An Echo In My Head

Robyn @ the Highline Ballroom, 2/5/2008
Cobrastyle / Crash and Burn Girl / Who’s That Girl? / Bum Like You / Handle Me / Keep This Fire Burning / Konichiwa Bitches / Be Mine! / With Every Heartbeat // Show Me Love / Jack U Off / Be Mine! (Ballad Version)

Robyn “Be Mine! (Ballad Version)” – Here’s an understatement: The audience was very excited to see Robyn play her first real concert in the United States. Here’s a statement: Robyn is a ridiculously charismatic performer who ought to achieve mainstream popularity on the level of, say, Fergie. Here’s an overstatement: That probably won’t ever happen because American pop culture is really, really unfair. We can settle for cult stardom though, and that’s certainly what she’s got: As far as the crowd was concerned, nearly every song in this set was a gigantic hit, and Robyn herself was a badass, super-sensitive, adorable, unstoppable superstar. The dance and hip hop songs were the most fun — how could “Konichiwa Bitches” and “Crash and Burn Girl” not steal a show? — but the ballads near the end were the most evocative and revealing. The full-band version of “Be Mine!” was melancholy and gorgeous, but the unadorned piano version of the song at the end of the encore was like a concentrated shot of heartbroken vulnerability, with the singer stripped of all her defenses and left to feel alone, awkward, and slightly defiant. (Click here to buy it from Amazon.)