Pure Scenius was the finale of the Luminous festival in Sydney curated by Brian Eno. It comprised three connected 90 minute improvised (though clearly rehearsed) performances of live music separated by 45 minute intervals. The concerts enabled people to attend one, two or all three performances; at least half (from what I could tell) selected all three.

Brian Eno onstage at the Sydney Opera House during part one of Pure Scenius

Eno’s collaborators included Underworld’s Karl Hyde and The Necks. The entire ensemble featured drums, double bass, guitar, two pianos and many laptops and electronic devices. The music ranged from the most delicate Eno ambience, similar to his recent work with Robert Fripp on The Equatorial Stars through to some of the most discordant, aggressive and groove oriented music he has made.

Brian Eno and Karl Hyde onstage at the Sydney Opera House during part one of Pure Scenius

$130 was a modest price to see nearly six hours of live music performed by one of the most influential and enigmatic contemporary composers, who has never performed in Australia before and who rarely performs live anywhere. Surprisingly the event was not a complete sellout – a few rows at the back were empty, as were a few seats scattered throughout. Some people obviously came for only the first part, which was the best attended.

Youtuber Gethen has posted 4 fantastic videos of Pure Scenius.

Musicians relaxing during an interval between performances on the onstage lounge

The stage design was fascinating. From the audience’s perspective, Eno and his assistant were on the left sitting on office chairs behind desks with laptops and devices. Towards the centre at the front was Karl Hyde with laptops, a keyboard and devices. Behind them were The Necks: pianist Chris Abrahams, drummer Tony Buck and bass player Lloyd Swanton.

Youtuber cloudedsunny has posted many videos.

In front on the right was a lounge area (above) and next to it was a cafe tables with electric kettle, tea and milk clearly visible. Behind this were Jon Hopkins on piano and devices and Leo Abrahams playing a chocolate coloured Gibson SG through a MacBook Pro.

When not contributing to a song, musicians would wander over, make a cup of tea and sit and watch. The ensemble also grouped there in the intervals rather than going to a dressing room backstage. With the front two rows left empty (poor viewing angle considering the low stage setup) I was effectively in the front three rows for all three performances and was able to see what the musicians were doing doing onstage.

Musicians relaxing during an interval between performances on the onstage lounge

Eno is remarkable. He appears uneasy with adulation and bemused by the devotion of his fans. His stage presence is modest compared to Hyde, who was ebullient and punching the air like he was playing Ibiza. Eno and Hyde contributed spoken word and sung vocals.

As well as communicating via notes and performing what were rehearsed improvisations, the band was wearing ear plugs (presumably for foldback and a click track to help keep time) with Eno also conducting the band by hand at some points, particularly during significant transitions between sequences.

Eno uses comedy to relate to the audience and he’s extremely charming and wry. He joked that there were lots of bald people (like him) in the audience and that he appreciated the support of the bald appreciation society. Considering that this implies a predominately older audience, the age diversity of the audience was remarkable, with almost an even split of 20s, 30s, 40s and 50s, and some teens and 60s.

Eno was particularly charming when introducing the band in the second session. He forgot to mention his assistant on his right until an audience member called out to remind him. Watch the video below.

Eno also spoke a little about his musical philosophies, including the comment that ‘the dark matter is much more interesting’. He was also beautifully dressed in black trousers and shirt, a rich purple jacket, blue socks and black loafers.

The musicians congratulating each other at the end of the third and final performance

It was amazing to watch Eno implementing his famous oblique strategies live – brief notes written and shared (using a webcam at his desk I think that displayed his notes on the laptop screens of the ensemble) for the band to respond to. Notes included (as best as I can remember them) ‘quiet and warm like blood’, ‘approach the extremes of pitch’ and ‘introduce hot and cold’.

There were two particular highlights for me. The first was the encore to the first session, which was required after oustanding applause. Eno said they were not expecting such a huge response. They played a piece called ‘Pink Moon’ that I found enchanting. I hope a recording was made and is released. Please post links to bootlegs! There are more (and better) photos of the concert here.

The second was a piece called ‘Ikebana Noise Club’ (also from the first session I think) which was described as being the kind of music played in clubs in Tokyo c2025. The past tense was used to describe a potential future, which was most intriguing. Eno described different clubs that played white noise, pink noise or black noise. Ikebana was the latter, but was shut down because black noise was associated with ethnic troubles (perhaps a hint at recent Australian ethnic tensions).

A different version of ‘Ikebana Noise Club’ was performed as the encore to the third session.

Another piece called ‘Beautiful Piano’ is self explanatory.

This video is of the applause at the end of the third session, when Eno commented that Sydney had been very kind to the band.

The musicians congratulating each other at the end of the third and final performance

US blogger Tony from Illinois describes a 20 year quest to hear Eno play live. As he says on Twitter: “Just finished the 2nd show and it was awesome – totally worth flying around the world for. Second set sounded like ambient space funk.“ It was definitely worth it. Amazing. Brilliant. Unforgettable.