Asphalt Orchestra Live: A Concert Review at Redfern Arts Center
This concert review examines Asphalt Orchestra's October 2011 performance at a university's Redfern Arts Center in New Hampshire. The paper introduces the 12-member brass, woodwind, and percussion ensemble and traces their origins at the Lincoln Center Out of Doors Festival. It discusses their eclectic repertoire — spanning artists such as Björk, Charles Mingus, Frank Zappa, and Meshuggah — as well as original pieces commissioned from Yoko Ono and David Byrne. The review evaluates both the band's recorded work and their live performance, highlighting the musicians' technical skill, theatrical stage presence, and audience engagement through physical movement and improvised sound.
- Introduction: First impressions at Redfern Arts Center
- About Asphalt Orchestra: Band origins, members, and diverse repertoire
- Recorded Work and Live Experience: Self-titled album versus live performance
- The Performance at Redfern Arts Center: Audience reaction and musical highlights
- Stage Presence and Audience Engagement: Musicians move through crowd on stage
- Conclusion: Final verdict on the band's uniqueness
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What makes this paper effective
- The review opens with a vivid, well-chosen quotation that immediately establishes tone and sets audience expectations before subverting them.
- It balances factual background about the band with evaluative commentary on their performance, giving readers both context and opinion.
- Specific details — named artists in the repertoire, commissioned composers, and the band's festival origins — lend credibility and depth to the analysis.
Key academic technique demonstrated
The paper demonstrates effective use of concrete evidence to support evaluative claims. Rather than offering vague praise, the writer cites specific repertoire choices (Mingus, Zappa, Meshuggah) and performance behaviors (musicians marching through the audience) to substantiate broader judgments about the band's innovation and entertainment value. This technique — grounding opinions in observable, nameable specifics — is a core skill in arts criticism writing.
Structure breakdown
The review follows a natural critical structure: an attention-grabbing introduction, a factual overview of the band's history and credentials, a discussion of their recorded output, a detailed account of the live performance itself, and a brief forward-looking conclusion. This organization mirrors standard music journalism and makes the argument easy to follow from first impression to final verdict.
Introduction
The Philadelphia Inquirer warned that Asphalt Orchestra is "not your mother's marching band" (Stearns, 2009). Those who entered the university's Redfern Arts Center on the evening of October 5, 2011, were in for a surprise if they had hoped to hear "Louie, Louie" or other high school halftime standards. From the opening notes, it was clear that Asphalt Orchestra was on stage to bring innovative musical entertainment to an enthusiastic and mostly college-aged crowd.
About Asphalt Orchestra
Asphalt Orchestra is a 12-member ensemble of brass, woodwind, and percussion players. All are excellent musicians who can coax weird and wonderful melodies and sounds from their respective instruments. The musicians hail from diverse backgrounds, including rock, jazz, and classical, and come together in a street band that has no contemporary rival.
The band made its debut over a series of performances at the Lincoln Center Out of Doors Festival in New York during the summers of 2009 and 2010. Since then, they have performed throughout the United States and Canada with a repertoire that includes music from Scandinavian pop sensation Björk, jazz legend Charles Mingus, rock innovator Frank Zappa, and the Swedish metal band Meshuggah, as well as new pieces written for the band by such notables as Yoko Ono and Talking Heads' David Byrne. It takes a uniquely talented group of performers to take such diverse material and bring to it their own style and sound, but Asphalt Orchestra does so in their own spectacular, inimitable way.
Recorded Work and Live Experience
The band's self-titled album, released the previous year, is available through iTunes. Tracks such as "Hyper-Ballad" let band members show off their considerable jazz chops, while "Electric Red" lets the listener hear some of the growls and squeaks that punctuate much of their live shows. As good as the album is, Asphalt Orchestra is best experienced live. It is the music, obviously, that is the focus of the show, but the audience is entertained by the antics of the band as well.
Conclusion
It would be fun to see Asphalt Orchestra again in another venue just to see what else they can do. With a high level of musicianship and their talent for innovation, this reviewer feels certain that every show would be unique but always interesting, satisfying, and entertaining.
Reference
Stearns, D.P. (2009). Asphalt Orchestra [online]. Available at:
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