I've seen many, many concerts, but I've never seen one that looked quite like this.

A friend and I made it to Webster Hall in time for the late show, which was the only the second time the Knife had ever played in the US (the first time being the early show that same day). It had the atmosphere of an 'it' show, the kind where you see lines around the block, plenty of people trying to beg their way in and a tangible sense of excitement and anticipation for a band they've probably not had the chance to previously see. There also happened to be an abundance of very attractive Scandinavian folks both inside and outside the venue, quite possibly fans from the Knife's native Sweden.

We went to check out the show from the balcony, as the main level was packed. We found a pretty good spot by the VIP section, where we could see the whole stage as well as the duo themselves. The stage was extremely dark, with two different stations set up with different electronic instruments. The stations were covered with some type of fluorescent tape, creating a cool looking 3D box. One station had an electronic drum pad, the other some electronics for manipulating the voice of the singer. Most of the music was prerecorded, with the brother and sister duo providing some twiddling and the vocals. They were both wearing dark jumpsuits and masks that looked like the came out of some post-modern artist's sci-fi acid trip.
As I mentioned before, the stage and the room were very, very dark, with black lighting (or something like that) making only the masks of the performers and their instruments appear to move. Except that I've neglected to mention the visual shapes, objects and animation that were seamlessly integrated into the whole experience. I couldn't tell for certain from where I was standing, but there appeared to be 3 or 4 different sheer, opaque screens at different parts of the stage. There was usually some animation or film clip on the screen furthest back, with different shapes and pictures being simultaneously projected onto the other screens in front (including one in front of the stage). Sometimes this created the effect of spinning, rotating 3D mathematical objects, which blew my fucking mind. Or as my friend kept on saying, "OMG, I'm gonna lose my shit." Everything was choreographed and synchronized with the music, it was pretty to watch and pretty to listen to, though the show came off a bit more like a visual art experiment than a traditional concert. Not that this was a problem, I've never really seen anything like it before, and I'd totally see it again if given the chance. Considering that the Knife don't really play shows (this was their 12th show ever), and are rumored to be retiring from live performances after their US tour, I'm happy I caught it when I did.

And like most of the CMJ shows I went to, there was drunken debauchery to be found: among other things, someone threw up on my shoes. I guess that makes this otherworldly show kind of rock and roll. And props to my friend for hooking it up and getting us in!

Also, Stereogum has a decent review of the first show with better pictures than I those I took.

Labels: CMJ, Concert Reviews