Event Review: Final Fantasy [Nectar Lounge, Seattle WA]
Last night I had the pleasure of checking out Nectar Lounge in Fremont for the first time. I've started going to shows more frequently now that I live in a more central location, but I'd never found a show that caught my eye at Nectar until Final Fantasy came to town. You may remember Final Fantasy (the band, not the video game) as Owen Pallett, who we gush about on The Weekly Geek constantly. He is a brilliantly talented musician with his hands in almost everything these days, from Arcade Fire arrangements to his work on Beirut's newest Flying Cub Cup.
Nectar is a very intimate venue with a capacity of just over a hundred, a balcony bar area and a dance floor that opens up into a covered outdoor seating area. It's well-lit (a rarity for venues these days) allowing you to actually SEE the artist in context. I always get frustrated when I go to shows and they keep the place dark except for a spotlight on whoever is on stage. I get tunnel vision and it feels like I am somehow separated from the event. Not at Nectar.
Owen brought with him two other artists, one being a band called Welcome who sounded a bit like Pavement with a bass player/vocalist who looked like Beth Gibbons from Portishead. And by that I mean she was incredibly hot. The other opening act was Cadence Weapon, a fantastic hip hop artist often mashing 8-bit chiptunes with his "phat rhymes". No really, it was quite great. Owen himself could be seen in the back of the audience, nodding his head. When Owen came on stage the energy of the crowd changed. It went from boisterous dancing and cheering for Cadence to silent reverence and awe. That is the kind of reaction Owen gets when he starts doing his amazing looping violin acrobatics, sampling himself tapping on the strings with the back of his bow, thumping the body with his thumb or even yelling into the f-holes and looping that. All of this is perfectly timed to sound like a building, climaxing orchestral piece and every single arrangement is stunning. Owen brought along an overhead projector artist, who moved paper cut outs around to the music, painting a picture of the imaginary "8 schools of magic" world of Final Fantasy.
A couple new songs were performed from Owen's next LP, Heartland and they sounded fantastic. He brought along an electric piano and used that in his loops as well as his violin in the new songs and they felt richer and fuller than his previous material. A logical evolution. It's hard to imagine Owen not being inspired by the company he keeps, and it's great to see an artist I admire so much growing, not floundering. Owen's performances are touching, brilliant and humble with an adorable honesty shown through his apologies for mistakes mid-song, or the flustered look he gets on his face when one of his loops is even slightly off time. Someone in the crowd, during a moment of silence as Owen was setting up his next song, shouted "More like Final Fantastic!" I couldn't agree more.
It's an experience to see an artist of this caliber on stage doing what they do best, and lucky for you he just started touring the US. Check out Final Fantasy if he comes to your town, or you'll be missing out. Concert dates after the jump.
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