Live Review: Flight Facilities
Forum Melbourne
14 September 2018
Danny Harley aka The Kite String Tangle starts things off tonight with a surging electronic pulse. He stands at the opposite side of the stage to his drummer and together they create an explosive sound of beautifully crafted atmospheric beats.
The talented singer, songwriter and producer knows how to get the crowd moving as he plays his delicately crafted danceable tunes filled with house-infused bass-lines and soothing vocal features. The dance floor quickly fills up for some of his biggest tracks including the hard-hitting ‘Selfish’ and the ultra funky ‘This Thing We Got.’ Long time fans are pleased to hear old favourite ‘Arcadia’, which has a slow glimmering start and crescendos into a huge emotional chorus. For something different, Harley ends his set with his epic remix of Fatboy Slim’s iconic track ‘Praise You’ adding his own beats and samples to propel the track to new heights.
The crowd is absolutely buzzing with excitement by the time Flight Facilities touch down on the stage. The lights flicker and their logo illuminates the podium where our pilots Hugo Gruzman and James Lyell are positioned behind a console of controls, ready to elevate us high into the sky. Tonight is the last show of their current tour and they let us in on a secret that it’s also being filmed for Triple J’s Live at the Wireless, so we’re encouraged to party as hard as possible. Owl Eyes takes the lead on all the female vocals tonight and her vocals are flawless. The singer’s stage presence is second to none and enhances the live show as Gruzman and Lyell smoothly navigate us through all of their hits.
Other notable guest features include Ric Rufio who lends his sleek, soulful vocals for the feel good track ‘Sunshine’ and Dustin Tebbutt who performs their latest track ‘All Your Love’. Tebbutt starts off the song on his acoustic guitar with soft vocals and then the song builds up to an explosive, emotive chorus with a thumping electronic production. A new auto-tuned, electro-heavy dance track is added to the in-flight entertainment to create a powerful burst of turbulent energy and they take us back in time with a nostalgic disco cover of Jamiroquai’s ‘You Give Me Something’.
‘Stranded’ brings us back down to Earth for an encore with a duet from Owl Eyes and Rufio and then we light our phones up during the mesmerising track ‘Clair De Lune’. Their biggest hit ‘Crave You’ is thought to be the last, however they invite all the guest vocalists, support acts and even their truck driver Dave, on to the stage for one last boogie along to Mylo’s ‘Drop The Pressure’ and the timeless party anthem makes us want to stay and dance all night long.
Words by Michael Prebeg
