Kings Of Convenience

"Venice is beautiful, but I wouldn't want to live there": who knows how many times we've heard that said over the years. A similar thought probably crossed the minds of some of those present – including this writer – at the Kings Of Convenience concert. Venice is one of Italy's most striking cities, but it's certainly not cheap for anyone arriving in the Lagoon with the sole intention of catching the show; there are a number of factors to consider, from the steep price of parking if you arrive by car, to the mandatory vaporetto ride (€7 per trip) needed to reach the venue.

The ticket price, higher than for the other Italian dates, is also justified by the event's setting: the island of San Giorgio Maggiore, home to the monastery and the imposing basilica of the same name, as well as the Teatro Verde, an open-air amphitheatre opened in 1954, where the L.i.Ve. – Live in Venice series takes place. This year, alongside KoC, the lineup also includes Patti Smith, Buena Vista Social Club, Noa, Ludovico Einaudi and Melody Gardot. The service on the island is genuinely impeccable, with bars, food stalls, transport to the mainland guaranteed beyond the usual hours, and even free mosquito repellent spray for all attendees. If we had to find a flaw, it would be the excessive distance between the front row and the stage, something Erlend Øye himself pointed out more than once, and which prevented a closer bond from forming between the artists and the audience.

The Norwegian duo's show has, by now, settled into a well-worn routine over the years, following a script with few surprises: Erlend Øye and Eirik Glambæk Bøe take the stage alone, and almost immediately, as the notes of "My Ship Isn't Pretty" ring out, a reverent silence falls over the Teatro Verde. The first part of the set unfolds entirely acoustic, the chemistry between the two having reached near perfection, and the crowd seems aware of its active role in the performance: it would take just one stray noise to break the spell the Kings Of Convenience try to cast over their audience. Even the invitation to snap fingers rather than clap hands is the same as it was four years ago, with Øye as the true star of the evening: he's the one who engages the crowd, helped by the decent Italian the fair-haired singer now speaks.

He tells us he now lives in Siracusa, where he gets to listen to a lot of Italian music, before performing "Una ragazza in due", the Giganti cover we had already heard in a video. The audience clearly appreciates it, rewarding it with one of the warmest rounds of applause of the night, not least because the pair's performance in Italian comes across as genuinely convincing. With no studio album since 2009's "Declaration Of Dependence", the setlist ends up feeling like a sort of greatest hits, and, especially in the early stretch, what sets one song apart from another is largely the emotional weight it carries for each listener. While for this writer the one-two punch of "Me In You" and "Homesick" is the highlight of the first hour, others might find their own personal peak in a different song altogether. Indeed, this incarnation of Kings Of Convenience leaves little room for improvisation: the precision of the two musicians is almost surreal, as is their vocal harmony, so much so that it feels more like listening to a record than watching a live show.

Things change and pick up pace when "The Ducks" take the stage – the backing band made up of the now-trusted Davide Bertolini on bass, Craig Farr on drums, and Ugo Santangelo, from Campania, on guitar. Careful as ever not to steal the spotlight from the main act, the three musicians still manage to carve out their own space, adding some real spice to the performance. Erlend can no longer hold back, getting everyone on their feet, drawing the crowd as close to the stage as possible and breaking into moves and little dances that spark laughter and affection. Behind those nerdy glasses lies a thoroughly savvy pop star who knows exactly how to win over a crowd.

The pace picks up, the melodies grow ever more dazzling, and in the most "danceable" stretch of the set, the irresistible "Misread" and "I'd Rather Dance With You" take centre stage. Special mention goes to the stage lighting, which beautifully illuminates the trees behind the Norwegian duo. A splendid moon also rises slowly into view, first framed between two towering trees and then climbing high into the sky, as if symbolising the concert's steady build. The encore, loudly demanded by the crowd, distills everything we've witnessed so far: an intimate "24-25" precedes a "Scars On Land" performed for the first time with the full band, which gives it a livelier splash of colour.

"Venice is beautiful, but I wouldn't want to live there": the family who, the day before the concert, found Kings Of Convenience outside their front door for a kind of impromptu serenade certainly wouldn't agree. They then invited the duo up for a dinner of spaghetti al pomodoro, an invitation the Norwegians happily accepted, and they made sure to thank these very people – present at the Teatro Verde – during the concert. This anecdote, recounted by Øye himself, helps explain why enthusiasm for the band from Bergen still hasn't faded in our country, helped along by their recent releases sung in Italian.

The simplicity with which they go about their everyday lives as musicians of considerable stature mirrors the ease with which they now take the stage night after night, conveying the sense that once the instruments are put away, the distance between artist and audience truly disappears. All that's needed now is new material to bring to the live show, to breathe fresh life into a set that has, broadly speaking, stayed the same for several years now. Because charm only goes so far – even the best eventually need to refresh their repertoire.

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