormed Red Rocks with his cool, eccentric music and even cooler voice. I was pleasantly impressed and musically sated as the night went on. Gotye and his band played some of my favorites like “We’ll Be Watching You,” and “Eyes Wide Open,” with wild synthesizers and drums, most of which were played by Gotye himself. Upon the rocks in the background were images of each one of his music videos for his songs, all of which were even crazier than the instruments he played on stage (I honestly didn’t even have a name for one that was partially piano, and partially a flute that he produced in the middle of his set). Each video was stranger and more obscure than the next, one of which is still fairly vivid in my mind. The video depicted an elephant of sorts walking through a city with a bird on its shoulder, and as the video progressed I gathered that the elephant is slowly losing its mind. In the end, the elephant is eaten, or perhaps beaten down by a red leopard that had been haunting him through the entire video.

By the end of it, I was more confused than anything, yet the music for the song was so catchy and so rhythmic I hardly paid attention to my confusion for long. Gotye is known for his whimsical, if not haunting and peculiar melodies, but I find him more the better musician for these traits he handles very well. He did Red Rocks the honor with his stage performance, sounding better than he did in his digital recording for “Making Mirrors.” I have trekked to a number of concerts over the years, and there have been few musicians that have been able to carry themselves so well and sounded phenomenally better on stage like Gotye and his band did at Red Rocks. His craft and his dedication as a musician truly resonated between the two towering rocks of the amphitheater. Only good things are going to come from Gotye as he continues on his journey as a musician, and the brilliance and his view of the world is yet another lens I enjoy looking through. His visions and his messages are sent to me through his music, and I feel like the world is calling my name when it happens.

Category: Planet Buzz, On The Scene