In September 2010 Hugo Gruzman and James Lyell AKA Flight Facilities performed their very first show in Melbourne. The event marked the closing party of music being performed upstairs at The Mercat, following ongoing noise complaints from their North Melbourne neighbours. The selling point for this show was that their single Crave You had been played by Aeroplane earlier that year at Coachella, and they performed on the evening to no more than 300 people. How far they’ve come.
Five years on and the duo have cemented their position as one of Australia’s most successful musical exports. They’ve traversed the globe on sold-out tours, played at some of the biggest festivals on the planet, and just last week their debut album Down to Earth was nominated for three ARIAs. There was no doubt, though, that tonight’s performance – a specially commissioned show for Melbourne Festival – would mark the highest peak the boys had ever reached.
Flanked by a hand-picked band which included Surahn, Touch Sensitive, Kurt Kristen and Broadhurst, alongside vocalists Emma Louise, Katie Noonan, Owl Eyes and George Maple, the night saw a dramatic reimagining of the duo’s back catalogue rearranged for a 60-piece orchestra by Davide Rossi, who also led the evening’s proceedings as conductor. The show, which sold out all 12,000 tickets in two hours, also marked the first time that Gruzman and Lyell had played live themselves. No pressure.
From the moment the two appeared on stage, adorned in their signature pilot apparel, they incited a 90-minute non-wavering electric atmosphere throughout the Sidney Myer Music Bowl. With the duo and their band perched above the orchestra, and Rossi centre stage playing the ringmaster, fan favourites Crave You (sung by Owl Eyes) and With You (sung by Kurt Kirsten) were rinsed with striking power and precision by the MSO. The crowd turned rapturously euphoric when the untameable afro of Reggie Watts made a surprise appearance for a rendition of Sunshine, while the most classically accessible track Clair de Lune provided the pièce de résistance for the evening with Owl Eyes’ vocals soaring over the heavy strings of the orchestra.
At the conclusion of the performance the two were greeted with a round of applause more deafening than any I’ve ever witnessed before, with Owl Eyes and Lyell locking eyes and pointing to each other affectionately in a moment of triumph. A show almost a year in the making, it’s safe to say the audacious journey had landed safely, turbulence free.
BY JUNIOR CO-CAPTAIN TYSON WRAY
Photo by David Harris
Loved: The in-flight entertainment.
Hated: What’s the deal with airline food?
Drank: A complimentary beverage.
