Lykke Li - Commodore 02.11

When Lykke Li first came to Vancouver, she played the Red Room. After that, her fan base grew quickly and a couple of months later, she played Richard's. Now, another couple of months later, her fan base has grown even more to sell-out the Commodore.

The opening band, Wildbirds & Peacedrums, was just a vocalist and a percussionist. The vocalist's voice was very nice to listen to. Cool idea, but I found their songs would build up with no peak therefore; not very satisfying.

As for Lykke, I enjoyed her show at Richard's more than the one at the Commodore; that could be because the Commodore isn't as intimate as Richard's. But I also felt like her performance was stronger at Richard's. Don't get me wrong though, the concert last night was great and a lot of fun but the one at Richard's seemed to be of better quality.

Though, the lighting at the Commodore was much better (obviously). When she started, it was like an alien spaceship was landing; smoke was everywhere and the lights were bright and in our eyes. Then, Lykke Li suddenly appeared out of the smoke and her band members followed her after she went from "Melodies & Desires" to "Dance Dance Dance" (which is very similar to the beginning of the show at Richard's).
The crowd wasn't as into dancing as they should've been and she noticed that as well. But once she performed "Let it Fall" and stopped the song, requesting that she needed dancers behind her, many girls flocked to the stage to dance behind Lykke. That, right there, was very cool. And when I saw the amount of girls flocking to the stage, I thought the back-up dancer idea would become a disaster quickly but it didn't. It was very smooth and civil.

One song that really got me excited that I really didn't think she would play was "Knocked Up." Not many other people seemed to be that excited for this song though. She did a short cover of Lil' Wayne's "A Milli" which was just funny (and fun) more than anything. I also love her live version of "Window Blues"; it's very intense. And this time, she got most of the audience to sing along to the chorus ("un, deux, trois...quatre, cinq, six") which worked fairly well.

Her encore consisted of "Time Flies" transcending into "Tonight" which was done very well ("Tonight" has been stuck in my head ever since and I like it). And she ended the concert asking if we were satisfied and performed A Tribe Called Quest's "Can I kick it?" (the same way she ended her show at Richard's).

This concert just proved to me once more how great of an artist Lykke Li is. I love the spontaneity and uniqueness (I was really surprised when she got a bunch of girls from the audience up on the stage to dance with her). I like how her live songs are different from her recorded songs. I really think she needs to release a live album, ASAP!

"Tonight" video. Enjoy.