Ben, Jill and myself made it to the Granada last night to check out Lykke Li, and the show started very simply enough, with nothing but Lykke Li creeping out on a dark stage, then dimly backlit by a couple of stark white spotlights simply singing alone. After each element of the band joined in, what started out as a fragile haunting song became an almost nonstop party for the (almost) hour that she was onstage, ripping through each song with increasing energy throughout the show. Coming in I had no idea what to expect; in the end, I walked away extremely impressed.
First up, however, was local musician Sarah Jaffe:
Although her songs sounded nice, for the most part, I found them to be on the very dull side. Lonely fingerpicked or gently strummed guitar accompanied by Ms. Jaffe’s almost spoken-word style of singing reminded me more of a beatnik spoken word poetry jam than a concert. It didn’t help that her backing musicians/band which consisted of a drummer, string bass player and violin player did nothing more than observe for almost the entirety of her set. Her backing band seemed really talented and brought a lot of much needed depth and heft to the songs, for the brief moments they joined in, but in the end, they were simply drastically underused and the show seemed more than a bit thin. By the end, more people were talking loudly than listening. Soon enough, up came Lykke Li (hitting the stage at the early hour of 9:30):
After a couple of great opening songs, Lykke Li asked us if we would all join in her “Sweedish techno dance party.” Of course, everyone went crazy in response, the same reaction the adoring crowd had every time she did pretty much anything the whole show (including using a bullhorn and kazoo on multiple songs). This Dallas crowd was way into this show and stood with rapt attention from the beginning to end, and even hung around listlessly after the encore ended until there was no doubt the show was in fact over when the house lights and house music came on, much to the disappointment of many sad hipsters on the way out the door. Make no mistake, Lykke Li absolutely blazed through this set, and even with the break before the encore, she clocked in at just under 60 minutes. A furious 60 minutes, but a quick one indeed.
In the middle of her set, she slowed things up a little bit, but never to the point of losing the attention of anyone in the audience. She never let things lull too badly or slow down to the point of drifting away from everyone’s consciousness. Therein lies some of her brilliance – an ability to utterly command every single person’s attention for the entire show, without exception. That is sometimes a tough feat to accomplish in Dallas – even for a headliner (see Sunset Rubdown’s meltdown and total loss of the audience at the very same Granada). The covers she threw in were excellent, and the “Can I Kick It” cover got a huge response with everyone in the audience joining in on the “Yes you can!“s every time.
Even if her barely-visible lighting was a bit like the ultra bizarre Cat Power experience from last summer, the show was extremely solid. (On a side note, I sort of imagine Sweeden looking like stark whites and icy blue tones everywhere you go because I imagine it to be plunged in darkness and frozen year round because it’s so far north, so the lighting was appropriate in my mind.) But it probably is a legitimate complaint that a band dressed all in black on a nearly black stage in the dark for an hour is a little difficult to follow visually – or is that the point?
Having never seen Lykke Li, I had no idea what to expect, and was actually pretty irritated at the beginning because during the opener, a photographer who’s affiliation is unknown [Ed - see comment below, it was probably the Dallas Observer, apologies to GvB] who had set up this ultra irritating strobe over the stage (pointed at the audience, not the stage) for his flash on his camera, (controlled remotely) which he was using constantly to exceptionally obnoxious effect, without pause, for the entirety of the Sarah Jaffe set. Ugh, it made me want to punch a man it was so horrible (specifically, I wanted to punch that idiot photographer) . But once Lykke Li took the stage he very thankfully refrained from further ultra-irritating flash photography.
In the end, it was Lykke Li’s original, high-energy songs, with their driving beats and catchy grooves that got the crowd really moving. She clearly had some ultra devoted superfans in the room, as two people were holding signs (one said “I can’t get Lykke Li out of my head” and the other was in Sweedish or sanskrit something – either way I couldn’t read it), and notably seen when she got the kids on the floor to sing along with her in a song, using French lyrics…that she never translated. Didn’t matter; they belted them out anyways. Lykke Li’s undeniably awesome live show was more than enough to leave me mega impressed. Go see her.
Setlist:
Melodies & Desires
Dance Dance Dance
Everybody But Me
I’m Good, I’m Gone
Hanging High
Little Bit
Complaint Department
Knocked Up (Kings of Leon Cover)
Window Blues
Let It Fall
I Don’t Mind (Jump On It)
A Milli (Lil’ Wayne Cover)
Breaking It Up
**Break**
Tonight
Can I Kick It? (Tribe Called Quest)
Lykke Li – I’m Good, I’m Gone – From Youth Novels
Lykke Li – Breaking It Up – From Youth Novels
