LIVE REVIEW: Fever Ray, LSDXOXO, Uroish, Eventim Apollo, London, 02/03/2024
Photo Credit: Kevin O’Sullivan
There is something unsettling about Swedish performer Fever Ray. Behind the almost disturbing make-up and outfits that brings the performance-piece façade to life, of course, exists Karin Dreijer, formerly of surrealist pop duo The Knife; but, when they put the distinctive white face paint and the rest of their aesthetic ensemble on, that knowledge seems to shrivel up and hide away in the face of the sheer, lust-tinged menace that pervades the stage. Still, there are very few artists that toe the line between enigmatic etherealism and animalistic, unadulterated vibrancy quite as well.
But first up, the dreary March day needed warming up — and even here, the surreal Fever Ray made sure to embrace the unconventional.
Opening up the night came bass-heavy, Iranian electro-pop artist Uroish, blending her native Persian and a range of different, electronically-sampled instruments with electronic beats and a glimmering, glittering stage presence that managed to bridge the gap between incomprehensibility and true immersion — particularly given Eurovision’s recent re-resurgence. It was plain to see what drew the other half of The Knife, Olof Dreijer, to co-produce it, and Fever Ray to naturally invite her on tour with them.
With just a DJ for company on stage, the pair still managed to give one hell of a showing; fierce falsetto mixed with an almost chanting-like singing and the electronically persistent instrumentals to give a wave of sound which seemed to fit into the 5,000 capacity Eventim Apollo as seamlessly as it would have in a haze-heavy nightclub, even as the tracks began to blend into each other.
Leaving the stage to chants of ‘FREE PALESTINE’, brought about by an emotional story of her own experiences of Iran’s relationship with Israel, the night was off to a good start. 7/10
Up next, announced by the sudden onset of strobe lights and a menacing red glare from the spotlights overhead, came the New York-based DJ and producer LSDXOXO. Somewhere between techno, rap, and an entrancing sort of rave, with some slightly sinister vocal samples laying underneath every word, LSDXOXO cast a strangely seductive figure — his movements almost as fluid as his song styles, as he languidly strolled through the smoke and haze of the stage.
Despite being of a similar auditory ilk, tracks still seemed nicely distinct. Track J’Adore, for instance — the opener of last year’s Delusions of Grandeur (D.O.G) EP — seemed a character study in indulgence, literally culminating in the performer’s repeated demand for ‘more’. Plus, with a debut album coming ‘very soon’, Eventim Apollo provided the perfect locale for the showcasing of a number of new tracks — including both the sanguine drenched Bloodlust and final track, Paparazzi, a pounding, reverberating, electronic anthem — particularly as the set was largely new to the crowd regardless. 7/10
With three albums under the pseudonym, each Fever Ray tour exists wholly in its own space in musical history. Sure, most tours revolve around whichever album is being promoted; but few change quite as elaborately as one of theirs. With London’s Eventim Apollo the location of the final UK night of the There’s No Place I’d Rather Be tour, in support of last year’s Radical Romantics, that meant that the first glimpse of Fever Ray that the London audience got came way in advance of any actual appearance on stage; rather, a fully functioning streetlight, straight out of Victorian London, seemed to materialise at the centre of the stage as soon as LSDXOXO had left. Bizarre? It had barely begun.
Twenty minutes later and it was time for that to change. The lights dropped, the flickering streetlight shining through the fog like an 1800s-themed Christmas movie… and, finally, each member of the band emerged on stage to raucous applause.
The only word to describe Fever Rae and their plethora of performers was mesmerising. From the first note of What They Call Us, Dreijer’s hauntingly hypnotic voice flitting between softly sinister and roiling in anguish, the night became nothing short of a spectacle. Visually arresting and sonically insidious, unnaturally otherworldly and viscerally human; even not understanding the intricacies of their idiosyncratic examinations of gender, sexuality, and the otherwise constraining, abstract definitions of individuality, you could feel that something important — no, something necessary — was occurring. The almost robotic Mustn’t Hurry, kaleidoscopic lasers and electronic flourishes alike, or fan-favourite To the Moon and Back, both from 2017’s Plunge, went happily hand in hand with newer numbers New Utensils, the latter’s counter-part and recent single, the touch-starved Shiver, or the rocky and frustrated number Even It Out; and, of course, London was also greeted by a healthy showing of the 2009’s self-titled album, from the atmospheric and somewhat chilling When I Grow Up to both Now’s The Only Time I Know and the poppy, techno number I’m Not Done.
It was interesting, however, to take note of which song came from which era; even if you’re not familiar with their (frankly, not-immediately accessible) music, the transition from fundamentally electro music to the more gentle, or even vulnerable, newer numbers could be quite telling — as with the triple-hitter, and discography-spanning trio, of Even It Out, An Itch and I’m Not Done. Said changes, however, kept the set feeling fresh and engaging, rather than potentially repetitive.
To the surprise of absolutely no-one in attendance, though, it was pre-encore closer — and the opening theme to historical drama Vikings, which undeniably helped Fever Ray reach a greater swathe of adoring fans — If I Had A Heart, that ended up being the highlight of the evening. With beams of refracting light leaving the ghostly figures on stage cast in silhouette, each ephemeral moment as fleeting as the last under the almost Druidic chants reverberating around the room, If I Had A Heart felt endlessly bewitching.
A fantastic end to a fascinatingly complex night. 8/10
Written By: James O’Sullivan
