The Sounds at the Fine Line Music Cafe, Minneapolis (04/01/14)

Setlist

Emperor Song with a Mission Shake Shake Shake Something to Die For 24 Hours Dorchester Hotel Painted by Numbers Wish You Were Here Best of Me Weekend 4 Songs & A Fight No One Sleeps Take it the Wrong Way America Outlaw Ego — Encore — Tony the Beat Rock n Roll Hope You’re Happy Now

After an epic drench-sweating power song that got the audience pumped up, The Sounds singer Maja Ivarsson stated, “You know we’re just warming up, right?”

The Sounds are currently on a U.S. tour with opening support from Blondfire, Strange Talk, and Ghost Beach. All four bands were actually in Minneapolis on April 1st, but Ghost Beach don’t officially join The Sounds until April 10th.

Just a little background on The Sounds, they are a band from Sweden. I first came across the band with the attention-grabbing album cover of Dying to Say This to You in 2006. The cover artwork, a photograph by singer Ivarsson, was compelling enough for me to pick up the album. I soon discovered that musically, they were a dancey version of Blondie.

I was really excited to check out The Sounds on this new tour in support of their latest album Weekend, which came out November 2013 via Metronome Records.

The thing with The Sounds is that the band does not disappoint live. Ivarsson is absolutely stunning to watch, whatever she is doing: crawling on all fours, lying on her back, climbing the speakers, smoking cigarettes (twice!), or making out with a fan in front… As for the band, they are tight, never missing a beat and knew exactly when to break out in their dance routines. You get the feeling that the 16-year-old band has got a lot of performance practice.

 

Also, the Sounds know what they are doing when they built their setlist. If you look over it, they were smart enough to play their well-known songs, and maybe throwing in a few from their new album. Not to say that their new album is week (on the contrary), but they play to their audience, which may not be that familiar with the new songs.

Only five songs from Weekend were played (“Emperor”, “Shake Shake Shake”, “Weekend”, “Take It the Wrong Way”, “Outlaw”), and the rest, based on all the dancing, were basically a greatest hits live.

My only complaint is that during slower songs, such as “Wish You Were Here” (which is such a tender song), the audience never shut up. It almost seem like The Sounds needed to only play loud dance music just to drown out the talkers. I personally want bands to play slower songs on their set, to show off their range as an artist, but sometime it is not possible, especially with a non-receptive audience. It’s a shame, because it’s not The Sounds’ fault at all.

The show was still excellent, despite their audience. If The Sounds are playing near you, please give them a chance. Even if you’re not that familiar with their music, you’ll just find yourself singing along to their catchy songs.

The Sounds’ North American tour:

04/03/14 Toronto, ON The Hoxton 04/04/14 Quebec City, QC Imperial Du Quebec 04/05/14 Montreal, QC Virgin Mobile 04/07/14 Brooklyn, NY Music Hall 04/08/14 Philadelphia, PA Union Transfer 04/10/14 New York, NY Webster Hall 04/11/14 Providence, RI Fete

04/12/14 Washington, DC 9:30 Club 04/14/14 Atlanta, GA Terminal West 04/15/14 Saint Petersburg, FL State Theatre 04/16/14 Miami, FL Grand Central 04/18/14 Dallas, TX Granada Theater 04/19/14 Austin, TX Emo’s 04/21/14 Houston, TX Fitzgerald’s