Kings of Convenience (Norwegian Wowed )!

Nordic duo Kings of Convenience were in town for 1 night to wow a select audience at a sell out show at Hong Kong's HITEC with a bunch of songs about love and longing, relationships and creativity.Nordic melancholy and the hyperactive Hong Kong spirit may seem like an odd mix but it really combusted in this show.When we turned up on the night about 2 hours early there was already a long line of fans with tickets waiting in line
Hailed as amabassadors of The New Folk, the band had summed up their music creed in the album title 'Quiet is the New Loud' and in fact their playing style is so quiet at times that they requested photographers to minimise the clicking of their cameras in the early part of the show (although typical of this lens mad city some of us couldn't resist taking one or two pix).
Playing material from all 3 albums, the band quickly established an awesome rapport with the crowd, especially when Erlend discovered that Hong Kong fans really knew all the KOC songs by heart and could sing along at will.The ensuing band / audience singalong had all the warmth of a huge house party rather than a concert.
The duo held us spellbound with their delicately beautiful melodies, intricate guitar harmonies, some lovely keyboard and a playful sense of not taking themselves too seriously, typified by Erlend's geeky but fun dance moves in 'Just Want to Dance With You'. The band's formula may appear simple but the rhythms move intricately and efforlessly between pop, bossa nova and folk.