kronos quartet

yesterday night i finally went to the kronos quartet concert at the california plaza in downtown l.a., which i had been very much looking forward to. they performed together with a pipa player, which i had mistakenly thought of as some sort of flute, but it turned out it's actually a string instrument. this was the program of the evening:

"Welcome the Kronos Quartet back to Grand Performances as they bring a diverse, eclectic concert to the Festival with special guest pipa virtuoso Wu-Man. This evening’s special presentation is offered in conjunction with Performance West – a festival of arts events presented as part of the Western Arts Alliance’s annual conference in Los Angeles. PROGRAM: 1. Oh Mother, The Handsome Man Tortures Me (Iraq) (Arranged by Kronos, transcribed by Ljova) 2. Flugufrelsarinn - The Fly Freer (Sigur Rós) (Arranged by Stephen Prutsman) 3. Aha Gedawo (Getatchew Mekurya) 4. 12/12 (Cafe Tacuba) (Arranged by Osvaldo Golijov) 5. Wa Habibi - Beloved (Hamza El Din) (Realized by Tohru Ueda) 6. Death is the Road to Awe - from the Fountain - (Clint Mansell)Arranged by Kronos. INTERMISSION Second set with special guest Wu Man 1. The Cusp of Magic, first movement (Terry Riley) 2. Lullaby (traditional Iranian) 3. Mehbooba Mehbooba (Rahul Dev Burman) (Arranged by Stephen Prutsman and Kronos) 4. Alap -
from Raga Mishra Bhairavi (Ram Narayan) (Arranged by Kronos, transcribed by Ljova) 5. Long Ge (Jack Body) 6. Excerpt from Ghost Opera (Tan Dun) ENCORES: 1. Ambushed Again 2. SSB"

they basically played different pieces from all over the world, but i think my favourite was their last piece, which was their version of jimi hendrix' version of the american national anthem.
the concert was overall very good, but a couple of things were a bit annoying:
people in the us who go to classical concerts obviously don't know, that you can tell when a piece is over from the fact that the musicians put down their instruments. so there was a lot of stupid in-between clapping. they will also give standing ovations for almost anything they hear, so i seriously wonder what they will do when they see a truly exceptional performance. set themselves on fire?
plus, it was an outdoor venue and the sound was amplified, thus kind of poor acoustics. they also used a lot of samples, which was ok given what they played, though i would rather have listened to a concert by them without samples. it was still a very impressive performance, so i recommend going if you get a chance.