Reporting Live, Holy Norwegians: Presenting Team Me

The Best way, (that's right I capitalized the best. So you know this is the final deal) to know an artist's skill and prowess is to go to the live event. However, if you've got dust rolling in your pockets, like me, that might not be so readily available. Let alone in the day and age of where, let's say... Lil Wayne's several hundred dollar per ticket concerts draw drooling airheads from all around (that's right, I'm upping the rage measure. Offended? Get out of my little sanctuary of bias) the four corners of the world, it's hard to even see if a live event actually proves an artist's worthiness for my ears (if you have forgotten. This is MY music blog of extreme snobbery and stuck-upness).

That's why I often resort to checking out an artist first before even considering to go to a live event, which is also why almost all of the concerts I go to consist of reputed 'institutions' and pieces that are long classics. ENO can't mess up a Puccini even if Jesus prayed for that one. Or let's say, try to tell the London Philharmonic to attempt to be less than stellar. They probably can't even if they try to miss a few notes.

So what a god-almighty surprise it was when I saw Team Me last night. My friend had bought the tickets in anticipation of my visit to Bergen, since I noticed that great bands had come out of Bergen. There I was, waiting in this cave-looking pub/venue (seriously, it was a cave, no joke), talking to Maria, after the great opening band, when the main band erupts into this:

Imagine the Invasion of Iraq, except it's Canadians instead of Americans, and instead of bombs, they're dropping candies and jelly beans. That was the kind of sound ecstasy my ears got invaded by once they started booming through the crowd.

Holy, lord, of mercy. These guys, a six-piece band from Norway, were quite the artists. Besides the main drummer, they had another set of toms and crash (or ride?) which one of the front men beat down on without discretion for energy savings. There was the lead singer, who was on guitar, a female support vocal who was playing the keyboard, and then another male support vocal who played the aforementioned toms/crash (or ride? dammit) set and guitar depending on what song it was. These guys were the front men. Behind, there was the bassist, the drummer, and another on the synth and the mixer. In any case, the three at the front were going completely crazy at all times. Especially, the extra drum kit player was quite astonishing in his ability to hype the crowd, not that the hype wasn't well-deserved.

The drum beats were always full of energy, but they were not without purpose, unlike some indie bands that just spam bass drum and toms beats for no good reason. Then there was the depth and complexity of the harmonization itself. Sound effects and multiple melody lines came together without dissonance. The melodies themselves were unpredictable, but in a way that made for sensible transitions. It was great fun following along the melodic tones of the band and experiencing it diverging toward something I had not expected at all.

Lyrics are great. That is quite a simple way to say it so let me explain further. Sometimes I have no idea what they are saying. It's cryptic at points. However, it's much better that way. The lyrics should be left open to interpretation of the listener, to a point that is. Anyways, their video seems a bit more cryptic than their lyrics.

In conclusion, Norwegians are awesome, this band is awesome, Bergen is awesome, and my friend Maria who accommodated me and brought me to this concert, is definitely awesome. Kudos to Norwegia, I mean Norway.

And below is an evidence of that electric night of watching Team Me.