Photos: First Aid Kit and Van William at the Theatre at Ace Hotel

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First Aid Kit at the Theatre at Ace Hotel (Photo by Maximilian Ho)
First Aid Kit at the Theatre at Ace Hotel (Photo by Maximilian Ho)

It had been a little over two years since First Aid Kit played a show in Los Angeles, and thankfully for their fans they decided to come back and share some of the new music they wrote since their last album, 2014’s “Stay Gold.” The Swedish sisters Klara and Johanna Söderberg were joined by their touring band members Melvin Duffy (pedal steel, mandolin, electric guitar), Scott Simpson (drums) and Steve Moore (keyboards, trombone).
In the past few days, the sisters released a music video for their new single “It’s a Shame,” which was part of the live set, and performed the new unreleased song “Fireworks.”

“You Are the Problem Here,” their other single released earlier this year, got the audience riled up, especially when Klara spoke about why they wrote the song. “Last summer we were reading a lot about this rape case at Stanford University where the rapist got six months in jail for raping an unconscious woman,” she said. “And that’s pretty fucked up! And he wrote a letter where he blamed the whole incident on so-called youth culture and alcohol. So we wrote a song for him to tell him that actually he’s the problem. And unfortunately this song keeps being relevant. So you know we want to dedicate it tonight especially to Harvey Weinstein as well, Bill Cosby while we’re at it, or Roger Ailes, and Bill O’Reilly. And oh yeah, Donald fucking Trump!”

Other highlights include their rendition of “Ghost Town,” which the sisters performed unplugged, and their first live performance of the George Harrison song “Behind That Locked Door.”

L.A. singer-songwriter Van William (formerly of Port O’Brien and WATERS) opened up the show with fresh songs off his “Revolution” EP. The Söderberg sisters showed up to sing along to the “Revolution” title track that features them. William will be supporting First Aid Kit on their tour early next year.

First Aid Kit setlist: Wolf, Master Pretender, Waitress Song, Fireworks, Shattered & Hollow, You Are the Problem Here, In the Hearts of Men, King of the World, It’s a Shame, Heaven Knows, Stay Gold, Emmylou. Encore: Ghost Town, Behind That Locked Door (George Harrison cover), My Silver Lining

Photos and recap by Maximilian Ho