[Review] Kings of Convenience @ Webster Hall 6/12/2010

Assumptions I had made about Kings of Convenience before arriving at Webster Hall last Saturday night:

#1- Erlend Øye and Eirik Glambek Bøe would barely speak English

#2- they would be incredibly shy

#3- the audience would be mostly talk over the entire show.

You know what they say about what happens when you assume right? Yeah... 

First of all this precious Norwegian duo were very chatty. Not only were they chatty but they spoke in non-broken English (a feat that dare I say Sondre Lerche was unable to do the first few times I saw him live years ago). In between songs they were cracking jokes with the audience and telling stories of playing New York years before. I think my favorite joke of the night went something like this:"This show sold out three months in advance, that means you guys are incredibly organized." It's one thing to be as talented as they are, but to be as fast on their feet as they were in a language that wasn't their native tongue was pretty impressive to me.

Top make things even better, the "incredibly organized" crowd that came out to catch KoC were probably one of the quietest crowds I've experienced in awhile. When I say quiet I of course mean not being that douchebag in the middle of the crowd trying to chat loudly to his buddy next to him why "Stay Out Of Trouble" is the sickest jam he's ever heard. Granted, they do not typically attract that kind of crowd, but it's New York so I find myself expecting the worst and being pleasantly surprised when I'm mistaken. 

It's also important to note that Franklin For Short (the band who opened for them) worked out wonderfully as KoC's back up band during the songs that just wouldn't sound right without a full band. You can really get an idea of how talented they are by how easily they were able to play songs that weren't their own. I always find it amusing to watch two bands play together to see how well they play off each other and they were definitely a great fit for each other. 

If you have a chance to be incredibly organized and catch Kings of Convenience on this tour, I would highly recommend it. 

You can check out all my other photos here. 

Bottle rating: 

4.5 out of 5