VLT 131014
By: Ann Lystedt
Helen Sjöholm with band.
Västerås Concert House, last Saturday.
Great singer Helen Sjöholm didn’t want to choose a main genre for her autumn tour and why would she do that? The wild mixture has become her specialty.
(…) To many, she is of course the musical- and film music star, through the outstanding successes as Kristina and the downtrodden wife who rises in the “As it is in Heaven,” in the mighty Gabriellas sång. But then there is also the dance band songs in BAO and the ballads, the long runner on the Swedish charts, blues and the occasional rock classic. And Billy Joel’s juicy pieces of course, that in the packed concert on Saturday got a lot of space in Tomas Andersson Wij’s lyrical interpretations.
Sjöholm doesn’t just move effortlessly between genres, she also interprets the wide dilemmas of the landscape of life through the lyrics of love and betrayal, faith and doubt (…)
Even the stage fathoms wide, through stable musicians Jojje Wadenius, Martin Östergren, Tomas Bergquist and Ulric Johansson (…) Unexpectedly rough versions of Swedish ballad classics are interspersed with glimpses from “Livet är en schlager” and beautiful “The Kiss” by Judee Sill. Jojje Wadenius’ electric guitar adds the much needed hardness at times and when Depeche Mode’s rock heavy “Heaven” cuts off right after Sjöholm’s moving Du måste finnas the span is complete.
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