I can’t remember the last time I was charmed out of my mind by a musician. Nevertheless, last night at Castaways in Ithaca, Norwegian heart-throb Sondre Lerche put on the moves to a near sold out Castaways.  Between his smile, his unforced and humorous stage banter, and his many references to The Office, Sondre was in it to win it.  Playing classics such as “Two Way Monologue”, “Sleep on Needles”, and “Heartbeat Radio”, Lerche had the crowd in his lil’ fingers the whole time. For being a mere 5′7″ Lerche packs a whole lot of punch not only in his delivery, but in his impeccable guitar playing. Switching between an electric and an acoustic guitar all night, his frenzied singing and bopping around kept what could have been a dull affair absolutely hyptnotizing.

Unfortunately the same can’t be said for opening act, JBM, who played what sounded like a set consisting of the same sad song over and over again. Whatever happened to the days when opening acts functioned as a mean to pump you up the audience for the main event. These days all opening support seem to send the crowd into a bout of depression..

Nonetheless, the best part of the night was inarguably Lerche’s encore of fan favorite “Modern Nature.” While the gal who sings the other part of the song wasn’t present, the crowd didn’t even have to be asked to fill in. Within 10 seconds it was clear the audience knew what to do, and correct me if I’m wrong but Lerche seemed amazed. Watch it all below!

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Sondre Lerche / “Two Way Monologue”

More videos below the jump.