Dressed in high-waisted flower-print pants, a black bra top and puffy black jacket, platinum blonde pop star Robyn seemed to channel Soul Train-era Rosie Perez during her show at Toronto’s Molson Canadian Amphitheatre last Friday night.
Though the venue was only a third full (likely due to the head-scratching bill that also included maudlin rockers Keane and Travis front man Fran Healey) the audience roared like a full house the moment the Swedish singer strutted out on stage around 8pm.
Backed by a four-piece band that included two drummers, Robyn opened with the robo-pop-rap track “Fembot” and “Cry When You Get Older”, both off her recent album Body Talk Pt. 1. She kept the party going with a set that exclusively favored dance-oriented material like “Cobrastyle”, “Konichiwa Bitches”, “Dancing On My Own” and Royksopp collab “The Girl and the Robot”. The clubby mood gave Robyn a chance to demonstrate her surprisingly adroit dancehall dry humping, running man boxercise and penchant for suggestive pelvic thrusting and gyrating. But the pièce de résistance came when she slowly peeled a banana and ate it during the song “Don’t Fucking Tell Me What To Do”.
Robyn is still considered an outsider pop act in North America, but her big melodies and on-stage swagger are worthy of an arena-sized audience — or Rosie Perez. Intrepid photographer James Lourenco was front and center to capture all of Robyn’s facial contortions. Check the photos after the jump!
Robyn’s set list:
1. Fembot
2. Cry When You Get Older
3. Cobrastyle
4. Dancing On My Own
5. Konichiwa Bitches
6. Dancehall Queen
7. The Girl and the Robot
8. Don’t Fucking Tell Me What To Do
9. Be Mine (Remix)
10. Dream On
11. With Every Heartbeat
Robyn is a Viking swinging her ax!
“Robyn is still considered an outsider pop act in North America”, this is BS! Listen to the You Tube posting of 1957 Buddy Holly Phone call. A frozen artist at the early age of 20 getting screwed by Decco President Paul Cohen.First he is sounding like a friend,on the look out and does not know what’s going on.Then pull the old switch a roo, and tells Buddy he is talking to the boss. The music moguls are the ones who are threaten by Robyn’s independence. Robyn is not outside pop music,she is pop music and a rebel for independent Artist. Robyn Bring it!
Tony Turko
Riverside,Calif