The Lost Hard Drives
California Plaza during the water fountain era
A funny thing happened recently: we were clearing out storage space at the Grand Performances offices and came across some old hard drives containing concert footage from a decade ago that had never been posted!!
These were pristine video files with accompanying audio tracks recorded straight from the soundboard. With a little audio remastering, we were able to properly revisit some truly awesome moments in GP’s history.
Aside from the concert performances themselves, we really took joy in seeing so many (at that time) up & coming many artists gracing our stage who would later go on to further establish themselves and achieve greater things.
Quantic presents "Magnetica Sodade" (7/11/2014)
For example, keen eyes will find saxophonist Sly5thAve playing alongside Quantic in this clip from July of 2014. At the time, Sly5thAve was still emerging as a solo artist and had just released his first record independently. He’s now released four studio albums, including his orchestral tribute to Dr. Dre which led to sold out shows around the country and earned a loving onstage shout out from the Doctor himself.
Ana Tijoux performs "Desclasificado" (8/25/2012)
Another example: Ana Tijoux. During her magnificent 2012 set at Grand Performances, we witnessed the French-Chilean artist rap about oppression and the struggle for identity in her song “Desclasificado” while backed by a string ensemble. Just two years later she won a Latin Grammy for Record of the Year for “Universos Paralelos” while being named "Best Rapper en Español" by Rolling Stone magazine.
Or take bass player Eugene Brandon Owens, featured here in the Adventures From Paradise ensemble tribute concert to Minnie Riperton.
Adventures from Paradise: A Tribute to Minnie Riperton “Baby, This Love I Have” (7/12/2014)
Hip hop fans will immediately recognize the bassline Owens is playing from A Tribe Called Quest’s “Check The Rhime” which sampled Riperton’s “Baby, This Love I Have.”
Owens would later make his own legendary mark on hip hop history by playing bass on Kendrick Lamar’s critically-acclaimed opus “To Pimp a Butterfly” in addition playing a role in the Oscar-winning film Whiplash.
The full Minnie Riperton set can be found here. Be sure to subscribe to our YouTube channel as we’ll be publishing more of these lost shows in the coming days.
You never know who will perform at Grand Performances or what their careers will evolve into, but the one constant throughout our 36 year history is that we take chances and support artists who do the same.
Thank you for rocking with us all these years!