It was a chilly San Francisco night at the world famous California Academy of Sciences as Australian crooner Geoffrey O’Connor and Swedish singer-songwriting heartthrob Jens Lekman took the stage at the East Garden. The museum’s Nightlife series is always a mature themed journey through modern media culture and science and that night’s mix was no different.
Geoffrey O'Connor
Geoffrey O'Connor
Supporting the Treasure Island Music Festival pre-party show was Australian 80s-inspired purple glazed Geoffrey O’Connor. I say “purple glazed” because the music that Geoffrey plays is borderline visual with its infectious hooks and Roxy Music-like cool. So when I saw the Crayon Fields frontman stand on stage on his own, I wasn’t sure how he’d portray his style to the sparse crowd. Luckily for him, his exploratory fashion resonated with the openminded Jens-fans.
Geoffrey O'Connor
He wasn’t dull either. Geoffrey climbed speakers, walked throughout the crowd, and leaned on polls in the middle of the venue like some protagonist in some coming-of-age 80s flick. He can definitely hold his own on stage but I couldn’t help but wonder what would happen if he was provided with a full band. In my opinion, give this guy a saxophone player and a real drummer and let’s what happens. Geoffrey has plenty of potential and I’m curious to see where his future lies.
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[mp3] Geoffrey O’Connor – Now & Then from Vanity Is Forever (2011)
Jens Lekman
Jens Lekman
You can’t deny it, Jens Lekman is a Etsy-bag carrying, flannel clad, indie rock girl’s dream boy. Jens and Beirut’s Zach Condon need to have a Celebrity Death Match episode to see who is the champion of bringing cute indie chicks to their knees. Anyway, as a fan of Jens and his imaginary work, seeing him perform live definitely lived up to my expectations. He’s charismatic, charming, and visibly humble despite his dedicated and borderline obsessive following.
Jens Lekman
Jens Lekman
In addition to the many songs from his recently released An Argument with Myself EP, new unreleased songs like Cowboy Boots and the calming Every Little Hair Knows Your Name. Probably the most humorous aspect of Jens’ performance was the fact that he would describe each song as if no one would understand the subject once he started playing it. However, once he started performing the song (say, Waiting to Kirsten from An Argument with Myself EP) he would sing the description verbatim. He ended up doing this several times without it getting old.
Jens Lekman
Jens Lekman
The Night Falls Over Kortedala songs did not emerge until the end of his set. With Sipping on the Sweet Nectar calling crowd interaction and The Opposite of Hallelujah making the hundreds to indie girls scream their heads off, it was inevitable that a sweet acoustic version of And I Remember Every Kiss would close the night’s double encore. We also were graced by songs Black Cab and A Sweet Summer’s Night on Hammer Hill (it was quite entertaining to hear a crowd of people yell “OH NO!”) from 2005’s You’re Oh So Silent Jens peppered in there too.
It was something my girlfriend said to me as we left that night that best described Jens’ performance that night, “You can tell he really wanted to be there and was genuinely enjoying himself.” I guess you’d be enjoying yourself too if you had hundreds of girls who look like Zooey Deschanel screaming your name.
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SETLIST
[New Song]
Argument with Myself
Waiting For Kirsten
A Sweet Summer’s Night On Hammer Hill
I Broke Up a Fight
The End of the World is Bigger Than Love
Cowboy Boots
Black Cab
Golden Key
The Opposite Of Hallelujah
That’s the Way Love Is (Ten City cover)
Sipping On The Sweet Nectar
Every Little Hair Knows Your Name
And I Remember Every Kiss
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[mp3] Jens Lekman – An Argument With Myself from An Argument With Myself (2011)
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[mp3] Jens Lekman – You Are The Light from You Are The Light (2004)
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[mp3] Jens Lekman – Friday Night at the Drive-In Bingo from Night Falls Over Kortedala (2007)
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[mp3] Jens Lekman – Black Cab from Oh You’re So Silent, Jens (2005)
Jens Lekman