Photo & © Maria Nehro
Guest blogger: Florence Ziethen
Hi, everyone. Here is my report on the weekend in Sundsvall.
Rehearsal: Relaxed, easy going and funny. With those three words, I think we can summarize the rehearsal, which whetted the appetite and good vibes for Saturday’s concerts. Hard to keep the hearty laugh when Helen measures her lifetime in the number of toilet ducks and found that life goes faster than you think. Oh, that´s true. Intersecting song with perfect sound and pure musical pleasure experienced from the depth of the soul.
Concert premiere: A colorful, vibrant, and pleasurable show. Fantastic show of lights with suitable backgrounds and quick photos from the 80’s are quickly passing through. A neat scenography if you can say so in a concert. It was as meticulously sorted on stage despite all the musicians and stuff, something that is normally perceived as messy. The singing was fantastic and the entire concert had class. The concert began gently, calmly and quietly with songs like “Varje sår söker ett sår” followed by “Ljudet av ett regn”. The pulse begins to rise a couple of songs into the concert, and then be on top when the tempo and energy levels increase to a colorful show as it´s impossible not to swing in your mind. The end is almost hectic but fantastic nice when Helen tells us about the time when she was 14 years old and went to high school and life was that life tends to be for a genuine 14-year old girl. “Barpianisten” and “Gabriella’s Song” cause the heart to dance while the concert comes to an end.
A sea of flowers surrounds Helen while the applause speaks for success. Three encores were played. Helen’s old childhood friend Anna Stadling enters the stage in one of the songs and a seemingly happy Helen thanks at last for herself and leaves the stage with her arms full of flowers.
After: After the last concert Helen and Jojje signed CDs in the foyer and a happy, beautiful, and memorable musical evening is over and we who were there leave Tonhallen with a smile and wish Helen great success in her continuing Sweden tour.
What I personally experienced during the concert was happiness. I was thinking of how lucky I am in the world who am able to listen to beautiful songs LIVE in a nice concert hall like this, with the orchestra and all the glamorous about it. To benefit from high culture and experience life in a way that for many is impossible. Those thoughts tell us a little about what class the concert had as one of the newspapers said; the bar was on a slope, but if anyone can do it, that´s Helen.
Take care and listen well!
Hugs from Florence.