Lively ‘Lykke Li’ Rocks, Lyke, a Sold Out Show

On an unusually warm Friday night in February, I was lucky enough to see the multi-talented 22-year old Swedish songstress Lykke Li (pronounced Looh-kuh Lee) perform an all-ages show at the 1100-capacity Metro in Chicago. Opening for Lykke Li was the critically acclaimed folk duo Wildbirds and Peacedrums, whom I unfortunately missed. The sold-out show was filled with a diverse audience, from the bro-iest of bros to the highest of hippies. Li went from a gentle hummingbird in opening track “Dance, Dance, Dance” to a a fierce headbanger in songs like “Complaint Department” and especially in a hilarious rendition of Lil’ Wayne’s “A Milli”. Li proved to be a fantastic, personable, and energetic live performer, but it seemed that the audience didn’t know what to do with themselves for much of the time. The setlist was a bit scattered with Li performing one upbeat song followed by a slower song, and the process repeated itself over and over.

Lykke Li (full name Li Lykke Timotej Zachrisson) released her first LP, Youth Novels, in 2008. Produced by Björn Yttling of Peter Bjorn and John, Youth Novels received high praise from indie publication Pitchfork (7.8/10) and mainstream music publication Rolling Stone (3.5/5). The latter voted Li’s song “I’m Good, I’m Gone” the 24th best song of 2008. Her music is original, indie-dance pop with influences ranging from early Madonna to A Tribe Called Quest. Youth Novels contains the singles “Little Bit”, “I’m Good, I’m Gone”, “Breaking It Up”, which Li performed on Conan O’Brien back in August of 2008, and my personal favorite, “Dance, Dance, Dance”.

The set design of Lykke Li’s performance at Metro was simple yet effective. It was a very black-and-white affair, down to what Li and her bandmates were wearing. A large black banner with Lykke Li’s name spelled out in white lettering rested behind the band. Li was positioned center stage, often moving her body but rarely walking stage right or stage left. The sound was decent but could have been turned down a bit.

Lykke Li knows how to get a crowd riled up. Her on-stage persona is lively and engaging. With this said, her setlist was poorly constructed. Writing a successful setlist is a complicated process, especially for Li as her music is in that middle ground of not entirely dance-y, but not exactly chill either. Many people were bobbing their heads, some people were all-out dancing, but most people were standing still and didn’t know what to do. And once they started dancing to an upbeat song, Li would follow with a much softer track. It went like this throughout the show; at one point my always-outgoing and confident friend yelling at me, “I don’t know what to do with myself!” At the close of Li’s set, I heard many upset fans complaining how they had spent upwards of thirty dollars for their tickets and Li was on stage for no more than fifty minutes. A set of under an hour is quite short for a headliner; however, Li is a new artist and doesn’t have as much material to cover as, say, Cat Power or Mirah.

If I were Lykke Li, I would have made some changes to the show at Metro. I would have played at least two upbeat songs consecutively to stimulate the crowd. I would have built the excitement level leading up to Li's four singles with more dramatic instrumentation and I would have used the megaphone more frequently (as she uses on the album version of “I’m Good, I’m Gone” and “Breaking It Up”). However, I still enjoyed the show because Li proved to be an engaging, passionate, talented, and above all, unique live performer.