Red Bull Music Festival New York: Fever Ray at Brooklyn Hangar, night 1
photo credit: Seher Sikandar / Red Bull / Content Pool
Red Bull Music Festival New York: Fever Ray at Brooklyn Hangar, night 1
photo credit: Maria Jose Govea / Red Bull / Content Pool
Red Bull Music Festival New York: Fever Ray at Brooklyn Hangar, night 1
photo credit: Maria Jose Govea / Red Bull / Content Pool
Red Bull Music Festival New York: Fever Ray at Brooklyn Hangar, night 1
photo credit: Seher Sikandar / Red Bull / Content Pool
Red Bull Music Festival New York: Fever Ray at Brooklyn Hangar, night 1
photo credit: Seher Sikandar / Red Bull / Content Pool
Red Bull Music Festival New York: Fever Ray at Brooklyn Hangar, night 1
photo credit: Maria Jose Govea / Red Bull / Content Pool
Red Bull Music Festival New York: Fever Ray at Brooklyn Hangar, night 1
photo credit: Maria Jose Govea / Red Bull / Content Pool
Red Bull Music Festival New York: Fever Ray at Brooklyn Hangar, night 1
photo credit: Maria Jose Govea / Red Bull / Content Pool
Red Bull Music Festival New York: Fever Ray at Brooklyn Hangar, night 1
photo credit: Maria Jose Govea / Red Bull / Content Pool
Red Bull Music Festival New York: Fever Ray at Brooklyn Hangar, night 1
photo credit: Seher Sikandar / Red Bull / Content Pool
Red Bull Music Festival New York: Fever Ray at Brooklyn Hangar, night 1
photo credit: Maria Jose Govea / Red Bull / Content Pool
Red Bull Music Festival New York: Fever Ray at Brooklyn Hangar, night 1
photo credit: Maria Jose Govea / Red Bull / Content Pool
Red Bull Music Festival New York: Fever Ray at Brooklyn Hangar, night 1
photo credit: Maria Jose Govea / Red Bull / Content Pool
Red Bull Music Festival New York: Fever Ray at Brooklyn Hangar, night 1
photo credit: Maria Jose Govea / Red Bull / Content Pool
Red Bull Music Festival New York: Fever Ray at Brooklyn Hangar, night 1
photo credit: Maria Jose Govea / Red Bull / Content Pool
Red Bull Music Festival New York: Fever Ray at Brooklyn Hangar, night 1
photo credit: Maria Jose Govea / Red Bull / Content Pool
Red Bull Music Festival New York: Fever Ray at Brooklyn Hangar, night 1
photo credit: Maria Jose Govea / Red Bull / Content Pool
Red Bull Music Festival New York: Fever Ray at Brooklyn Hangar, night 1
photo credit: Maria Jose Govea / Red Bull / Content Pool
Red Bull Music Festival New York: Fever Ray at Brooklyn Hangar, night 1
photo credit: Maria Jose Govea / Red Bull / Content Pool
Red Bull Music Festival New York: Fever Ray at Brooklyn Hangar, night 1
photo credit: Maria Jose Govea / Red Bull / Content Pool
Red Bull Music Festival New York: Fever Ray at Brooklyn Hangar, night 1
photo credit: Maria Jose Govea / Red Bull / Content Pool
Red Bull Music Festival New York: Fever Ray at Brooklyn Hangar, night 1
photo credit: Maria Jose Govea / Red Bull / Content Pool
Red Bull Music Festival New York: Fever Ray at Brooklyn Hangar, night 1
photo credit: Maria Jose Govea / Red Bull / Content Pool
Red Bull Music Festival New York: Fever Ray at Brooklyn Hangar, night 1
photo credit: Maria Jose Govea / Red Bull / Content Pool
Red Bull Music Festival New York: Fever Ray at Brooklyn Hangar, night 1
photo credit: Maria Jose Govea / Red Bull / Content Pool
Red Bull Music Festival New York: Fever Ray at Brooklyn Hangar, night 1
photo credit: Seher Sikandar / Red Bull / Content Pool
Red Bull Music Festival New York: Fever Ray at Brooklyn Hangar, night 1
photo credit: Seher Sikandar / Red Bull / Content Pool
Red Bull Music Festival New York: Fever Ray at Brooklyn Hangar, night 1
photo credit: Seher Sikandar / Red Bull / Content Pool
Red Bull Music Festival New York: Fever Ray at Brooklyn Hangar, night 1
photo credit: Seher Sikandar / Red Bull / Content Pool
Red Bull Music Festival New York: Fever Ray at Brooklyn Hangar, night 1
photo credit: Seher Sikandar / Red Bull / Content Pool
Red Bull Music Festival New York: Fever Ray at Brooklyn Hangar, night 1
photo credit: Maria Jose Govea / Red Bull / Content Pool
Red Bull Music Festival New York: Fever Ray at Brooklyn Hangar, night 1
photo credit: Maria Jose Govea / Red Bull / Content Pool
Red Bull Music Festival New York: Fever Ray at Brooklyn Hangar, night 1
photo credit: Maria Jose Govea / Red Bull / Content Pool
Red Bull Music Festival New York: Fever Ray at Brooklyn Hangar, night 1
photo credit: Maria Jose Govea / Red Bull / Content Pool
Red Bull Music Festival New York: Fever Ray at Brooklyn Hangar, night 1
photo credit: Maria Jose Govea / Red Bull / Content Pool
Red Bull Music Festival New York: Fever Ray at Brooklyn Hangar, night 1
photo credit: Maria Jose Govea / Red Bull / Content Pool
Red Bull Music Festival New York: Fever Ray at Brooklyn Hangar, night 1
photo credit: Maria Jose Govea / Red Bull / Content Pool
Red Bull Music Festival New York: Fever Ray at Brooklyn Hangar, night 1
photo credit: Maria Jose Govea / Red Bull / Content Pool
Red Bull Music Festival New York: Fever Ray at Brooklyn Hangar, night 1
photo credit: Maria Jose Govea / Red Bull / Content Pool
Red Bull Music Festival New York: Fever Ray at Brooklyn Hangar, night 1
photo credit: Maria Jose Govea / Red Bull / Content Pool
Red Bull Music Festival New York: Fever Ray at Brooklyn Hangar, night 1
photo credit: Maria Jose Govea / Red Bull / Content Pool
Red Bull Music Festival New York: Fever Ray at Brooklyn Hangar, night 1
photo credit: Maria Jose Govea / Red Bull / Content Pool
Red Bull Music Festival New York: Fever Ray at Brooklyn Hangar, night 1
photo credit: Seher Sikandar / Red Bull / Content Pool
Red Bull Music Festival New York: Fever Ray at Brooklyn Hangar, night 1
photo credit: Seher Sikandar / Red Bull / Content Pool
Red Bull Music Festival New York: Fever Ray at Brooklyn Hangar, night 1
photo credit: Seher Sikandar / Red Bull / Content Pool
Red Bull Music Festival New York: Fever Ray at Brooklyn Hangar, night 1
photo credit: Seher Sikandar / Red Bull / Content Pool
Red Bull Music Festival New York: Fever Ray at Brooklyn Hangar, night 1
photo credit: Seher Sikandar / Red Bull / Content Pool
Red Bull Music Festival New York: Fever Ray at Brooklyn Hangar, night 1
photo credit: Seher Sikandar / Red Bull / Content Pool
Red Bull Music Festival New York: Fever Ray at Brooklyn Hangar, night 1
photo credit: Seher Sikandar / Red Bull / Content Pool
Red Bull Music Festival New York: Fever Ray at Brooklyn Hangar, night 1
photo credit: Seher Sikandar / Red Bull / Content Pool
Red Bull Music Festival New York: Fever Ray at Brooklyn Hangar, night 1
photo credit: Seher Sikandar / Red Bull / Content Pool
Fever Ray’s North American tour kicked off Saturday night (5/12) at Brooklyn Hangar in Sunset Park, the first of two nights as part of the 2018 Red Bull Music Festival. I’d seen Karin Dreijer play twice before, both with The Knife — 2006 at Webster Hall and 2014 at Terminal 5 — and this was by far the most traditional (and satisfying) show I’d ever seen Karin do.
Mind you it was still more theatrical and visually spectacular than most of the concerts I attend, and seemed like something out of The Fifth Element or maybe Tank Girl. The stage was lit in neon and lasers and each member of the group came out one by one, almost as if on a catwalk, including percussionists Liliana Zavala and Diva Cruz, and synth player Mikaela Hansson, who then took their places behind their instruments. Then came two other vocalists: Maryam Nikandish, dressed in a rollerball-type outfit, and Helena Gutarra who wore a cartoonish muscle suit. Then Karin, wearing a padded flesh-colored suit looking zombie-ish or even like a Garbage Pail Kid, made her way out to thunderous cheers from the packed house.
Karin and the two other vocalists sang and performed as a unit, sharing the spotlight equally, with the other members of the band also getting little featured moments as well. (Hannson played accordion on “Red Trails.”) The set was mainly comprised of songs from Fever Ray’s excellent second album, Plunge, with highlights being “This Country” — where the crowd shouted along with the “this country makes it hard to fuck!” lines as Karin and the other shouted and raised fits — and the more danceable songs like “To the Moon and Back” and “IDK About You” which worked really well with the percussion-forward live arrangements.
Bunny Michael‘s opening set was equal parts performance art and show, and NIDIA DJ’d between sets. Pictures are in the gallery above and you can watch fan shot video below.
Fever Ray play Brooklyn Hangar again tonight (5/13) with a pre-show Q&A titled “Self Care and The Artist: A Talk on Compassionate Creative Practice” at 6 PM, conducted with Bunny Michael. Tickets are still available.
