Owen Pallett is worth the price of admission alone. And alone is how he began the show - recreating a song he wrote alongside Beirut with just his vocals, violin and looping machine. The highlight of my entire night followed as still solo he did an impeccable version of Scandal at the Parkade that had my hair raised, along with the corners of my lips in a broad unceasing grin. I could have gone home happy.
Naturally this was nowhere near the end and Owen invited the recently somewhat-reunited Les Mouches to join him on drums and shaker for Midnight Directive. I was apprehensive about any accompaniment, as part of the magic is realizing that every sound heard has been produced by this one genius of a man, however the additional instrumentation really just filled out the sound (especially for the orchestral Heartland songs) without being overbearing. Even when shakers were swapped for guitar on subsequent A Man With No Ankles and the wonderful Lewis Takes Action I began to more fully accept them.
Having joked earlier about a night of dry banter and plenty of music, Owen gave us the story of how Tryst with Mephistopheles was the abridged version of a ninety minute opus (Dammit?) that really favored G-major. With the joyous trumpet provided mid song by the Beirut trumpeter subsiding into the ominous key ending, this live rendition definitely benefited from the fleshed out band. The new song that followed was actually very much drum driven, and impressive as such, with Owen touching only the keys and not his violin.
Once again Owen found himself alone on stage to perform the cover of Caribou's Odessa to the crowd's adoration. Sadly upon the band's return there was a looping machine malfunction meaning we got a tease of This is a Dream (or was it Many Lives?). Either way we didn't get to hear it and instead of fix the computer the band was again dismissed in favour of a loop-free rendition of He Poos Clouds. The crowd showed massive appreciation for Owen's first hometown show in some time, and despite the bittersweetness of the missed song, there was more than enough included to be happy about.
Beirut
Beirut, like Owen, craft pop music out of unconventionally pop instruments. The most notable here is the 120 button accordion and the mixture of brass from half of the six members. No guitars in sight, unless you count the bass, which was at times swapped for the stand up variety anyway. Admittedly I'm not overly familiar with their catalogue despite a bit of cramming in preparation but the music was obviously well done. And obviously appreciated by the crowd as well - I was surprised at just how enthusiastic they were. This may have been part of the reason their encore consisted of a full four songs, and understandably included Owen on violin (and one of three backing vocals) for the final two. Even if I came primarily for the Pallett spectacle this was a sweet bonus to go along with it!
No comments:
Post a Comment