“Okay, okay, what should I do now? I feel like I should give you something special,” Lykke Li said entering her final song last night at the relatively brand new (le) Poisson Rouge. The stage was circular and the audience surrounded her and her band at every turn. She was feeding off of the incredible energy the packed house was relaying back to her and had reached the end of her own (admittedly limited: “I’m a young artist with only an EP and one album!”) catalog. Throughout the set Lykke had danced, wailed, entertained, and delivered like a true rising star. Go ahead and dismiss her as ‘just another buzz-fueled artist’, it’ll just mean I’ll have an easier time getting into future shows. However, unlike Lily Allen or Annie or Bat For Lashes or other potential comparisons, Lykke Li actually has amazing songs (thanks, in part, to Bjorn from Peter Bjorn and John) and charisma to spare in a live setting. Go see her in concert and try your best to not jump on the bandwagon, I did. Resistance is futile: it’s impossible not to love Lykke Li.

With her band pumping up the energy on the tracks from her recently released debut Youth Novels, and the audience knowing each song very well, the evening had a magnetic air about it that was undeniable. Songs such as “Let It Fall” and “Breaking It Up” brought the house down, with Lykke playing auxiliary percussion and dancing and moving as though the beats were coming from someplace deep within her. The band dropped a choice cover version of “Cape Cod Kwassa Kwassa” by Vampire Weekend (with Li using the song to brighten up the mood after one of her own slow songs) and saved that little something special to end the show with: a version of “Can I Kick It?” by A Tribe Called Quest (watch/listen below). After first taping a performance for Late Night with Conan O’Brien and then playing to a packed house of superfans in-the-round, it must’ve been a special night for Lykke Li. Well, she gave it right back to the audience. The entire show was something very special indeed.

Listen:
“Little Bit” (Loving Hand remix)
“Can I Kick It?” (A Tribe Called Quest cover, live from this show)

Watch:
“Can I Kick It?” (A Tribe Called Quest cover, live from this show)

See Lykke Li Live:
5 Sept - Bestival, Isle Of Wight
19 Sept - Razzmatazz, Barcelona
20 Sept - Moby Dick, Madrid
22 Sept - AB Club, Brussels
23 Sept - Nouveau Casino, Paris
24 Sept - Paradiso (Upstairs), Amsterdam
26 Sept - Roter Salon, Berlin
27 Sept - Ubel & Gefährlich (Reeperbahn Festival), Hamberg
29 Sept - The Plug, Sheffield
1 Oct - Scala, London
2 Oct - Concorde 2, Brighton
5 Oct - Glee Club, Birmingham
6 Oct - Thekla, Bristol
8 Oct - Academy 2, Liverpool
9 Oct - Cabaret Voltaire, Edinburgh
10 Oct - The Duchess, York
19 Oct - Black Cat, Washington, Washington DC
20 Oct - Music Hall of Williamsburg, Brooklyn, NY
23 Oct - Paradise, Boston, Massachusetts
24 Oct - Mod Club, Toronto, Ontario
25 Oct - Empty Bottle, Chicago, Illinois
28 Oct - Richards on Richards, Vancouver, British Columbia
29 Oct - Neumo’s, Seattle, Washington
30 Oct - Doug Fir, Portland, Oregon
1 Nov - Independent, San Francisco, California
3 Nov - El Rey, Los Angeles, California

Visit Lykke Li on MySpace.

Also there: Music Snobbery, So Much Fun It Hurts…, and countless others yet to post about the show.

*slideshow created with Admarket’s flickrSLiDR.