Band of Horses Opens

SATURDAY, JULY 7, AT 7:30 PM

The Decemberists, make their orchestral debut with the Los Angeles Philharmonic at the Hollywood Bowl, in an unconventional pairing on Saturday, July 7, at 7:30 p.m. The collaboration is not the first time the Los Angeles Philharmonic has broken from the traditional ranks to work with a non-classical artist - last year, the orchestra was joined by Scottish indie pop band Belle & Sebastian in a sold-out performance at the Bowl. Opening for The Decemberists is Seattle indie rock group, Band of Horses.

Led by songwriter and frontman Colin Meloy, The Decemberists have climbed the ranks of the indie music world with a series of bold and beautiful albums. The band's debut into Triple A radio has brought them tremendous success - giving them Top 10 Triple A single with "O'Valencia" and heavy major market airplay from the most influential stations in the format including WXPN (Philadelphia), KFOG (San Francisco), KINK (Portland), KMTT (Seattle), WXRV (Boston), KBCO (Denver) WXRT (Chicago) and many others. Their latest work, The Crane Wife, inspired by a Japanese folk tale that Meloy came across in the children's section of a Portland bookstore, was voted the No. 1 record of the year by Minnesota Public Record listeners and has topped college music charts, such as College Music Journal (CMJ), where it held the No. 1 spot for five weeks as well as being the most added record at college radio in the past five years. Additionally, The Crane Wife was voted No. 1 album of 2006 by National Public Radio listeners.

The Bowl performance features a preview of brand-new orchestral arrangements of The Decemberists' songs, and kicks off a tour in which the band performs with orchestral accompaniment - a tour spearheaded by the efforts of The Hollywood Bowl programming team.

This latest collaboration builds on the trend of non-traditional pairings produced by the Hollywood Bowl in the past beginning with the French pop duo AIR, which played at the Bowl with a full orchestra in 2004. Other such Bowl pairings that have bridged the gap between classical and other types of music include performances by Stereolab, Dead Can Dance and the aforementioned Belle & Sebastian.

THE DECEMBERISTS include songwriter and frontman Colin Meloy, multi-instrumentalist Chris Funk, keyboardist Jenny Conlee, bassist Nate Query and drummer John Moen. The Portland band is known for their group dynamic that embraces experimentation even as it celebrates classic pop and folk forms with a little klezmer, Irish jig, sea chantey and progressive rock thrown in. Playing to sold-out tours throughout the nation, The Decemberists have attained widespread popular and critical acclaim, while maintaining an aesthetic all their own. Their most recent release, The Crane Wife, released by Capitol Records is the band's first major label appearance.

Seattle's BAND OF HORSES was formed in 2004 by guitarist/vocalist Ben Bridwell (formerly of Pacific Northwestern melancholic darlings Carissa's Weird). Since then, the band's sound, buoyed by Bridwell's warm, reverb-heavy vocals, has developed into an often lush, sometimes twangy, always gorgeous thing. Band of Horses released a self-titled EP in 2005 before recording their debut full-length Everything All the Time with producer Phil Ek at Seattle's Avast studios. They are currently writing and recording their second full-length for Sub Pop in North Carolina, where the band now resides.

One of the largest natural amphitheaters in the world, with a seating capacity of nearly 18,000, the HOLLYWOOD BOWL has been the summer home of the Los Angeles Philharmonic since its official opening in 1922, and in 1991 gave its name to the Hollywood Bowl Orchestra, a resident ensemble that has filled a special niche in the musical life of Southern California. The 2004 season introduced audiences to a revitalized Hollywood Bowl, featuring a newly-constructed shell and stage and the addition of four stadium screens enhancing stage views in the venue. To this day, $1 buys a seat at the top of the Bowl for many of the Los Angeles Philharmonic's concerts. While the Bowl is best known for its sizzling summer nights, during the day California's youngest patrons enjoy "SummerSounds: Music for Kids at the Hollywood Bowl," the Southland's most popular summer arts festival for children, now in its 39th season. Attendance figures over the past several decades have soared: in 1980 the Bowl first topped the half-million mark and close to one million admissions have been recorded. In February 2007, the Hollywood Bowl was named Best Major Outdoor Concert Venue for the third year in a row at the 18th Annual Pollstar Concert Industry Awards; the Bowl's summer music festival has become as much a part of a Southern California summer as beaches and barbecues, the Dodgers, and Disneyland.

EDITORS PLEASE NOTE:

SATURDAY, JULY 7, 2007, at 7:30 PM

HOLLYWOOD BOWL, 2301 N. Highland Ave. in Hollywood

THE DECEMBERISTS WITH THE LOS ANGELES PHILHARMONIC

BAND OF HORSES

Tickets ($20 - $105) go on sale March 10 at the Hollywood Bowl Box Office and can be purchased by calling Ticketmaster at 213.480.3232, at all Ticketmaster outlets (Macy's, Tower Records and Ritmo Latino locations), or online at HollywoodBowl.com. Groups of 10 or more may be eligible for a 20% discount, subject to availability; call 323.850.2050 for further details. For general information or to request a brochure, call 323.850.2000.

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