About 10 minutes before I saw Owen Pallett (aka Final Fantasy) open for The Arcade Fire back in early 2005, as I was standing dead front and center stage, I could care less about him. I knew nothing about him, but honestly even the fact that One AM Radio just opened didn't phase me (I was thrilled just to see AF play again). But when he stepped on stage in the swankiest pair of kicks I'd ever seen, violin in hand, and played The CN Tower Belongs To The Dead, I (as well as everyone else in the club) was completely blown away by the best opening act I've ever seen. I'd have dropped the $15 to see that alone! We even cheered for an encore! By the end of his performance, I think people had actually forgotten who they'd come to see in the first place (until, of course, he covered No Cars Go for his last song).
In any event, although his popularity has risen to modest indie-stardom, many of the songs that I loved from his live show did not end up on his debut album Has A Good Home!, which was disappointing to say the least. BUT I have good news (at least I'm excited)... I managed to find a bootleg of his performance at the 2006 Over The Top Festival, which went down just 12 days ago in Toronto. The setlist is great, with 6 of 12 being unreleased songs and 1 being Bloc Party's This Modern Love. The quality is also pretty damn good (aside from typical bass-buzz). I've decided to provide the whole friggin' thing because...well, it's not my bandwidth. Here you go:
[MP3] Final Fantasy - Spell For A Weakling Heart*
[MP3] Final Fantasy - Hey Dad*
[MP3] Final Fantasy - He Poos Clouds*
[MP3] Final Fantasy - Song Song Song*
[MP3] Final Fantasy - That's When The Audience Died
[MP3] Final Fantasy - The Sea
[MP3] Final Fantasy - Furniture
[MP3] Final Fantasy - The CN Tower Belongs To The Dead
[MP3] Final Fantasy - Many Lives For 49 Mana Points*
[MP3] Final Fantasy - Please Please Please
[MP3] Final Fantasy - Robot Ponies (w/ Laura Barrett)*
[MP3] Final Fantasy - This Modern Love (Bloc Party Cover)*
* denotes new/unreleased/unrecorded/reaalllly hard to find song
If you get any of those, at least check out the asterisked ones, esp Song Song Song and Mana Lives For 49 Points. As for FF news, I know he just had a 7" release but it's pretty darn near impossible to find. Happy trails, nonetheless!
12 comments:
that's so great, thanks!!
i ordered the 7", hopefully it's getting here soon. it includes a joanna newsom cover!
Listening to those live tracks reminds me of why Milwaukee will have a hard time EVER hosting any meaningful indie music fesitval beyond the big drinking fest called summer fest that happens to have some music.
What is so remarkable about this recording is what is not there. The talking audience. Not a freakin'
peep....very cool. Last time I saw audiences like that was in Minneapolis in the mid 80's...
Not that there is any wroing with pounding down some beer with friends to live music but for ONCE I would liek the audience to shut the fuck up and listen to the performer.
Some might think that having an attentive audience goes without saying...well...come to Milwaukee sometime. It doesn't matter who is playing even in theatre venues...people are yaking...
Heres a video of him performing The Modern Love a while back
http://bloc-party.blogspot.com/2005/11/final-fantasy-covers-bloc-party.html
You've got to watch it. It's about a thousand times better than if you just listen to the mp3.
it was dead silent bc it was a dry event...
great boot. nice job!
do u have any of the akron/family stuff recorded?
cheers.
garry.
great post! i'm totally digging the cover.
Final Fantasy is awesome. Anyone ever hear his cover of "Peach, Plum, Pear"? Infinitely superior to the original version.
Found you through Zoilus. Thanks for these, I have the show in a different recording, though not broken down into individual mp3s like this.
The show WAS silent, almost too silent!! - the occasional cough and camera shutter click noises were me. Sorry 'bout that.
- Beth Hamill
www.rockpaperpixels.com
I'm in absolute awe after hearing his Bloc Party cover. Do you reckon you could post those links up again. I can't seem to download them anymore :(
is there any chance that you could post this again? i'd love to hear some of his new material. thanks, Matt
that was a great show! pics: http://www.flickr.com/photos/fotograf416/sets/1834149/
by any chance can you repost these or email them?
ARChainCreations@gmail.com
my blog: www.greatbodyofwater.blogspot.com
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