Jarvis Cocker - Live at the Wiltern

Jarvis Cocker

On Monday, July 27, 2009 I went to see British singer and former frontman of the band Pulp, perform at the historic Wiltern theater in Los Angeles. The Wiltern is a beautiful art deco building that opened in 1931 as a movie theater and was originally intended to be the flagship of the Warner Bros. chain of theaters. However, the Wiltern failed to get business and was forced to close after a couple years.

Over the years the Wiltern went through many different changes but nothing seemed to keep the place full of life. In 1980, the Wiltern theater was even threatened to be demolished until preservation groups stepped in and saved the building. Today the theater is primarily used as a concert venue. Movie lovers will be interested to know that the lobby of the theater was used as a hotel lobby in the Coehn brothers film, Barton Fink.

Wiltern Theater in Los Angeles - Photo by Musely from Flickr

And do you know why the Wiltern theater is called the Wiltern? Because it sits at the corner of Wilshire and Western. Cocker joked during the concert that the theater could have easily been called the Weshire.

I am a regular concert goer and out of the many shows I've seen, Jarvis definitely goes to the top of the list as far as great performers go. The way he swaggers around the stage and interacts with the audience is completely engaging. Although video does not do Jarvis justice for the experience one gets from seeing him live, here is some video I shot from the show on my little camera:

Jarvis Performing "I Never Said I Was Deep" @ the Wiltern, Los Angeles

Here is a video of Jarvis Cocker signing autographs after the show: