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Peter Bjorn and John at Fine Line (May 26, 2025)
Tour Dates Previously: PB&J at Fine Line (2016) ‘Young Folks’ was so uncharacteristic of PB&J, especially because the single was a duet with The Concretes’ Victoria Bergsman and requires constant whistling for the melody. Reading interviews with the band, they have expressed that ‘Young Folks’ was both a blessing and a curse. People have a misconception of the band, but at the same time, they’ve gained new listeners. Anyway, after a five-year break (their last album Gimme Some came out in 2011), to give room for various solo projects: Peter’s solo albums, Björn’s “Yttling Jazz”, and John’s project Hortlax Cobra. With all that out of the way and a fresh perspective, the trio is back with their catchiest album yet, Breakin’ Point. [ Continue Reading PB&J at Fine Line (June 23, 2016) ] Read More
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A long-time band from Sweden, Peter Bjorn and John made their was to Fine Line in Minneapolis on a Friday night to celebrate a classic album.
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The quartet (guitar, bass, keys & vocals, drums) was definitely playing that soft rock genre, hearkening back to Steely Dan and a wide variety of 70’s & 80’s radio favorites. Donato’s vocals were often under a reverb or distorted effect, but that played well into the overall aesthetic. Enyeart’s guitar solos in the first several songs were fun, if a little brief, such as on the new song Afterparty. Reese Kling’s drums and Cooper Doten’s bass held the band in check and kept things moving forward nicely.
Donato’s opening banter was humorous as he said he wasn’t going to say much about the band, as their manager wanted them to have “an aura of mystery”. He also gave serious love to the headliners before getting back to the music. Bachelors of Youth was the most synth-sounding keyboards yet, and might have been the best sounding number of the night. These guys know what they are doing musically, but it’s unclear if they are paying homage or playing satire to the genre, which was a little confusing. (Side note: For a band playing full out satire in this space, see the Chicago-based band Baby Teeth.)
A “mostly first time audience” got to hear the next song Closes in on Me. This had a little bit of an Elton John feel from the vocals and was our first appearance of dual harmonies behind Donato. A last round of talk led to the closing song, Butter, which has a killer opening musical intro. Kling had a nice closing drum outro, and then the band was rolling off stage.
I spoke with Donato between sets. Having heard in January that Enyeart was about to be a father, we got confirmation that all went well (congrats, Luke!). It brought up the point that the majority of the band is now parents. Asked about how being a dad band changes things, Donato said it has been weirdly nice to not be pinning hopes and dreams on this band, and that it frees them up. The other question I asked was whether Beemer is satire or homage. Donato said it’s a bit of both; they all grew up learning from soft rock music bands and can’t help but write some of that style. It’s clear they enjoy it, while also being able to recognize some of its short comings.
After the break to get set up, Peter Bjorn and John came to the stage. Peter (Peter Morén) Bjorn (Björn Yttling) and John (John Eriksson) first came together as an indie rock group over twenty-five years ago in Stockholm, Sweden. The band has released a lot of music over the years, including nine full length albums, starting with their self-titled debut released in 2002. They had fairly big success with their third album, 2006’s Writer’s Block, with the hit single Young Folks. This tour, with just about a dozen North American stops, is called the Writer’s Block Album Tour 2025, which makes it a 19 year anniversary, but, ok, I guess? I do love the band’s website succinct description: “Live. In full. The classic album.”
The trio came to the stage and started off with Poor Cow, with a lot of the stage in darkness. The second song got a switch of lead vocalist (Björn this time), letting you know this band really shares the limelight. The intro to The Chills was an effective percussive sound from Björn before giving way to Peter’s vocals. This song also really showed off the band’s strength of those mixed and matched vocals and harmonies across the full band.
A little banter from Peter, while changing some instruments, gave an overview about the fact that it is the 19th anniversary (“we’re practicing for next year!”) and the fact that they were playing the album in reverse. Let’s Call It Off was a really well distilled version of their sound; everyone singing, a strong bass line, and just a bit of an aggressive edge to the indie rock sound.
The band used some recorded connecting musical bits to allow for instrument changes, such as getting the harmonica ready for Paris 2004. The professionalism shines through here; that recorded bit was a fairly precise amount of time, and they were ready to go right on cue (big points for their sounds guy at the back of the house!). P,B&J’s vocals shone through in the song and the closing bit of dual “oohs” contrasted with the harmonica were fantastic. It certainly got a very strong audience reaction, and the main part of the room continued to crowd towards the front.
The band made the most of various guitar solos, with Peter & Björn moving all across the stage. Peter jumped into the crowd during an extended section of Up Against the Wall, to the absolute delight of the crowd. Soon, we were to the big hit of the album, Young Folks. Given that the album release has a female vocalist (Victoria Bergsman of The Concretes) as a critical part of it, I was very curious to see what did live. That great bass intro and whistling section were super solid and the audience was super into it. Vocally, it simply collapsed down to Peter’s singing throughout and that worked just fine. Objects of My Affection ended the Writer’s Block album and was a soaring number, but the band wasn’t done yet. From there, they took a short break before returning.
Peter Bjorn and John moved into songs from other albums, starting with Breakin’ Point. Most of these songs were from more recent albums, and showed off how the band has grown musically over the years. Gut Feeling had John adding tambourine to his percussion effects. We got a cover of The Concretes Teen Love, with some confused introductory comments (and initially starting in the wrong key!) from Björn. Second Chance was a banger and had a chunk of the audience singing. A quick off stage before the final encore had to be rushed as some fans thought the show was over. It was an impressive live show, clocking in well over 90 minutes. With I Know You Don’t Love Me, Peter Bjorn and John continued to drive towards the end. A final song had Peter telling the audience they would be off to the merch table and thanking the crowd. The Swedes had won the day and Minneapolis was lucky to be one of the few stops Peter Bjorn and John had made here in the US in 2025.
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