Beck with Pacific Symphony

BECK WITH PACIFIC SYMPHONY
As the title of his most recent album Hyperspace would imply, eight-time Grammy-winner Beck has traveled light years from his emergence as a reluctant generational spokesperson when “Loser” exploded from a rejected 1992 demo into a ubiquitous 1994 smash. In the decades since, Beck’s singular career has seen him utilize all manners and eras of music, blurring boundaries and blazing a path into the future while simultaneously foraging through the past.

Surfacing just as the mainstream and alternative rock intersected, no small thanks to his 1994 debut Mellow Gold, Beck quickly confounded expectations with subsequent releases including the lo-fi folk of One Foot in the Grave. But the album that first cemented Beck’s place in the pantheon was 1996’s multi-platinum Best Alternative Grammy winner Odelay. Touching on all of Beck’s obsessions, Odelay remains a key cultural touchstone from the indelible hooks of “Devil’s Haircut” and “The New Pollution” to the irresistible call and response of the Grammy-winning anthem and live show staple “Where It’s At.”

More recently, Beck resurrected the full band live show that moved The Times of London to describe him as “a one-man festival… among modern pop stars perhaps only Prince had more range,“ embarking on the Summer Odyssey tour with co-headliners Phoenix. Summer Odyssey played to packed houses from the Kia Forum in L.A. to Red Rocks to Madison Square Garden and beyond, and was commemorated by the release of the Beck/Phoenix summer anthem “Odyssey,” which turned out to be both a nightly highlight of its namesake tour and a highlight in a prolific streak of collaborations including a historic full concert performance with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, an appearance on the Chemical Brothers’ “Skipping Like A Stone” and, most recently, “Beautiful People (Stay High),” one of multiple Beck co-writes on the new Black Keys album.