LYKKE LI!

I went to go see Lykke Li in Boston last night, something I've been looking forward to for months. And I was not disappointed in the least. I tried to recruit people to go with me but nobody that gave me an answer could go (and those that did want to go never got back to me) so I did feel a little weird being there by myself, but I wasn't about to miss her concert on account of that. Her performance was outstanding, a lot of good energy and she could definitely work the crowd. She also rocked out with her signature bull horn; I dunno where she got the idea for that but it really works. Somehow she managed to make my least favorite of her songs ("Let It Fall" a song about how she enjoys crying) a pounding rock out version. Though she also did this really strange thing with one of my very favorite songs ("Complaint Department" an exquisitely concieved musical middle finger) where she altered her voice to make it this male demon voice. I like her voice a lot so I thought it took away from the song somewhat. Though in a thinly veiled irony, I can't complain—she's not the complaint department.
This was perhaps the first concert I've been to where I have been really into the artist. I mean Pinback is nice, as are Smashing Pumpkins and Jimmy Eat World but I was never a huge, huge fan of them. This was different, and so I now understand people's enthusiasm with concerts a lot more. It was also a new thing for me that I knew every song she played, and knew that she wasn't done because she hadn't sang them all yet. She also did some really good covers, Wendy Rene's "After laughter comes tears" and a hip hop song whose name escapes me.
After the last song, and after her plugging her merchandise, everyone was heading out and as we all filed past the table selling albums and t-shirts I look over and there she was! She was personally selling the stuff and signing autographs (very patiently I might add since people had to open the plastic wrapping of the LPs they wanted signed). Since I had already bought her album way back before it was available in the US, I just bought a pin and very politely asked her to sign my ticket. I had sort of planned to say something in Swedish to her, like "Var trevligt att träffas" or even just "Tack" but I was too starstruck. And having seen her up close I can say with absolute certainty that she is adorable.