Robyn at Radio City Music Hall: Pure Energy, Great Music,and Lots of Fun

"Wow, this is the biggest crowd I've ever pulled myself," an exuberant Robyn told the sold out crowd before she played the first of two encore mini-sets in front of about 5,400 fans at New York's Radio City Music Hall last night. "Thank you so much New York!"

The equally enthusiastic crowd responded with the same level of noise and excitement as they had all night. Indeed, this sold-out concert was all about the mutual admiration between the Swedish singer and her devoted fans, including myself. This wasn't your typical concert, full of fancy special effects, stage props and numerous costume changes. No, this was simply Robyn and her band playing the songs off of her highly successful "Body Talk" series to a highly appreciative crowd.

Virtually all of the songs the singer performed were from the "Body Talk" series, a highly successful three EP set of intelligently written pop/dance tunes that were dropped in stores at varying times last year. Though the singer has been a big star in her home country for years, she's been relatively obscure here in the US, with the exception of two songs that charted here in 1997 ("Show Me Love" and "Do You Know (What It Takes")). That's all changed with the release of the critically acclaimed "Body Talk" series.

Back in November I penned a piece on the series (see it here) and I got to see firsthand what I had reported in the last paragraph:

'The singer has been performing her collection of "Body Talk" gems to wildly appreciative audiences around the US and Canada this fall and will continue on through the winter and early spring ... The singer explains the popularity of her shows: "It's very simple," she says. "There's no pyro or big explosions. It's just about the energy on stage and the energy that happens between us and the audience. "It's about the music really," she says. "We're just trying to make people dance."'

That's exactly what happened last night at Radio City. Once the singer took the stage with the pure pop sounding "Time Machine", the entire audience rose to their feet and began what would become an almost two hour dance-a-thon. Everywhere I turned there were people smiling and dancing in the aisles along to such gems as "Fembot", "Love Kills", and ""Call Your Girlfriend."

The audience response hit a fever pitch upon hearing the familiar synthesizer track of "Dancing On My Own", singing virtually every word along with her. Other crowd favorites included the beautiful "Indestructible" and the melodic "Hang With Me." The singer's appreciation for her fans was evident throughout as she made her way numerous times into the furthest reaches of the concert hall where she could be up close and personal with them, and the love was mutual. The end of the set was a rousing finish as the singer led a 5,400 voice strong sing along to the catchy "Stars 4 Ever."

The singer returned to the stage twice to the very appreciative audience, performing two more mini-sets of songs. In all, Robyn sang 8 more songs, leaving the crowd yearning for even more. The experience was one that all concerts should be, full of pure energy, great music and simple fun! The singer recently announced that she will be the opening act on Katy Perry's upcoming "Teenage Dreams" Tour, so be on the lookout for some more Robyn heading your way.

For more on Robyn, check out:

New Music Releases for September

Robyn's "Body Talk" Trilogy Scores Big with Fans and Critics Alike

The Soundtrack of a Relationship (with links to Robyn videos)

For photos and a set list of last night's concert, please click here.

Sources:

Personal Experience

http://www.brooklynvegan.com/archives/2011/02/robyn_played_ra.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Show_Me_Love_(Robyn_song)