By Jodi Root

Owen Pallett graced the stage of Schuba’s as the headliner of three breath-taking live performances on Saturday night’s instilment of Tomorrow Never Knows. Pallett, following incredibly powerful and intimate sets by Peter Wolf Crier and the lovely Sharon Von Etten, fell nothing short of concluding an amazing evening of music. Having caught his November set opening up for the Mountain Goats at Metro, (while he still fell under his Final Fantasy moniker), I knew this would be no surprise. The only difference this second time around (unless you count my brief flirtation introduction to this magnificent multi-instrumentalist’s sound at Pitchfork this past July), is that was I now much more familiar with his song catalogue, especially with the recent Jan. 12th release of Heartland.

Schuba’s was long sold-out; with me bumming that I was going to have to miss the set until a last minute confirmation came through – I seriously felt like I had won the lottery. The walls of this cozy music hotspot was packed with people shoulder-to-shoulder (with a surprising 9/10 male to female ratio), making it extremely easy to forget it was a frigid January evening in Chicago. Warm amber lighting illuminated the sometimes one, sometimes two man set-up on the small wooden stage.

Pallett took to the stage at approximately midnight, to a suddenly stone silent, hushed crowd who were anxious for what was about to come – I could actually hear the humming of his amplifier before he kicked things off with Heartland’s “E is for Estranged.” A second musician joined Pallett on stage off and on for several songs of the 70-minute set—breaking right into another new track, the amazingly catchy “Keep the Dog Quiet.” While the majority of material came from Heartland, some older favorites were accounted for as well including “This is the Dream of Win and Regine,” “He Poos Clouds,” “The Butcher,” and the encore “The CN Tower Belongs to the Dead.” A newer track I didn’t recognize without the help of my good friend Google was the catchy, “Honour the Dead or Else.”

Incredible musicianship overall, Pallett maneuvered seamless transitions into various usages of his violin – plucking, strumming, bowing, shouting, the man is a musical genius. For a mere two man show, the usage of his loops, pedals and techniques made quite the jaw-dropping experience come to life. The only noticeable difference from his November Chicago set was the absence of his wise cracking charisma, woven between songs to which he later apologized to the crowd for not being “in full showgirl mode,” due to feeling under the weather. Sick or ill as he may have been, other than his lack of witticisms, the crowd would never have been able to tell – the show was dead on, and everyone in attendance seemed equally impressed – even the loud, drunk dude bros behind me were getting down.

Pallett again apologized at one point later in the set, but this time for all the new songs. But the fact that he utilizes his live performances as his forum for new music is what makes his performances so enjoyable – sure, you probably have the fans here who just want what they know, but even in November prior to Heartland’s January release, Pallett was showcasing numbers from his fourth album. With today’s addiction to internet’s download immediacy and music, fans should appreciate the live instant gratification of new material even so much more. Definitely good stuff.

From start to finish, Pallett showcased an incredibly quiet yet loud, intimate yet powerful, breath-taking performance. As always, I definitely encourage checking out his live sets – while you may not be sold on his recorded works, I assure you his live interpretations can and will easily change your stance on this magical musicianship.

Set List:
1. E is for Estranged
2. Keep the Dog Quiet
3. Lewis Takes Action
4. Oh Heartland, Up Yours!
5. The Butcher
6. He Poos Clouds
7. This is the Dream of Win & Regine
8. Many Lives
9. Midnight Directives
10. Honour the Dead or Else
11. The Great Elsewhere
12. Lewis Takes Off His Shirt
13. (Encore) The CN Tower Belongs to the Dead
14. (Encore) This Lamb Sells Condos

Buy: Owen Pallett – Heartland