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If you told me a couple years ago that I would be raving about a pop band from Sweden, I would have thought you were crazy.  Yet that is exactly what has happened.   It probably shouldn’t be that shocking, considering the other great music being exported from country lately, like Miike Snow and Little Dragon.   I was late to the Peter Bjorn and John party, I discovered them randomly on Pandora in late 2009.   I have been a fan ever since.   So obviously I jumped at my first chance to see them coming live.  I was able to catch their show at the beginning of summer, supporting their latest release from this year, Gimme Some.

I didn’t hear very much about this show in advance, either in person or online.   Although I was convinced there were a multitude of others like me, I wasn’t sure what sort of turn out might occur.   As it happened, the show was either sold out, or at that limit where it’s so close it doesn’t really make a difference or not.    Not only was the place full, it was full of energy since the hometown Dallas Mavericks were playing in the NBA Finals.  Even the band themselves alluded to this important event on twitter earlier during the day:  “if dallas mavericks wins tonite we might play ‘young folks’ in the nude and if u lose we will mos def not be naked so u win either way!”    Maybe they were attempting to convince those on the fence about whether to attend the show or not.

We weren’t able to catch the opening act, Oax, from Austin.  Some bands need to warm up during the show, they need time to win the crowd over:  PBJ are not one them.    They attracted the audience’s attention as soon as the curtain lifted, and held their grip tight on it throughout the evening.   Their eccentric, pop driven dance rock had everyone bobbing and bouncing.    This was going to be a party regardless of the score of the basketball game.  They began with “May Seem Macabre”, then continued with “Second Chance”, ” Let’s Call It Off”, “Lies”, and “Amsterdam”.    They refused to quit playing, coming back out for two full entire encores.    They waited until almost the very end for the famous “Young Folks”, to which it seemed everyone was singing and whistling along to.   They still played a few songs after this point.

Although many of my friends don’t recognize PBJ by name, most of them have heard at least a song or two.   It seems to be that way for most people I know.   I have a hunch this will change before long, and this Swedish trio will be hard to forget.  Be sure to catch the guys while they are still touring North America this fall on the All You Can Eat Tour.  Here is some video I recorded at the concert: