By: Jon Behm
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Jens Lekman - Photo by Jon Behm
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My girlfriend and I have an arrangement. If she ever gets a chance to run away with Jens Lekman, she will take it with no regrets. I can’t blame her. After seeing Jens on Saturday night at the Triple Rock, I would probably run away with him too. The young Swede is an incredible songwriter, musician and entertainer, not to mention the fact that he is, in my girlfriend’s words “completely adorable.” My part of the deal is that I get to do the same with Leslie Feist, if a similar situation ever arises. Since both Feist and Lekman have now visited the Cities this year without whisking either of us away to paradise, I doubt that we have much to worry about. Ah well.
In short, Jens Lekman’s set was one of the best I have ever seen. By the time he began playing “The Opposite of Hallelujah,” the second song of the set, I knew that we were in for a spellbinding evening. Though Jens shouted out to the soundman every once in awhile to correct some technical problems, from the audience’s perspective the show was flawless. The accordion, trumpet, saxophone, violin and viola all came through as clear as bells. When weaved together with some piped in sampling, it was a gorgeous orchestra that commanded the attention of every last person in the bar. Not least of all was Lekman’s voice, a sweet melancholic baritone, reminiscent of Jonathan Richman’s in its romantic and guileless lyricism.
Lekman’s band was, with the exception of the DJ, entirely female. Everyone was dressed in white skirts and button downs, reminding me of nurses from the 1950s. For the most part they all looked extremely Swedish, especially the drummer, who looks like a cross between Julia Roberts and the St. Pauli girl. Wearing a pair of dazzling white wing tips, Jens bounced and bobbed around, telling the audience at one point that he really appreciated their letting loose and dancing. He told us “you are better than New York,” before showing us his impression of the crowds at NYC shows, with his arms crossed and a very serious frown on his face.
You can’t mention Jens Lekman without acknowledging the guy’s dry sense of humor. When he played the peerless “Postcard to Nina,” he recounted the entire true story of pretending to be his friend Nina’s fiancé so that her father wouldn’t discover that she is a lesbian. The song makes me laugh out loud, as well as making me a little sad at the same time – and this is a perfect example of Lekman’s humor. He will make you laugh in his disarming and self-effacing ways, but it is never without a tinge of melancholy. This shows up both in his songs and his live persona, for instance when he went to lengths to assure the audience that “Sweden isn’t just about pornography and gonorrhea,” or when he covered Paul Simon’s “You can call me Al,” but without the chorus part because he hates it. He also told us he “fucking hates Chevy Chase,” who is in the admittedly annoying music video.
For me there were two incredible highlights of the show, and they both occurred during the encore. The first was “A Sweet Summer’s Night on Hammer Hill,” with its funky-as-hell horn part as well as the audience filling in all the “bumba boom” heartbeats. The second, and the perfect ending to a perfectly sweet evening was “Pocketful of Money,” in which Jens played solo and we all joined in together to sing the Johhny Cash-esque background vocals. When no one was singing, not a voice was heard, not a bottle clinked. I think everyone in that bar was so completely caught up in the music that people forgot to breathe. At the end of the song Jens did a little impromptu skat vocalization, thanked us profusely and stood there grinning like a child while the audience went nuts.
Perhaps everyone at the show didn’t have the same experience as I did. Perhaps I am blind to some faults, mistakes or bad keys that may have happened while I was glowing with glee. However, to paraphrase a Lekman line, I was “a prisoner of this moment,” and whatever anyone else experienced, for me it was absolutely wonderful.
Location Info:
Triple Rock Social Club
Artist Info: Jens Lekman
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