Airborne Toxic Event Celebrate East L.A. on New Concert DVD

After playing 354 shows around the globe, Los Angeles' the Airborne Toxic Event decided to pull out all the stops when they ended their tour in support of their 2008 self-titled debut. After kicking around several options, the band ended up playing L.A.'s Walt Disney Concert Hall and filming the show for the band's forthcoming DVD, 'All I Ever Wanted.' As frontman Mikel Jollett tells Spinner, the opportunity to play the venue was a shock to the band.

"We were approached by the L.A. Philharmonic," he says. "They actually came to us and said, 'What do you think about playing the Walt Disney Concert Hall?' We were like, 'Really? You know we played the Echo a year and a half ago, right?'"

The downtown venue, which seats over 2,200 people, was designed by Frank Gehry and is the home of the Los Angeles Philharmonic, making it a less-than-obvious choice for a rock show. In that vein, the band decided to pull out all the stops and stage a unique performance that featured their frequent collaborators, the Calder Quartet, and paid tribute to their East L.A. origins with a local girls choir, high school marching band, folklórico dancers and mariachis. As Jollett recounts the rehearsals to Spinner, it's clear these collaborations were the highlight of his still-young musical career.

"The girls choir, they were just so sweet. We went down and practiced with them and they came up with their own harmonies," he says of the young Latino choir that joined him on show-closer 'Missy.' "The marching band kids, it was funny because at first it was like they were a little star-struck because they'd heard us on the radio. When they got to Disney Hall that day, they were just like, 'Holy s---!' These are kids from downtown L.A., and even though their school is three blocks from the Hall, I don't think any of them had ever been there."

The Belmont High School Marching Band joined the band for a cover of the Ramones' 'Do You Remember Rock 'n' Roll Radio?,' a performance Jollett says gave him a much deeper appreciation of the 1980 classic. "I always thought it'd be really cool with a marching band because of that beat at the top and that long horn part," he says. "Then when we were playing it, I was like 'Wow, this is cool: We're singing a song about why rock 'n' roll shouldn't die that was written 30 years ago with these kids that are a generation younger.' When we first walked in, some long-haired Mexican kid was wearing a Ramones shirt and I can't imagine Joey Ramone being anything other than really f---ing stoked about that."

The DVD's title comes from a song of the same name, which Jollett says will be on the band's forthcoming second album, due out in early 2011. "The version of the song that's on that DVD, we were particularly happy about how that turned out," he says. "Then, if you had to guess why playing one of the most sought-after concert halls in the world in your own hometown when two years ago you were a local band with no following would be 'All I Ever Wanted,' it's pretty straightforward."

The CD/DVD of 'All I Ever Wanted: Live From the Walk Disney Concert Hall' is due out on Sept. 28 via Island Records. The band will kick off a special acoustic tour with the Calder Quartet that evening in Washington, D.C. Watch the trailer for the DVD below.