Final Fantasy at Bowery – photos + review
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Night one of three NYC shows with Beirut at Bowery Ballroom, and Owen Pallett / Final Fantasy did not disappoint. He spins a colorful world by weaving layer after layer on his violin and then some on keys. His voice is crisp, sounding exactly like in recording (woo-hoo), though he did not hesitate to drop a line he’d started to try it again. In the meantime, he shared his admiration of Zach Condon’s projection, calling himself a “pussy behind the microphone.” On stage, Owen is easily humble, charming and funny. In addition to old favorites like “Adventure.exe” and “It Took You Two Years to Win My Heart,” he played some new tunes, one of them being “Flare Gun.”
(Photos and review continue after the jump)
Owen was accompanied by Stephanie [?] who had the most interesting task of animating the visual projection live on stage. She, too, showcased her mastery of layering, creating glittering lights, kingdoms, forests and other scenes of a wholly grasping world from transperencies and cut-outs lit on a projector. It was a puppet show on lights, and what a fine idea to use it as live accompaniment to Final Fantasy’s music (only makes perfect sense). Owen announced that he doesn’t always bring along Stephanie because she’s expensive, but what a treat it is when he does.
There was a grand finale for “That’s When The Audience Died.” Beirut’s horn section, Zach Condon also present, came out to close the Final Fantasy set. As Beirut’s set would reaffirm later, the collaboration between the two is to be excited about.
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