Peter Bjorn and John at the Mod Club

Photos by Neil Van

Swedish trio Peter Bjorn and John released their newest album Breakin’ Point last month after a five year absence. The pop-rock trio was augmented with a keyboardist and a multi-instrumentalist when they brought Breakin’ Point to an almost full Mod Club last night.

Five years since their last visit, and apparently at the same venue, Peter Bjorn and John have seen their stock fall since their breakthrough hit “Young Folks” from their 2006 album, Writer’s Block. The fallen stock didn’t show on the band as they delivered roughly 90 minutes of high energy and a light show made for a much bigger hall.

Things did start off slow as they kicked the night off with “May Seem Macabre” which was far too quiet and slow, landing like a wet blanket. By the second some, someone seemed to notice the sound was off and plugged in the bass. Still the energy wouldn’t pick up until the fifth song when Peter finally addressed the crowds and a couple of songs later when they finally offered up the first of Writer’s Block tracks, “Amsterdam”, clearly what the crowd was waiting for.

Between some seriously endearing stage banter and even Peter singing one song amongst the crowd, the band really played out for an unforgettable night. The soundtrack would finally catch up and stay up there once they delivered a cover of The Concretes’ “Teen Love”. From there the show just blasted into space with sound and energy making the maudlin beginning a forgotten experience. A scorching “The Object of My Affection” closed the main set and was so much more powerful than the album version and one of my live favourites this year so far.

The charged crowd would get the band back to the stage quickly and they were rewarded with what most of them had come for – the aforementioned “Young Folks”. It wasn’t my highlight of the night for many this was among many others as evidenced by the crowd’s dancing.