Review: Fanfarlo at Webster Hall

It turns out, the anonymous man behind Fanfarlo’s amazing stunt is a man named Michael Lee, a widely acclaimed magician and death-defying daredevil. Michael said he did not previously know of Fanfarlo (more of a REM, Moby, Stones, and Springsteen guy). Rather, “A well known restraint collector in the Los Angeles area put me in touch with the band’s management. The band had originally had an escape artist perform with them in their video, ‘The Walls are Coming Down.’ Hence, they wanted to duplicate this during their live performance here in the US for their final performance of a 26 show tour at Webster Hall.”

[Photo from The Music Slut’s Fanfarlo review]

We discussed the escape and I couldn’t help ask if it really does require dislocating one’s shoulder (a la Riggs in Lethal Weapon 3) and the secrets behind the trick. “What you saw me perform, about five stories up, at Webster Hall; I wish I could say what the audience saw was a magic trick. But it wasn’t. What the Escape Artist does is very real. There is no trick involved. Getting out of a straitjacket at that height is accomplished through sheer hard work and sweat. The feat is accomplished through an almost sheer focus. You have to relax at the right time, use sheer strength in places and through the whole thing there is a Zen-like concentration and focus.”

“The stunt itself is learned and practiced with baby steps,” he continued. “First you go to a local playground and hang upside down on the monkey bars. You gradually move on to being suspended from higher spaces, and yes the blood does rush to your head. You have to work somewhat swiftly to avoid blacking out. The highest I’ve ever been suspended was 17 stories with one added twist: I had exactly 3 minutes to release myself from the restraint as the rope was on fire.”

You just don’t get this kind of encounter outside New York City. So before we get back to the Fanfarlo show and the music, there was one last thing we were dying to know, what exactly drives somebody to start cheating death?

“One of the comments I often hear regarding my work is, ‘do you have some sort of a death wish?’ If anything, it’s a life wish,” Michael retorted. “I grew up in rural Canada and was diagnosed with the extremely painful and debilitating illness of Rheumatoid Arthritis at the age of eight. I spent a year and a half in a hospital bed and was told by doctors that I might never walk again. The experience itself made me develop a superhuman-like focus and a desire to experience life beyond what we accept as life’s traditional boundaries.”

[Photo from The Music Slut’s Fanfarlo review]

As you can only imagine, it’d be tough for any band to keep up the energy and excitement after such a raucous, tone-setting opener, but Fanfarlo continued to stage a memorable performance after our magical new friend left the stage.

I compare seeing Fanfarlo live at this point to going to see a good comedy movie. Sometimes when you go to the movies, you want something light that you know will leave you feeling good and requires a minimal emotional investment. Fanfarlo feels the same — and this should come across as high praise, not a belittlement for any sort of simplicity. On the contrary, their show simply does not include a lot of ups and downs as the catalog flows seamlessly without a single lapse in quality.

At this point in their career, given they are in the throws of a rapid ascent from buzzy CMJ/SXSW band to big draw with a degree of mass appeal (Arcade Fire comparisons run rampant), they are playing their hand pretty close to the vest, sticking largely with Reservoir material, and not experimenting much therein.

In just a matter of a few short months since they stood out as one the key bands at CMJ 2009 here in New York City, Fanfarlo took a big-time leap forward in their career, packing Webster Hall with an estimated house of 1,100 of the city’s most on-the-ball music fans. I look forward to the day when they deviate and stretch out with more experimentation in the shows – which you can tell won’t be too far off – but for now the straightforward tackling of the album material suits them just fine.

Fanfarlo is easy to like. They come across as smart, endearing musicians comfortable in their own skin. From Cathy Lucas’ affinity for high-waisted pleated pants to the boys’ love for buttoning the top button, sporting bushy mustaches, and wearing bow ties; they embody smart, nerdish music kids who love to play and write, while being just themselves.

I purposely refrain from pointing to any big highlights or weak spots, as they really maintain a formidable balance of excellence in every song, but if pushed, outside of the jaw-dropping opener the album’s opening track I’m a Pilot probably drew the biggest cheers with its sampled industrial rhythm driving the orchestral romp. They also closed the show with a warm embrace of holiday cheer via Low’s Just Like Christmas, which brought the return of the show openers, the Freelance Whales, another multi-instrumentalist band, from NYC. I missed their supporting performance in favor of a fat plate of stuffed cabbage at Veselka, but judging by the fun they were having during the Fanfarlo encore, they seem worthy of an ear.

To expand on that comedy movie comparison, the band came out with a show that left fans smiling and festive without dragging it out, instead playing a concise 75 minutes of music. For folks like us who are used to seemingly endless three hour marathon shows, Fanfarlo provides a breath of fresh winter mentholyptus, as it’s much less daunting to hear a band tear through their set and send you home with enough time to catch a movie or have a late dinner.

TMS TV presents Fanfarlo

You can’t do Schindler’s List every night, so a band like Fanfarlo gives provides that much needed Role Models alternative. At this point, they aren’t a band you need to seek out every single time they come through town, but with a group of really talented musicians/friends who swap instruments; successfully incorporate unconventional tackle like the clarinet, trumpet, melodica, and the saw; and write catchy songs with bright, elegant melodies; as these youngsters get more daring, they will surely become a powerhouse to the like of a Will Farrell or an Adam Sandler. They deserve that same level of attention.