It’s sort of perilous to review The Knife’s stage show like any other quote unquote rock show because in many ways it comes off more as performance art than live music. Clad in head-to-toe face-obscuring costumes and standing in front and behind projection screens, there’s plenty to watch but not a lot being played live. That being said, the projections are brilliant and singer Karen Dreijer’s vocals come off pristine. While she hesitantly dances around the mic, her brother Olof waves large drumstick-like pipes in the air and appears to be hitting…a synth? It’s hard to tell.
However, the magic of The Knife is that their audience doesn’t care. Even if the stage show is a brilliant bit of performance art and more karaoke than live music, the packed house at the El Rey was ecstatic and hollering with approval throughout the set. As the intro to their cult hit, “We share our mother’s health†began, the audience went wild—dancing as much as they could despite the lack of air conditioning and extremely cramped room.
