I saw the third installment of the Out There Series on Thursday night.

The premise can be described very simpley. 

Cue the haze.... cue the projections....

The audience watches a trio of musicians rehearse a new song... I'm no scholar of music... it sounded to me like some fusion of The Who, The Stones and Concrete Blonde.... sort of like sex music with a bad Beach Boys refraine of "bah bah-da-bah bah".  They exchange pithy comments like "the high hat is too trashy".  The projections floated on the haze, giving the omipresent musicians a ghost like quality as they floated above their instruments. 

Cue replenish the haze...

The effect was often very cool...

After the 50 minutes rehearsal, are rewarded a payoff as the Maguire transforms and the ghosts of the rehearsal disipate.  Suddenly we're at a rock show.  The band members return in spandex and perform live.  The crowd loved this moment, enthusiastically assuming their new role as rock show audience.

It was very difficult to tell when the show was over.  The tension held the crowd cheering and shrugging shoulders for nearly 10 minutes.  The house light finally came up and suddenly we a group of baffeled (or punk'd) Walker goers.

I was pissed and irritated through most of the performance.  The audience is wedged into a seating arrangement.  I was moved by the house management twice according to the specifications of the director.  Visibility was apparently essential to our enjoyment of the project.  It was obvious all we needed to see was the set up for a 70s rock/funk on-stage...   Apparently there were "demands" from the director.  I'm not sure how the seating arrangment would have effected the already listless concept.

Reflecting, though I didn't enjoy it at the time, I'm very glad I attended.  I can't speak for any intential, there was certainly an unusual practice on display.