Sondre Lerche and the Faces Down

On April second I walked a few kilometres to the show, but when I got there all the tables were already taken. So instead of watching Sondre and the Faces Down from the comfort of table and chairs (as Marta and I did in Montreal a few years back), we jumped around in front of the stage and watched a show that seemed too good to be true.

When I saw that all the tables were taken, I went outside to find some food. Walking out of the Mod Club doors there was Sondre next to his tour bus chatting with a couple fans. I wished I had a pen and paper, but I didnt' and I moved on to a pastry store for a bite to eat. Then I went back for the openers, who were terrific, one of them was also Norwegian, both just single acts, a guy and a guitar. This, along with the Chicago mix playing in between acts, was the perfect set-up for what came next.

Marta joined me at this point, coming from her flamenco class. I was expecting a jazzy, bluesy show; the mood was mellow, but very captivated from the awesome opening performances. The roadies spent what seemed ages to get all the mics set-up right.

Sondre and the band came on and raised the mood from mellow to "motorized" in about 3 seconds flat. They were so tight, a break after every third song or so for some quick retuning and smooth talk, and then right into the next number with full-on intensity.

All band members played with virtuoso skill as individuals and as a group - the drummer put on a solo that was like twelve rounds of boxing viewed on fastforward with instant replays of the right and left jabs, body-blows, ending with the knockout punch.

They played a great repertoire of songs - all luck ran out, modern nature, two way monologue, and more! Even their slow songs sounded fast that night~~!! And after all that, Sondre and the band came out to sell T-shirts and give autographs--quite the all-round performance.