The Hollywood Bowl may be one of the most famous concert venues in the world, but as the summer home of the Los Angeles Philharmonic, it probably isn’t the first place that comes to mind for dance music, electronic or otherwise. But Parcels and Polo & Pan did their respective parts to push the Bowl further up the list of locales fit for frolicking with a double bill on a cozy summer Sunday as part of the season-long KCRW Festival series.
After gracing festival goers with a flurry of funky beats at Outside Lands in San Francisco on Saturday, both acts made their way down the West Coast to woo Angelenos out of their seats and into the aisles in the Hollywood Hills.
Following warm-ups from KCRW DJ Travis Holcombe and rising Midwestern artist Ogi, Parcels took the stage to energize a healthy crowd at the 17,000-seat half-stadium with their signature blend of French disco and pop stylings from Britain to America. With nothing but a simple instrumental setup, the Australian indietronic outfit got the audience moving and grooving with their various odes to strained relationships and love unfulfilled, from “Overnight” and “Lightenup” to “Free” and “Tieduprightnow”.
That catalog of danceable diddies did its part to draw attendees to their seats much earlier and in greater numbers than the typical, late-arriving Bowl crowd. Few remained seated, with plenty abandoning their designated spots to boogie on the concourses.
As far as order of operations goes, though, the Aussies were primarily there to set the tone for a night that would be ably capped by Polo & Pan. The French duo of Paul Armand-Delille and Alexandre Grynszpan, along with more-than-occasional appearances by vocalist Victoria Lafaurie, enchanted the audience with their signature blend of world beats and colorful, art d’ecco-esque animations.
Related: Polo & Pan Summon A World Of Sound At The Shrine Expo Hall In Los Angeles [Photos]
From the mellow flows of “Feel Good”, “Attrape-reve”, and “Canopee”, to the giddy grooves of “Dorothy” and “Magic”, to the beyond-borderline banger of “Ani Kuni”, Polo & Pan infused their set with a globe’s worth of nods to all kinds of cultures—indigenous, popular, and otherwise.
Along the way, Paul and Alexandre split their time between straight-up DJing, singing through vocal synthesizers, and outright egging on the crowd with words of encouragement. And, as is their wont, they closed out the night not with themselves front and center, but rather with Victoria reflecting light like a human disco ball while crooning “Peter Pan”.
To many in the boxes and benches of the Bowl, none of these theatrics came as any shock. After all, almost exactly six months prior, Polo & Pan put largely the same set and visuals to the test in front of a sold-out house at the Shrine Expo Hall in downtown L.A.
The same held even truer for Parcels, who got thousands of hips of swaying and feet fluttering during a turn through the Hollywood Palladium in early March.
And, truth be told, the Bowl has stood the test of time when it comes to dance music of all stripes. Even electronic dance music—a genre likely antithetical to some of the season ticket holders who appeared nonplussed during Parcels and Polo & Pan—has had its days in the Hollywood Hills. It’s been nearly a decade since the late Avicii headlined a show off Highland Avenue, thereby ushering the Bowl into a new era of musical imagination.
Fast forward to the summer of 2022, and Parcels and Polo & Pan were anything but out of place performing in front of an orchestral pit. The same goes for those who took their cues from the front of house to gyrate their way to sonic ecstasy.
Polo & Pan – “Magic”
Polo & Pan – Dance Off
Polo & Pan – “Dorothy”
Polo & Pan – “Peter Pan”
Polo & Pan – “Nana”
[Videos: Will Byrne]
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