Les Docks is pretty packed for a Monday night, people are all reunited to be carried away by the touching indie-folk notes and beautiful voices of Isaac Gracie and First Aid Kit. 

 

8:00pm-8:30pm

Isaac Gracie

British singer and songwriter Isaac Gracie enchants the audience with his angelic voice and looks. He is alone on stage and embraces his electric guitar to deliver a very sweet and calm indie-folk music.

His ethereal voice follows the melodic chords of his guitar. He is accompanied on stage by a guitarist for one of the songs, so that he can focus only on his voice. Check out his debut album Isaac Gracie!

 

9pm-10:30pm

First Aid Kit

The disco balls on stage cast flows of lights on the audience of Les Docks. The three musicians of First Aid Kit come on stage followed by the two Söderberg sisters, they all stand on the back of the stage on a super-elevated step. The gig starts with “Distant Star”, a song taken from their new album Ruins.

The screen at the back of the stage plunges the audience into a road trip through the US iconic Monument Valley, on Route 66, and also through First Aid Kit’s music which fits perfectly to it. Their nostalgic indie-folk is the perfect soundtrack for a road trip in which the desert landscape unfolds before your eyes. Little anecdote, the first time I saw them at a festival I didn’t know they were Swedish and through their music they took me straight to the US Far West with its endless straight road and beautiful scenery.

The two Swedish sisters Klara, the brunette, and Johanna Söderberg, the blond one, present songs taken from their last album Ruins, an LP in which their voices grow apart, each one leading its way to then reconnect into a whole.

One of the songs they play is accompanied by a touching video footage of when the two sisters were kids and shows them growing up.

Klara puts on her angry face and mood for the song “You are the problem here”, and later explains that she and her sister felt the need to write this song for women victims of rape. They felt quite angry that they had to come to this point. The public is in full support of their defense of women. Klara’s powerful voice, which here has an angry tone, conveys a clear-cut message.

First Aid Kit play a beautiful cover of Kate Bush’s “Running Up That Hill”. For “The Lion’s Roar” the two sisters as well as their band take out all their dazzle becoming lions on stage, tilting their heads while playing bass and guitar and letting their shiny manes fly in the air. This song dates back to their album of the same name, released in 2012.

Accomplices on stage as in life, Johanna and Klara share the stage equally although Klara sings more than her sister, who mainly does the backing vocals.

“Ugly” is a very touching song which sends out the message that each and one of us has much more than just the aesthetic beauty to give. They make the audience sing along in the refrain of the touching and nostalgic “Emmylou”, a song written for Emmylou Harris, a country artist they both admire.

For “Rebel Heart”, the heart shaped symbol of the band is shown on the screen and the lights project its reflection on the walls and audience of Les Docks.The two sisters are joined on stage by Isaac Gracie who sings the refrain for one of the songs.

Klara and Johanna present in a funny way their three band members who all come from different parts of the world: the drummer from Edinburgh, the long bearded and long haired on key from the USA and on pedal steel from Brighton, UK.

As the notes of “Fireworks” fill Les Docks the audience screams all excited. The footage on the screen shows the space and lyrics of the song.

The concert ends with the beautifully nostalgic “My Silver Lining” and its addictive vocals and melody. First Aid Kit leave the stage of Les Docks with a smile, acclaimed by the public.

 

Simona @TakeMe2aConcert

 

Setlist:

Distant Star
It’s a Shame
Master Pretender
Stay Gold
The Lion’s Roar
You Are The Problem Here
Ugly
Hem of Her Dress
King Of The World
Running Up That Hill
Wolf
Emmylou
Nothing Has To Be True
Rebel Heart (encore)
Fireworks (encore)
My Silver Lining (encore)