Concert Review: Final Fantasy + Mountain Goats

I'm kind of sick, so my thoughts aren't that organized, but that was a very good show.

Owen opeened. I have a live recording of him at Vienna, and he's...awkward and shy, usually. But he was really branching out in a bashful sort of way. No self-deprecation, no confusion...some exhaustion, but also quite a bit of energy. So his playing was top fucking notch, like amazingly. I knew everything when it came, mostly because the show was a lot like the vienna concert. I felt kind of alone there up front (JMV had a later ticket...I wish I had bought you that section 2 ticket the lady had), among a bunch of Mountain Goats fans(I only knew one song Guff had sent me; my summary of the period when they came on is that they were good but not what I wanted at that mentail state and I was also sick and restless so I didn't listnen to all of it, they did a fine job) being there for Owen.

He played a lot of very, very ambitious stuff from his new record, and that came along very very well. It's shaping up to be amazing, from what I've heard live and on demo. Across the board, though, he approached each song with as much vigor as he could muster. He plays with his boyfriend now, and they make a very good team. It's hard to find a guitarist that can finger pick the same line of a bowed violin doing 16th notes, but Owen's dating one. Nice, huh? They're all cute and shit (I wanna take 'em home).

Owen was on synth and violin and voice, with his loop pedal and his exactness. Thomas was on guitar and percussion and vocals + whistling. Just...goddamn, hearing some of those songs live are religious. His records are pretty good, yeah; but the joy of seeing him life is connecting with the process of musing, evolving right there in front of you with every push on the loop pedal. It helps for me that I've done so much research / fangirling on the guy (for Arcade Fire and Great Lake Swimmers, I've listened to it) that I can connect to him personally as well as through his music. So I got to enjoy his personality and process, as well as the beautiful music he let out. He's a very sincere musician, skilled and exact.

I got to meet Thomas right between the acts. I had been trying to catch owen and failed, so I sort of waved at Thomas saying "Goodbye," but he actually came over and we had a conversation. I talked about the Vienna show, and I would've liked to have talked more about his musicianship and their interplay, because it was so effective. But it was just light wonderful chatter. He's a lot more open and amiable than Owen (who clearly has a lot of pathos and shyness going on, bless him)...yeah, I think he pitches. Anyway, very nice conversation. I told him my name.

Mountain Goats set: above. It was really nice, but I wasn't looking for loud guitars at that point in time. However, anyone who said they're bad live are exaggerating. They're ok live.

Afterwards I was sort of wandering about when I, at the help of others, found their tour bus. I sat down near it and struck up a conversation with a guy about the music and about percussion as well. Someone tapped me on the shoulder and said Owen was walking by (unaccompanied by any adoring fans, the absolute SHAME!) and I gave him my love. It was more awkward and fangirly than I would've liked, but I felt I expressed what I was feeling. He hugged me and said he couldn't stop looking at my hair. I left in all smiles. If I am more lucid tomorrow I am going to feel gooooooooooooooood.