Author: Yasmin Ettobi
All photos by Yasmin Ettobi
My leg was nervously jiggling at a work meeting downtown as I checked the time on my phone every 30 seconds or so. Danish punk band Iceage’s Seattle show at had started an hour and eight minutes ago, and my mind couldn’t focus on anything my boss was saying, just the fact that my most anticipated show of April was happening less than a mile away from me, and I wasn’t there.
As the meeting adjourned, I was out the door faster than my boss could say “have a nice night,” and barreled my way to The Vera Project as fast as my Lyft driver would allow.
I heard the drawling voice of Iceage frontman Elias Ronnenfelt before I saw him. Surrounded by chaotic, swirling guitar and vividly clattering drums, I could feel the raw and ferocious energy Ronnenfelt’s vocals possess pulling me into the venue.
A band of five men and multiple instruments doesn’t fit very well onto the tiny Vera Project stage, but Iceage made the room feel bigger with their intense presence. Ronnenfelt had no hesitations about getting in the crowd’s personal space bubble either. The entire performance, he staggered from the drums to so close to the audience that the front row had to crane their necks directly upwards in order to see his face.
Because of my tardiness, I missed the vast majority of Iceage’s hit songs. From “Painkiller,” a horn-infused banger featuring indie pop icon (and Ronnenfelt’s girlfriend) Sky Ferreira, to “The Lord’s Favorite,” a rapid tune with a country twang, Iceage got all the fan favorites out of the way early on in the set. However, I was able to catch a couple new songs, as well as the intense six-minute piece “Catch It” off of their newest record as their closer.
Though I wasn’t able to see as much as Iceage as I had hoped, the band proved that they could put on a hell of a show in a mere 20 minutes time. If I was that impressed in that short of a time frame, who knows how blown away I would have been if I were present for the whole show.
YASMIN ETTOBI | KXSU Music Reporter