BOY is a German-Swiss pop duo, consisting of Valeska Steiner and Sonja Milena Glass. They were in Minneapolis Tuesday night at the legendary First Avenue club, along with opener Greg Holden. I was able to capture some video of the performance, but was generally too busy dancing to be a reliable videographer.
Glass and Steiner were accompanied by fantastic musicians on stage. There were two drummers (one was technically a percussionist, I suppose) who were incredibly in sync. It was hard to tell where one’s sound ended and the other’s began. They also had a talented guitarist and keyboard player. After the first song, Steiner greeted the audience, and both she and Glass seemed surprised to find so many fans so far from home.
The band gave a fun-filled performance and got the audience singing, dancing and clapping. Steiner’s vocals were incredible. Better than any album recording I’ve heard, and effortless. The song “Little Numbers” got the crowd pretty excited, as did “Oh Boy,” but BOY also incorporated a few slower tunes and one called “Boris,” which was raw and emotional. The audience loved the performance and got an encore out of the group. The most surprising part of the night came during the encore, when the band launched into a lively cover of “Lonely Boy” by the Black Keys.
BOY’s performance was clean and tight, and the crowd loved it, as did I. You can listen to BOY’s music here.
The other awesome/surprising part of the show was the new and dirty interlude during “Skin” with the intense cowbell. That rocked!