No Ordinary Fool

Energy. It is as simple as that really. Perform like you mean it and reap the rewards for it. Lykke Li understands this in spades. Indeed, the last time that I was at the Sugar Club, I witnessed a similar performance from Annie-Claude of Duchess Says (review here). Both are precociously exuberant in terms of their on-stage persona and both were equally appalled by having to play to a seated audience. “We play rock music”, protested Lykke Li on Thursday night to a crowd that was crammed into every nook and cranny of the place.

Opening with Dance, Dance, Dance and Let it Fall, what immediately becomes apparent is just how brilliant her touring drummer Lars Skoglund is, as he lays down a belting, exciting rhythm for the rest to follow. El Perro del Mar then comes back out on stage to provide backing vocals for the third song My Love, which Lykke Li dedicates to the people who put their hands up as being the most heartbroken in the room. One of the two to do so is wearing a black shirt and red braces. I doubt that there is any correlation to be found here though.

The evening then continues with Little Bit, Window Blues, and I’m Good, I’m Gone, before Breaking It Up finally gets people down on the small dance floor in front of the stage, as Lykke Li sings through a loudspeaker. They howl for more afterwards. “We really should play some more dance music,” she muses by way of response. “It is just that we know none!” However, she does offer up what seems to be an unplanned regga reprise of I’m Good, I’m Gone. The audience is still not sated though. This time Lykke Li tries to appear a mite concerned, reminding everyone that she is still only a debut artist. Nevertheless, there is one final song - a cover of A Tribe Called Quest’s Can I Kick it?

Yes she can.