Guitarist Felix Rodriguez and lead singer, Maja Ivarssonof Swedish Indie rock band, The Sounds, perform at the Wiltern theater.
The Sounds with The Limousines, Funeral Party and Kids At the Bar
The Wiltern
It’s rare to watch a live performance without seeing the band. But The Limousines opened The Sounds’ Wednesday performance at the Wiltern in an unusual aura of mystery.
Emerging from darkness in a cloud of stage fog, the duo remained bouncing silhouettes even as it produced upbeat, solid pop synths and were lit only by the alternating flashes of candy colored strobe lights. And while the San Francisco-based electro pop duo may have taken the stage a little awkwardly, the Limousines quickly commanded the crowd. Lead singer Eric Victorino released confetti balloons from stage and invited the crowd to “join the band” for a song and sing along to standout lyrical satire “Internet Killed the Video Star.”
The enthusiasm brought by The Limousines quickly changed tones when second act Funeral Party took over. The Los Angeles natives were somber by comparison, with muffled lyrics that were hard to hear above the eerie din of guitars that blended song to song.
However, DJ duo Kids At the Bar kept breaks between the sets lively and set the mood for Swedish indie rock band The Sounds to take the stage, opening with its latest single “Dance With the Devil.”
The crowd roared when frontwoman and Blondie look-alike Maja Ivarsson made her entrance in a fierce flurry of theatrics and high kicks, made all the more impressive in a mini dress and stilettos. Ivarsson’s microphone twirling energy was at the heart of the band’s set, never wavering as she addressed Los Angeles as a lost lover, frequently reaffirming her love for the audience in between expletives and drags on cigarettes beneath cool blue lights.
Though The Sounds’ current tour is in conjunction with the its latest album, “Something to Die For,” much of the Wiltern show was dedicated to songs from three previous albums, including crowd favorites “Painted By Numbers,” “Living in America” and “No One Sleeps When I’m Awake.”
The band exuded pure energy, which translated to the audience as the eager crowd followed Ivarsson’s directions to sing along and wave lighters and cellphones when she asked that they “make the room pretty.”
Latest tracks “Something to Die For” and “Yeah Yeah Yeah” left the crowd fervently jumping ““ some so fervent, multiple security guards had to repeatedly drag several enthusiastic fans from the floor after attempting to cross barriers.
By the encore, Ivarsson declared that she was happy and invited audience members onstage, helping them up around guards that were helpless to restrain the party in progress. Fans surrounded Ivarsson in a bear hug as she delivered her muffled closing chorus and posed for an army of iPhones for stage photos, proving her declarations of love to be true.