Sondre Lerche (Slim's, 29 May 2004 & 30 November 2004)

May 29, 2004 – Slim’s

SHOW OF THE YEAR

This was the Cinderella story of the 2004 season. Going up against powerhouses like Cher, the reunited Van Halen, and Jay-Z/R Kelly, Sondre Lerche, Norwegian folk prodigy, came from virtually out of nowhere to snag the coveted Show of the Year prize. With his vocal crooning and deft fingerpicking, his songs resonated with a purity never heard within the asbestos-lined walls of Slim’s. The band looked like they were on drugs; they were smiling the entire time, like that Enzyte guy. Except they were genuine smiles, not the least bit creepy. The smiles were certainly contagious; there was not one person in the crowd who was unhappy. Along with his tight, melodic songs, Sondre spoke to the crowd with a witty-awkward-broken-English humor that generated smiles with every syllable uttered. Several times he paused questioning why people were laughing, for he was trying to be serious, dammit. Example:

“This next song is a song that you’ve never heard before. (Gets ready to play) Or maybe you have… You never know these days, with that thing called the Internet... You know, this world is becoming a scary place, what with the ipods and internets taking over the world. There’s nothing left for the humans anymore. Well I have a message for them! We humans are here to stay! Do you hear me San Francisco? I said we humans are here to stay!”

Rating: 1 Beer

November 30, 2004 – Slim’s

SONDRE II

The light’s dim. The crowd erupts, lighters ablaze, anticipating another epic performance from the Nordic male diva. But something is missing. Have we not consumed enough alcohol? Has the sound system at Slim’s gotten even shittier than before? Has Sondre’s comedic wit gone astray? No, he’s still as hilarious as ever, the sound system is just as bad as before, and we’ve all been drinking enough to make a Russian proud. But as Sondre plays the first few songs, the audience becomes restless. They realize that there is no band.

Now, Conor Oberst did this to me about a month ago. Despite the fact that the ticket said “Bright Eyes”, Conor took to the stage with an acoustic guitar and played the entire set without his regular band (with a little help from M. Ward and Jim James). Conor is one of those unique souls who could actually pull this off quite well. However, I still feel that this gimmick is like paying full price for a rocking chair, only to discover that it doesn’t rock.

“San Francisco is my favorite place in America. With that fabulous Golden Gate... Bridge. And Rice-a-Roni. And with that fabulous Oakland.” - Sondre Lerche

After six to seven unplugged songs, the smiling faces of the band were surely missed. Sondre did, however, do a good job of undressing some of his upbeat tracks, such as Dead Passengers and Two Way Monologue. On Modern Nature, a duet that was recorded with Lillian Samdal, Sondre pleaded with the audience to sing the female part, because “being alone on stage singing such a romantic duet is quite pathetic.” A deep, masculine voice from the audience proclaimed, “I’ll sing with ya, big boy!” Sondre replied, “I don’t know how to respond to that one. It says here just to giggle.” He giggled.

About halfway in to his set, he introduced the opening band, Golden Republic, “The best band from Kansas since Kansas.” The rhythm section added a refreshing new element as they played Virtue and Wine. The crowd bobbed their head accordingly. During one of the songs, Sondre’s high E string broke, leading to the most dramatic, awkward moment of the night. As Sondre was re-tuning his guitar, the lead singer for Golden Republic commented on the tuning, “This is our favorite song.” Sondre Lerche apparently has a low tolerance for poor American humor, because he completely ripped the guy a new one by dissing his unfunny joke. The poor guy was totally shocked and didn’t know how to respond. When the drummer interjected to defend his bandmate, Sondre retorted, “Who let the drummer speak?” After a short pause, “Actually, the drummer’s a really great guy... When he’s drumming.” The audience gasped a collective oh-no-he-di-int, and you could tell that the entire band was PISSED. The tension escalated when the drummer claimed that Sondre didn’t even know his name. After a long, tense pause, Sondre said, “Little drummer boy?” Sondre compared this moment to Jerry Springer, and I thought the band was going to walk out on him. Someone from the floor even yelled out, “Go back to Norwegia!” Luckily, the band kept their composure and played the next song, Sleep on Needles. It’s amazing how a happy song and a driving kick drum can make one forget their drama. This was the case, as smiles slowly returned to everyone’s faces by the end of the song. Sondre and the little drummer boy even shared the same sweat towel.

The remainder of his set was fraught with anticlimactic relief. The focus turned to the music, wryly dubbed by Sondre as “adult contemporary pop”. And the music was good. The band continued to back up Sondre on tracks from his two full-length releases, such as On the Tower and Suffused With Love, as well as a couple B-Sides. The penultimate song was a quaint a cappella cover, which showcased his multi-octave vocal range. He ended the set as he started, with just his voice and a newly-restringed guitar. It was a halcyon end to an anxious night, and overall, it made for a good show.

Rating: 2 Beers

- Jason (filling in for the flu-ridden Ian)