Headphones On

Photo by HHJack

What's that going on at the Apple Store? Is it a pre-release of the new iPhone?!? No, it's Swedish indiepoppers Peter Bjorn and John causing more lines everywhere they go! It seems everyone wants a glimpse of "the whistlers".

The late show at The Empty Bottle on Tuesday night was no exception having sold out months in advance. One person we talked to had scalped tickets for $75 a piece (on a $16 face value) and the room buzzed with anticipation.

But first.... we stood in front of the sound board and shuffled along to the beat of the opening band, Fujiya & Miyagi. I wasn't thrilled with their set at first but it did build into very dynamic performance as they hit their stride during "Collarbone". To our right was Peter Morén (of PB&J eh) along with two of the girls from Au Revior Simone (openers at the early show). To our left was one of those incredibly annoying show going guys who is quite vocally annoyed with everything around him during a concert. He was there, it appeared, on a date¹. He therefore thought he owed it to this girl to vocalize his every thought, including how rude people are who send a text msg or take photos during shows. He went on at length about this for 10 minutes at least and didn't seem to notice the irony of his constant talking and commentary. More than one guy in front of me turned around to glare at him, but he never took the hint. How exactly it is he figures it's more rude to spend 20 seconds not interrupting anyone around you by taking a photo than talking loudly during a gig I have no idea. Regardless of not being able to see and barely being able to hear Fujiya & Miyagi over the rude guy, what I did take in of their set was great. We had to move to see PB&J so that I could a) see anything other than the shoulder blades of the 6' guy in front of me and b) not be forced to confront the rude guy.

It should be noted at this point that I could feel myself coming down with a cold all day and my sinus' were quickly filling up with smokey air inside the empty bottle. I knew to appease my heart, my head would have to suffer through for a few songs at least. After much delay they finally look the stage to "Let's Call It Off"... and showed Chicago's hipster² crowd how much more they "rock" live than on record. I stayed for a few more... Start to Melt, The Chills, Amsterdam, Big Black Coffin, and Paris 2004. The crowd seemed to absolutely LOVE them with the enthusiasm radiating outward from Peter and Bjorn on stage. The show was stomping along perfectly but I saw my moment to skip out. Having already seen them do an amazing performance of Young Folks at Red- Eyed Fly down in Austin, I didn't need to see the mayhem that the Empty Bottle would erupt into once Peter started whistling. I was out the door in a flash and into the back of a cab where I was home 10 minutes later (probably about the time Heather of Au Revior Simone would come up on stage to stand in for Victoria Bergstrom to do Young Folks).

Despite having seen probably about half of the set, I think they suitably impressed the Chicago audience. Unless the whole thing tanked after I left (which I heard it didn't) there's no way that everyone in that room didn't melt at the extreme showmanship of Peter Bjorn and John. The friend I took with me has now completely fallen in love with the band and is spreading the word of PB&J like the gospel. Vive le Difference³ PB&J Revolution!

¹ Sorry random annoyed guy, she wasn't that into you.
² The crowd was a bit older than I expected actually. It wasn't quite like Scritti Politti where I was quite obviously one of the youngest folks in the room, but it definitely wasn't entirely the kids of wicker park either.
³ I keep forgetting that I haven't explained why I feel like Peter Bjorn and John are the second (and more successful) coming of Eggstone yet.

Buy some: Fujiya & Miyagi, Peter Bjorn and John