Recap Peter Bjorn And John at the Metro

Mega-hits are a cruel temptress. Inevitably, the song that propels a band to mainstream success becomes the group’s defining trait for hordes of casual fans. For the quirky, baroque pop trio of Peter Morén (guitar, main vocals), Björn Yttling (bass, multi-instrumentalist) and John Erikkson (drums, bait for screaming girls), the whistle-driven “Young Folks” is the beast they can't control, the unquestioned hit of summer 2006, and the song that will undoubtedly follow them for their entire career. Last night at the Metro, Peter Bjorn And John brought its A-game and offered a litany of songs from their newest record, Living Thing, which is a darker, harsher effort compared to their breakthrough Writer’s Block. But something hung ominously over the whole set: “Young Folks”—when would it be unleashed?

Appropriately, New York electro-pop trio Chairlift opened; the group as a “Young Folks” smash of its own—“Bruises,” the agreeable soundtrack for last year’s totally hip iPod Nano commercials. After Chairlift’s amiable (if largely ignored) set, the three Swedes took to the stage shrouded within darkness and fog, performing in front of a Living Thing backdrop covered with the word “backdrop” (leave it to the Scandinavians to make meta-backdrops). Opener “Just The Past” was too subdued for the slightly liquored-up crowd, but a sizable portion seemed to recognize a stripped-down version of “Amsterdam,” a walking-tempo groove featuring Yttling’s heavily accented baritone vocals. The absence of Writer’s Block’s Wall of Sound reverb notwithstanding, the band’s mix was impeccably tight—the obvious result of three seasoned pros riffing off each other for 10 years.

The group’s five albums cannot reveal how their onstage personas are natural foils for each other. The clean-cut and formally dressed Morén exhibited unregulated jubilance, spastically flinging himself in every direction while staying true to classic rock power moves. The lanky, leather jacket-donned Yttling seemed more content to intriguingly squint into the distant unknown. Erikkson, meanwhile, anchored the group, beaming with Ringo-esque nonchalance while showing off a little chest. As a collective, their European humor could not be contained. “Did you notice the lights are very English?” Yttling asked the audience. “Know why? Because the light guy is from England!” Oh, you crazy, lovable Swedes.

The last half of the set delivered the best hits of the evening: the Paul Simon-influenced "Living Thing," which prompted Morén to shimmy with some resemblance to Marty McFly’s blistering version of “Johnny B. Goode,” and set closer “Objects Of My Affections,” a galloping track infused with an a capella breakdown. As the band walked off, smatterings in the audience had already begun to chant “P-B-J! P-B-J!” (If the band changes its name to Bjorn John and Peter, you can probably understand why).

After kicking off the encore with a so-so rendition of “Stay This Way,” the band came to it at last. The opening bassline of “Young Folks” was greeted with girly screams and hands in the air, and the audience cheerfully obliged when Morén asked everyone to take the parts sung by fellow Swede Victoria Bergsman on the studio track. But the guys looked unenthused for the first time all evening; the song came to an anti-climatic ending with Morén awkwardly singing to himself in between periods of depressing silence. It was so botched that the confused audience withdrew from applauding at the end.

Thankfully, the band started playing again, concluding on a relative high note with an instrumental jam layered underneath a mountain of scalding feedback. The boys then walked off with the theme from Jurrassic Park belting from the speakers, ending the evening with warm thoughts of Jeff Goldblum being hotly pursued by velociraptors. A goofy tactic, sure, but it reinforced the notion that Peter Bjorn and John were fun-loving, cheery guys, an attitude maintained even through the renditions of Living Thing’s most downtrodden moments, as if saying, “Come on, guys. We’ve got some pretty good, non-‘Young Folks’ songs, too, right?”