• Share
• E-Mail
• Print

Early Saturday, there was some speculation as to whether Robyn's sold-out concert at Metro would take place. The Swedish electro-pop star who released one of the summer's biggest hits, "Dancing on My Own," had canceled her previous night's gig in Toronto due to illness.

But the show went on. And on and on: she performed two encores, and yet the audience still wanted more.

The last time Robyn came through town was for this year's Pitchfork Musical Festival, when she had just released one of three albums for the year: "Body Talk Part 1." The third installment of her record trilogy is about to come out, and on stage at Metro, she showed what she meant by "Body Talk," all right.

If Robyn had been sick the night before, there was no way any one would have guessed. From the second she stepped on the stage with her robotic opener, "Fembot," she was in full-swing dance party mode: thrusting, spinning, air punching and doing some of what looked like self-choreographed, dance-club cheerleader moves.

Robyn gives a whole new meaning to a live performance. Her signature energetic dance moves aside, the show was made even more special by various remixes of her own songs, like a circus-y sounding "Cobrastyle" from her 2005 self-titled album that introduced fans to her new electro style -- a far cry from the pop/R&B hits like "Show Me Love" that earned her worldwide success a decade earlier.

She also did a slowed-down version of "U Should Know Better" (which, on "Body Talk Part 2," features Snoop Dogg). She really has a knack for being able to sound sweet as she sings, "You should know better than to f--- with me."

As expected, the crowd went wild when she started "Dancing on My Own," which became an immediate sing-along. Some artists can seem annoyed at that kind of thing, but Robyn seemed thrilled -- touched, even -- and encouraged it even more. "Sing, Chicago!" she yelled.

Later, during her lost-love pop anthem "Every Heartbeat," the ground-floor fans swayed their arms back in forth to the beat and made hearts with their hands, along with the singer. It was as though she gathered everyone up beforehand to practice.

There were a few instances of technical difficulties where the sound person had to come make adjustments to wires of Robyn's earpiece, but she just kept dancing (though slightly more stationary) and singing. Neither sickness nor sound issues are a match for her.

During encore No. 1, she performed one of her newest singles, "Hang With Me," where she warns, "Just don't fall recklessly, headless in love with me." But Chicago fell hard Saturday night.

Jamie Murnane is a local free-lance writer.