Although the Hollywood Bowl arguably garners the most traction from farewell tours, reunion shows, and orchestral concerts, it also has a tendency to bring groups together best described as your favorite artists’ favorite artists. That happened to be the case on Wednesday, Sept. 3, when Hiatus Kaiyote and Snarky Puppy played a zen, if incredibly impressive, co-headlining show with opener Georgia Anne Muldrow. Even though the two groups are at opposite ends of the album release process, with Hiatus Kaiyote celebrating 2024’s Love Heart Cheat Code and Snarky Puppy playing gigs ahead of their new album with conductor/composer Jules Buckley coming in November, both bands share an apparent affection for genre-bending music.
In the case of Hiatus Kaiyote, recent setbacks, including a brush with bronchitis for lead singer Nai Palm and recording equipment stolen from their storage in Australia, the concert was a bright spot. For Snarky Puppy, the show allowed them to go through the highlights of their career before their next tour keeps them occupied with new material courtesy of their upcoming collaborative album. As a whole, all three sets were examples of how artists who hold genres of all varieties in high regard can have a space in an often unpredictable industry, influencing their peers and garnering accolades in the process.
Fittingly, R&B and soul singer Georgia Anne Muldrow’s opening set matched Snarky Puppy and Hiatus Kaiyote in terms of eclecticism, playing a jam session of rotating tracks from her catalog. While behind a DJ deck for the entirety of her time, Muldrow greeted the audience as though they were entering Oz, saying at the start, “Los Angeles, I want to take you with me somewhere.”
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True to her word, Muldrow took the crowd somewhere else, marked by improvisation and natural artistry evident from her vocal range. With a pulsating bass underlying the 30 minutes, the selected tracks were more fluid than their studio counterparts, with Muldrow seemingly playing improvised versions of “Whollyspirit” and “Skaw De Beast,” among other songs. Reverb aplenty, she made the most out of her time, complementing the other two bands’ sounds and showing her gleeful playfulness through crowd interactions.
If there were any audience members unsure of what the rest of the evening would be like, Muldrow cleared the air in no time. While most openers simply go through five or so songs and leave as soon as they come out, her music fell in line with the songs of the co-headliners despite all three having different careers and trajectories, showing how in sync they all were.
Like clockwork, Snarky Puppy started their set soon after Muldrow finished her opening slot, maintaining the tight schedule since they and Hiatus Kaiyote shared double billing. Despite being the second-to-last band of the night, the 11-person ensemble caught everyone’s attention, playing songs across their instrumental-dominated discography that’s best described as the soundtrack to a movie you’ll never get to see.
While a standing audience would typically clue bands in on how well they were performing, most of the Hollywood Bowl remained seated, albeit stunned throughout their set as each song felt like an epic closer. Cheers often erupted when a band member had a solo – the players of interest having a literal spotlight over them – ranging from a drum-off during the outro of “Flood” to tenor saxophone player Bob Reynolds kicking things off early in the set. Zach Brock, the group’s violinist, had a nearly two-minute solo during “Lingus,” where he shredded his instrument like his bow was a saw cutting through the fattest piece of meat you could find.
“Lingus” in its entirety encapsulated what made Snarky Puppy as a live band work so well. The beginning, a jazzy, slightly woozy escalation of instruments rising in intensity, would sound right at home soundtracking something like the anime “Cowboy Bebop.” But more importantly, the live version of their biggest song to date never stopped the momentum, even when going through channels dominated by the brass section, ‘70s-esque electronic keys, or thundering drums. To put it simply, you’d be hard pressed to find another similar band who could pull off that feat.
In the same respect, Hiatus Kaiyote also proved in their own right how they’re one-of-a-kind, an especially considerable accomplishment when you realize the crop of other genre-bending bands that came out in the early 2010s. However, while Snarky Puppy held court for what was essentially a class in Live Musicianship 101 – where their entire catalog served as the course materials – the Australian four-piece primarily played from their last two albums, Love Heart Cheat Code and Mood Valiant.
At the same time, the audience eventually grew accustomed to the change in pace, falling into the slow hypnoticism of songs like “Jekyll,” the Gospel quality of “Dreamboat,” and slow dancing to the jazzy funk heard throughout. To see Hiatus Kaiyote bewilder the packed venue before winning them over by the halfway point was something to behold, proving they know how to find a groove through their eclectic sound. It helped that their glow-in-the-dark set design was the best of the night, including black and white spikes coming from the floor of the stage and two tiny Chinese dragons posed similar to LA’s Chinatown Gateway Monument.
Ironically, “Red Room,” their biggest song to date yet most chill across their four albums, woke up the crowd. While Nai engaged with those in front during the previous song “Make Friends,” one of the highlights of Love Heart Cheat Code, the audience followed up with a more organic clap and snap along at the start “Red Room,” signaling how Nai and co. finally got the crowd to fall for their psychedelia as the evening came to a close.
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In the second half of Snarky Puppy’s set, bandleader Michael League thanked the audience for coming out and supporting alternative music, adding, “Not KIIS-FM stuff.” While a funny comment, it highlighted how special the show was as a whole, bringing together artists who couldn’t be any more different yet shared the tendency to challenge the norm and be the sort of acts your favorite artists look up to for inspiration. KIIS-FM or not, the three had no trouble selling a packed show and delivering on the promise of good music played by musicians who have the skill to back up the material.
Sept. 11, 2025, 11:53 a.m. – This story was updated to reflect the correct photographer’s name.
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