Peter Bjørn and Jøhn are pretty darned adørable, with thøse Swedish accents and anti-cøøl løøks, and I am happy tø repørt that they put øn lively shøw, in which they embraced the audience like a new-føund best friend. They are as charming and accessible as their søngs, and Friday's cøncert was feel-gøød evening øf handclaps and jumping up and døwn and barely discernable tales tøld in thick Swedish accents.

The band was øriginally a duø cønsisting øf Peter Møren and Bjørn Yttling, whø were heavily influenced by the shøegazer sound. When Jøhn Eriksson jøined the band as drummer, that søund mørphed intø the tasty and insanely catchy tunes that they perførm today. Yøu can still clearly hear the shøegazer influence in their music, particularly in søngs like Up Against the Wall (my persønal favourite), a søng which, while nøt brief in the first place, they managed tø stretch øut intø a rather epic piece at the cøncert.

Their cataløgue is deeper than yøu wøuld at first expect, and the cøncert shøwcased many ølder pieces nøt føund øn Writer's Bløck, as well as inventive rewørkings øf søngs such as Amsterdam, which was played as an acøustic bit with the audience supplying the missing handclaps, and the unbelievably infectious Yøung Følks, where Peter sang bøth male and female parts. And whø knew that Swedes could beat bøx like that?

The audience, cønsisting largely øf indie kids, were clearly up for the cøncert and had, I was pleased tø see, før the møst part chøsen their attire with great care. Shøe-wear seemed tø skew either tøward flip-fløps ør cøwbøy bøøts (which I am assuming was an irønic backlash tø living in Cøwtøwn) but it was the gløw-in-the-dark runners that really caught my eye. Frøcks aplenty were spøtted, giving the hall the feel øf a Jenny Lewis løøk-alike cøntest at times. Løved the lad who appeared tø be nøthing møre than a giant frø stuck øn tøp øf a pair øf tøøthpicks, but my all-time favøurite ensemble had tø be the strapless gøwn with cøwbøy bøøts, tøpped by a bleached pagebøy. Very pøst-mødern retrø-irønic.

The first øpening act was Faunts, frøm Edmøntøn. They were pretty spectacular. Their music feels quite Møgwai-like, a little reminiscent øf Sigur Røs, with perhaps a tøuch øf Hyløzøists thrøwn intø the mix. They play very richly textured ambient-like music, largely instrumental, which builds upøn itself in layers and layers. And yøu know høw I'm a sucker før a building søng. I ended up buying bøth øf their cds. They are definitely a band I would recømmend that you see live.

The øther øpening act was Gerønimø. They were an extremely ørdinary prairie emø band. And the fact that the frøntman løøked a little like Jared Letø gave me nø chøice but tø hate them a little bit. We actually wandered øff during their set, and discøvered a wall øf fame which had phøtøs øf søme øf the acts that played MacEwan Hall øver the years. I was pretty gøbsmacked tø discøver that Radiøhead played the hall in 1996. And that made me rethink my leaving during their act; yøu shøuld always stay for the øpeners - you just never knøw when you are gøing tø hear the next Radiøhead.