I walked in to the Northcote Social Club before the opener, Guy Blackman, had even started, and the room was almost full. I’m pretty sure that most people there were already Jens Lekman fans, and had both high expectations of the night, and a desire to get a good position close to the stage.

Guy Blackman’s music was previously unknown to me, although I have seen some of his musicarticles in The Age. His low key, quiet songs were mainly based around his acoustic guitar or keyboard. With simple structures and often abrupt endings, they were slightly different from the norm. In my opinion, though, they were nothing special musically. Subject-wise, most of his songs were based on two themes- growing older and gay relationships (one with the unfortunate title of You Grew Up in Me). Some more variation both musically and thematically could go a long way, because it seems like he has potential as a songwriter.

As soon as Jens Lekman came on stage with his band, it was obvious that there was a palpable anticipation in the crowd. The band was made up of locals, with Guy Blackman playing the keyboard, and a couple of members of Architecture in Helsinki and others playing horns, drums and bass. It was obvious throughout the show that the band gave him a lot of versatility compared to the last time he was in Australia, playing solo.

The set opened with the repeated refrain of “We’re all gonna die” from the song Your Beat Kicks Back like Death, sung a capella with all six band members clapping along joyfully. Next up was Happy Birthday, Dear Friend Lisa, which sounded great with the sample from the CD at the start, and the full band backing him up. The Opposite of Hallelujah followed, with Pocketful of Money straight after it. Jens got the crowd singing along to the line “I’ll come running with a heart on fire,” and seemed quite pleased and amazed with himself at this.

The night continued with a cover of Moondog’s song Paris, which Jens recently described on Pitchfork as having “All those silly rhymes and all the saxophones.” It’s true- it had a very jazzy, big band sort of feel to it, showcasing his ability as a Sinatra-style crooner. After a song about the beat of his heart, and another about Nina, a German girl with a strange father, he played the popular song Your Arms Around Me, currently on high rotation on Triple J.

Black Cab came right before a tribute to the late musician and poet Ivor Cutler, before the awesome triple whammy of You Are The Light,” “Do You Remember The Riots?” and The Cold Swedish Winter. The first two were great with horns and the big band sound happening, and then the latter was done softly by Jens alone. A special feature of Jens Lekman shows is the deep silence which envelops the room when Jens is playing his most quiet and vulnerable songs like this one. When it was over, he didn’t wait long before coming back for an encore.

What was clear throughout Jens’ show was that the audience loved him, and he loved the audience. He got the crowd to whistle the tune to one new song about how he’d like to buy a farming village and get everyone to move there. So the crowd was whistling as he sang, and then afterward, as he was figuring out which song to finish the night with, some people started whistling the tune again. There was a feeling of euphoria as this tune was whistled in the dark silence, and Jens watched seemingly bedazzled by it.

He finished the show with a heartfelt solo rendition of the classic Tram #7 to Heaven, and insisted on not playing any more songs as he didn’t want to ruin his great memory of the night. Everyone agreed. It was a great show by Jens and his band that I hope I’ll never forget.