Agnes Obel played to a very warm audience last night at the Fremont Abbey, originally built as a Lutheran church in 1914. She is wrapping up a US tour in support of her new album, Philharmonics. I missed seeing her last March at SXSW, but was fortunate to catch her in Fremont before she heads back to Europe in a few weeks. Obel, born in Copenhagen, now living in Berlin, was accompanied by cellist Anne Muller, also of Berlin.
“Take me as I am, or not at all,” ends “Schumacher the Champagne,” the final track off The Wombats‘ latest CD, The Wombats Proudly Present . . . This Modern Glitch, and it might just be the band’s anthem. The Wombats happily wrapped Saturday night’s crowd at the Crocodile around their little fingers. Those same fingers of each band member managed to multitask on keys as well. You play guitar, bass or drums? That’s not enough. In The Wombats all band members play keys too, sometimes right at the same time they’re playing their “regular” instruments. The energy fed between the band [Matthew Murphy, Tord Øverland-Knudsen, and Dan Haggis (a fab drummer)] and audience was high – much higher than I see at usual shows. This audience was made up of fans who knew the songs, who knew the words, and became a huge part of the show themselves with their leaping around. The Wombats are an exciting band to watch because they have a vigorous dynamic among the band members. Bassist Tord Øverland-Knudsen must be one of my favorite bassists – watching him play bass while expending tons of energy (I’m using that word again, energy, and I don’t even think it was excess energy, just tons and tons of wonderful energy) was like a musical miracle. And the songs? Some of the best pop you’ll hear, such as “Techno Fan,” “Tokyo (Vampires & Wolves),” “Party in the Forest (Where’s Laura?),” “Schumacher the Champagne,” “Backfire at the Disco,” “Kill the Director,” (This is no Bridget Jones!) and “Let’s Dance to Joy Division.” “My First Wedding” reached a wicked momentum with the chanted lyrics, “she’s not that beautiful”. They all blew my mind, as did Murphy’s vocals, which captured all the atmosphere with perfect pitch.
The Wombats – all photos by Dagmar
Lenny Kravitz opened for U2 on Saturday night with an abbreviated set including his biggest hits. Before this show I never thought of Kravitz and his band as jam band material, but after stretching the first four songs out in overly extended arrangements I’m convinced Kravitz and his band rank up there with the best of them. He kicked off the set with his strong vintage Kravitz, new single “Come On Get It.” It has all the sexy, funky vocals, guitar work and rhythm section grooves of his best work. He followed this up playing vocal give-and-take with the crowd on “Always on the Run.” Starting with “American Woman,” the run of songs at the end of his set was the undeniable highlight. When he got to the lyrics “babe I gotta go, I gotta fly away,” he transitioned smoothly to “Fly Away.” The climax was when Kravitz broke into “Are You Gonna Go My Way,” this was the first time of many during the night that had me wondering how durable the 300 level of Qwest Field is. Everyone was up on their feet, singing along and jumping in unison and the entire structure of the 300 level was bouncing right along with us.
Review by Chris Senn & photos by Dagmar
Lenny Kravitz Setlist
1. Come On Get It
2. Always On The Run
3. It Ain’t Over ‘Til It’s Over
4. Let Love Rule
5. American Woman
6. Fly Away
7. Are You Gonna Go My Way
Lenny Kravitz – all photos by Dagmar
On June 2nd Seapony, 14 Iced Bears and Ghost Animal played the Vera Project. Seapony’s debut, Go With Me, is out now on Hardly Art. I’m thrilled to share some photos by photographer Simon Krane, including this first shot of some yummy looking treats:
Seapony
14 Iced Bears
Ghost Animal
You’re going to see one of the best bands to come out in ages if you experience a show by The Chain Gang of 1974. If this group is any indication of music from Denver, Colorado, then it’s a musically happening place for sure. I saw them open for Jamaica in April, and then was thrilled to see they were added to the Biffy Clyro show on May 29th at the Showbox. I have some shots of the band for you – good news is they’ll be back in Seattle’s Neumos on June 21st with Cibo Matto.
The Chain Gang of 1974 – all photos by Dagmar