SĒN Baltimore Magazine - Nightlife, Local Music, Events and Podcasts

While Baltimore has plenty of respectable venues of its own and more and more booking agents are recognizing that fact, it's great to be a short drive from DC to catch shows at the venerated 9:30 Club. Just before Thanksgiving, AGT took the drive to check out Kristoffer Ragnstam with Deborah Harry.

Ragnstam is a Swede with a self-effacing sense of humor, having debuted in the US with his album Sweet Bills last year. Ragnstam and his band, The Electric 4, wear many hats as the songs flow between punk, pop, and radio-friendly rock. The heavily blogged song "Breakfast by the Mattress" thumps along with a danceable bass hook and sweet, digestible guitar that sucks you into the show and "Lonely Lane" pulls out a standard but genuine guitar solo suitable for rock chops and fans whose attention span lasts only as long as an episode of Idol. "Delicious" has a keyboard part that sounds strangely like "Shadow Dancing", but I'm willing to forgive that and call it, politely, an homage to Andy Gibb. This late crowd was light but receptive, and Ragnstam was able to reach out to the Deborah Harry crowd with his pleasant set. His accented voice introducing songs disappeared as soon as he began to sing, and Kristoffer's  singing voice remains true to the sound of his record, a major surprise in this era of pitch correction and Pro Tools. The same can generally be said for the bright and adorable tunes that Ragnstam has become known for.

Deborah Harry may not draw a full house any longer, but the fans who hang on are, in a word, rabid. I admit my knowledge of the catalog stops with Blondie and songs like "Call Me" and "Heart of Glass." This tour is in support of a new record for the icon, Necessary Evil, her first solo album in 14 years. I was initially surprised by the level of spark Harry has maintained since her heyday in Blondie, as new songs like "Whiteout" were as put together and just as punk as any of Blondie's greatest hits. In fact, if you closed your eyes and forgot that Harry has gotten older (gracefully, mind you), you can pretend it's 1976 again. Forget that, for a moment, I thought the risque songs ("Two Times Blue" says it best: "Well maybe, I could've been better. Yeah, maybe I've been kind of bad.") and the colorful conversation coming from the stage may have been none other than my high school French teacher.  The woman is 62, still tours, still writes timely songs, and without a doubt, still has it. After I got over the realization that we all grow up, even rock stars, I opened up to new songs and solo Deborah Harry songs like "Rush Rush" with its swinging bass hook and the unfortunately overlooked "Lovelight." Finishing up the set with some classic standards (including an acoustic rendition of "Tide Is High"/"Heart of Glass").

The band was fantastic beyond question. Staying faithful to the master works of Chris Stein and sparking up the new stuff, Harry's tourmates are half her age but the team meshed beautifully on this short but scorchingly sweet set.

Tags: 9:30 Club, any given tuesday, Deborah Harry, Kristoffer Ragnstam