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The Concretes – La Sala Rossa – 19.01.11

January 21, 2011 in Show Reviews

Swedish indie pop band The Concretes put on a sweetheart-pop-showcase at La Sala Rossa on Wednesday night featuring their tour-mates, NYC-based Hooray for Earth, as well as local invitees, Receivers.

Unfortunately, being that it was a Wednesday night, Receivers opened the show to a largely empty room. Nevertheless, they treated those present to a solid set of sweet, dreamy pop, with reverberant, atmospheric guitaring and vocals. Lead singer Emilie Marzinotto switched it up between a melodica and a tambourine while delivering her smooth, ambient vocals over the band’s layers of guitar and synth. It was a nice, chill set to kick off the evening.

Hooray for Earth took the stage next as a few more people gradually filtered into the room. The group delivered a super-reverby act full of sweet vocal harmonies, playing songs off their EP called Momo as well as a nice Zombies cover. Despite the whole floor being empty, Hooray for Earth still managed to put on an engaging set, thanking the audience and The Concretes for including them on their tour.

The night’s headliners, The Concretes, began playing to a still-empty floor as most of the show’s attendees were sitting at the various tables scattered around the venue, or hanging back at the bar. Lead singer Lisa Millberg said it was their first time playing in Montreal in five years and requested that people move up to the front to fill the sad, empty space in front of the stage. The audience gladly obliged them and got up from their seats, instantly giving the show a mood of intimacy. The Concretes played a balanced set of new and old material including “Crack In The Paint”, a smooth track from their latest album, WYWH. They followed with a song Maria said she doesn’t usually sing, “Say Something New”, a charming track off their 2003 self-titled album.

Later on, the band put on a little contest – whoever could name the cover song they were about to play would win something from the merch table. One lucky gentleman took the prize, but I never did catch what who the song was by! After leaving the stage and almost immediately returning for an encore they performed the title track from their new album, “WYWH”, then finished their set with crowd-pleaser (and my personal favorite) “You Can’t Hurry Love” from their 2003 self-titled album. The Concretes put on a great set – it’s a shame more people didn’t make it out to see them!

– Natasha Young