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Pam
What to say about Jens Lekman...
Last week Joe and I had the honor of seeing Jens Lekman in concert for the second time. The first time we saw him was on (I believe) my birthday, pre-pregnancies and pre-kids, so I guess it would have been maybe five years ago (confirmed—2017). As the years go by, I think about how the shows I'd seen prior to having kids would hit differently now that I'm a tired old lady who would take issue with getting nudged around or getting beer spilled on me. Big shows have never necessarily been my thing, and just the thought of having to sit for over an hour in the car outside the Lincoln Financial Field just to exit the parking lot after seeing the Rolling Stones is enough to make me want to figure out how to travel back in time and admit to myself back then that those shows are not my thing so I wouldn't have gone. Let's not even get started on the fact that it rained the whole time, and I was pregnant. So there. We have my feelings on big shows. Colossal shows. Politely, no thank you.
Small shows, on the other hand, have a lot of positives to them. "Small show" = small venue, small crowd, small amount of traffic exiting. I attended possibly the smallest show I'd ever attended this past fall. PhilaMOCA hosted Philly's own Sheer Mag. And boy, are they a fun band. I don't think I've gotten anyone else's opinions from the group I went with, and I wonder if they felt the same way, but I have to say I was slightly disappointed. Not by the performance, but by the lack of connection with the audience. I'd hate to speak ill of Tina Halladay, because she is killer, and everything Sheer Mag puts out is absolutely fun and badass. Maybe she was having an off night (the drummer from one of the opening acts DID puke on stage into a trash can, so maybe something was in the air), but she just didn't give a shit to even speak to the audience—an audience who clearly loves her and was there to see her do her thang. Another performer who sticks out in my mind as having a similar attitude towards the audience was Father John Misty. I know, I know... that's totally expected. He's... like... a dick. But seeing him live felt like he was doing a bit the whole time. It was a very weird "lights are on but no one is home" feeling. He just didn't connect, and didn't make any attempt to. I think Father John Misty cares a whole lot more about Father John Misty than any of his fans. And if my memory serves me, I honestly think he gave the crowd a Lorde-style shush when we tried to sing the final lyrics of "I Went to the Store One Day." Who knows... maybe he took his micro-dosing too far that day.
So on one hand, we have hellish giant shows at the Linc where they're, as a rule, not allowed to give you the cap to the bottled water you purchase because fucking Eagles fans are animals. And then there are the small, intimate shows that I've come to prefer, but without a good connection to the audience, where's the intimacy? I will say, though, that Mick Jagger connected a whole hell of a lot more with 60,000 Philadelphia fans (he even made a Wawa/Sheetz joke) than Tina Halladay and Father John Misty did with 100 and 1,000 fans, respectively.
So where does Jens Lekman fit into all of this? Naturally, Jens plays small venues. He's a Swedish indie pop musician who you've likely never heard of. I shouldn't assume though, because if you're reading this, then odds are you are in Record Club, or you are already on par with Joe and the amount of music he listens to, so you, yes you, are at least adjacently familiar with Jens. The rest of the people I know, most likely not.
Some of Jens's music verges almost on disco (he's a Swede—think ABBA), and he samples a lot. He samples so much that he recently re-recorded two of his classic albums (Oh You're So Silent Jens and Night Falls over Kortedala) because the amount of sampling to get granted permission for was less of a pain in the ass than re-recording two full albums. He also uses a lot of strings; so much so that this recent tour featured youth orchestras from the cities in which he was performing. In Philly, the youth orchestra was made up of about ten fourteen-year-olds who will hopefully one day look back on the time they played with Jens Lekman at Union Transfer and realize how very cool it was. And at the very least they will have some embarrassing pictures or videos recorded by their parents who were in the audience. Partnering with youth orchestras across the country should give you a good indication as to what kind guy Jens is. He's absolutely wholesome and genuine. Back in 2017, and still to this day, Jens exudes graciousness. Not only does he sound great up there on that stage while performing, but in between songs, he introduces his songs, gives some background, makes jokes. It all feels very sincere. And there's no reason for it not to be anything but sincere. And when the show is over, he hangs out at the merch table to chat even more with his fans. I was speaking with a friend who also attended the show and we both agreed that Jens has a special connection with his fans. And you can tell that connection is important to him.
Back in 2017, Jens played most of his 2017 album, Life Will See You Now, which gives a lot of disco/ABBA vibes. This time around, with the very recent release of those two re-recorded albums, now titled The Cherry Trees Are Still in Blossom and The Linden Trees Are Still in Blossom, Jens played a lot of those new-old tracks. Not only was the youth orchestra utilized a lot, but Jens's actual band featured a violinist, who also happened to open for him. The result being a lot of songs that already had a string arrangement and some songs that had a new string arrangement. So, lots of strings.
Being a high school orchestra nerd, I was very cool with the amount of strings and slightly jealous those kids got to play up there. But let's be honest, orchestra was mostly just a class where Brittany G***** and I could goof around at the expense of Mr. Lipton (a.k.a. Mr. Lippy). Orchestra was not taking me much farther than that in the early 2000s. I would have never made it to the Union Transfer stage to back up a Jens type. After the final song, Jens, his band, and the kids took their bows and exits and did the whole will they / won't they come back to play an encore (it was a short one, thankfully). I was curious whether the youths would be back to play the encore but it turned out just to be Jens and his band. Which was cool because the heavy number of strings songs featured prevented a lot of the more disco Life Will See You Now stuff from being played previously. This is where the encore came in—Jens turned on his little DJ box and the crowd went as wild as a crowd at a Jens Lekman concert could for this series up upbeat disco tunes. He ended the whole set with "A Postcard to Nina," which is the first Jens Lekman song I had ever heard (credit to Joe), so that just wrapped the whole night up in a nice bow for me.
When Jens's tour is over, I imagine he'll head back to Sweden where he will do lots of normal things like ride his bike, catch up with friends over a beer, and hang out in his modest dwelling. He's a human. And, for me, an authentic human connection is the essential other half to an already really lovely live show.
P.S. And for any record-clubbers reading: don’t base your feelings on Jens Lekman on the album that I picked that one time to review, CORRESPONDENCE. There's a lot more to Jens than what that album presents. A lot of his other stuff is way more fun if you ever want to check him out.
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Joe
I know I usually make my little jokes whenever I commit to writing a "review" / travelogue type essay about a concert experience, but to reveal the true conclusion right here in the opening paragraph, I will say that this was one of the best concerts of my life. I haven't been to many—this is #36, as far as I can recall—which might affect how you're to interpret the "one of the best" claims. But, like, easily Top Ten. Maybe Top Five, or hovering just outside of it, depending on how I'm feeling on any given day. This thing brought me so much joy. Don't let the sarcastic asides lead you astray from this main point.
It's also important to know the general ABV of my blood stream, I think. What I mean is that any experience, live music or otherwise, is going to be affected by how drunk you are. You might be inclined to take my claim of "one of the best" with a grain of salt if I was blackout drunk, or even if I was stone-cold sober. Neither of those things were true. I'm still learning, still trying, but call 5/20/22 a general success, in that I was able to stick to a few light pilsners and get pleasantly tipsy and overall not piss off my wife in any significant way. Would she have gotten upset at my alcohol intake levels had she not also been under the spell of Jens Lekman? Perhaps, perhaps.
That's looking at the situation pessimistically. Optimistically? It was a night out! Those are pretty rare. Not complaining, because our kids are awesome, but I think we—Pam especially, though hopefully she talked more about this in her own review—needed this. God, what a fucking cliché parenting thing to say. "I wuv my kids but daddy needed a break" ew ew ew. It's okay, daddy. Jens makes everything better.
We went to the new Institute Bar before the concert. I say "new" because it used to be a cool little bar that tended toward the "dive" descriptor, even though it never was a "dive bar" in the truest sense, but now it's the first floor of one of the thousands of new condo buildings in gentrified Philadelphia. I don't want to describe it as "sterile" but it definitely lost some of its charm (where's the bar cat? where's the tater tots?). Still—good burger, beautiful date, no complaints besides the "Philly cred" bullshit.
After one final drink at Triple Bottom, where I talked my wife's ear off way too much about my thoughts on and ideas for Record Club (god help her), we finally made our way to the venue. No vaxx card checks this time, though you have to imagine that a Jens Lekman concert is going to feature very few antivaxxers, if any. That's a terrible habit, confounding artistry with politics. What the fuck do I know? Maybe Jens' charm is that powerful, that it can cross political boundaries, that maybe there really is a considerable Jens Lekman following made up of unempathetic monsters. I don't know!
I do know that the crowd, whatever the makeup, was a little sparse. I guess that's to be expected, in general. A COVID-delayed concert featuring a somewhat niche artist as the headliner. They had the back bar and the balcony both blocked off at Union Transfer, so that should give you some indication. We also had no problem whatsoever getting a spot in maybe the fifth or sixth row when the headliner was starting. You want to see your favorite artists supported by as many people as possible at any given time, but I selfishly enjoyed the breathing room. Maybe this is the true reason that I only got a little tipsy, as my claustrophobia often manifests itself in alcoholism while in these live music situations.
We got there early enough to catch the back half of the opener, Leslie Deshazor, who was doing the Andrew Bird thing in which she would play her violin, and then loop whatever she just played in order to sing a little bit. Not really my cup of tea, but totally made sense as an opening act. Plus, Deshazor ended up being part of Jens' four-piece band, so logistically it made sense too, in the age of COVID, minimizing the amount of musicians your bringing along with you on the road.
Having said that, the weird and interesting and Jens-like thing that Jens Lekman is doing on this concert tour is to supplement his band with a "youth orchestra" from whatever city he is performing in. I mean, it was literally printed on the ticket—JENS LEKMAN & YOUTH ORCHESTRA—but we had no idea what that actually meant until game time. Did this mean there was going to be forty kids on stage with Jens?
Not quite. Eight kids came out on stage to play the majority of the set with the main band. Six violins, a viola, and a cello (plus one kid on Zoom on Jens' iPad, which probably meant that she had COVID I guess?). Not sure how familiar you are with the discography, but there are a lot of strings on Jens' songs, typically, and so it fit right in that there'd be a bunch of violins playing along. I kinda felt bad for Leslie Deshazor, who was not only the lead violin player but also the only adult violin player, and so she had to keep turning around and playing the part of babysitter too.
But not too bad... see, that's one of those sarcastic asides I warned you about. This shit was heartwarming, see these kids play with some seasoned indie-pop musicians from Sweden. They were all great, really added to the music. It was also fun and cute that you could totally tell who in the crowd was only there because they were a parent of one of the kids. Loved it. We need more parents-in-the-crowd type situations at indie rock concerts.
Now, to the central figure of this rambling concert diary: Jens Lekman, who was as deadpan-charming as always. For real, the man's ability to craft a nice little hook is matched only by his sharp stage banter. He had us cracking up in between songs. I think it's the mixture of Scandinavian accent and obvious stage fright that allows the deadpan to flourish. I love it. An anecdote about Tom and Jerry is going to leave me in stitches.
That little bit wasn't out of the blue. One of his new songs really was about Tom and Jerry. I guess I overshot the point where I should've said that the second through fifth songs that Jens played were all new songs. There was one that kinda sound like some Phil Spektor shit. One that was obviously inspired by COVID quarantine craziness. One that had a punchline in which he's singing about a friend and then he sings something like "and by the way, Jeff is seven years old." And then the Tom and Jerry thing, more of a song about antipathy and the weird bonds that can come from that. Most of the songs were upbeat dance numbers. They all made me wish I brought my audio recorder this time. And they all make me really excited for a new Jens album which MUST be imminent, based on the fact that he had four new songs ready for us, right?!
Interesting choice, though, to get all the new songs (i.e. songs that no one in the crowd knows) right there in the beginning. Usually artists slip these songs in around the middle of the concert. I guess logistically it had to be done here, since the kids were not present for the new songs. Still, this meant that all the "big" songs sat in the middle of the concert. I'm talking about "Opposite of Hallelujah," "Maple Leaves," "I Saw Her at the Antiwar Demonstration," and of course "Black Cab" (which is one of the best songs of all time, confirmed in hearing the live version).
And then the end of the concert featured a bunch of songs I also didn't know, but maybe that was just because I'm less familiar with When I Said I Wanted to Be Your Dog and I Know What Love Isn't (Setlist.fm hasn't been updated yet). Still, it felt weird that the concert seemed to lose steam as it went on. Maybe that's my fault. Ah well. The final song of the encore was "A Postcard to Nina," which is probably Jens' best song (as there is a difference between "best song" and "favorite song"), so at least it ended as strong as possible.
I think Pam was surprised to hear when I said that this was one of my favorite concerts I had ever been to, only because she knows how cynical and removed I can be. That's the best part about this artist, though. Jens Lekman is so charming that he brings out the best in everyone who surrounds him. It is fucking impossible to be cynical when I hear this man sing. There was just so much joy in the room, due to him, due to the intimate crowd, due to the kids on stage, due to the unimpeachable songbook, due to getting out of the house for once, due to being with the person I love the most (Pam, not Jens), due to everything about it. I was smiling the whole time.
There's value in being happy. I was very happy at this concert. That's all that matters.
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