I hesitate to tell you about the Academy of Sciences’ monthly NightLife LIVE events only because I’m afraid it will soon become popular and pricey and these monthly nighttime experiences will lose their laid-back intimacy.
As for now, you can stroll through the aquarium with a gin and tonic in your hand and see Connan Mockasin all for the price of $15 (no surcharge).
On stage, the New Zealand-born headliner was just as titillating as he was unsettling. Since the release of his 2014 sophomore album Forever Dolphin Love, Connan Mockasin has been received as one of the best — and weirdest — faces of psych-pop, making out on stage with friend Mac Demarco to filming Soft Hair collaborator Sam Dust in the shower. But as he plucked away seductively (wearing a little black policeman hat), he held a mellow court of 2o something-year-olds in a dreamy cloud. The coy Kiwi was even joined on the keys and backup guitar with frequent collaborator infinite bisous.
The show would have been everything fans ever-wanted-and-needed had the set been longer than a meager hour and ten minutes. But, still, we’re talking fifteen dollars, with the fantastic opener Morgan Delt to boot.
Like cool parents, the curators of the museum thought it fittingly “trippy” to project psychedelic images around the stage and gaily announce over the intercom speakers when the next act was on stage. Okay, the lawn area smelled a little like septic tank problems. It’s the thought (and the performer you ordered) that counts.
Overall, the decision to return to the indoor zoo next month for the Electric Guest show is a no-brainer. You got your star-studded recommendation here.
Written by John Lawson
Photos by John Lawson
