First Aid Kit – The Jericho Tavern, Oxford, 03/03/2010

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It’s with a small amount of surprise that upon being admitted to The Jericho Tavern for tonight’s show, a couple in front are turned away. Despite the Youtube built foundations, First Aid Kit are perhaps unlikely venue-packers at such an early stage of their career; début album The Big The Black and the Blue may have received much hearty praise from reviewers but hasn’t exactly lit up the sales charts. If everyone is downloading it illegally then there doesn’t even seem to be much discussion on the internet message boards. It’s a positive sign for the band, and also for the continued health of the live music industry, especially considering the sales for a number of other shows this week also put on by promoters You! Me! Dancing!

As Johanna and Klara Sodberg take to the stage to set up there are a couple of technical issues which, sadly, are a great big flashing sign of things to come. Opening with ‘Sailor Song’ and to raucous applause, the sisters, joined by the fetchingly named August on drums, are off to a flyer. Unfortunately, half way through set-weepy ‘Hard Believer’, Klara breaks an acoustic guitar string. Cue some slightly awkward banter while roadie, sound engineer and band-Dad fetches a new guitar. The song is started again and is lapped up by all in attendance, its premature wisdom and plaintive harmonies an almost perfect distillation of the band’s appeal.

And just as the set begins to regain it’s momentum another string goes and we’re really in trouble, the band have no third guitar, the fear on their faces is all too apparent. It takes at least 15 minutes of requests for a guitar from the support acts and another false start as the original solution has no pick up or strap before the show recommences…again. The girls know their British crowds well though it seems and after some muttered small talk they pull out some self deprecation and disaster is averted, just about. This is mainly thanks to some charmingly teenage stage chatter from Klara (not going easy on her love of Alan Rickman) and the overwhelmingly forgiving nature of tonight’s crowd. As they restart the set the relief for all is abundantly apparent. ‘Tiger Mountain Peasant Song’, almost a trademark cover now, is somewhat riddled with nerves and it takes a truly incredible microphone-less performance of ‘Ghost Town’, that is met with due reverential silence, to get ‘the Kit’ back on track.

After closing with ‘I Met Up With A King’ and a cover of Gram Parsons’ ‘Still Feeling Blue’, the recovery is almost complete. It’s a shame to focus on such misfortune especially when reviewing an act that is so impressive because of their professionalism at such a young age. But, on another night, with a different crowd, it may have derailed them. However, after this lessons will be learned; an extra, extra guitar will be sought and audiences on the rest of the tour will surely feel like they can just enjoy the music rather than suffering a number of embarrassing moments that are more akin to a disastrous first date.