Owen Pallett @ Bowery Ballroom
Most of what has been written in the past about a Final Fantasy show was straightforward and void of expectation. However, after the now famous video of Pallett playing “Lewis Takes Off His Shirt” at the Canadian Hillside Festival during a torrential thunderstorm as the stage crew desperately tries to pull him from the stage mid-song, raised the bar through the roof. His defiance and passion to continue the emotional performance as the rain pours down, is powerful enough to lift up the hair on your arms.
With last week’s release of his new concept record Heartland, Owen Pallett left his former moniker behind and now brings this new level of musical complexity and narrative storytelling to the stage. His performance is usually a one man show with Pallett playing violin and keyboards through a loop petal while singing to construct a live symphony. This time around he is joined by Thomas Gill, rounding out the sound with percussion, guitar and backing vocal harmonies. His Bowery Ballroom performance this past Monday left no room for doubt that Owen Pallet is a brilliant performer and only affirms the excellence put forth in his records. They feature compositions mixing classical music with tastefully constructed pop hooks and vocal melodies.
If you closed your eyes for a moment you could imagine a symphony of performers before you at any point of the show, while after each song Pallett softly thanked the crowd. The sheer simplicity mixed with the complex nature of recreating his arrangements stunned the Bowery crowd. Pallet’s vocals stood out in the live setting. Combining these elements, Pallet put on a 60-minute set with songs pleasing to new and old fans alike. His performance of “This is a The Dream of Emma & Cam” from 2006′s Young Canadian Mothers 7″ and the aforementioned “Lewis Takes Action” from his latest record were standouts.
Owen Pallet effortlessly recreated his complex arrangements from his impressive discography. Whether it’s the pizzicato plucking or the deep bellow of low string bass lines, down to the classical drawing of the bow over the violin strings tuned to their perfect fifths — the sound is resonant and unabridged and is complemented by the perfect key of his vocals. The charm and allure of his performance is inescapable. This was one of only three U.S. stops as part of a seven-show ”Heartland CD release tour” before a full tour of his native Canada. With so much buzz surrounding his new record, Pallett is sure to be back in the States later this year. Below are a few videos posted from the show:
NIN Adds NYC Club Dates: Bowery, Webster Hall & More!!
Trent’s farewell tour just got a bit more interesting and perhaps more fitting. After attending the NIN/JA show in at PNC in NJ, I was left disappointed. As the last note of “Hurt” was played, the writhing hard-hitting NIN that that I had seen more than ten times live seemed to have ended with a whimper, destroying my dream of hearing “Heresy” played live.
Now Trent seems to have agreed (citing short sets and large outdoor venues in daylight as not the way to go out). The announcement came today via Twitter, thanks to Trent’s recent return to the digital world. But just as he announced it, the servers crashed, delaying the official NIN.com announcement while they patched them up for some 45 minutes. Dates have yet to be announced.
Full Post from nin.com below:
Getting right to the point, we’re going to play a handful of shows in NYC, Chicago and LA starting August 22nd. They will be informal affairs in medium to small venues with longer set-lists, possible special guests, cool openers and other surprises. Upon reflection, the NIN/JA tour felt like we had to rush through sets due to a limited allotted set length and many shows were in daylight – it just didn’t feel right to end NIN that way. An offer to headline V-Fest in Toronto (being announced soon) set the idea in motion to play some FUN shows to end this up with. If we can get it together we’ll film these shows, too
In NYC we’ll be playing Bowery Ballroom, Webster Hall and Terminal 5. In Chicago, the Aragon Ballroom. In LA we’ll be at The Wiltern, The Henry Fonda, The Palladium and The Echoplex. These should be cool, unusual and unique shows and I hope you come out – this is it.
So far, The Horrors will be joining us for some shows in NYC, Mew will be with us at other shows in NYC, Chicago and LA, and perhaps more.
Details and ticket info will be announced shortly, so check back.”Thanks,
Trent
Redemption awaits…
Great Northern @ The Bowery Ballroom
The crowd that greeted Great Northern last night at The Bowery Ballroom was quiet and modest. Vocalist and keyboardist Rachel Stolte introduced herself, and I commented on the strength of their new record Remind Me Where The Light Is. As I watched fellow guitarist/vocalist Simon Bixler set up his impressive rack of guitar petals and effects, Fishpork received a tweet from Great Northern indie label Eenie Meenie Records that read “Awww . . . You’re (at) the show. We’re jealous.” “Jealous” is certainly an accurate word for anyone not able to make it out to see this band play in one of the best venues around. This show was the third on their current tour, and it did not take long for the band to win over the crowd.
While Stolte’s keyboards are prominent on the record, she plays guitar alongside Bixler for this tour, accompanied by bassist Michael Regilio, touring keyboardist Marissa Micik and Dusty Rocherolle on drums. With the dueling vocals and guitars, Great Northern played almost every track off their new record. The natural interplay between Bixler and Stolte’s unique layering of the male and female vocals gives their live performance the depth and breadth that few bands can achieve. With such a large guitar effects rack some guitarists can drown out the vocals, yet Bilxer uses his with subtle mastery. 
His warm guitar tones and the transonic keyboards round out a sound worthy of tremendous praise.
Great Northern’s performance was as tight as the record, and the raw power of songs like “33,” “Numbers,” and “Warning” (one of my favorite tracks of the year) came across live brilliantly. The 45-minute set was squeezed between openers Eulogies and headliners The Dears. Their sound was polished and mixed to perfection. Great Northern is not a studio band, and they made this clear last night. The band is ready for that next step that is undoubtedly before them. With one of the best records of the year in their pocket and an impressive live set, this band is ready to burst into the spotlight. It is well deserved.
http://www.greatnorthernmusic.com
http://www.myspace.com/greatnorthern
http://www.eeniemeenie.com
Vic Chestnutt & Elf Power @ The Bowery Ballroom
Not knowing exactly what to expect from this show, it was certain that two of my favorite albums of 2008 were going to be highlighted on this cold Friday night in New York City. When Elf Power frontman, Andrew Rieger, emailed me with the news that Elf Power would play an entire opening set before supporting the album they recorded with Vic, my anticipation grew. We got there while Elf Power were setting up, and Pete had a quick word with Andrew. Mr. Elf Power also commented on the Neutral Milk Hotel t-shirt I was wearing, one he sold me via Orange Twin Records a few weeks back.
Elf Power left the stage for just a few minutes before making their formal entrance. They opened with “Step Through the Portal …” and then went right into their newest LP, In a Cave (#6 on Fishpork’s Favorite Albums list). Rieger and company played effortlessly through songs like “Owl Cut,” “Spiral Stairs” and “Softly Through the Void.” You can’t say enough about the sound quality at the Bowery. It’s just flawless. I would prefer the Music Hall of Williamsburg (adjacent to a great bar scene) and Johnny Brenda’s (IPA on tap with only 200 person max), but the Bowery is near the top. Elf Power finished their set with an epic version of “Back to the Web” from the LP by the same name and left the stage promising to be back shortly with Vic Chestnutt. The crowd at this point was still only about half of the 600 maximum capacity. Shame on you, New York!
The band returned just minutes later, this time carrying the legend himself and his wheel chair to an area right in front of us. The crowd finally filled up most of the venue at this point. For those unfamiliar, Vic was injured in a car accident when he was 18. The accident left him partially paralyzed. His ability to play guitar was not altogether lost, although it does take a lot of energy for Chestnutt to set up his leg on his array of guitar pedals, a process that he joked about with the crowd. His set up included an undersized acoustic guitar with five effects pedals below and a harmonica. When Vic was younger he played regularly at local shows in Athens, Georgia before being discovered by Michael Stipe of REM. Stipe went on to produce Chestnutt’s first two albums in the early 90s.
Chestnutt’s newest album was a collaborative effort with Elf Power called Dark Developments, an altogether catchy, scathing and lyrically high brow effort. Vic announced he and the band would play the album in its entirety, a concept that has been popular in recent years with established bands. Chestnutt began the “la la la” opening of “Mystery,” and the crowd became catatonic. This man has more passion in his broken down body than any musician alive today. He told the stories behind many of the tracks and interacted with the audience all night. He explained, “I wrote this song. It’s called ‘Little Fucker.’ I wrote it about myself.”
The highlight of the night was an angry rant about recent campaign hero, Joe the Plumber. Vic explained that he worked on the concept for the song “Phil the Fiddler” for two years before Joe the Plumber came along. “Fuck Joe the Plummer,” he yelled before going into the album’s closing track. Vic ended the show with two older tracks that have me scrambling to download all of his older stuff. The show was a long one, as Elf Power played for almost an hour, and Vic played for close to 90 minutes. It was all worth several times the $15 ticket. The show will, without a doubt, end up on our list of favorites for 2009.
Animal Collective @ The Bowery Ballroom
After seeing Animal Collective put on a great show at the Grand Ballroom the night before, I was excited to see them in a much more intimate setting. I have seen them at The Electric Factory in Philly and at All Points West over the summer, but I had a feeling that their show at The Bowery Ballroom was going to be the one to solidify AC as the best live performers around today, and they did not disappoint.
Their Grand Ballroom show was great, don’t get me wrong, but this show blew my mind like I had anticipated. After all the well deserved hype leading up to the release of their new LP, Merriweather Post Pavilion, AC had a lot to live up to on both fronts. Without a doubt, this was the best performance I have seen from AC.
The crowd was an exclusive one. The Ticketmaster password was distributed via private message on the Collectiveanimals message board. At one point someone yelled out “cobraleg,” which was the distributed password, to the laughter of some of the fans.
The set list was all that I could ask for and flowed seamlessly, which differed from the night before. They opened with “Also Frightened,” and then moved into a crisp version of “My Girls” with David “Avey Tare” Portner’s backup vocals very clear in the mix. The new song that they have been touring with, given the fan title of “Blue Sky,” fit well into the set. Next, the band followed with a reworked and the now more powerful and intense version of “Slippi,” which was part of the encore the night before. The new “Slippi” has the stop/start movement of “Guys Eyes” on speed. It fit much better in the set list here, because it lifted the energy to a nice level after the sedation of “Blue Sky.” This felt like a better place for it in the set.
The much talked about rework of “Leaf House” sounded exceptional and moved right into a knock out performance of “Summertime Clothes” that re-energized the audience. The former Panda Bear song, “Guys Eyes,” that was redone for MPP, had all eyes on Noah Lennox. Luckily, I was right in front of Panda Bear and got to watch his mastery of his duel SP-555s and his fanatical vocal performance.
The highlight of the night for me was a surprising one. This was the fourth time that I have seen the “Fireworks/Essplode/Fireworks” medley that was put together for their last tour, and one of the only songs that remained on the set list for this MPP tour. Because I was two feet in front of Panda Bear and his setup, I got to appreciate his live drumming as well. Panda Bear mixed live drums and loops, and his percussion work was masterful and highly energetic. It drove the piece to a new height, as all eyes focused his way.
Ending the set with a one-two punch from “Lion In A Coma” and “Brothersport” rounded out the set to perfection. Brian “Geologist” Weitz was intense in his usual head bobs as he put on the opening sample to “LIAC” and Avey Tare’s vocals were again mixed well and sounded like you were listening to record if you closed your eyes, with a bigger bass punch. You just can’t go wrong with ending a set or an album with “Brothersport” and it wrapped it up with a furiousness as the band walked off stage.
The night before featured a reworked version of “Banshee Beat” and “Slippi.” Having already heard the latter, I was anxious what they would come up with. Again, no disappointments. After less than 3 minutes off stage, they came out and went into a completely reworked version of “Winter’s Love” that mellowed the crowd after the wild set. If it weren’t for the lyrics, it would of been hard to tell what song they were even playing, but it worked and sounded like a well constructed jam. As the song faded out, the familiar opening to “Comfy in Nautica,” from Panda’s Bear’s solo album Person Pitch, kicked in. The crowd was full of 550 ecstatic grins. Noah put everything he had into the vocals and made it the perfect closer to the set.
With the growing popularity that Animal Collective is currently experiencing, I don’t know if I will ever get a chance to see them in a venue as intimate again. So I’ll savior the moment, knowing I will be referencing this show as one of the best I ever witnessed for years to come.
Thanks to our friend over at nyctaper.com, you can take a listen to the set as well. His site is back up currently, so download the mp3s or FLAC here.
Setlist:
01 “Also Frightened”
02 “My Girls”
03 “Blue Sky”
04 “Slippi”
05 “Leaf House”
06 “Summertime Clothes”
07 “Guys Eyes”
08 “Fireworks/Essplode/Fireworks”
09 “Lion In A Coma”
10 “Brothersport”
Encore
11 “Winters Love”
12 “Comfy in Nautica”