Four of us (two other SUers and one revered guest), just returned from a whirwind tour of NYC the main goal of which, you guessed it, was to see Final Fantasy and Grizzly Bear play with the Brooklyn Philharmonic at the Brooklyn Academy of Music (BAM). There was, needless to say, a lot of anticipation, and fairly high expectations. After all here’s what The L-Magazine of Brooklyn had to say about it in its bi-weekly concert listings:

“Two of indie-rock’s most drooled-over acts perform backed by the Brooklyn Philharmonic. This is the musical equivalent of winning the lottery on your birthday, or something like that. Something really, really good.”

Well the concert did not disappoint. Final Fantasy’s material, already written for a string quartet, took on a much fuller sound and grandiose quality compared to his stripped down solo performances with just a violin and a sampler. Grizzly Bear’s set seemed much more like the musical experiment that one might predict. Pallett, although admittedly neurotic about others performing his work, still seemed, given his classical background, relatively comfortable with the orchestra. Grizzly Bear however, were decidedly awkward about the whole affair, this was echoed in some songs as the sound of guitars and drums seemed to be issuing from, and floating on a different sonic plane then the violins and violas, never truly melding into one. Despite this, Grizzly Bear managed to deliver songs that had never been played live before, and they said, would never be again unless some other opportunity to play with an orchestra presented itself.

Grizzly Bear returned, sans orchestra, to perform an encore which included “Deep Blue Sea” (see video below), and “He Hit Me (It Felt Like a Kiss)” which our travelling companion has already pointed out is a cover.

Grizzly Bear encore Deep Blue Sea at BAM from lofi.tv on Vimeo.

The new material presented by both parties, sounds very promising, and I am eagerly anticipating both Final Fantasy’s next LP Heartland, as well as Grizzly Bear’s Veckatimest (May 26, Warp). Below is an excerpt of a bootleg (RAR) from the concert.

Grizzly Bear – Plans (Live @ BAM)

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.