The Pop Culture Addict’s Blog

I will take Sondre Lerche in any shape or form, solo, with a band, live, recorded, video, mp3. But there is a certain sparkle when he plays with his band The Faces Down. They have outstanding chemistry and the members are each and every one talented musicians. The first time I saw SL (in 11/03 at the Bowery Ballroom), it was practically off the street. I didn’t own any of his albums and had only heard a few clips of his songs. I was going based on peaked curiosity from reading his reviews and convenience to my life logistically speaking (that is, the show was cheap and nearby). No one I knew had heard of him. I had no idea it was going to change my pop life forever. This first time, SL was all by his lonesome but he was fantastic. Then the next time I saw him (in 5/04) ended up being one of my favorite concert experiences in recent memory. This time he played with The Faces Down at Irving Plaza, NYC in 5/04.

Since then, I’ve had the chance to go to a bunch of his shows, all of them good times. This last one, last week at the Bowery Ballroom with his band, was another amazing Sondre sonic experience. I should mention that the poster above (fresh from the walls of the Bowery Ballroom – you can see the pin hole on top) isn’t an accurate reflection of the concert as his quartet wasn’t all there. His pianist Erik Halvorsen, who is a key player on the Duper Sessions album, was there in spirit but not body. Sondre was with the core members of his group: guitarist Kato Ådland, drummer Ole Ludvig Krüger, sporting a longer ‘do, and bassist Morten Skage.

Usually at this point in the review, I toss off the titles I remember and know but our dear Sondre beat me to the punch and he’s a much more reliable source.

1 Tragic Mirror (solo)
2 Everyone’s Rooting For You
3 Minor Detail
4 The Curse Of Being In Love
5 Dead End Mystery
6 Once In A While
7 Wet Ground
8 Days That Are Over
9 Modern Nature
10 You Sure Look Swell
11 (I Wanna) Call It Love
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12 She’s Fantastic
13 Airport Taxi Reception
14 If Not Now
15 Johnny Johnny Ooh Ooh
16 After All
17 Say It All
18 The Tape
19 Phantom Punch
20 Face The Blood
21 Boxing Day
22 Grab The Wheel
23 Well Well Well
24 I Know It’s The Right Thing To Do
25 Happy Birthday Girl
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26 Track You Down
27 Suffused With Love
28 Dead Passengers
29 Sleep On Needles
30 Lulu-vise
31 You Know So Well
32 Two Way Monologue

Once I was of the ilk where I stood smushed against the rim of the stage for the entire show. I’m not there anymore. I’m just happy with a decent spot on the floor with good sound and reasonable visibility. We all have our concert-going strategies. Now I know to roll with the tide and eventually it will all be good. This is a long preamble to saying that I camped out on the balcony on a barstool for most of the night. It was very comfortable with the best sound in the house but limited view. At times, it was nil and at times it was full bird’s eye. Every now and again I got up to take a better look. I did take a gander at the playlist in the sound booth. It was incredibly long and I was wondering if it was accurate – seeing as I couldn’t quite make out the titles. But seeing Sondre’s setlist above and also having lived through the concert, where he repeatedly warned us we were in for a long night, I now know it was always meant to be a marathon of a show.

SL said from the get-go he was going to play long and that after the Duper Sessions stuff, they were going to perform the entire album soon to be recorded in LA followed by some oldies but goodies. Actually, they launched into older tunes in the middle of the show (as evidenced by the setlist). The new stuff, and I mean the yet-to-be recorded album, is very Elvis Costello influenced. I also heard some Billy Joe Armstrong/Green Day in Well Well Well and Thom Yorke/Radiohead (check out Thom Yorke’s work in Velvet Goldmine as the voice of Jonathon Rhys-Myers) in Happy Birthday Girl, which, incidentally, he said was written for a very special girl. I found it a little dirge-y, hence, my Radiohead reference.     

SL’s rendition of Lulu Vise, requested by fans by the stage, was totally adorable. Edit: To quote my cuz, she said, Sondre went up 10 notches of adorable when he performed Lulu. A fellow fan posted it for all of us to re-live: go here and follow the link. SL also prefaced the show by saying he had quite a lot of music to play for us so he’d be keeping his “stand-up” to a minimum. But he managed to be entertaining as he can’t help himself. Let me think… he told the audience, “You’re beautiful” and said that song finally made sense. LOL. What else, his merchandise shilling is always endearing. He said something like, If you like my music, you can buy the records and if you don’t like my music, the t-shirts are also very nice. It was still the same design from Two Way Monologue, in case you were wondering. And yes, his adorable-ness referred to his albums as “records.” Speaking of our sugarpie honeybunch, this might be the time to comment on his li’l plaid shirt. Altogether now, awwww. His guitarist, Kato was also wearing a plaid shirt. The other two seemed to be wearing t-shirts. And so ends the fashion report. Despite SL’s nod to country western, he did not play Stupid Memory this time around. But I forgive him because the new stuff rocked and I look forward to finding a new favorite tune to groove to!

So final thoughts…I loved hearing so much new stuff and look forward to the new album scheduled to drop in the fall. Johnny Johnny Ooh Ooh was nice and spunky. It’s on the enhanced version of Two Way Monologue but is to be recorded for the upcoming album as well. I like his melancholiness but I also love his upbeat numbers. And I love how he can blend the two moods into one song like in his performance of Suffused With Love. Of course he played Modern Nature and sang the harmony during the chorus so the audience could sing the melody. So cute. He gets such a kick out of it as does the crowd. New songs that stood out for me were Minor Detail, I Wanna Call It Love and Curse of Being in Love. Oh, and Dead End Mystery was cool. Loved hearing these songs live. He’s been playing I Wanna Call It Love for a while now but it sounded particularly good that night.

The band sounded great. Seamless, really. It’s a rarity to get that kind of fit and a total treat for us fans to hear! I forgot to mention that Sondre and the band came onstage around 10:20pm and played straight for hours before ending the show, taking the shortest break ever (we’re talking seconds) and returning to the stage until 12:45am or so. Our little firecracker was still bursting with energy. He seemed ready to do a Prince and have an after-show show. I came home wired and re-watched his Conan O’Brien performance before winding down. Anyway, he is definitely evolving musically and has a genuine love of writing, recording and performing his work for others not to mention his boundless creativity and talent. I’m just so happy I took a chance on him a few years back and got to join the enlightened SL fans of the world, making some converts of my own along the way. It makes you think how you never know what’s out there and what little thing might make your day. Anyway, I just had the brilliant idea to search for Sondre Lerche on Conan at YouTube and didn’t find it but there is a slew of other videos including a couple from this show (someone posted the Lulu Vise performance) so check it out: Sondre Lerche on YouTube.com.

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