The Sounds End American Tour With a Bang in Chicago

Posted on Nov 8th 2009 5:00PM by Garin Pirnia
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After two months of nonstop touring, the indefatigable Swedish quintet the Sounds ended the American leg of their world tour at The Vic Theatre in Chicago Saturday night. Before the band commences their European tour in a couple of weeks, they decided to have one last hurrah Stateside.

"Let's make this a f---ing party," lead singer Maja Ivarsson yelled to the crowd.

Since the Sounds' 2002 debut, 'Living in America,' they've acquired a devout following of their highly energetic and interactive shows. Throughout the night, the band did shots onstage, Ivarsson smoked a cigarette and kept high-fiving audience members in the front row, and keyboardist Jesper Anderberg at one point grabbed a fan's camera and started snapping photos.

The party almost got out of control when security guards had to pull some rowdy audience members out of the pit, but that didn't stop the band from continuing the festivities. "You guys are nuts," shouted Ivarsson. "I f---ing love it."

The Sounds' set focused on their third and latest record, 'Crossing the Rubicon,' but also included a handful of their most popular tunes. A pianist accompanied Ivarsson on a trifecta of lovelorn ballads: 'Midnight Sun,' 'Home Is Where Your Heart Is' and 'Night After Night,' during which Ivarsson asked the audience to light up their cellphones.

The sultry Ivarsson has become the fulcrum of the band's live shows. Wearing high heels, she spent the evening strutting around the stage, flexing her limber body, grinding on fellow band mates, and jumping on the raised drum kit platform to show how dexterous she could be in spiked heels.

The Sounds always make sure to give back to their fans and last night, they dedicated the song 'Rock 'n' Roll' to them.

"We do it year after year because of people like you," Ivarsson told the eager crowd, then asked them for input on whether they should play 'Living in America' or 'Ego.' The crowd unanimously picked the latter. Near the end of the song, each member left the stage while the drummer and two others banged the drum machine as strobes flickered.

The full band came back for a three-song encore including the electrifying 'Song With A Mission,' where Ivarsson pulled an audience member onstage to play a cowbell. One of the band members got on top of another's shoulders and Ivarsson performed a scissor kick -- in heels.

"Did we have a good time tonight?" she asked the fans, some of whom waved Swedish flags. After briefly introducing the band during the grand finale of 'Hope You're Happy Now,' Ivarsson gave herself a well-deserved pat on the back: "Give it up for me."