Peter Bjorn and John

I don’t know how I imagined Friday night would be. I walked in alone and thought that maybe the wonderful sounds of Peter Bjorn and John could have cured my cranky, end of the week impatience. Maybe I would be overwhelmed, meet some great people and have the time of my life, and then been able to say to everyone that wouldn’t come with me “Don’t you wish you came?”

But unfortunately Friday night just wasn’t going to kick it. Firstly, I missed the first support band, Cuthbert and The Nightwalkers (Sydney). Nobody was talking about them around me though, so I figured they might have been nothing to write home about.

The second support act, The Crayon Fields (Melbourne), seemed to play through a soundtrack to melodic sleeping. I didn’t have any expectations before the gig, not knowing much about them, but went away with no curiosity to know more. Yes, they can play instruments okay. And sing. They had the energy of a Dunlop Volley shoe left out in the rain though. Talk about shoegazing tunes. I put these musicians into a new category of music – CD listening only. You didn’t need to see them to figure out what they are all about. Sunday afternoon, easy listening. They did have a song with a throwback to the old surf music of the 60’s towards the end, which was cool. And their set did progressively get upbeat. Maybe they were just nervous?

Peter Bjorn and John (or PBJ for short) certainly were not nervous when they ambled onto the stage at the ripe old time of 11pm. They looked like the Beatles, with their little bowl haircuts and black suits. Their crowd was a mixed one, hesitant and not really knowing what to do when the three Swedish boys took to the stage.

Nevertheless, they got straight down to business, with the highly appropriate “Roll The Credits”, which was sort of cute, then their latest single “Let’s Call It Off”. Frankly, I think they could have given this track so much more substance. It seemed that Peter was into it, trying his best to “rock out” on guitars, but for Bjorn and John, the vibe just wasn’t there.

It was nice to hear the stripped back “Paris 2004” in the middle of the set, which saw Peter have an interesting dig of the harmonica. The crowd, however, didn’t seem impressed from where I was standing upstairs. Polite applause followed most songs in their set.

Luckily, during “Amsterdam” there was a bit of much needed sing-along crowd participation. “Young Folks”, which could have been the big pinnacle of the show (played 2nd last) went down like melting ice in a Swedish winter, there was just nothing there to distinguish it from the next song. (or hearing it on the radio).

Overall, even though PBJ are fantastic musicians in their own right, with a well-produced recent release Writers Block, they just didn’t fill the Metro on Friday night. They droned on at times when it should have been upbeat. They weren’t overly entertaining. And they just didn’t capture the audience like a top live band should. Perhaps it is just the music that they are trying to let shine through. Which at times, was achieved. For me though, it was a disappointing evening of music.

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