word: Katherine Deming / photos: Chris Carrasquillo

Robyn, the quintessential Swedish dance-machine and Comeback Queen (or as they say in Sweden “Drottning”), made her Austin City Limits debut at The Moody Theater on Thursday night. The state-of-the-art venue is the new home to KLRU-TV produced PBS program Austin City Limits – the longest running music series in American television history. The Moody Theater feels surprisingly intimate for a 3-level 2,700 capacity venue. Located on Willie Nelson Blvd. in downtown Austin, the Moody Theater is a wet dream for sound tech and lighting geeks (do those exist?). Bottom line – the new ACL studio maintains the intimacy of the old studio with some schnazzy and much-needed upgrades.

The first act Natalia Kills praised Robyn as one of her childhood idols. The self-proclaimed “pitch dark pop star” from the working-class Bradford region of England, slithered around the stage punishing her dancers with hair pulling and realistic stage slaps. The next act Diamond Rings is a one-man band. He took the stage decked out in glittery leggings and a peacock mask singing power ballads with a voice that did not match his body or his costume – think Bowie in Cat People soundtrack. There was a lot of fist pumping and refreshing self-mockery (at one point he struggled violently to remove his blue leather jacket and sarcastically joked about how “sexy” he was). And then the dance party began…

Robyn entered stage left strutting around like a prize fighter about to go into a Viking dance battle. She started off with “Time Machine” and “Fembot” from the Body Talk Part 1 album. Robyn’s hip-pop Euro-elfin sound brought the crowd to their feet in unanimously sincere heart-shaped hand motions during encore “With Every Heartbeat”. It was the kind of show where everyone around you is your new gay boyfriend/dancing partner and all were in awe of the miniature sassy blond pop-gnome that is Robyn.

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