I had the opportunity to see/photograph Peter Bjorn and John at City Hall in Nashville on Aug. 8th. I was a little skeptical of their ability to fill that 1200 person venue, and my skepticism proved to be somewhat well-founded. I doubt there were more than 400 people there, but that didn't stop them from bringing their A-game. They had a fill-in drummer, citing family emergencies for John's absence and Peter, the "frontman" looked eerily like Rollum Haas of the Features. The first part of their set was good but not great, though the crowd seemed to keep the energy up more so than the band. Finally they kicked it into high gear toward the end of the set and Peter's stage antics became more and more interesting. They took the stage for an encore and the crowd was finally getting to their energetic apex. During the last song, three African-American guys took their shirts off and started really going crazy, front and center in the crowd. Now, I had been noticing these three gentlemen all throughout the show simply because something about three guys obviously from a solid hip hop background and Peter Bjorn & John just doesn't seem to go together. Don't get me wrong, I'm glad they were there, but those guys were obviously a little out of place standing in a crowd of indie hipsters standing in their tight jeans with their arms crossed... doing the occasional "white-boy bounce." I pondered on this for a few minutes and finally toward the end of the show, it clicked. KANYE WEST! That's the connection. In case you hadn't heard, Kanye West used the beat/whistle/bass riff from "Young Folks" for a B-side track on an EP (if I'm not mistaken), then asked PB&J to be his backing band for a festival performance in Sweden. Suddenly it all came together. These guys were obviously Kanye West fans who had discovered PB&J through him. I thought to myself, "what an interesting phenomenon, I wonder if this has been a common occurrence at their shows." It would be interesting to find out if it has... Congratulations, Mr. West, the hip hop kids are showing up at indie rock shows because of you! A successful cross-genre connection if you ask me. Now we just need TV on the Radio to cover Snoop Dogg and we'll be set. Either way, the show was awesome, as PB&J pulled the aforementioned gentlemen onstage, which set in motion a barrage of fans rushing the stage, that resulted in a very Girl Talk-esque dance party on the stage. I think Nashville made an impression on them... whether it was good or bad is up to interpretation of Bjorn's last statement, "We love this shithole."Photos: