Little Dragon strikes the Greek Theatre with a magnetic performance

Imagine this; eight years ago a teeny-tiny indietronic, trip hop, dream pop, soul band from Gothenburg, Sweden couldn’t sell out a show at the 500 capacity Roxy Theater in Los Angeles. Imagine this; last weekend the same musical group nearly sold out the 5,870 seats located at the Greek Theatre to fans that had the same type of energy that Beatles fanatics had back in the early 70s. It’s safe to say that Little Dragon is all grown up.

If you’ve never been to the Greek you might as well find your local cliff and take the jump. The venue sounds like it looks; purely dazzling. Heck, I’d be hard pressed if you didn’t start salivating upon entry. Green and orange accent lights aluminate the background-laden trees. A warm and friendly venue staff guide you to your seat amongst the stars to which, regardless of the musical act before you, you’ll have one hell of a night to remember.

Coming all the way from Melbourne, Australia, Hiatus Kaiyote was the first band to grace the Greek with their existence. From 2011 until now the quartet have been on a mission to bring full-bodied neo-soul to the masses. Fronted by the lovely Nai Palm, Hiatus Kaiyote have already had a sizeable run-in with success; the band’s song “Nakamarra” was nominated for a Grammy back in 2013 but lost. Despite not obtaining a miniature gold record player figurine, Hiatus Kaiyote put on quite the performance. Aside from being a very clean-sounding band, the group consistently smiled and giggled at one another while on stage. I can speak on behalf for a majority of people in the audience that we’re all keeping a close, energetic ear to what’s next for the group.

What first comes to mind when you hear or see the words “little dragon”? Perhaps exactly what it sounds like, a little dragon? Or possibly it’s some type of sexual innuendo? What if in fact it was a nickname for the lead singer of the band by the same name? Yukimi Nagano was dubbed the identical alias as her highly successful band Little Dragon from having a hot temper in the recording studio. Delightedly, there was neither hostility nor hot-tempered musicians last weekend at the Greek, only an onslaught of matchless, sensational artists.

Formed back in 1996 in Gothenburg, Sweden, Little Dragon has been around the block. Slowly but surely the band year-after-year released more content in the form of music, music videos, and global tours. As the lights dimmed immediately prior to the band’s entrance the crowd started to jet towards their seats. Everyone was twiddling his or her fingers in anticipation of what was about to ensue, which ended up being pure bliss. Playing tracks such as “Twice”, “Feather”, and “Pretty Girls” the band ended up instilling in the fans what they came out to do; rock. Occasional black lights lit up the stage magnetizing and embellishing upon the performer’s outfits. Once the encore was about to wrap up the band’s top track “Ritual Union” gave the audience one final hurrah.

Little Dragon goes to show that with a little, or maybe in their case a lot of continuous effort and tunes that make you feel something, you can go from small peanuts to owning the Jif factory, from playing the Roxy to nearly selling out the Greek.

Words & Photography: Timmy Farmer

Want more photos of Little Dragon and Hiatus Kaiyote at the Greek? Check out the photo gallery below!