jens lekman; atomic cafe, 23.02.2008

I suppose it's inevitable that Jens Lekman is a warm and funny guy. It shows in his records, shows in his melodies, shows in his lyrics, and most of all, it shows in his live shows. The set list comprised mostly of songs from his latest album, with few old hits like Black Cab and You Are The Light thrown in for good measure. Seeing how Jens used samples for his song structure, it was interesting to see how he is to approach live shows. There was a time when he did a gig armed with only a guitar and an ipod, but now he's backed by 4 girls who play drums, bass, the violin and cello, and a guy who does the "funny stuff", according to Jens. Unfortunately, being pretty small, I wasn't able to assess the performance of the rest of the cast more closely. They did sound quite tight, and I thought the bassist was pretty hot, but I'm digressing... The songs itself, obviously, didn't change that much, though they did, I think, use different samples on few songs. I remember reading somewhere that Jens was disappointed with myspace, since it fails to offer and intimate platform for him to interact with fans. And judging on his performance today, I'm not surprised. He joked a lot, told a few anecdotes ( one of them was about the day before, when he played in Florence and got told off by a promoter because he keeps telling the audience how beautiful he thought Florence was, an opinion the promoter evidently doesn't share), and elaborated on how certain songs came to be. He also indulged in zany antics like during Sipping On The Sweet Nectar, when he mimicked an airplane, a nod, no doubt, to the video of the song, in which Jens piloted an, you guessed it, airplane. In the end he even came back on stage twice, the first time singing crowdpleasers Summer Night On Hammer Hill and Friday Night At The Drive In Bingo and the second time singing the Arthur Russel cover, A Little Lost. All in all, it was a good performance by Jens. His warmth enveloped the room and you quickly get lost in his deep voice. The acoustic of the place also helps, I guess. I can't imagine Jens playing in a big venue, really. And I don't think he will, for he is someone who lives and feeds off interactions and intimacies with audience.