concert post: The O'My's and Movits!
This is a really late concert post - last Wednesday I went to see Movits! and it was AMAZING.
It was kind of a weird concert for me because I hadn't found anyone to go with (despite incredibly cheap tickets), but conveniently it was at a venue right by my department, so I just... hung out awkwardly in my building well after everyone else had left, and then changed into concert clothes in the single-stall bathroom. Fun. But I also had this brainwave and realized that my new everyday shoes (shown in their horrible glory below) perfectly matched a pair of awful knee-high checkered neon socks I've owned for years. So I wore those with a black velvet miniskirt and a black gold-studded tanktop. New favorite terrible concert outfit, and it is a huge shame that it is now way too cold to wear it again. So that put me instantly in a 'concert' mood, which was reinforced by all the compliments I got, including from the house manager when I showed up just as doors were opening. 'More socks and shoes like that!' he said. 'That's what'll get this place hopping!' Okay, dude.
I got there early and the show started late, AND 80% of the audience was absent at first. Smallest crowd for an opening band I've ever seen, which just means they missed something great because the O'My's were killing it. I bought their CD afterwards, but it's only okay and they were INCREDIBLE live. Blues/soul, and the singer had a beautiful range. I was right up front and sort of bopping along self-consciously, but they hit that groove early on where I got wrapped up in the music and stopped paying attention to myself and just held my breath to see how great they would be in the next song. Pretty damn great, man. After the show I said thanks to the sax and trumpet guys, and then waited awkwardly until I could tell the lead singer that he was amazing and that I'd bought their CD and also that if they came back to the Cities I was going to drag all my friends to their show and he IMMEDIATELY lit up and said "I saw you dancing, thank you so much for coming!" and pulled me into a hug, which, uh. Was unexpected but was super sweet of him! So I am holding out to try their next album (they were touring on mostly new material) and keeping them in mind if they swing back around. If you want to hear what they were like, check this song out but then imagine it five times as intense.
After the opener a lot more people showed up and the crowd moved around a lot, but I stayed up near the front. There was a seated section from the Swedish Institute off to one side, but I was on the opposite side AND this extremely nordic-looking guy (long blond hair, black tank-top, Thor's hammer pendant) showed up and physically cleared some space so he could dance, but he did it in a polite 'I don't want to crash into people' way that also left ME with a lot of space because I was next to him, so that was rad. Especially when Movits! came on because they plugged right into my hindbrain and I spent the next hour-plus jumping and moving and dancing until they finished their encore and I realized I was shaking and covered in sweat and grinning and so so happy. I've been told that I am simultaneously an awesome and annoying person to go to a concert with because I get so into it, and it was kind of cool to not have to worry about friends etc but just drop straight into the moment.
I feel like I'm not explaining this well but WHATEVER, hopefully you get what I am trying to say. Movits! were very slick and funny and practiced but still spontaneous, and I learned SO MUCH during the concert because they're a Swedish hip-hop/swing band and translations of their lyrics are kind of scarce. They sang a little more English and spent a lot of time sort of explaining their songs (Johan: "I'm going to sing you guys a love song. You deserve a love song. This is a love song about wanting to shoot yourself in the head, sorry.") and mostly making up lies, haha (Johan: "It's okay that you don't speak Swedish, guys. You speak the international language - Esperanto! Or Latin, right? Go to Sweden and order food in Latin. They'll understand. What's beer in Latin?" Joakim: "Uh. Beeres." Johan: "Really? What about hot dog? What's hot dog?" Joakim: "Beeres."). Johan Rensfeldt kept (apparently) unexpectedly demanding solos from different band members ("It's like a mutiny, man. Except, I'm in charge, so it's just, uh, what's the word. Orders!") until Joakim Nilsson rebelled and said he'd start demanding free-styling in retaliation. And they kept everybody moving and they were moving and it was such an EXPERIENCE. (Johan: "My gym teacher always said, if you get people dancing, don't let them stop. I don't know why he said that. He was a gym teacher.")
I've listened to Movits! since... 2011, I think, a while, and they've always been fun, but this concert catapulted them into favorite status, the kind of music I'll listen to when I need things to be good and right and tinged with just a bit of buzzing anger at what we have to put up with. Which I never would have realized was infused into their songs until I listened to them explain and perform them. This is basically an ideal concert for me, and I'm so glad I got to go. (If you've never heard of them, do yourself a huge favor and check this song out, it has been my jam for a MONTH.
(BTW I was fascinated by both Joakim and the O'My's sax player - which, can you blame me, LOoK at them, but it means I have a billion blurry photos of each on my phone.)
So, yeah. Overall amazing, definitely recommend either band if they ever make it to your area.
This entry was originally posted at http://neveralarch.dreamwidth.org/82076.html. Comment wherever you want.
It was kind of a weird concert for me because I hadn't found anyone to go with (despite incredibly cheap tickets), but conveniently it was at a venue right by my department, so I just... hung out awkwardly in my building well after everyone else had left, and then changed into concert clothes in the single-stall bathroom. Fun. But I also had this brainwave and realized that my new everyday shoes (shown in their horrible glory below) perfectly matched a pair of awful knee-high checkered neon socks I've owned for years. So I wore those with a black velvet miniskirt and a black gold-studded tanktop. New favorite terrible concert outfit, and it is a huge shame that it is now way too cold to wear it again. So that put me instantly in a 'concert' mood, which was reinforced by all the compliments I got, including from the house manager when I showed up just as doors were opening. 'More socks and shoes like that!' he said. 'That's what'll get this place hopping!' Okay, dude.
I got there early and the show started late, AND 80% of the audience was absent at first. Smallest crowd for an opening band I've ever seen, which just means they missed something great because the O'My's were killing it. I bought their CD afterwards, but it's only okay and they were INCREDIBLE live. Blues/soul, and the singer had a beautiful range. I was right up front and sort of bopping along self-consciously, but they hit that groove early on where I got wrapped up in the music and stopped paying attention to myself and just held my breath to see how great they would be in the next song. Pretty damn great, man. After the show I said thanks to the sax and trumpet guys, and then waited awkwardly until I could tell the lead singer that he was amazing and that I'd bought their CD and also that if they came back to the Cities I was going to drag all my friends to their show and he IMMEDIATELY lit up and said "I saw you dancing, thank you so much for coming!" and pulled me into a hug, which, uh. Was unexpected but was super sweet of him! So I am holding out to try their next album (they were touring on mostly new material) and keeping them in mind if they swing back around. If you want to hear what they were like, check this song out but then imagine it five times as intense.
After the opener a lot more people showed up and the crowd moved around a lot, but I stayed up near the front. There was a seated section from the Swedish Institute off to one side, but I was on the opposite side AND this extremely nordic-looking guy (long blond hair, black tank-top, Thor's hammer pendant) showed up and physically cleared some space so he could dance, but he did it in a polite 'I don't want to crash into people' way that also left ME with a lot of space because I was next to him, so that was rad. Especially when Movits! came on because they plugged right into my hindbrain and I spent the next hour-plus jumping and moving and dancing until they finished their encore and I realized I was shaking and covered in sweat and grinning and so so happy. I've been told that I am simultaneously an awesome and annoying person to go to a concert with because I get so into it, and it was kind of cool to not have to worry about friends etc but just drop straight into the moment.
I feel like I'm not explaining this well but WHATEVER, hopefully you get what I am trying to say. Movits! were very slick and funny and practiced but still spontaneous, and I learned SO MUCH during the concert because they're a Swedish hip-hop/swing band and translations of their lyrics are kind of scarce. They sang a little more English and spent a lot of time sort of explaining their songs (Johan: "I'm going to sing you guys a love song. You deserve a love song. This is a love song about wanting to shoot yourself in the head, sorry.") and mostly making up lies, haha (Johan: "It's okay that you don't speak Swedish, guys. You speak the international language - Esperanto! Or Latin, right? Go to Sweden and order food in Latin. They'll understand. What's beer in Latin?" Joakim: "Uh. Beeres." Johan: "Really? What about hot dog? What's hot dog?" Joakim: "Beeres."). Johan Rensfeldt kept (apparently) unexpectedly demanding solos from different band members ("It's like a mutiny, man. Except, I'm in charge, so it's just, uh, what's the word. Orders!") until Joakim Nilsson rebelled and said he'd start demanding free-styling in retaliation. And they kept everybody moving and they were moving and it was such an EXPERIENCE. (Johan: "My gym teacher always said, if you get people dancing, don't let them stop. I don't know why he said that. He was a gym teacher.")
I've listened to Movits! since... 2011, I think, a while, and they've always been fun, but this concert catapulted them into favorite status, the kind of music I'll listen to when I need things to be good and right and tinged with just a bit of buzzing anger at what we have to put up with. Which I never would have realized was infused into their songs until I listened to them explain and perform them. This is basically an ideal concert for me, and I'm so glad I got to go. (If you've never heard of them, do yourself a huge favor and check this song out, it has been my jam for a MONTH.
(BTW I was fascinated by both Joakim and the O'My's sax player - which, can you blame me, LOoK at them, but it means I have a billion blurry photos of each on my phone.)
So, yeah. Overall amazing, definitely recommend either band if they ever make it to your area.
This entry was originally posted at http://neveralarch.dreamwidth.org/82076.html. Comment wherever you want.