I've said it before, and I'll say it again: Owen Pallett is God.

Taking to the stage at Union Chapel on the second date of an all-too-short mini-tour of the UK and Ireland (taking in Bristol, London, Dublin and, oddly, Galway) he once again proved this in spectacular style.

The gig was opened by Jennifer Castle, a confusing singer-songwriter who releases under the name Castlemusic - confusing in that none of her songs seemed like songs.  Her set fudged together like one long (and, honestly, quite forgettable) mess of music.  Her guitar playing was perplexing - I couldn't work out whether she actually couldn't play guitar, or whether the mistakes were there on purpose.  I will give her this though - she has an impressive vocal range.  Confusing.  Leave it at that.

Cryptacize - the second support act - were much easier on the brain and far more enjoyable.  Mixing guitar work not totally dissimilar to Dirty Projectors with dual male-female vocals, the band were very entertaining and made a good support band.

But all that was brushed aside by the incredible Final Fantasy.  This was my fourth time seeing him and it was by far the best.  All the cruel rumours that had been floating around before the show that Owen had abandonned his now-trademark looping in favour of performing with a band turned out to be false as he walked on stage armed with just his violin, his keyboard and his pedal bank.  His first song, 'The Sea', was stunning.  He used his violin and pedals to lay down a drone that pulsed throughout the song before opening up the lush melodies of this sea-shanty style piece.  The audience reaction at the end of the song said it all.

Final Fantasy gigs are always quite odd - everyone sits in silence and just absorbs the music.  A far cry from the noisy, sweaty nature of many other gigs, but it is the only way to appreciate them.  Inventively stringing his songs together, all we could do was watch in awe.  Like a teenage girl at a Jonas Brothers concert, I was literally buzzing with amazement, sitting there with an uncontrollably gimpish smile on my face.  And I wasn't the only one - the entire church was palpably silent, as if the slightest noise would ruin the perfection we were witnessing.  Even the false starts on 'Midnight Directives' didn't dampen the Final Fantasy effect, because once he got going, he nailed it.

Owen played a handful of unreleased songs, which should all appear on the eternally-delayed album Heartland (expected anytime this year...).  If they are anything to go by, then Heartland could be his best album yet.  Along with the new tracks were a number of old(er) favourites including Flare Gun' and 'Many Lives -> 49MP'.

Among the highlights was 'The Butcher', the best song on his brilliant recent EP Spectrum, 14th Century.  The note-perfect performance was slightly ethereal as Owen's vocals were faintly picked up on the looping track leaving the ghostly strains of 'are all your fears and fires and family/Written within the Book of Butchery' reverberating behind each verse.  A mostly unlooped rendition of 'He Poos Clouds' - his love song to Link (of Zelda fame) from the album of the same name - also captivated the audience with its perfection.

Owen made his sole mistake on 'This Lamb Sells Condos' - squeaking a little painfully on the violin riff, and choosing to leave the screech on the looping track rather than rerecording it.  Still, all was forgiven when he played 'Lewis Takes Off His Shirt' perfectly despite its difficulty.  The crowd demanded an encore, and Owen provided, playing 'The CN Tower Belongs To The Dead' - easily one of his best songs.  As the lights came up after the encore, the crowd screamed them back down and forced him out for a second encore.  Owen rounded off an unforgettable night with the unspeakably beautiful 'Your Light Is Spent'.

It's impossible to put into words how amazing this show was.  Everything from Owen's playing, to Union Chapel's acoustics, to the stunning light show put on by his friend, Toronto artist Stephanie Comilang (who has been touring with him for years, creating beautiful artwork with just an overhead projector and a collection of cut-out templates) was done to perfection.  I wouldn't have changed anything about the gig except to make it last an extra couple of hours.  Who cares about the last tube home?

As the lights came up again - this time to stay - and Emmy the Great played out over the speakers for the fifth time that night, your intrepid Rare FM DJs used their media credentials to go backstage and witness the celebrity cavalcade unfolding there.  Amongst the fanboys and hangers-on (we, I believe, fit into the first category) were none other than Mika, Kele Okereke (of Bloc Party) and the Pet Shop Boys.  This was a mark not only of the growing profile of Final Fantasy as an artist in his own right, but also of his continued attempts to contribute to every album released this year: Owen provided orchestral arrangements for the latest Pet Shop Boys album, Yes, and plays violin on the upcoming Mika album.

So our (vague) brush with celebrity rounded off a spectacular night and eventually, after standing around awkwardly for a while and managing to talk to Owen for about ten seconds, we left divinely inspired.

I've said it before, and I'll say it again: Owen Pallett is God.