Fever Ray :: Christeene
Thereβs No Place Iβd Rather Be Tour
(5/10/23)
Fox Theater Oakland
Gallery and Review by Fiestaban Photography
βOstoppbarβ in Swedish. βUnstoppableβ in English. Whatever language you use, Fever Ray is not to be outdone. One half of the early-aughts brother-sister electroclash duo The Knife, Swedish-phenom Karin Elisabeth Dreijerβs solo project is just as elaborate, just as sensuous, and just as stylish as The Knife ever was (their live shows were legendary). Fever Rayβs third and latest album, Radical Romantics is a concept piece that acts both as diary, screed and Tinder ad. Dealing with the pangs and lurches of mid-life queer love and sexuality, songs like βEven It Outβ, βKandyβ and βWhat They Call Usβ (co-written and produced by Karinβs brother Olof) are high-brow bangers of the highest degreeβplacing ambiguity and concupiscence on equal footing and setting us up for surprise after surprise. Dressed as a sinister alter-ego reminiscent of a lecherous, balding, middle-aged man, Dreijer took last nightβs crowd from trance-like tracks, like their break-out single βWhen I Grow Upβ and βMustnβt Hurry,β to outright drum-n-bass tracks like βCarbon Dioxide,β a diabolically lit, βAn Itchβ, newer songs off the album like the pulsating βNew Utensilsβ and glass-cracking βShiverβ, closing with a costume change encore of βCoconut.β Whether you are a fan of The Knife or electronica in general, Fever Ray has a way of presenting interiority, feminism and manic longing in a way that hypnotizes, as well as encourages. From the fjords to The Fox, love is still the place Fever Ray would rather be.
Christeene
Some say, βBeyonce on bath saltsβ. I say, βPeaches on poppers.β Crude, lewd and nearly nude, drag performer Christeene (aka Paul Soileau) is somewhere between a 1990s San Francisco transgressive freak-wave holdover and an up-your-ass reminder that the Bay Area could be so much cooler again, if bitches would stop riding in the back of driverless cars and maybe slash their tires (and βbring back that psycho weird shitβ) once in a while. She started her career right here at the Deco Lounge and The Stud years ago, with the help of her mentor, the recently departed drag-legend Heklina, whom Christeena owes a great deal toββwe all took a hit when that trash bag died,ββbut she comes equipped with songs like βFix My Dickβ and βButt Muscleβ that are so over-the-top explicit, you almost canβt believe itβs happening. And whenever you canβt believe your eyes, you know that itβs the perfect opener for Fever Ray.