Oh Land

What the crowd lacked in numbers at last night’s Oh Land gig at the Théâtre Corona, it more than made up for with enthusiasm and optimism. The Danish songstress, currently on tour to promote her newly released David Sitek-produced third studio album Wish Bone, made a quick stop for the closing night of POP Montreal and offered a pretty much perfect ending to this reviewer’s festival. And while the gig was plagued with more than a few sound issues, Nanna Øland Fabricius played it off like a pro and didn’t even offer a hint of annoyance. Instead we got a little over an hour’s worth of pure ebullience.
The small crowd and intimate setting gave the appearance of watching a small local band play in a friend’s living room and you could feel the warmth permeate the room. She came out on stage, plopped herself behind the piano and started off the night with new song Cherry on Top. The onstage banter was a performance in itself, with Fabicius offering up back stories and cute anecdotes for most of the songs. “As you can tell I’ll be playing a lot of new songs” she chimed after performing current single Pyromaniac and before launching into new album opener Bird in an Aeroplane.
But the real, and multiple, highlights of the nights were provided by reworking some of her older material with her extremely talented live band comprised of a guitarist, drummer and keyboard player; she introduced each member individually at different intervals throughout the show which was a nice touch. Her live rendition of Wolf & I was nothing short of amazing with an insane breakdown at the end by Andy on drums. She pulled out a megaphone for hip hop infused My Boxer but scaled things down for a gorgeous duet of 3 Chances.
By the time they performed a roaring interpretation of Perfection everybody in attendance was under the beautiful Nanna’s considerable charm. The pacing of the show was particularly good, with a good balance between “big band” sounding instrumentals and soft stripped versions of songs, such as her performance of Heavy Eyes, from her debut album Fauna, seule au piano. She immediately launched into Sia-penned Wish Bone standout Green Card, which sounded particularly good live.
“I love you; I really do” she cooed before prompting the crowd to sing along with her on Rainbow. It was a veritable love fest, both from the crowd and Oh Land herself; she was the definition of personable and dynamic. She would crouch down, lock hands with fans and dance with them, throw herself around on stage, urging clap alongs while getting her percussion on with Todd on keys. It took very little time for her to get back on stage for a two song encore: a lovely acoustic performance of Love You Better with guitarist Owen and an appropriately roaring finally with fan favourite White Nights. “We loved playing for you very much,” Oh Land intoned at the end of the night and clearly the feeling was mutual. I heard multiple “That was sooo good”s outside after the show and they were definitely well deserved.

Danish singer/songwriter Oh Land is as bewitching and transcendent live as the music found on her albums. A relative newcomer to the alt-pop scene, Nanna Fabricius is not a particularly well known name outside of her native land so as you could imagine, the crowd gathered in Birmingham's Temple was not huge yet this did not seem to phase the lady of the hour or her live band.

Stepping out on a particularly chilly evening with electric blue hair, she set about showcasing the finest selection of her second album 'Wishbone'. 'Bird in An Aeroplane' and 'Pyromaniac' were note perfect and prove her vocal is completely transferable between record to stage. Old tracks including 'Wolf & I' and 'Rainbow' receive cheers from the devout fans gathered towards the centre of the stage. There is no doubt that Oh Land must notice the minuteness of her crowd yet this did not affect her stage presence as she throws herself into dance routines during 'Renaissance Girls' and 'White Nights'. A cult favourite who is assured to win the world over with her likeable sounds and shiny, shimmering pop music.

A beautifully honest set of songs - played in the gorgeous intimacy of Bush Hall to a mesmerised and relaxed crowd. The set was mostly her heartbreaking new album Family Tree - most of which was played delicately and beautifully. But the magic was how Nanna, with just one other player on stage, also managed to create huge sounds and big emotional resonance with only a baby grand piano, a single drum, and keyboard and programmer. This together with her charm, warmth and humour - made this a very special gig.

Breathtaking and magical are the best words to explain last night's performance by Oh Land at Lee's Palace. Nanna brought so much energy to the stage and truly gave a charismatic performance. She even took the time after the show to talk to her fans and take pictures with them. You can tell that Oh Land is the type of band that has fun and wants their fans to as well. Lee's Palace was an amazing venue to see them in because it is such a small and intimate venue.

Awesome show. Panic is Perfect opened and they were a lot of energy. Oh Land sounded great and had a great energy as well. The Teragram Ballroom was spacious and clean. Awesome show!