REVIEWFlight Facilities and Melbourne Symphony OrchestraVenue: Myer Music BowlRating: ★★★★½
By MARC SUDHOLZ
Electronica and an orchestra. They’re two music styles that could never go together. Or are they?
Australian electronic duo Flight Facilities – Hugo Gruzman and James Lyell – took off with the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra on Saturday night to test the idea.
Their music soared to new heights for the Annual China Southern Airlines Concert at the Sidney Myer Music Bowl, an ambitious feature of the Melbourne Festival.
The concert brought together "the converging worlds of electronic and orchestral music in a world premiere collaboration”, according to the Melbourne Festival teaser.
The duo, along with special guests, lived up to the expectations of a capacity audience. They treated fans to a mix of older songs and a good helping of their debut album Down to Earth, all rearranged for the collaboration with the MSO.
The talented George Maple warmed up the crowd, with a mix of haunting vocals and upbeat music. Her set contained a variety of songs, including Vacant Space, Gripp and Began to Say, which led into more upbeat tracks including Gemini, Fixed and the popular Talk Talk.
Maple reappeared for the opening track of the night, Foreign Language, and it was clear Flight Facilities would be happy to let most of the work be done by the true stars of the night – the orchestra. Led by Italian conductor Davide Rossi, alongside the talented Touch Sensitive, the MSO took control.
The feel-good songs kept on coming, with Kurt Kristen joining in to perform a stirring rendition of With You, with the saxophone and strings coming to the fore.
The highlight of the night came halfway through the show with the performance of Sunshine – a crowd favourite. As Reggie Watts entered the stage, the excitement was palpable.
The performance matched the anticipation, as Watts expertly belted out the lyrics, with the healthy support of the crowd. The duet with the saxophonist (the other star of the night) was a particularly enjoyable moment.
The other stars of the night were the vocalists including Emma Louise, who performed a stripped-back version of Two Bodies. The MSO took the song in an exciting new direction, with the drums and strings dominating.
A haunting Heart Attack, featuring Owl Eyes, saw the piano and drums star, as Flight Facilities allowed the orchestra to further expand. When the strings took control for Merimbula the atmosphere became more mellow.
Fan favourite Crave You was spectacularly performed by the orchestra, transforming a heavy bassline into an almost acoustic drum and strings performance.
Katie Noonan wowed with a flawless lyrical performance of Apollo, which was the perfect segue into Flight Facilities’ best known work Claire De Lune. It was almost unrecognisable at the start, with the orchestra transforming the song from mellow to intense in the space of six minutes.
The xylophone was an unexpected standout. The night ended with one of Flight Facilities’ most popular remixes Shine A Light by the C90s, which saw all of the acts from the night enter the stage, as the show ended with one final boogie. It was a fitting farewell for the orchestra.
Although some were disappointed by the exclusion of songs like Why Do You Feel and Stand Still, the performance by all on the night was exquisite. The orchestra didn’t put a note wrong and Flight Facilities were brilliant in the way they changed up the majority of the set. For fans of the duo, it was a night that won’t soon be forgotten.
The Melbourne Festival continues to this Sunday, October 25