Monday, October 16, 2006

Marit Bergman (support: Steso Songs & The Consequences)






Marit Bergman (support: Steso Songs & The Consequences). KB, Malmö 15/10/06

There are few things better than big, positive surprises. In company with two friends I went to KB this night, more because I felt hungry for live music rather than that I actually wanted to see Marit. I've seen her a few times before and she is a good live artist, but the shows have always missed something to make them really great. This night, however, became much better than I had expected!

First act this evening was a girl from Malmö, performing as Steso Songs. I actually heard her on the radio some weeks before the concert. It was a tragical and beautiful song called The O.D., and I had some hopes on this support gig. She mostly played piano and sang beautiful tunes in a somewhat fragile way. In one song she had pre-recorded music and danced on the stage. A little weird, but I liked it and I bought her record afterwards. A good start on this evening. Rating: +++

Next on stage was a new Swedish band called The Consequences. Two of the members of Marit's band are also members of this band. And in front they have a charismatic guy named Jonas Heijkenskjöld. At some of the songs the horn section from Marit's band also joined. Already from the start this sounded good, actually close to great. Good songs, great playing and a great confidence by especially the singer. He showed a real "we are the best"-attitude, in this case only meant in a positive way. Me and my friends looked at eachother and said "wow!" or something like that. Then, with one song left, it happened. The horns had entered the stage. Jonas, the singer, presented the last song, saying modestly (in Swedish): "This one's called Parasite, listen to this". And then they blew me completely away for about five minutes with this monster of a song! The song in itself has a great build-up to the chorus, the arrangements for both horns and backing vocals were superb and the singer sang like his life depended on it. Some of the greatest minutes of the live music year 2006, delivered totally unexpected by an unknown support act! Rating: ++++ (a strong one!).

Marit was better than ever. Her band is very tight, having played together at several tours. And now, after the new record, she has enough great songs to fill an entire show. I like many of the earlier tunes, such as This is the Year and From Now On, but for me the highlight tonight was the new Forever Doesn't Live Here Anymore, beginning with Marit sitting on the stage floor singing the first verse. Beautiful! I loved this show, as well as the entire evening, and only bad note is that I still hate the song Adios Amigos, which was played as encore. Rating: ++++

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