Peter Bjorn and John, more commonly known for their soft indie-pop sound, blew our minds at Irving Plaza. The Swedish indie trio arrived for the New York stop of their Writer’s Block Anniversary Tour, bringing with them nearly two decades of jangling guitars, wistful lyrics, and an iconic whistled hook that refuses to age. But they didn’t open with it – at least, not quite.
Instead, they opened by teasing the audience with a warped, distorted version of “Young Folks,” and it was a clever bit of misdirection, because while “Young Folks” may have been the gateway for many casual fans, Peter Bjorn and John had something else to show. Beneath the indie-pop polish lies a full-bodied, bass-forward rock sound, one amplified by their live performances.
The show was a full playthrough of Writer’s Block, the band’s career-defining third album, which holds up in a heartbreakingly nostalgic, but still ‘groove alone in your bedroom’ way. From the opening track of the set, a haunting call-and-response of “Poor Cow,” to the fuzzed-out dissonance of “Objects of My Affection” the band reminded the crowd why this album left such a mark on the 2000s indie landscape.
In addition to the Writer's Block tracks, the band also performed songs from other albums, including "Breakin' Point" from the album of the same name, "Living a Dream" and "Gut Feeling" from Darker Days, and "Second Chance" from Gimme Some.
Between songs, the band, made up of Peter Morén, Björn Yttling, and John Eriksson, kept things light. Their chemistry hasn’t faded, and neither has the charm that made Writer’s Block such an endearing oddball in the indie canon. During “Up Against the Wall” Morén hopped off the stage and made his way through the crowd, allowing longtime fans who'd been singing along for the past 20 years the opportunity to sing it with him.
One of the night’s most sentimental moments came in the form of “Teen Love,” a cover of fellow Swedish band The Concretes, that they promised to play every time they’re in New York. Longtime fans knew the reference (they released the cover as a single back in 2004) and everyone else just felt the warmth.
Perhaps the most surprising part of the night was just how muscular the set felt. For a band often pegged as delicate or “twee,” Peter Bjorn and John delivered a surprisingly guitar-and-bass-heavy sound that made a strong case for their rock credentials. The mix was loud and relentless in the best way.
And yes, when they finally did play the full version of “Young Folks,” it hit like a well-earned encore, even if it technically wasn’t one. The crowd whistled along like it was 2006 all over again.
Peter Bjorn and John proved they’re not just the band with the whistle, they’re the band with the riffs, the groove, and the staying power. Writer’s Block still aches in all the right ways, and live, it hits harder than you’d ever expect.
Connect with Peter Bjorn and John on Instagram, Spotify, and their website.
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artists•September 14, 2026
Corbin Sharpe
The night before we sat down with Corbin Sharpe, his lasers lit up Brooklyn.
On August 22, we went to Under the K Bridge for Tape B and Levity’s Summer Program grand finale show. Effin warmed the crowd up with his unique sound, blending old-school samples with filthy bass drops. Tape B followed, and the whole crowd was dropping it low from start to finish. Then Levity came in with their signature high-energy, psychedelic chaos, their set accompanied by an explosion of color and lasers that seemed to stretch every drop out into the crowd.
Tape B and Levity joined forces for the long-awaited Levitape B2B before bringing Effin back out for a final B3B. After that, the party moved to Brooklyn Steel for the official afters.
Later that night, we sat down the person behind a huge part of that visual world at Baba Cool in Fort Greene over Arnold Palmers.
Corbin is a laser show designer, and after seeing his work with Levity across multiple shows, we wanted to understand what he actually sees when he hears a song.
“I like to dream in lasers,” he told us.
For Corbin, it starts with the feeling of the song. “Everything I do is kind of based on vibes,” he said. “I attribute color to mood.”
He builds each laser look to directly correlate with the soundtrack, knowing that what starts on a computer screen eventually has to work in the air above thousands of people. One example Corbin kept coming back to was a moment from Levity’s Lasership tour. During a scene where the group crashes onto an alien planet, he and the team turned the legs of the spaceship into piano tiles, using colored lasers to activate them along with the music.
It’s a perfect example of the way he thinks. The lasers are not just there to make the stage look cool – they become part of the song itself.
“I want my visualizers to paint the music with movement,” he said. “The different sounds and different tonalities of the notes are color represented as well.”
Corbin is only 24 and has been working with lasers for just a few years, but his client list already includes Levity, Slander and Of The Trees. We talked about how dangerous lasers actually are, what goes into running a timecoded show, how those artist relationships came together and what the bass music community has meant to him.
Here’s more from our conversation.
This feels like such a specific world. How many people are actually doing what you do at this level?
Corbin Sharpe: It’s a very niche thing that we do. There are probably only a couple hundred people in the world that do the job that we do.
It’s becoming more mainstream, though. One of my friends just did lasers for Luke Combs’ stadium tour, so more artists outside of electronic music are starting to utilize them.
We feel like people see lasers at a show and don’t necessarily think about how much technical knowledge is behind them. How dangerous are they actually?
Corbin: It’ll burn your retina. It’s actually incredibly dangerous.
On the second day of the LA laser show, I was testing things and fired a single white beam that hit me in the chest. My body got physically warm. If it hit me in the face, it probably would’ve done some damage.
Oh my God.
Corbin: Yeah. That’s why there are so many regulations around it. You’ll see videos from places with fewer regulations where lasers are hitting people in the face with no regard for their eyesight.
And New York is even stricter than most places, right?
Corbin: Yeah. New York has a lower limit for crowd-scanning lasers than the rest of the U.S. At Brooklyn Paramount, I had to run the crowd lasers quite a bit lower than I usually would.
Another thing we don’t think people realize is that when a show is timecoded, that doesn’t mean the entire DJ set is pre-recorded, right?
Corbin: Definitely not. That’s a common misconception.
We have software called Show Control that allows us to see in real time what the DJs are playing and see their waveforms. They can play their set in any order, but we can still see what they’re doing.
I can actually start and stop the DJs from my MacBook.
That’s a lot of power.
Corbin: Yeah. We actually start the Levity intro. The production manager gets everything ready and walks offstage. We dim the lights, and then we start the show.
We feel like you can really see that evolution. We saw you guys at the Cow Palace in San Francisco, then Brooklyn Paramount, and now again here, and all three shows felt completely different.
Corbin: We are, as a production crew, really evolving right now. We’re growing very strong together in how we work together, and that’s really exciting.
You’ve already done some pretty wild things in a really short amount of time. You were one of just 10 people to work lasers at the Sphere, and Levity’s Snow Day show in Chicago set a North American record with 330 synchronized lasers. You’re also only 24. Does it ever hit you how quickly this has happened?
Corbin: It’s been insane. Some people work for 10 years and never even get to do what I’m doing. I don’t take that for granted one bit. I’m super grateful.
Was there a point when you decided you were really going to go all in on this?
Corbin: When I moved from Ohio to Florida, I told myself I wouldn’t get a day job.
I got hired for my first tour, but it didn’t end up working out and I got kicked off. I was very green and wasn’t what they were looking for. But I kept growing and kept pushing, and it all kind of came to fruition.
And then Levity came at kind of the perfect moment.
Corbin: Yeah. It was just divine timing, honestly. I was super hungry and really looking for an opportunity to excel.
It feels like once things started moving, they moved really fast. How did Slander come into the picture?
Corbin: That came about after Thunderdome. Scott Land from Slander reached out to me and told me, “You had the best show of the entire weekend. Good shit.”
We met at Shambhala later that year, and then around December he asked me to give him a call. We talked and he basically said they were ready for a change of pace and wanted to bring me on board.
They’re a very professional team. It’s all very maximalist, but also very cleanly done.
What do you ultimately want people to associate with your work?
Corbin: I want to be the person that people think of when they think of laser shows.
The whole idea behind the Groovement is bringing people together through live music and finding your community. You’ve clearly found a huge community within bass music. What has that meant to you?
Corbin: I’ve been going to shows since I was 16 years old. It’s meant so fucking much to me.
It’s a place for the weirdos to feel like they belong. It’s a place for you to go and not feel judged, to have fun and share art with people. There are so many creative-minded people in the space, and it’s a really positive escape from the shit that life throws at you every single day.
I love getting to see everybody dancing and being engrossed in each other, and I love that I get to contribute to that.
It’s my favorite thing in the world: to make memories for people.
Especially because lasers have become such a huge part of that full-body experience. The bass and the lasers hitting at the same time just does something.
Corbin: They go together like peanut butter and jelly.
They really do.
Corbin: Festivals can be such a transformative experience for people. They genuinely changed my life. My first Lost Lands completely changed my trajectory.
We know that feeling. You can walk into a show one way and leave feeling like a completely new person.
Corbin: That’s exactly, exactly what it means. That’s what it really means.
Connect with Corbin on Instagram @corbin.sharpe, and next time the lasers hit with the bass, remember someone had to dream them up first.
artists•August 11, 2026
Qveen Herby
Qveen Herby | 08.08.26 | Brooklyn Paramount
artists•August 11, 2026
Alex Isley
Alex Isley | 08.05.26 | Brooklyn Paramount
