Intro feels UFO. Like aliens descending. Light beam fog swirl. They make us wait for it.
"Aliens" enter stage left. Keyboardist then bass guitarist. Drummer Erik Bodin wears a Muhammed Ali sweatsuit he must've picked up from the swag shop down the street from the Mercury Ballroom. That Swede knows how to Lou-Ali-Ville represent.
Enter Little Dragon's front-woman Yukimi Nagano all sexy tennis barbie. White two-piece over psychedelic spandex shorts, neon striped sneakers, French braid. She's serving up the good stuff, that soul-infused voice. It's backed by psych-pop swells and electronic shimmy.
They start with "Mirror" from 2014's release Nabuma Rubberband, slow in the low-low deep spot: vocals, meaning. Nagano throws her arm over the top of mic stand, relaxing into lyrical truth, almost surrendering: "How can you forget to smile? It breaks my heart." Her voice breaks into upper register.
Faster songs she's around around the stage using her tambourine like a racket. Shaking, then volleying. This little Japanese-American is so full of energy. She's doing the running man, high-five jumping jacks, then hard thump/thump/thump, and look at the way she sways, so into it! Her moves make me want to buy a Yukimi Workout Video. Bet everybody there would cash in on that. We'd be down 10 pounds in a week.
I'm bopping and popping, too, just around the room. Front left I'm next to a smoky-smelling homeless man who someone randomly gave a ticket to. He's quiet against the rail, soaking in Nagano and the arrow-shaped lights, green then purple then blue. Front right is into it and my iridescent "space jacket" and I end up in some dancing kid's Snapchat. I try finding the stairs to sneak up to the VIP balcony, but the door I'm convinced leads there opens to the men's restroom, oops. Hey boys...
The back of the venue is where people are really dancing. More room to move in this sold-out show. One dude's blazer is off, his tank top soaked in sweat. A chica breaks out some ballerina somethin-somethin, her toes pointed while her legs lift in straight lines. That homeless man has found his way back here. He is shirtless and booty bouncing on the trash can.
Photo credit: Andrew McCawley and Johnny Gutterman with First Light Image
