If one more 14-year-old in a belted lace dress had passive aggressively tried to elbow past me, Iwas fully prepared to leave early. But you can’t judge a show by the audience (can you?) and Ishould probably start at the beginning.
Peggy Sue. Peggy Sue were lovely, I should note, but they literally sounded so much like FirstAid Kit (tight lady harmonies, some folksy things going on but heavier on the rock n’ roll than Iremember their Swedish counterparts enjoying) that when we first rolled up I thought somehowthe headliners had started like two hours early. They hadn’t. It was British ladyduo (it’s a wordnow) Peggy Sue nearly closing out their set with a cover of ‘Heatwave’ that managed to keep allthe pep of the original but still kick in a little more sass (thanks to the aforementioned electricguitars).
Now here’s what I’m going to say about live shows for me: if the band looks bored, regardlessof ability, I’m going to whine about it, and dear Johanna (blonde hair like a dress covering all90 pounds of her, eyes closed and a permanent half-smile when she wasn’t on accompanyingvocals) and Klara (professional hair whipper, voice bright but never strident and clearly with themore powerful of the two voices) took their time in looking like they weren’t bored, and that’stroubling to me. I get it, your music is relatively quiet, all skintight sister harmonies and acousticguitars and whatnot, but it wasn’t until about halfway through their set when they successfullymanaged to quiet (literally, quiet) all of the Paradise for an entirely unplugged (no microphones,no electricity, just the voices of two women and howevermanyhundred fans singing together inthat perfect/not so perfect harmony that comes from that many throats) rendition of Ghost Townthat they actually grinned.
Hell, it was the first time they actually seemed happy to be up there atall. After that (four plus minutes of 700 voices and no other sounds softly cooing to one anotherin the most perfect not-so-perfect harmony) things opened up a little bit, and the two sistersreapproached their respective halves of the stage (miles apart after having just sung shoulder toshoulder) and continued on with their set. They snuck in a few covers (The Knife and the mostsurprising place for a Patti Smith cover I have ever heard) but largely crooned and plodded andnodded and plucked through their newest release, the Lion’s Roar, finishing out the not-encorepart of the set with the title track, one of their fiercer moments. With music so (largely) calm andpeaceful I guess it was kind of absurd to expect the sort of roaring I’m used to. The two ladies(plus a fella on drums) sounded beautiful together, and there was something fantastic aboutsneaking out of the front row and into the back and seeing the parents of the aforementionedfourteen year olds singing along to the same songs as their children. So while the two ladies mayhave kept their emotions under wraps, seeing the parents and the kids alike smiling up at them,well…I guess it was pretty good too.
For more photos, check out WTBU’s photo gallery.
By: Kendra Long