Emergencies bring in new terminologies fast. The preferred term in the Welsh language for a streamed concert – one that’s emerged over the current pandemic is that of a cyngerdd rhithiol – which translates as a hallucinated concert. In that spirit we’ve captured Cate Le Bon’s World renowned, beautifully futurist, Reward album, played live at the Wales Millennium Centre, Cardiff with her visionary touring band. This, a document of the rise of one of our great contemporary artists on the occasion of her big homecoming – is a red mist, a hallucination, a concert to nobody – a boat ride into the abyss. With only a camera crew to witness this landmark event (shot on crystals by Emily Almond Barr, lit by Matthew Button. Edited by Dylan Goch and directed by Gruff Rhys) – the regular rules of performance are best ignored. Special guests are unpredictable and to be avoided but the late, great architect Zaha Hadid suffers FOMO and haunts the event, the site of her biggest professional trauma – briefly transporting us to her alternative opera house in Guangzhou, China. Before we eventually find closure in the warm embrace of the temporarily empty auditoriums of WMC – The People’s Palace, and the red sunset of Tiger Bay, Cardiff.
Director: Gruff Rhys
Editor: Dylan Goch