The official show review thread

[cheshire]

Since people seem to need another distraction besides the "If owen was a.." Thread.

The show was fantastic, Welcome (local seattle band) played a long set, followed by Cadence Weapon/DJ with the I <3 Weasels shirt. Cadence Weapon was amazing- anyone who feels it might be strange seeing such different genres will be pleasantly surprised, he's a great performer.

Opening acts aside, Owen came on to tumulus applause and started with HPC. The crowd was completely silent for most of the show, which in itself is an amazing thing. Highlight of the show- Steph's lightshow to Horsetail Feathers. That and exchanging of bad puns. Kickasstro!

I manged to grab the setlist, but he didn't play all of it. It's hard to read, I'll post it up here and maybe more people will understand the shorthand, because I'm quite sure I'm reading some of it wrong.


HPC
Flare Gun
Many Lives--49
Adventure.exe
What do you think will happen next
Horsetail Feathers
Paris 1919
Hey Dad
CN tower
This is the Dream of Win and Regine
This Lamb sells Condos
Took you Two Years
Interview
------
Encore:
An Actor's Revenge
Song Song Song

Actual list:

See, we ALMOST had This modern love and Please Please Please. Too bad owen was so tired.


I couldn't record anything as I was afraid my camera wouldn't make it on the plane to Seattle, but if anyone has any recordings that would be great. All in all, TOTALLY worth the travel from SF to here.

(Maybe we can just make this the official show review thread, that would be cool)

[jamesm]

Dang me and my long-winded thread of the same point! Twenty minutes late!

[cheshire]

Shite! Let's combine them!

Oh wait, we can't. Threads can't be deleted. Daaamn, we must look silly.

[jamesm]

My original post:

To start, I'm a new FF fan, brought into the fold in the last couple of months by the miracle of downloading. Don't worry, I've paid it forward - bought both CDs at the show. The point is that I'd only listened to them a few times each before the show. My wife, who came with, is even newer.

It'd been a while since we'd been to a small club show, so we naively thought 8pm meant 8pm. That's when the doors opened. At 9, the opening act started - a local band named Welcome. They were ... not good. The lead guitarist actually has some chops, and the rest were "okay" on their instruments, but for the most part the songs didn't do anything for me. The male singer can't sing well. The bass player can, and I might add that she was nice eye candy. No idea if they're on the tour.

There was also a co-headliner who wasn't advertised anywhere I'd seen. He's a rapper - also from Edmonton - whose name I've already forgotten. However, he did put on a decent set with a lot of energy for having such a small crowd (maybe 150). His DJ was pretty darn good.

Owen played his own roadie, so I was a little surprised to see the skinny guy in the skull T-shirt setting up the mics then pick up the violin and play.

The OHP was there, too. There was something of a cheese factor with it overall, but we decided it was a good addition - an art form with some neat effects.

Most of the set was centered around the eight schools of magic in Poos, with the OHP helping give detail ("illusion," "transmutation," etc.). There was plenty from Home, though. This Lamb was mostly a string arrangement. It was also funny watching him try to hit the kids-choir notes for 16 bars.

He used the repeat-recorder thingy extensively - I believe in every song. Other posts tell me this is how it's always been. I suppose it's cheaper than paying other musicians. ;D

I totally expected the audience to yell "Son You Shall" during Many Lives, so I was prepared to join in, but it didn't happen. If there's any chance for audience participation during the show, that's it.

There were a few musical glitches, most of which would have gone unnoticed by most people, but he acknowledged them all in some fashion.

Anyway, it's obvious that Owen has talent, and not much desire to appeal to be mainstream, so I suppose it's our job to pay his bills. Go see the show.

People asked elsewhere about the merch. Both CDs were available ($12), as well as full vinyl of Poos ($15?). A couple of Poos-inspired shirts ($15) were there, one black and one white/orange. Also, $5 posters of the show.

By the way, Owen, the British monarch I most identify with is probably Edward VIII.

[jamesm]

I was able to delete mine, no problem.

But I have no problem looking silly.

[cheshire]

People did say "Son You Shall", I think. Like, the five people around me. Eheh, I was told to stop singing so loudly during the show.

I would describe the crowd's vibe as 'reverent.' Would you agree?

[jamesm]

I think I heard one person near me start to yell it but then stopping when no one else near us did. ;D

I'm not sure I'd go as far as reverence, but there was definitely Owen-love in the air. Maybe what killed the potential of that vibe for me was the distracting conversation(s) among the people by the door. It was like a cell phone at a movie - jolts you back from what you're there to experience.

[jamesm]

"I was told to stop singing so loudly during the show."

Sucks, but I think I can top that. Seeing Erasure at the Paramount (I believe) a few years ago, the staff told us repeatedly to stop dancing!

[cheshire]

Woah! That's really strange, actually. I mean, if you're slamdancing and punching each other in the face I can sort of understand, but simply dancing?

That must be a weird venue.

Maybe it just seemed silent from where I was- the last time I saw owen was with Bloc Party and everyone was talking, seeing a concert with such a quiet crowd is really strange and fantastic to me.

[Dave]

I was there, and right in front of Owen. While I'm new to his own work, I'm a fan of everything else he has done, so I was TOTALLY into it despite the fact that I wasn't singing along. I've seen videos of his shows online, but this totally exceeded my (kind of high, really) expectations. It was stunning, really.

I actually really enjoyed the silence, because it made everything much more intense. Plus... it showed how much attention and respect people gave him.

By the way, Cheshire, I was going to grab the setlist, but I didn't want to bother running up on stage until you were already halfway there. I could have beaten you easily, too, if I had gone up when you did! I'm glad you posted it though, so I'm glad that you got it and not somebody else that wouldn't have shared what was on it.

p.s. Will you post a photo of the setlist? ;D

[cheshire]

Oh, I was surprised no one was running up to grab things. I'm so used to fans being like, "RAWRGH! A water bottle!" after shows. I'll be scanning it and posting it up as soon as possible.

[jules]

Thanks for the reviews. I'd never really notice the lack of audience participation in joining in before, but when you think about it it is kind of amazing that we just stand (or sit when told) in awe of the performance. The whole thing is more of a emotional experience rather then a physical thing. I often find myself struck by how good it all is.

I suspect that the occasional missed loop is just natures way of keeping us from overloading.

[suburbanmyth]

Well, my friend did manage to get the setlist from the Vancouver show, thank god, cause I'm shit at remembering those things. Wrong thread, but I do really feel like Steph's art combined with the music makes for a bombardment of the senses and I LOVE it. *magical!* Kinda makes it take a while longer to absorb the whole experience, ya know? Anyways, hopefully I'll have some wicked shots to put up soon too. Brilliant show (yay!) and damn if I didn't feel ridiculously lucky & happy to hear so many of my requests played!! What the hell, how amazing is that? The only sad note was Nifty was there but unfortunately not on the bill for that night. Sucks. Luckily, he had some of his cd's with him though so I was able to pick one up & omg it's Unbelievably Awesome! For sure one of the best new albums I've heard in awhile. (go get it! you won't regret it.)

Oh! and funny thing about the setlist, I'm pretty sure I'd remember if he played that Destroyer's cover but I don't think he did. He definitely played 'Interview' though, which I was dying to request but hadn't cause I already felt too greedy with my longish list! Hah! Sweet.



sigh!

[vito]

no OMD? =(

[luisairene]

He definitely played the Destroyer cover in Vancouver. I have this on good authority from a Destroyer-obsessed friend who was at the show.

Review of the Victoria show: forthcoming.