Kings of Convenience The Old Market, Hove, Thursday 7th October 2004

How can two people in the space of an hour make you laugh out loud, go weak at the knees, click your fingers, dance lazily and tingle all over?

This was the second time I have seen Erlend Øye and Eirik Glambek Bøe perform (the first was when they supported Low in 2001), and they didn't disappoint. Both are wonderful musicians and sing and play their acoustic guitars with exquisite soothing warmth. Øye is a natural clownish performer - he constantly cracks jokes, pulls silly faces, dances about the stage in a self-deprecating lanky fashion as he plays up to his nerdy image (c'mon, with huge glasses like that you've got to be taking the piss, surely?!). Bøe is, by contrast, a smaller, more self-contained, stylish and rather cute cardigan-and-scarf-wearing bloke with a dry wit and a light sense of humour that complements Øye so well:

"Good people are loud after the song... Bad people are loud DURING the song..."

It doesn't work in type. It only works in Norwegian KoC accents with those gently raised eyebrows and good looks. I love the fact they don't take themselves seriously at all. Both blush and look deeply chuffed when the audience screams in appreciation: you've got to love them. And their improvised drumming and hip hop at the end can only spell Trouble if you're looking for marriage...! Brilliant, brilliant, brilliant!


Eirik Glambek Bøe and Erlend Øye

I stood next to Erlend Øye during the support act. It was like standing next to a giant.