![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
Last Tuesday, May 10, I went to Neumos to see Peter Bjorn and John, with Bachelorette opening. I really liked the singles off Peter Bjorn and John's 2006 release Youth Novels, which I'd never actually picked up, and the singles from their new album Gimme Some also sounded promising, so I was looking forward to checking them out live. Bachelorette sounded familiar as a band name, but I didn't know anything of their music.
Bachelorette turned out to be a solo electronic artist, using guitar, percussion, synths, and her vocals to make songs. She both played and sampled her vocals and instruments live, and also used prerecorded samples, mixed live. Her first couple songs were both pretty-sounding and pretty twee folk pop, and I thought that she was just using the electronics to provide a full band sound for herself. But then she kicked off the third song with a slow drum machine dance beat, and suddenly things started to get quirky. By her fourth song she was into full-blown synthpop, leading me to speculate with amusement that the difference between twee folk pop and dance-y synthpop apparently is how far you go with the electronics. So for this show at least, her opening twee folk pop songs were a bit misleading, as she mostly played peppy bouncy sweet synthpop, and I really enjoyed it.
Peter Bjorn and John basically play sunny summery pop rock: rain showers may pass through some of their lyrics, but the music always carries the promise of sunshine again. That said, the trio seems to have taken a turn toward a heavier rock side than their earlier blissful pop. Not only was "Gimme Some", the title track to their new album, more hard-edged, but also the song "Let's Call It Off" from Writer's Block had a rather rocking intro that reminded me of AC/DC's "Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap". They also tossed in an unexpected cover, "Teenage Kicks". (At least, I remember them singing the chorus to that song; over on Line Out, Josh Bis says the cover song was by the Concretes, but "Teenage Kicks" was by the Undertones.) I was rather surprised that the packed audience of very excited and enthusiastic fans was on the young side, but it reminded me to never underestimate the power of pure pop—their music is akin to the Beatles, after all. Speaking of the young crowd, Peter Bjorn and John saved what's probably their biggest hit to date, "Young Folks", for the second encore, but it actually wasn't the last song, they played two more (a fast rocker and a slow ballad) to finish. Although the set was all very good, I found myself wanting a little more variety and also thinking that maybe I wasn't so interested in picking up their albums after all, which surprised me a bit. And honestly I enjoyed Bachelorette more, perhaps just from being unfamiliar with her work and the unexpected delight of her turn from folk-pop into synthpop. Still, Peter Bjorn and John were worth seeing too, and I do recommend them.
I didn't take that many photos at the show to begin with, and only saved six of them, which you can see in this set on Flickr.
Bachelorette turned out to be a solo electronic artist, using guitar, percussion, synths, and her vocals to make songs. She both played and sampled her vocals and instruments live, and also used prerecorded samples, mixed live. Her first couple songs were both pretty-sounding and pretty twee folk pop, and I thought that she was just using the electronics to provide a full band sound for herself. But then she kicked off the third song with a slow drum machine dance beat, and suddenly things started to get quirky. By her fourth song she was into full-blown synthpop, leading me to speculate with amusement that the difference between twee folk pop and dance-y synthpop apparently is how far you go with the electronics. So for this show at least, her opening twee folk pop songs were a bit misleading, as she mostly played peppy bouncy sweet synthpop, and I really enjoyed it.
Peter Bjorn and John basically play sunny summery pop rock: rain showers may pass through some of their lyrics, but the music always carries the promise of sunshine again. That said, the trio seems to have taken a turn toward a heavier rock side than their earlier blissful pop. Not only was "Gimme Some", the title track to their new album, more hard-edged, but also the song "Let's Call It Off" from Writer's Block had a rather rocking intro that reminded me of AC/DC's "Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap". They also tossed in an unexpected cover, "Teenage Kicks". (At least, I remember them singing the chorus to that song; over on Line Out, Josh Bis says the cover song was by the Concretes, but "Teenage Kicks" was by the Undertones.) I was rather surprised that the packed audience of very excited and enthusiastic fans was on the young side, but it reminded me to never underestimate the power of pure pop—their music is akin to the Beatles, after all. Speaking of the young crowd, Peter Bjorn and John saved what's probably their biggest hit to date, "Young Folks", for the second encore, but it actually wasn't the last song, they played two more (a fast rocker and a slow ballad) to finish. Although the set was all very good, I found myself wanting a little more variety and also thinking that maybe I wasn't so interested in picking up their albums after all, which surprised me a bit. And honestly I enjoyed Bachelorette more, perhaps just from being unfamiliar with her work and the unexpected delight of her turn from folk-pop into synthpop. Still, Peter Bjorn and John were worth seeing too, and I do recommend them.
I didn't take that many photos at the show to begin with, and only saved six of them, which you can see in this set on Flickr.
◾ Tags:
