Vivid LIVE 2010

Vivid LIVE 2010 was a two week festival at the Sydney Opera House, running from May 27 to June 11, curated by Lou Reed and Laurie Anderson. Its stated focus was improvisation and collaboration. The program ran from large solo concerts to small rooms, talks and free events, and opened with Anderson’s lighting of the Opera House sails. ABC News reported the curation in March that year.

I played across the two weeks: Metal Machine Trio at the Opera Theatre, the noise band at the opening, and about a dozen unplanned jams.

The sails of the Sydney Opera House at night, lit with a projection of palms and a parrot. — The Sydney Opera House lit for Vivid Sydney, May 29, 2010, the night before Metal Machine Trio played the Opera Theatre. Photo: Nigel Howe, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons.

The creditSarth Calhoun, Continuum and laptops, with Metal Machine Trio at the Opera Theatre, Sydney Opera House, May 30, 2010, in the noise band at the festival opening, and in about a dozen unplanned jams across Vivid LIVE.

A fifty person noise band

We had basically a fifty person noise band for the opening.

Then about a dozen jams

I played like twelve unplanned jams at that festival.

Metal Machine Trio played the Opera Theatre on May 30, which is the one date that made it into the public record. It is listed on Sightings. The rest was not announced.

Metal Machine Trio on the Opera Theatre stage at the Sydney Opera House, in black and white: three players among laptops, amplifiers and speaker wedges, with a large gong behind them. Left to right: Sarth Calhoun, Lou Reed, Ulrich Krieger. — “MM3 at the Sydney Opera House, photo by Mark McGauley.” My caption when I posted it to Facebook on June 7, 2010. Left to right: Sarth Calhoun, Lou Reed, Ulrich Krieger.

Metal Machine Trio on the Opera House stage, in black and white: Sarth Calhoun stands at laptops on the left, Lou Reed sits at his table of effects in the centre, and Ulrich Krieger plays saxophone in a spotlight on the right. Left to right: Sarth Calhoun, Lou Reed, Ulrich Krieger. — Photo: Mark McGauley. Left to right: Sarth Calhoun, Lou Reed, Ulrich Krieger.

A low angle from the stage floor: Sarth Calhoun and Lou Reed are lit at their tables on the left and in the centre, and Ulrich Krieger’s silhouette with saxophone looms on the right behind a monitor wedge. Left to right: Sarth Calhoun, Lou Reed, Ulrich Krieger. — Photo: Mark McGauley. Left to right: Sarth Calhoun, Lou Reed, Ulrich Krieger.

Seen from above: Lou Reed sits at his effects on the left, Sarth Calhoun strikes a large bass drum beside a gong at the back of the stage, and Ulrich Krieger plays saxophone at the front right. Left to right: Lou Reed, Sarth Calhoun, Ulrich Krieger. — Photo: Mark McGauley. Left to right: Lou Reed, Sarth Calhoun, Ulrich Krieger.

Seen from above: Lou Reed bends over his effects on the left, Sarth Calhoun swings a mallet at the bass drum beside the gong, and a player crouches over gear in the foreground. Left to right: Lou Reed, Sarth Calhoun. — Photo: Mark McGauley. Left to right: Lou Reed, Sarth Calhoun.

A wide view from above: Sarth Calhoun at laptops on the left, Lou Reed seated in the centre with guitars on stands behind him, Ulrich Krieger with saxophone on the right, and the gong and bass drum at the back. Left to right: Sarth Calhoun, Lou Reed, Ulrich Krieger. — Photo: Mark McGauley. Left to right: Sarth Calhoun, Lou Reed, Ulrich Krieger.

Sarth Calhoun at laptops on the left, Lou Reed seated at his effects in the centre with a guitar on a stand beside him, and Ulrich Krieger playing saxophone on the right, the gong behind them. Left to right: Sarth Calhoun, Lou Reed, Ulrich Krieger. — Photo: Mark McGauley. Left to right: Sarth Calhoun, Lou Reed, Ulrich Krieger.

Sarth Calhoun stands at laptops on the left, Lou Reed works his effects in the centre, and Ulrich Krieger, seen from behind, turns toward him holding his saxophone, with the gong and bass drum at the back. Left to right: Sarth Calhoun, Lou Reed, Ulrich Krieger. — Photo: Mark McGauley. Left to right: Sarth Calhoun, Lou Reed, Ulrich Krieger.

Seven more from the same set, in the order of the files. Photos by Mark McGauley. The files are dated May 31, 2010, 4:42 PM Sydney time, and carry no camera capture date.

Noise Night

Noise Night was May 31, 2010, in the Opera Theatre, with Zond, Melt-Banana, Oren Ambarchi, Boris with Oren Ambarchi, Rice Corpse, Marc Ribot with Bardo Pond, Night Terrors, and Yasuko and Ichirou from Melt-Banana, and I played in the closing sets and the encore with Lou Reed, Laurie Anderson and Marc Ribot.

A concert recording has the notes. I posted “Photos of Noise Night, Sydney” on July 10, 2010.

The curation and the dates are from contemporary coverage. The noise band and the jams are my own recollection, September 22, 2026, and the Noise Night lineup is from the recording’s notes and my 2010 post.