If you’re ever unfortunate enough to hear the words, “…inspired by the apocalypse,” it’s time to leave wherever you are.
The Patmos’ Revelations of Music Festival took a strange twist last night as we gathered in the main square of Hora for a “multimedia presentation involving music, dance and video.” We expected something involving different performers taking turns with their artistic contributions and performances in the old monasterial town on the hill.
Nothing could have prepared us for what we found instead.
We arrived at Hora where vehicles must park just outside the town. After a nice dinner at our favorite little place with great pizza and even better views, we walked through the quiet, old world cobblestone “streets,” following the little makeshift, glowing paper lanterns which guided our path.
We made our way through the little town that comes out of a storybook until we arrived at the “town square” which is more of a rectangle between the tightly packed old homes. All the typical concert accoutrement were present – lights, sound system, seating and this time, two video projectors aimed at the whitewashed walls of the square.
The usual introductions for the evening’s performance ensued, talking about how various artists collaborated to form this presentation….and it was “inspired by the apocalypse.” I knew this could go nowhere good.
And it didn’t.
That’s when the man and the woman each dressed in purple skin-tight body suits came out. Somewhat techo-ish music began playing and the man and the woman began what I thought was “warming up” – doing what appeared to be yoga. At one point I thought, “I’ve done that routine…” Sure, it was odd that they were practicing Vinyasa in front of a projections of clouds, sky and water images, but they were just “warming up.”
Then it became clear that it was the first act of the performance. For a moment, their “dancing” resembled a little bit of Cirque de Soleil, and I thought that perhaps as the music changed and evolved, it would get more artistic and more inspired.
Instead, the music got harsher and the dancing became….stranger…. and then a woman dressed in heavy white flowy robes appeared in a spot light on the stairs a above the performance stage and attempted to sing in a way that I believe God only intended Enya to sing.
After the attempts at dramatic-angelic tones, came intense violent music where the woman sang semi-operatically reviewing the sequence of events for God’s wrath and the apocalypse. As the name suggests, it wasn’t a pleasant list. Nor was it a pleasant performance.
I realized at that moment nothing was going to get better from there. So, I turned to Emily who sat staring, looking puzzled as if it was all a Rubik’s Cube. I made the hand gestures which said, “You, me, leave….?” She was surprised I suggested it because I usually will see anything through. But if I learned nothing else from Kenny Rogers, it was to walk away when the dealing’s done – and it was clear what hand had been dealt.
As I looked back up, the dancers were struggling in a large cloth the same iridescent purple as their body suits – clearly trapped and struggling in some aspect of destruction and punishment.
So when there was brief pause for applause between “acts”, we followed a large number of other people who had all attempted to discreetly excuse themselves. And instead of participating in the apocalypse, we shifted to exodus – a book with which we Jews are far more comfortable.
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