shows | the writing desk

Owen Pallett or Final Fantasy

Posted in Music, shows by emmajmh on March 3, 2010

On Friday, February 12th, I bussed to my friend Walter’s house after my classes were finished for the day. He lives a couple streets away from the venue Owen Pallett was playing, so we spent the afternoon listening to all of his albums and an EP and getting pretty excited in general. My friend Allie drove two hours out to St. John’s to see him, so I walked to meet her and bring her to Walter’s.

Around six we were getting ready to go to the church to lineup, the show starting at 8:30.

Sometime in the scramble to get all of our things together I received a phone call from one of my best friends telling me the show was cancelled. My first reaction was to call him a bullshitter, because multiple people had been trying to freak me out about it, but he insisted, and we looked at the Facebook group and saw that it was true. Owen Pallett and co. couldn’t land in St. John’s because of the fog. They’d gotten here and had to turn around to go back to Halifax.

Disappointed is a light term.

We walked downtown and went to HavaJava and I made quick plans with a friend to get together at his house and sit around with our friends who were supposed to go and try and be hopeful that he would make it on tomorrow, Saturday.

Allie and I had to leave before anyone else had gotten there, but I cabbed us to the mall and we walked around waiting for her parents to pick her up.

I walked home in the rain, fell in a snowbank once, was splashed by cars three times, and had to make my way through slush in only low rise converse sneakers. In case you don’t know, those aren’t water proof.

I arrived home drenched, slightly upset, but kind of relieved. See, I hadn’t really acknowledged the fact that I was going to be seeing Final Fantasy that night. I hadn’t been really excited like I was in December in the weeks leading up to the show. So, I took a shower to warm up, messed around online, and went to bed.

Saturday it was sunny all morning. I woke up early, bussed to Kelsey Drive, listened to Final Fantasy and Heartland specifically the entire ride and picked up things to make cute little Valentine’s for my friends. I had just missed the bus so I sat in the shelter lsitening to songs from Heartland over and over and being thoroughly amazed by them. An older man walked up when it was close to the time for the bus to arrive.

“Excuse me, do you know what time the bus gets here?”
Me: ten after one
“It’ll be here soon then, right?”
Me: Yes, it’s one oh six now.
“Alright, thank you then. Does that go to the Avalon Mall?”
Me: Yes, it loops around Kenmount and down Thorburn and then it’s the mall
“Good! So I guess you’re going to university, right? What are you doing?”
Me: English and French
“Ha! You’re in the right country to be doing English and French then!”
Me: Yeah, seems like it.
“So you’re in what year now?”
Me: my second.
“I’ll guess you’re around 21 right?”
Me: I just turned 20, actually.
“Good, good. So tomorrow’s Valentine’s day, right? You have a special someone to celebrate with?”
Me: No, sir.
“Ah, me either. I’m hoping to find a special someone someday though! Everyone should have a special someone, don’t you think?
Me: I’d like to think so.

I told him my name was Emma when he asked and he said his Grandmother was Emma and she died when she was 104 years old. I told him I was named after my great grandmother and she died when she was 100.
“There must be something about the name Emma, right? -laughs-”
Me: Let’s hope so…

I arrived home and immediately check up every thing I could think of to see if the show was still going ahead. Cinnamon hearts kept me company until i saw Mr. Pallett tweet this: “Our second attempt at landing in St Johns: foiled. Your city is foggy b’ys. Back in Halifax. Third time’s a charm?”

Heartbroken.

I immediately went to local forums, facebook events, the mightpop homepage, owenpallett’s website, anything to see if he was going to try to make another flight in. A friend called and we agreed to keep track of it until we heard more, and another friend asked me to keep him postponed.

Around 4 we learned that he was scheduled for another flight at 5:30, so I got ready and bussed down to Walter’s, again, in the snow.

It was dark, but a beautiful night, and Allie called me when my bus was just leaving the university and heading downtown to let me know that Owen Pallett’s plane had landed, he was currently in St. John’s.

The show was still going ahead.

So, I called all my friends, let them know that things were a-go, called Laura and work and cheered her up monumentally, I hope, to let her know we’d still see the show tonight.

Elliott picked up Walter and I and we managed to find our way to the George Street United Church and waited outside with only four other people there. When we arrived we could hear the violin inside, practicing.

I sat in the second row, with a space between the two heads in front of me perfect to see Owen Pallett. The opening act was a beautiful one- Alex Lukashevsky is a talented man.

When Owen Pallett was setting up some of his equipment before he started to play I made some sort of ridiculous noise that summed up my excitement for him to start playing. I looked up and he was looking at me in near bewilderment.

Win.

Thomas Gill was a strange kind of cute and the two of them worked well together and I can’t believe how lucky I was to see him live and so very close to me. The show was beautiful. When he played my favourite song I started to cry and just immediately began to sing along. Every single one of my friends looked at me, Walter shook my shoulders and they were all so excited and happy, I guess, to see me pretty much melt into a blob of fangirlishness glee.

I bought merch from cute boys at the front of the church, all three cd’s and three shirts (two to give to friends who just didn’t want to get up ) and they thanked me for my nearly hundred dollar purchase.

I asked the girl if I could keep my ticket, so he hole punched it for me and drew a blew heart on my hand that stayed for days.

There are some times when it feels like I never saw him live. I’d spent that morning watching videos of him live on YouTube and the whole thing is surreal. Every now and then a friend will send me a text along the lines of ‘I miss Owen’ or ‘I’m listening to ____ and I wish we were seeing him live again’ and I will just get filled with such satisfaction. I saw my second favourite musician live February 13th, 2010, and now my third favourite musicians, Said the Whale, will be here April 10th, and I’ll get the opportunity to see them, as well.

I’ve never seen a band or artist live, simply because no one I liked has ever come here, but right now I feel so stinking lucky. I wear my Owen Pallett shirt and I feel warm and happy because of what I can associate it with, a good night with friends, people I genuinely like and love, and the music we all love. Those that had hardly heard of Final Fantasy or Owen Pallett before hand were amazed by his performance, and all I could do was smile and nod, I’d known that all along.

Another account of the night, here.