This was a union conceived on broadcast television, nurtured in the overheated, micro-obsessional womb of the internet and born, finally, on a London stage Wednesday, 10 July, this year of twenty and twenty-four: Cypress Hill with the London Symphony Orchestra.
Because the internet continues to be overheated and micro-obsessional, fans of Cypress Hill, the LSO and The Simpsons already know this and have stopped reading. So, for any outside those parameters, the pairing was inspired by a joke on an episode of The Simpsons. Specifically, it was inspired by a 45-second segment from the 24th episode of the series’ seventh season. Titled “Homperpalooza,” it first aired May 19, 1996, if someone asks.
And if someone does ask, it will take far longer and be far less funny if you explain it. So just watch:
This episode spoofed Lollapalooza, a touring alternative rock festival (now an annual event in Chicago). It gave bands such as Sonic Youth and Smashing Pumpkins a chance to show they had senses of humor, hardly a given in the po-faced grunge era. And hip-hop trio Cypress Hill was given a weed joke which is what happens when you have songs titled “Hits From the Bong,” “I Wanna Get High,” etc.
Cypress Hill’s B-Real told the BBC he and partners Sen Dog and DJ Muggs discussed the possibility of actually playing with the LSO ever since the episode aired. Finally, in 2017, the trio posted about the episode and got a response from the LSO: “We mostly play classical … but we’ll give it a shot,” an (almost) exact quote of the fictional animated LSO musician in the clip.
Finally announced earlier this year, the July 19 concert at venerated Royal Albert Hall featured a performance of Cypress Hill’s Black Sunday album, a massive hit in 1993 and still revered today. The crowd received Black Sunday rapturously and, if possible, were even more delighted by the set of hits and deep tracks that followed, all featuring the LSO.
The concert spawned by a joke was absolutely no joke.
Cypress Hill prepped with a series of orchestral concerts closer to their Southern California home. The LSO’s arrangements and performances showed a solid grasp on the material and a keen sense of what and how an orchestra could enhance it.
The show could have been a mess or treated like a spoof. Instead, it showed both Cypress Hill and the LSO at the top of their games. If a show’s been 28 years in the making, you want it to be something special. And it was.
The whole thing reeked of respect, collaboration, trust and the thrill of finding something new. Which was nice to see these days.