As I emerged from London’s Brixton Underground Station, the ticket touts were out in force. ‘Buy or sell First Aid Kit’, they chanted. Ticket touts outside a First Aid Kit concert?! I had to be dreaming, surely!

The dream continued as I attempted to join a queue that went right around the block and never seemed to end! Admittedly these people already had tickets, but it gives some idea of the scale of tonight’s event.

By the time I got inside, the support act, the Staves, were taking to the stage. Judging from this performance, the Staves, a sister trio who sing evocative harmonies, are a class act in their own right. Their music is more folksy than First Aid Kit, but I was surprised how much they impressed me.

As the Staves left the stage I watched the road crew preparing for the main event. It seemed that most preparations had already been made behind a big black curtain which I assumed would slowly draw across to reveal First Aid Kit.

Before long, the sight of sparkling stars created by laser lights announced the show was about to begin. Then, suddenly, to rapturous applause, the big black curtain fell straight to the ground to reveal the band! With no introduction First Aid Kit launched directly into ‘Distant Star’, a song from ‘Ruins’ I’d failed to notice until recently, but that’s now one of my favourites. A great cheer went up as the two sisters walked to the front of the stage. The audience was also impressed with ‘Distant Star’ judging from the applause as it ended. Klara shouted ‘What’s up London!” to even more applause and then went straight into ‘It’s a Shame’.

As the song ended to even greater applause, the two sisters started talking about how astonished they were to be standing up on this stage tonight. When they’d first started out they never dreamed that anything like this was remotely possible – it was all very surreal to them. They went on to express their gratitude to the audience. Without them, First Aid Kit would not be standing here! One thing you can say for sure about First Aid Kit is that they are immensely appreciative of their fans.

Watching all this, it was clear that First Aid Kit had come a long way since their early days as teenagers. Their backing band has grown over the years and tonight they also had an extra percussionist and trombone player. You could tell an awful lot of planning had gone into this show. The laser lights and backdrop screen-show were both pretty amazing, even without the music! Klara and Johanna have never really sought fame, but judging from tonight, I’d say it was coming!

The show continued with ‘hit’ after ‘hit’. As usual, they performed their anti-rape anthem ‘You are the Problem Here’ complete with Klara’s speech about the subject at the end. It was hard to find a single song you didn’t like. The only criticism I’ve got of First Aid Kit is that, apart from a couple of variations, they tend to play the same stuff these days … and yet they have an impressive back-catalogue we hardly ever hear! However, I’m guessing they do this in order to make their performances as good as they can be- to the point where they’re almost better than the studio recordings.

Tonight’s ‘variations’ came in the form of the song ‘Ugly’ from their recent EP, Tender Offerings, and a cover of ‘Hard Rain’ by Lykke Li which they performed with The Staves. The next song ‘Emmylou’ got the loudest reaction so far, and their ‘last’ song before leaving the stage was ‘Nothing Has to be True’.

The three-song encore began with the increasingly popular ‘Rebel Heart’ and by Fireworks the audience was singing along. The show ended with what has become First Aid Kit’s defining song, ‘My Siver Lining’. As the song ended a huge mass of confetti in the form of red paper hearts was released into the audience. As First Aid Kit took their final bow the audience applauded and shouted their appreciation in a way I’ve not heard in a very long time.

As I left the theatre and walked back out onto the street, the ‘touts’ were still around, but this time selling fake merchandise. Judging from tonight, First Aid Kit are going places, even if this isn’t what they originally intended, and not what I was expecting myself just a few months back!