---
title: Vivid LIVE 2010
description: Vivid LIVE 2010 at the Sydney Opera House, curated by Lou Reed and Laurie Anderson. Sarth Calhoun played Metal Machine Trio, a roughly fifty-person noise band at the opening, and about a dozen unplanned jams across the two weeks.
url: https://www.sarth.net/conspiracies/vivid-live/
published: 2026-09-22
facet: dream
credit: Sarth Calhoun, Continuum and laptops, with Metal Machine Trio at the Opera Theatre, Sydney Opera House, May 30, 2010, in the noise band at the festival opening, and in about a dozen unplanned jams across Vivid LIVE.
author: Sarth Calhoun
---
[Conspiracies](/conspiracies/) / Vivid LIVE 2010

Conspiracy · Dream

# Vivid LIVE 2010

Vivid LIVE 2010 was a two week festival at the [Sydney Opera House](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sydney_Opera_House), running from May 27 to June 11, curated by [Lou Reed](/conspirators/lou-reed/) and [Laurie Anderson](/conspirators/laurie-anderson/). Its stated focus was improvisation and collaboration. The program ran from large solo concerts to small rooms, talks and free events, and opened with Anderson’s lighting of the Opera House sails. [ABC News reported the curation](https://www.abc.net.au/news/2010-03-03/lou-reed-laurie-anderson-to-curate-vivid/349100) in March that year.

I played across the two weeks: [Metal Machine Trio](/conspiracies/metal-machine-trio/) at the Opera Theatre, the noise band at the opening, and about a dozen unplanned jams.

![The sails of the Sydney Opera House at night, lit with a projection of palms and a parrot.](/images/vivid-sydney-2010.jpg)

The Sydney Opera House lit for Vivid Sydney, May 29, 2010, the night before Metal Machine Trio played the Opera Theatre. Photo: Nigel Howe, [CC BY 2.0](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/), via [Wikimedia Commons](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Opera_House_Vivid_Sydney_2010_(4900499551).jpg).

The credit: Sarth Calhoun, Continuum and laptops, with Metal Machine Trio at the Opera Theatre, Sydney Opera House, May 30, 2010, in the noise band at the festival opening, and in about a dozen unplanned jams across Vivid LIVE.

## A fifty person noise band

We had basically a fifty person noise band for the opening.

## Then about a dozen jams

I played like twelve unplanned jams at that festival.

[Metal Machine Trio](/conspiracies/metal-machine-trio/) played the Opera Theatre on May 30, which is the one date that made it into the public record. It is listed on [Sightings](/sightings/). The rest was not announced.

The curation and the dates are from contemporary coverage. The noise band and the jams are my own recollection, September 22, 2026.