The band looked uncomfortable as Sondre tried hard to work up some chemistry between his band members. It all looked forced, and with two voiceless guitarists and a lethargic drummer backing him up, Sondre came across as the only one who was genuinely enthusiastic about performing.
Sondre Lerche greeting the audience in Chinese
Despite some glitches in the opening, Sondre made it up to the audience by amping up his usually sweet melodic tracks several notches with elaborate arrangements by the band. The crowd loved its refreshing energy, and some were soon on their feet, grooving to every song.
Sondre powered through each song with overwhelming intensity, slamming on his guitar strings and swinging his shaggy mane to each chord, and the crowd responded by belting out his lyrics, jumping, and raising their arms to embrace the mood.
The audience also loved the small doses of conversations with Sondre. Looking doubtfully at his notes, Sondre announced to the crowd, “Ni… Hao? Xie Xie! And here’s another one, Terima kaseh!” Met with approving hoots and cheers from the crowd, Sondre was encouraged and remarked, “Oh, that one was popular. I’m gonna use the more later on.”
After rocking out for 45 minutes, The Faces Down took a break while Sondre went solo with his acoustic guitar. His voice’s purity and classic smoothness had been overlooked due to the loud backup music up to now, and stripped from all the noise, it was pure magic. He did a set of clean, down tempo songs, all of which was classic Sondre Lerche, including the crowd pleasing “My Hands are Shaking” from the Dan in Real Life soundtrack.
From left: Sondre Lerche concert at Mosaic Music Festival; and A rare mellow moment during the performance
When his band returned, Sondre asked the crowd whether we liked to do the disco here, and with a resounding ‘Yeah!’, Sondre got the entire concert hall on their feet, boogieing to “Phantom Punch” at 12 midnight.
“I can’t believe you’re still here! Do you even know what time it is?” Sondre said after dancing and rocking out to an energetic round his more popular pop rock tracks like “Two Way Monologue,” which he got the audience to fill in the chorus for him.
Sondre worked the crowd with his incredibly lively (at such an hour it really is remarkable) for 75 minutes, and did a sweet little lullaby for everyone, “Maybe You’re Gone”, as a bittersweet farewell.
Sara Hamiz, 17, who fell in love with Sondre Lerche’s music after watching Dan in Real Life, enjoyed every bit of the concert. “I loved everything, and the fact that he extended the performance by 15 minutes. But I would have preferred an earlier slot because I only got home at 2am.”
Sara also hopes that the Mosaic Music Festival would continue to bring in equally talented artists in the future. “It's a great alternative route to promote musicians who are less radio-focused and more talented. It's also affordable for fans, with equal prices for seats, unlike most concerts where you feel deprived of being close to your favourite performers just because you can't afford the better seats.”
