Odesza is finally wrapping up their two-year tour run in support of their Grammy-nominated album, The Last Goodbye, with a final new tour segment aptly titled ” Fittingly, they chose one of the most beautiful venues imaginable – and one just hours from where the group formed, in Bellingham, WA, as well as from the first show of this tour, which took place in Seattle. With supporting acts Golden Features, Drama, and Bob Moses, Odesza ensured a deeply memorable evening for the sizable crowd of perhaps 20,000 people in attendance at the second of their three tour-ending shows at The Gorge in central Washington.
To begin, for the uninitiated, The Gorge is itself a piece of art, a natural amphitheater set amongst the dry brown cliffs of the Columbia River Gorge; it should be on the bucket list of any music lover. Simply being in the space can be a transcendent experience. Clearly aware of that, Odesza took their already renowned spectacle up a notch, building a fascinating entry/exit experience entitled “Echoes” to greet fans entering the venue. “Echoes” has six towers, each mirrored except for the interior, which includes 120 LED screens. Walking through them, one heard an accompanying soundtrack with more ambient music samples voiced over by fans talking about their experience with Odesza. It was a beautiful way to enter the venue and set the tone immediately for the immersive main event to come.
Odesza has created an incredible ecosystem, including the various supporting acts and guest performers they elevate. The show openers were all compelling, lifting many in the crowd to their feet dancing – not always something that can be counted on for openers (especially with three of them).
Back to the show: the duo took their eleven-date “Finale” mini-tour through New York’s Madison Square Gardens, as well as venues in Berkeley, Los Angeles, and Boulder, before coming to its final conclusion at The Gorge. Attending Friday’s penultimate show of the tour brought with it an almost overwhelming set of emotions; the crowd was ebullient, soaking in the magic of the venue, reveling in the music and spectacle. Similarly, one could feel the sense of nostalgia already creeping over many of the attendees, with overheard conversations referencing previously-attended Odesza shows and the amazing emotional impact the band and their shows have had, the community they’ve built, and the sense of belonging that accompanies such an effort. The sense that it was all coming to an end clearly brought with it a sense of impending loss – but one which was quickly subdued with the instrumental notes of “This Version of You” wafting over the crowd just past sunset as Odesza launched into their show.
From that moment on, the crowd was lost in a nearly endless dance party, a bacchanalia of epic proportions. As can be expected at an Odesza show, the music was tight and driving, a mix of songs from throughout their catalog (and including, as was common on The Last Goodbye tour, the songs “Keep Moving” and “Heart Attack,” from their side project, Bronson). Many of the songs were played more as medleys, one mixing into the next, creating altered sonic manifestations and lifting the audience into emotionally new territory, even on familiar material.
As always with Odesza, the visuals, pyrotechnics, and overall spectacle were all-encompassing, an inundation meant to stimulate, or perhaps overwhelm, any defense against the magic of the music. As your reviewer’s companion, a first-time Odesza show attendee, noted, being at the show was “like being right at the epicenter of the song.” This observation was apt; the Odesza experience brings a myriad of feelings elicited by the music while also freeing the participant to dance with abandon, to lean into the ecstasy of a crowd drunk on deep, bass-driven EDM that retains a deeply human aspect. This human aspect was emphasized in the Finale with help from the various other performers on the stage. As always, the Odesza drum line performed with synchronized, martial bombast – driving intense waves of ratta-tat-tat snare drums through the aural wave to lift dancers to new heights.
Similarly, the presence of numerous regular contributors from the tour—Charlie Houston, Naomi Wild, Izzy Bizu, and Mansionar’s Jack Froggatt—once again put faces to the familiar voices. Finally, the Finale was enhanced by the presence of several live string players whose cello and violin playing brought new depth to several pieces.
Wrapping up their tour, Odesza seemed overjoyed to be there, thanking the audience for enabling them to do “the best job in the world,” as Harrison Mills said. The huge hug Mills gave co-founder Clayton Knight as the musicians lined up for their final bow seemed to say it all: this is a group that’s managing to surf the wave of rapidly rising popularity while creating truly innovative, compelling music.
For those who still can’t get enough – or who missed the opportunity to see this iconic act – they have already released both a live LP of The Last Goodbye and a download/DVD of “The Last Goodbye Cinematic Experience” film. While neither will truly recreate the intense, mesmerizing experience of attending an Odesza show, both will be useful in bridging the time between the Finale and whatever comes next for Odesza.
