Live At Austin City Limits Music Festival 2007: Peter Bjorn and John

Peter Bjorn and John played the Austin City Limits Music Festival in 2007, and all we get is this lousy three-song set. Oops, to clarify: the songs are great, it’s just lousy that the set here is so short! Although the Swedish pop trio may have been wilting in the late summer Texas heat, they made their way bravely through a dozen or so numbers, many from 2006’s Writer’s Block. Of course, one of those was “Young Folks,” the track that floored indie pop fans on both sides of the pond the year before. It works surprisingly well in a live setting, with even the quietest moments enthralling this crowd, who admired Peter Moren’s spot-on whistling and suave dance steps (er, you can’t see that here). A single from Writer’s Block, “Let’s Call It Off” and the song “Objects of My Affection” are both worthy live versions of the originals, especially the latter tune, slowly uncoiling its tense guitars into a powerful, cyclonic finish. If you’ve never seen PB&J live, this is a great taste of what you’ve been missing.