By Harvey Kubernik
Cypress Hill celebrates the highest of high honors of its storied career with Black Sunday Live at the Royal Albert Hall, a three-day theatrical event and live album both immortalizing the hip hop icons’ now legendary once in a lifetime collaboration with the London Symphony Orchestra. It arrived at U.S. and Canadian theaters March 30, 31 and April 2 (U.S. only) via Mercury Studios in partnership with Iconic Events Releasing, Cypress Hill and the London Symphony Orchestra: Black Sunday Live at the Royal Albert Hall brings the unprecedented collision of the trio’s 1993 masterpiece with one of the world’s most renowned orchestral ensembles to the eyes and ears of music lovers everywhere.
A historic spectacle previously witnessed only by the thousands of Cypress devotees who packed Royal Albert Hall on July 10, 2024, the theatrical premiere and album release of Black Sunday Live at the Royal Albert Hall will allow the world at large to witness the intoxicating dark magic conjured when Cypress Hill and the 70-strong LSO bring this triple-platinum opus to life together.
I was invited to the premiere of this movie in Culver City, CA. at the Kirk Douglas Theater. At the screening were friends of Cypress Hill, Chuck D and Flavor Flav of Public Enemy. It was a sonic delight hearing the core Cypress Hill repertoire coupled with the soaring arrangements of the LSO.
After the movie was shown, Chuck D then hosted a Q. and A. session with the group members: Lead Vocals: B Real, Sen Dog Music Director, Drums, Percussion & Timpani: Eric “Bobo” Correa and Band DJ: DJ Lord Turntables. Stand Up Bassist Christian Olde Wolbers was also at the film and delivered monumental bass lines powering the dynamic Cypress Hill sound in collaboration with the London Symphony Orchestra and Conductor Troy Miller. Orchestral Score Arrangements for the project were done by Jack McManaman & Troy Miller.
The film and its accompanying album find B-Real, Sen Dog, Eric Bobo and co. in top form, performing nimbly atop monolithic arrangements running the gamut from ominous to sublime. The majestic classical embellishments to Black Sunday — as well as an assortment of cuts spanning the Cypress catalog — are the masterful work of conductor and arranger Troy Miller, who comments, “I’ve always been excited by the idea of merging genres, and to do it with the most prolific hip hop group of all time and the most exquisite symphony orchestra in the world was an honor! The band gave me free rein on the arrangements and we made something truly unique and mesmerizing – what a sublime collaboration!”
“It’s a trip to see that hip hop can be done in this form — and at a venue as prestigious as the Royal Albert Hall. It was truly an honor and a privilege, and now that experience can be shared.”—B-Real.
“It was amazing to take this journey with the people of London who supported Cypress Hill from day one.” —Sen Dog
“LSO doesn’t collaborate with just anyone. So, it’s a big honor for them to want to do something with us.” —Eric Bobo
What began as a joke on a 1996 episode of The Simpsons has now become a true multi-cultural milestone. Cypress Hill and the London Symphony Orchestra: Black Sunday Live at the Royal Albert Hall, the feature-length concert film, was in select cinemas for a theatrical event March 30, 31 and April 2. For further information, go to cypresshillroyalalberthall.com. Cypress Hill and the London Symphony Orchestra: Black Sunday Live at the Royal Albert Hall, the full-length live album, will be released June 6 via Mercury Studios.
