The Concretes at the 9:30 Club

Last evening, ventured down to the very empty 9:30 club to see the Swedish pop group The Concretes.
The opener was New Buffalo A.K.A. Sally Seltmann, a singer-songwriter from Melbourne in the vein of Cat Power. She was pretty good- playing on her own on the keyboard or guitar or accompanied by her iPod. Some songs were melancholy while others were like jazz songs. She sang a Go-Betweens' song in tribute to the recently departed Grant McClennan

I've been a fan of The Concretes for some time. They are a great pop group very reminiscent of The Belle & Sebastian in style. They have eight members- including a horn section and a classic Swedish blonde woman on drums. Lead singer Victoria Bergsman was really cute- she looked up and aloof through the show, but she did interact with the audience of fifty or so folks. She asked us about owning guns in our country and the D.C. murder rate.
Fellow singer and guitarist Maria Eriksson was also super cute with her sideways haircut. When she was jamming on her guitar, she stuck her tongue in her cheek. Even drummer Lisa Milberg sang lead on "Your Call". All in all, despite the low turnout on the rainy Sunday, the show was great.