Jens Comes Alive...

JENS LEKMAN

FONDA THEATRE

06 NOVEMBER, 2012

Jens Lekman scaled up for the Fonda Theater, bringing back a full band.  Last time out, he appeared with just a drummer, doing an intimate evening of the songs that would form the spine of his newest LP, I Know What Love Isn't. The new work is a focused look at the dissolution of a relationship, and stands as Lekman's most accomplished work, transitioning him from a short story writer to a novelist, as it were.  His unstinting eye for detail has always been his forte, and it only gets sharper as time goes on.  His band set the mood with a beautiful instrumental take on "Every Little Hair Knows Your Name", then Jens joined the action for "I Don't Know What To Do With This Information", going on to include another new song, "Golden Key", that he's been doing for the last few tours



When the mood tended to get too heavy, Jens dropped in chestnuts from the past, inciting a full-out Fonda dance party with "Sipping On The Sweet Nectar" and "Sweet Summer's Night On Hammer Hill".  His best loved set pieces, "Black Cab" and "Postcard To Nina" made appearances late in the set to enthusiastic approval, and Victoria Bergsman, (ex Concretes), came back out to aid on a cover of Neil Young's "Lotta Love", drawing more directly from Nicolette Larson's version.  Jens reached deep for the encore, essaying "A Pocketful Of Money", engaging the audience to carry the vocal part that was a Calvin Johnson sample in the original, which they did with gusto.  Coming back alone, Jens closed the evening with an acoustic rendition of "Every Little Hair Knows Your Name", bringing the perfect circle to a close.
Support for the evening was provided by The Big Search from LA, and Victoria Bergsman's project, Taken By Trees.

Return of Jens Lekman

JENS LEKMAN
MASONIC LODGE AT
HOLLYWOOD FOREVER CEMETERY
28 SEPTEMBER, 2011

Jens Lekman returned to Los Angeles in support of his new EP An Argument With Myself, just out on Secretly Canadian domestically, or Service worldwide.  His last area appearance was an intimate pool party at the Mondrian Hotel late last year.




This evening was a cozy show at the Masonic Temple in Hollywood Forever Cemetery on Santa Monica Blvd.  Sweat dripped in the packed windowless room, the stained glass Masonic eye overhead keeping an eerie check on everyone...

Accompanied by percussionist Addison Rogers from Bloomington IN, he kept it acoustic, save for assists from his Roland 404, and covered a generous portion of his catalogue.





For those unfamiliar, Jens is an observationalist singer/songwriter/raconteur from sweden whose songs spring from the germ of a simple idea, (getting a haircut='shirin', making a picnic lunch for a seaside trip='your arms around me'), before heading out to parts not entirely expected

Highlights: a spare reading of 'Black cab stood above all, after which Lekman murmured that that was the best rendition they'd ever done of that song.



At one point, the stage was invaded by dancing girls, and for all the fun listening to the songs provide, the most exhilarating moments of a Jens show always seem to be when the dance party breaks out.

Evening closer 'I Remember Every Kiss', shorn of the recorded version's symphonic grandeur, brought things to a close with Jens outsinging the original...


Setlist: (courtesy of Setlist.fm)

1. Intro
2.  An Argument With Myself
3. Waiting For Kirsten
4. I Saw Her In The Anti-War Demonstration
5. A Sweet Summer's Night On Hammer Hill
6. I Broke Up A Fight
7. The End of the World is Bigger Than Love
8. Cowboy Boots
9. Black Cab
10. Golden Key
11.   The Opposite Of Hallelujah
12. That's the Way Love Is
13. Encore
14.  Sipping On The Sweet Nectar
15. Every Little Hair
16. And I Remember Every Kiss