The Söderberg Sisters Johanna and Klara enchant a Manchester audience at the sold out Apollo on the Palomino tour.
Words and Photos – John Hayhurst
Whats wrong with Yorkshire or Humberside? when announcing their new album tour First Aid Kit missed the biggest County off the list, so I’m having to traverse the Pennines to Manchester tonight to catch a glimpse of Johanna and Klara for one more time. It’s not the furthest I’ve been for them though, I did go to Shoreditch some years ago for a more intimate experience in hipster central at the Town Hall. The venues are getting bigger with each venture and The Apollo could probably have sold out twice over on this 2022 UK tour.
The quality here shows from the off as they start with the title track for the new album Palomino and they will play no less than 7 tracks from it tonight. Klara is wearing what looks like a Gram Parsons/Evel Kneival flared cream and coloured 2 piece suit, Johanna in matching flared blue and pink but with a Stevie Nicks type shawl over the top and she frequently floats around in true ‘Stevie’ style too. The backing band are held back behind a grey wave curtain and there is a huge electronic backdrop screen that shows images of horses and various shapes and landscapes throughout the show. They follow with another new track Angel and then we we dip into Ruins for It’s a Shame. Frequently shaking their heads around particularly during Lions Roar when both of them synchronise the headbanging to make their hair look like a shaggy mane of a big cat. Whilst these girls may be a bit folky, there is a strong bold heart beating underneath all that, and tonight they will show more than enough angst and anger to go with the sweet and sugary sounds.
Klara is definitely being the main mouthpiece, and whilst Johanna may be significantly taller and huskier, she tends to just keep plugging at that bass in the background, dancing and shaking her hair around. When their voices combine though it’s a unique tone of its own creation, there is definitely something about sibling harmonies. Last time I saw them, they did this amazing acapella version of Ghost Town without the aid of microphones. There is no way they can repeat that here, however, instead they group around a single mic and it was no less stunning and a pin drop moment, how those girls can sing that song so loud and clear, but they did and it felt like a very special intimate moment in this huge concert hall. The band then return to help them out with an acoustic version of Hem of Her Dress and we all manage to sound like a group of pissed Manc pirates joining in the ‘DahdeDah’ nonsense chorus.
Frequently they stand opposite each other grinning, dancing, head-butting and then proceeded to dance with their heads locked together like some kind of sisterly rutting play. Emmylou was as perfect as I expected it to be, faultless and completely blissful – we even had some serious crowd singalongs at the end. Then we have the equally superb Fireworks taking us into the encore. There are no false goodbyes, they just leave the stage and we all know they are coming back. They choose Out of My Head as the final selection from the new album, the encore isn’t finished though as My Silver Lining, their preferred closing song for the last 3 tours, signifies the final farewell.
There is a popular myth around sibling vocals being able to mesh together better and tonight we saw that in spades, it is probably more to do with years of singing together as kids, perfecting the harmonies around the kitchen table. The Soderberg brood are made of both beauty and harmonious melody, pitch perfect and crystal clear. It’s great to see that these sisters can perform together in congruence when we still have so many brotherly rivalries abound in the music world. This was absolute heaven tonight and I doubt the goosebumps on the back of my neck will go away for some time – but next time please come to a town a bit closer to home.
First Aid Kit Setlist: Palomino, Angel, It’s a Shame, Fallen Snow, Stay Gold, The Last One, Rebel Heart, The Lion’s Roar, Wild Horses II, Ghost Town, Hem of Her Dress, A Feeling That Never Came, Emmylou, Fireworks. ENCORE: Out of My Head, My Silver Lining.
