Just Lauren

My thoughts on the Hans Zimmer concert.

The bad first:

The details were wrong. The concert took place on a Sunday night at the First Bank Center. This complex is in Broomfield, which is about a 30 minute drive away. Now, that doesn’t seem horrible, I drive 30 minutes to and from work every day and it’s fine, but for some reason the drive felt like a stretch. This is most likely because it’s outside of Denver so I feel like I’m driving to Boulder and I don’t really want to do that. That’s not directly the center’s fault but it does affect my opinion of it and deters me from going there again.

What really got me, though, was that the concert didn’t start until 8pm. On a Sunday. I really like my sleep. A lot. And when I don’t get it I get anxious and angry. I knew this would happen to me at the concert but knowing that in advance only helped prevent those feelings for a short time. So when the concert just kept going and going, instead of being excited that I got to hear more awesome music, I was grumpy and angry. Again, that’s not entirely the concert’s fault, but they were the ones who chose an 8pm start time.

The concert then proceeded to last too long. It didn’t end until 11pm. That’s almost 3 full hours of music (with a 15 minute break thrown in there). If the event had started at 7pm I would have been down for 3 hours of music, but it started at 8 so I was ready to leave at 10pm. I get that this is a plus for most people, more music is better, but it was not actually a plus for me. The last 45 minutes of music I was zoned out and not enjoying it.

What it comes down to is that my personal preferences for life did not match up with this concert and that’s just too bad. I can blame the venue or the planning but it’s not really anyone’s fault but my own. I was just not ready to experience an event like that.

The good:

The first two hours of the concert were AMAZING. That’s right, I did actually enjoy parts of it even after the ranting. I mean, I got to see Hans Zimmer in person. That doesn’t happen often, if ever. This man is pure talent and happiness. His team of musicians were equally impressive. The amount of music these people memorize is amazing to me. This one guy played multiple kinds of flutes and wind instruments and his passion for his art was visible. Watching the musicians was exhilarating, they did some impressive playing.

The show in general was quite well done too. The lights were a show of their own – the programming for that must have been insane. The lights changed so quickly during some pieces and the different things they did with lights was great. I don’t know how the musicians kept playing while lights were going off and on around and on top of them. It would have distracted me to no end. Again, they were impressive. There was a giant screen behind everyone that, at times, zoomed in on the musicians playing their instruments. I could never quite figure out if it was live or pre-recorded, it was that on tempo. It was so cool and artistic. It really brought everything together.

The music itself was fantastic. Even Gene was tapping his feet on occasion. What was really awesome, and probably my favorite piece, was The Lion King medley. Who doesn’t like some Circle of Life? What was the icing on the cake? The guy who sang the song for the movie was the one who sang it for us at the concert! What?! How?! I was awe struck. He’s got a great voice and presence. His daughter was there and sang with him. Could not have been better. That music enveloped me and it was wonderful.

So I had a great time for the first two hours and then my brain and I decided to freak out a bit and the rest wasn’t great. Lesson learned though, if something comes up for a Sunday night I’ll know I can handle everything up until 10pm and then I gotta bounce. Maybe one day I’ll be chill enough to handle staying out past 10 on a weeknight but for now I’m okay with knowing my limits and enjoying what I can!