Royksopp enthral with a short but sweet performance

Support acts have a tough job; the audience are not their own, the auditorium is half empty, there is constant chatter, and feet are shuffled as people find their seats or head back and forth to the bar.

With the annual Ether Festival playing host to a variety of 'sound and art with an emphasis on digital culture, cutting-edge collaborations and cross-arts experimentation', Saturday's warm-up act, Sweden's Fever Ray, changed the rules.

Arriving a little late due to a massive box office queue, we entered into a near pitch black Royal Festival Hall and felt our way to our seats. Musty light flickered from old table lamps, dark figures could just be made out on the stage, and bass notes rattled through us.

I must admit to having never heard of Fever Ray before, however it seemed I was in the minority, with the audience showing much appreciation between songs. Their sound came as a barrage with the fantastic acoustics of the hall letting us feel every note and drum; sub bass rattling through our ribs.

With atmospheric lighting, and swathes of dry ice, Karin Dreijer Andersson, who has worked with Röyksopp on a number of albums, was centre stage. Dressed in long coat and gloves, Andersson with her ethereal voice took us on a journey through self titled album, Fever Ray.


The performance was unlike anything I've ever seen. Andersson's voice another instrument sweeping over beautiful synthesised sounds; costumed characters playing, perhaps, congas, laptop, drumpads, bass. It was hard to tell how many people were on the stage, let alone what instrument they were playing.

A complete attack on the senses, the visuals of their performance were clearly as thought out as the music itself. Never allowing us to see quite who, or what, was on stage, the lighting took us from the earlier flickers, through neon backlit, to lasers that pulsated to the drums of 'Coconut', their fingers stretching around the auditorium, reflected from carefully placed mirrors.

Silhouetted figures shaking voodoo sticks; tribal rhythms being beaten on drums; and is that a clown? Not a nice children's clown, but that one from the horror film?

We couldn't move for the entire show, hypnotised by sensory overload. Dark. Scary. Hallucinatory. Fever Ray. Go see them, you'll be amazed; but you won't be sure quite what you've seen.

Röyksopp now had the unenviable task of following what could have been a headlining band of the festival. The stage was cleared, new lighting assembled, and the electronics of Torbjørn Brundtland and Svein Berge moved into place.

House lights dimmed once more and the band took to the stage and launched into the instrumental number, Röyksopp Forever. With Berge on a raised platform on the left playing drum pads, cymbal and other electronic wizardry, Brundtland took a similar platform on the right and got busy on his antique Korg keyboard and vocoder.

To much applause, Anneli Drecker took to the stage wearing what appeared to be a bright pink blanket and launched into 'You Don't Have A Clue'. The evening continued in its theatrical style with Drecker later donning an owl mask to sing 'What else is there?', Berge wearing a spaceman helmet for 'Happy Up Here', and Karin Andersson, fresh from her performance with Fever Ray, joining the stage wearing a hat that appeared to be a badger to sing 'Tricky Tricky'. Andersson could even be seen, unlike earlier!

The audience lapped up the crazy outfits, and with the atmosphere building, leapt out of their seats to dance when surprise guest singer, Robyn, took to the stage to sing the track she recorded with the band, 'The Girl And The Robot'. From this point, there was no sitting down again; for quite a down-tempo band, the crowd continued to groove for the rest of the show.

As the band remained behind their electronics, Drecker led the show, entertaining us with her robotics style dancing, and rock star touching of fans' hands at the front of the stage. After taking us through many tracks from new album, 'Junior', Brundtland, looking quite the ringleader in hat and tails, all too soon announced "Thank you very much for a good evening" and with an explosion of blinding strobes, Röyksopp left us for a well earned break.

The favourites were of course being saved until last, and with the squelch machines on overload, we were treated to a warped and deranged version of 'Eple', before the encore was closed with the gorgeous, 'Poor Leno'.

A short but sweet performance, Röyksopp had played for only an hour and a quarter. Would there be another encore? It nearly looked like there wouldn't, but thankfully we were peacefully sent on our way by the gentle chords of 'Tremor Morning'; and then onto the Royal Festival Hall's Clore Ballroom we went. Usually reserved for orchestral recitals and ballroom dancing, tonight it was host to heavy breaks and electro courtesy of DJ Rex the Dog. But that'’s a whole other story...

Set List

Röyksopp Forever
You Don't Have A Clue (with Anneli Drecker)
Remind Me
Röyksopp's Night Out
Vision One (with Anneli Drecker)
Happy Up Here
The Girl And The Robot (with Robyn)
What Else Is There (with Anneli Drecker)
Alpha Male
This Must Be It (with Anneli Drecker)
Tricky Tricky with (Karin Dreijer Andersson)

Eple
Poor Leno

Tremor Morning

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