.first aid kit.

Last night on a whim we went to see First Aid Kit play at a tiny little venue not far from our house.  Two sisters, aged 17 and 20, from Sweden are probably most well known in the US for their version of Fleet Foxes' song Tiger Mountain Peasant Song.  

This was the first show either one of us had seen at the Bootleg Theater (we missed Broken Bells playing there a couple of months ago when we went to The Magic Castle).  Per their website it was originally a warehouse built in the 1930s which is now a space used for art, theater and music.  I'm guessing packed to brim the place only holds a couple of hundred people so any show there is going to be pretty intimate (another pang of sadness for missing Broken Bells).

The second act, Samantha Crain, was one of those bands that as soon as you hear the first few notes of their first song you know that it is going to be a good show.  Samantha Crain, the singer (and I assume primary songwriter) has a good energy about her, which is contagious and when they play it is hard not to want to bounce around to the music.  Also the drummer is a girl.  And she is good.  I always appreciate a good female drummer as you just don't get to see them that often (I'm sure they're our there I just rarely get to hear/see them).

For the most part I wasn't too familiar with much of First Aid Kit's music, aside from the Fleet Foxes cover.  I guess you could describe them as folksy.  They definitely write and sing songs that make you think that they have experienced a lot more of life than is realistic for people at their ages.  Which, I guess is why the average age of the audience member was a bit older than what you would normally see at any type of Indie music scene in central Los Angeles. 

They did a beautiful job, even though it was obvious that they were a little jet lagged since they had just arrived in the US (for the first time) the day before the show.  I would absolutely go see them again and would highly recommend their show to anyone else.  Leif noted on our way out that this was probably the last time they would ever be at such a small venue in Los Angeles.

My favorite song of the night, Ghost Town, was possibly one of the best songs I've seen played live in a very long time.  No mics, no amplifiers.  Just two amazing voices.