When I got into the venue, the stage was already set with their various contraptions, and the floor was full of the hippest of hipsters (one guy was dressed like the dude from Thunderdome... I don't remember if he was Master or Blaster). The show itself was the "band" behind a semi-transparent screen wearing Planet of the Apes masks (I think they were actually just ski masks with extra holes) smeared with black-light paint. Various geometric shapes and cartoons were projected onto the screen and also on the wall behind them. As for their playing, I don't know if they actually did any of that. The guy, Olof, had some hot orange drum sticks that he would bang on things occasionally. This might have affected some of the drum beats, but I doubt it. The girl, Karin, moved her mouth with the words. Some times it looked like she was singing, and others it looked like lip-synching.
The think you should know about The Knife is that you can't see anything. The stage is incredibly dark and there's that stupid screen in front of them. And the band (other than a few times when Olof went to town with the fake drumming) just stood there. For all the hype about how amazing the live show is, I don't get it. There were certainly points when the music was really good and the crowd was really into it and there was dancing and I'm sure someone felt it was magical/spiritual/life-changing. Of the people I saw the show with (Jason, Jon, Ian, Aida, Danielle, Amy), some liked the show a lot more than I did. Ultimately, I just felt like it was a DJ set where everyone was looking in the same direction.
The Knife said that they originally didn't tour because they had a hard time making a live version of their music compelling. Well, I think they still need to work on that a bit. But listen to the track below. These guys certainly got something.
The Knife - We Share Our Mother's Health
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