He, the enfant terrible of the classical world, came out into Melbourne concert hall like a swashbuckling pirate. Shaven head with spiked crown, oversized leather jacket with sewn patches and a white sash cloth around his waist. He created a titter when he came out, which was expected, i suppose.

Anyway, he played Mozart, beethoven, Bach, hungarian dances, jazz and purple haze by Jimi Hendrix.

well his classical pieces were good, his bowing well controlled and deft. Ive always found it amazing how he could be so bold and vibrant and yet so tender and sweet when the song required it to be. The whole song was under his control at all times and the notes just seem to glide out from his beautiful violin. Kennedy showed the difference between good and exceptional.

He played 2 duets of the hungarian dances with the lead violinist, which was again very well executed. The lead violinist was particularly impressive (the rest of the orchestra is dismal though), she matched him equally in speed, tone and guts. it was amazing to see 2 fantastic musicians playing their heart out and just letting rip.

But i find that kennedy has a major flaw. I appreciate him attempting to bring fun into the concert, after all this is what music is about: Enjoyment. So joking around with the orchestra and audience is fine, great even to create the intimate atmosphere
BUT i felt that his theatrical antics got into the way as he completely butchered some of the other songs. And heres the worst bit, he performed an absolutely horrendous version of purple haze as the encore song ( i was just dying for Meditation from Thaiis by Massnet, which is my all time fave song from him)
yeah im a snob and purist, i like my genres to be mutually exclusive. I mean you dont see rock stars performing operas right? theres a reason why purple haze is a rock song, you need the guitars, drums, the atmosphere, to rework it into a classical song is just GARH.

Thus, although it was technically brilliant, the whole thing just lacked magic. I just couldnt feel it, not like when Sarah chang played with LSO, that was a real winner (although Sarah chang has played with Sir Colin Davis for more than 15 tears, so i guess they know each other really well and complement each other). well, so yeah rather disappointing this time, about 8/10 i reckon (would have been more if he played meditation or didnt play that terrible purple haze)

another point of note: Melbournians have terrible sense of appropriateness. people actually turned up in t-shirt and jeans to the concert hall. yeah go figure.