Jens Lekman, Webster Hall, NYC. 4/5/2008
“Adorable.” “Cute.” “Swedish.” These are all words that get thrown around by bloggers whenever Jens Lekman plays a show, and this past Saturday’s soiree seems to be no different. This was my fourth timing seeing the oh-so-silent one, but only my first time seeing him in the past year. After taking such a long break from him, I figured I would be treated to a new stage show, maybe a new set, and I was even holding out some hope for some new banter and stories. You see, about two years ago I had a good friend make a trip to Philadelphia to see Lekman, and she came back gushing about his witty repartee with the crowd, his all-girl band, and the various other quirks that have come to define his live shows. Because of her ecstatic review, I decided to venture out and see him for the first time. Adorable, cute, Swedish.
He hit all three notes perfectly that night, but something bugged me. He was telling all of the same stories that my friend had recited to my earlier. I guess I shouldn’t have been surprised. I mean, English is not his native tongue, so how can you blame a guy for practicing
his banter with the crowd. I forgave him in my head and ended up seeing him a few more times, every time the same stories and jokes becoming more and more grating. Finally, I had had enough and decided to take a little break from our plays-New York-enough-to-be-considered-local Swedish friend.
That brings us to last night, almost a full two years after my first show with him, and I was disappointed to see that almost nothing had changed. Small changes were made (The band had a guy in it! There was a new song!) But the bulk of the show pretty much the same thing that I had seen in 2006. Not to say that the band wasn’t tight and Jens wasn’t charming, but it’s hard to view a singer as a kind of a shabby underdog when he’s coming out for a 3rd encore in front of 1100 people. As is the usual for his shows, he announced an after-party where he would humbly play any song he had missed on stage that night. I didn’t have the patience to wait around, but apparently these people did, and were treated to a spontaneous acoustic show in a Brooklyn living room. According to them, it took place essentially around the corner from me, and was a completely different set than usual. I would have loved to see it, I guess that’s the price I pay for being so jaded.
Let this be a lesson, I guess.
