Sondre Lerche has a riveting stage presence. You can listen to his records all you want, but to fully appreciate him you have to see him perform live. To watch this clean cut, polite, soft spoken, downright evanescent Norwegian man light up the stage for two hours is a thing of beauty (If you’ve ever seen the music video for two way monologue you know what I’m talking about – the man glows – he looks like he’s actually giving off light).
Lerche played to an enamored crowd at Lincoln Hall on Saturday. Along with crowd favorites “Two Way Monologue” and “Go Right Ahead” (which includes one of my favorite lyrics ‘if you want to party down/you gotta RSVP’), Lerche pulled heavily from his new album Please. Having seen Sondre Lerche three years ago when he played Lincoln Hall, I knew to expect a fantastic show, but I’d forgotten the conversational gems the man drops at his shows:
“Our van smells like sulfur. Turns out it’s the car and not us, we were relieved to find out, because let me tell you, touring gentlemen is not exactly a delicate scent.”
and after some laughter from the crowd:
“No seriously, spend a little time in our van and you’ll see what I mean. No wait, that’s creepy, don’t do that. Have a little respect for yourself.”
Lerche was backed by his drummer and bassist as well as the four members of the opening band TEEN. I was having some trouble thinking how I would describe the band but luckily the guy behind me missed the opener and turning to the girl next to him he asked “who are those girls on stage?” to which she responded “Dude, those are the rad rocker chicks who opened for Sondre.” Yep – a perfect description. Led by guitarist/vocalist Kristina “Teeny” Lieberson (formerly of Here We Go Magic) in her businesswoman slacks and sparkly gold blazer, the female foursome (three of whom are sisters) warmed up the crowd with their unique brand of indie rock, and doubled as back up singers for Lerche. After seeing more bands than I can count that are all male with a token female dinging the triangle, it was awesome to see these ladies dominating the stage with the only male counterpart being Lerche’s drummer subbing in on a couple songs to shake a little tambourine.
Lerche was at his best when he had the whole crew behind him – as he did for his final song (pre-finale) “Legends” off his new album. Leading the crowd into a “Whyyyyyyyyyyy-oh-why-oh-why-oh” sing-a-long, the song was a perfect wrap-up to the show and representative of the night overall – a solid mixture of edgy and cathartic but still lively and fun.