Photos / Review: Yelle @ 9:30 Club, Washington DC

Photos & Review: Yelle, Funeral Party, kap10kurt @ 9:30 Club

by Greg Szeto | October 14th 2008, 3:47 AM

Yelle was positively magnetic. An effortless and endearing performance that all peddlers of pop should rightfully take notice of. Not content to merely go through choreographed dance routines and over-the-top, carefully orchestrated sexual sub-and-super-texts, she came across as more than genuine, effusing a true sense of joie de vivre that was as infectious as it was effective. She seemed at home on the stage, romping to and fro, covering nearly every inch of the stage and keeping plenty of contact with the audience, frequently serenading lucky members of the first few rows. Her charming and sassy saunters, come-hither dances baited with bits of coyness broke down barriers right and left, swiftly morphing the crowd into a sea of good vibes and fevered dancing.

Her live performance consists of Yelle singing, dancing and even occasionally drumming or breaking out into air guitar, a moment more than reminiscent of the naivete of bedroom adolescence. The energy is amplified by a live drummer and electronics (courtesy of Grand Marnier), both of whom do double-duty as crowd hypers. She already has a sizable stable of bangers, crowd-movers and floor-shakers from 2007′s Pull Up. As expected, “A Cause des Garcons” and “Je Veux Te Voir” hit the hardest in a fantastic set that found a perfect balance between French electro and saccharine pop.

Also notable were Yelle’s openers. Both Funeral Party and kap10kurt delivered high-impact sets. Funeral Party’s dance-punk often hit high-quality grooves in the vein of the Faint, but kap10kurt took the prize as best opener with their more undiluted take on electro, spliced with a moderate dose of 8-bit samples and loops courtesy of a synth-tar. The highlight of their set was the live looping of an audience member’s vocals into the chorus “It’s electric.” But enough hot air, click through to see the photos from the night!