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Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros rock out Royce Hall

Ten-piece band Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros will be performing songs from their debut album, “Up from Below,” in a sold-out Royce Hall tonight at 8 p.m.

By Arit John

May 19, 2010 9:09 p.m.

Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros are coming to UCLA, so get ready ““ if you managed to get tickets.

Tonight, Royce Hall will host a show that is one part spiritual revival, one part euphoric celebration and one part folk rock concert.

“Tickets sold out in about a week,” said Ben Kertman, a third-year environmental science student and Student Committee for the Arts representative. Free UCLA student tickets ran out on the first day.

The Student Committee for the Arts looks for and arranges performances for bands that will fill Royce Hall.

According to Kertman, acoustics are something they always try to take advantage of.

“(Edward Sharpe is) a 10-piece band, so that’s a lot of noise. Royce is perfect for that. It can handle a big sound,” Kertman said.

Perhaps as eccentric, but in a different way than the headliner Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros, the opening act is Francis and the Lights, an electronic but soulful band based out of New York. Since 2007, Francis and the Lights have put out three EPs and started touring with Drake and K-OS.

The band was put together based on the sense that the lead singer, Francis Farewell Starlite, got from each band member.

“I picked people based on who they were, (their) personality,” Starlite said. “I had never heard my guitar player play. I heard him talk about music.”

The headliner, playing with as many as 13 members at a time, features a wide range of instrumentation that includes drums, guitars, horns and an accordion. UCLA alumna Nora Kirkpatrick plays accordion and sings background vocals.

“We met Nora at Burning Man,” said band leader Alex Ebert, referring to a yearly event in the Black Rock Desert of Nevada. Kirkpatrick hit it off with members of the band and eventually started singing on some of the songs.

According to Ebert, the band focuses on themes like togetherness, love and the transcendence and transmutation of pain.

Ebert’s former band, Ima Robot, was an indie and punk group that reached moderate fame in the 2000s.

Despite this, Ebert said that he found himself confused and unsure of his identity.

“I was feeling very lost at the time,” Ebert said. “I didn’t know who Alex Ebert was anymore.”

It was this disconnect that promoted the creation of Edward Sharpe, the alter ego of Alex Ebert.

The true origin of the name is ambiguous. Ebert has referred to Sharpe as a character from a novel, a childhood alter ego and a name that just happened.

According to Ebert, Edward Sharpe is a messianic figure sent to save the world but who constantly gets sidetracked by falling in love.

Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros want to express their optimism through their music.

“My hunch is that everyone secretly wants to save the world,” Ebert said. “In fact, I really hope that’s the case.”

It’s this approach to music-making that has caused the band to be labeled as hippies.

Counterculture references abound when talking about a band with a lead singer who seems like a peace-loving nomad.

The band, however, has a different take on stereotypes.

Coming from a band labeled as indie, Ebert seems to be avoiding labels that don’t comment on the band’s message of unity.

“For me, if there was a celebration genre, a joyful genre at the record store, I wouldn’t mind being in one of those bins,” Ebert said.

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