88 drummers pound New York and Los Angeles

By Michael Erman

NEW YORK (Reuters) - It may not have been the army of 2,008 drummers that played at the opening ceremony of the Olympics in Beijing, but New York and Los Angeles each got 88 drummers on Friday night.

The drummers, pounding on full drum kits arranged in a spiral formation, played an 88-minute piece called "88 Boadrum," which was planned to mark the eighth day of the eighth month of 2008.

The composition, which also featured electronic noise, guitar, bass and chants, was written by Yamantaka Eye, best known as the front man for Japanese noise-rock band Boredoms.

"It was pretty intense," said Alex Ward, 35, who lives in Brooklyn. "You could really feel it -- take the sound in."

The New York show was held on the waterfront in Brooklyn's hip Williamsburg neighborhood, with the Manhattan skyline as a backdrop.

The LA performance was at the La Brea Tar Pits. The simultaneous concerts were free.

In New York, the concert started with a low rumble as a simple rhythm worked its way around the spiral. It built to an early peak about 18 minutes in, with all the drummers banging on their cymbals in unison.

After a wild conclusion of all 88 players thrashing away at their drum kits, 88 Boadrum ended similarly to how it started -- with a quiet ripple, this time on the cymbals.

"I didn't know that a drum solo could sustain itself for so long," said Erika Gebel, 27, who was visiting New York from Washington D.C.

Friday's concerts follow a similar performance in Brooklyn last year, when Eye had 77 drummers play a 77-minute piece called "77 Boadrum" to mark July 7, 2007.

Eye said the interest in the previous performance, from both spectators and participants, convinced him to do the larger piece.

"I enjoy the process of it growing without me having to physically keep creating it -- the natural progression of the whole process in all elements without me actually having to make it happen," Eye said, speaking in a telephone interview through a translator.

Performing the piece in different locations, with different performers, is in keeping with that spirit, as the environment and drummers will invariably influence the sound, he said.

Eye conducted the California event and handed off those duties for the New York performance to members of the New York band Gang Gang Dance.

"It gets spiritual," said Yuval Lion, who drummed in the New York show and also plays in a band called Pink Noise.