The Panther Newspaper: Disclosure dazzles, despite venue

The first time that I heard Disclosure perform, I was sitting in my campsite at Coachella after returning from seeing Adventure Club. I realized who Disclosure was when I heard “Latch” playing in the distance and didn’t think much of it at the time. After listening to more of their music, they’re now my favorite artist and I vowed to see them live after missing my chance at Coachella. When I discovered they would be coming to the Los Angeles Sports Arena on Sept. 29, I immediately bought pre-sale tickets to their first arena show.

The cover art for Disclosure's album, "Caracal", released Sept. 25.

Photo courtesy Wikipedia.

I had floor seats, which meant general admission on the massive dance floor. Disclosure came onstage and both members of the duo, brothers Guy and Howard Lawrence, each had their own separate DJ booths equipped with instruments and microphones that they utilized throughout the show. They did a mixture of older songs, such as opening with “White Noise” and “F for You” from their previous album, “Settle,” and new songs from their album, “Caracal,” which was released just days before on Sept. 25. I made the decision to wait to download the album so that I could hear some of their new releases for the first time at the concert, and I’m glad that I did.

The lights and visuals on screen were amazing, featuring outlines of the artists’ faces and bodies, which is a common feature of Disclosure’s brand. My favorite part of the show was when faces with white outlines, along with names, began flashing across the screen. Suddenly, I realized that the faces belonged to people at the concert who had downloaded an app to “disclose their faces,” which were then made into part of the show. I thought this helped bring the crowd together, which seemed necessary as no one in the audience moved with each other, as if they were in their own little worlds — not what I was expecting for this type of show. Then again, this was Los Angeles.

Out of the nine artists featured on their 15-song album, Disclosure brought out three as special guests: Lion Babe, Brendan Reilly and (last, but certainly not least) Sam Smith. First, they brought out Lion Babe as their special guest to perform “Hourglass.” After only an hour and fifteen minutes, the duo left the stage as if the show was over. But then they returned with Brendan Reilly for “Moving Mountains,” and we all knew they weren’t done yet. By then, I knew that they had been teasing us.

Then they announced that one more person was there, “Omen” started playing and all of my musical dreams came true. Out of all the artists Disclosure could have brought out, Sam Smith was the one vocalist that I truly wanted to hear perform with them. Artists The Weeknd and Lorde are also featured on the album, but Sam Smith and Disclosure essentially owe their careers to each other and it was incredible to witness that connection.

Ending with “Latch” was the perfect way to conclude the first show of their U.S., U.K. and European tour, and I had a moment when I thought back to my younger self and said, “I got you, girl, I made sure you saw them one day.”

The reason I can’t give this show a perfect rating is because of the venue. Disclosure did a spectacular job and they certainly had a successful first arena show, which is a challenge for many artists to break through. However, the Sports Arena and all of its employees seemed unprepared for the event. Many paying attendees were left without a ticket at will call and weren’t let in until halfway through Disclosure’s set — thankfully, I chose to print my ticket before going to the event.

Once the show ended, everyone was ushered into an unlit stairwell which appeared to be the only exit. With hundreds of sneakers squeaking against the concrete, phone lights flashing all over and many voices complaining about the safety hazard, it certainly brought down everyone’s mood a bit, which was unfortunate after such a fun evening. We came out to the madness outside and ended up needing to order three separate Uber rides in order to get our entire group home, which proved to be difficult with all of our phone services being completely backed up.

But on the drive home, I just couldn’t stop smiling as I remembered my almost perfect experience seeing Disclosure. Even though I never make purchases on iTunes, the first thing I did when I got home was buy their album and I’ve been listening to it on a loop ever since.

4.5/5 Panther paws.

Photo courtesy RTP.