Värmlands Folkblad 110725
By: TOBIAS HOLMGREN
KARLSTAD Give me a globe, but preferably one with just Värmland. So Elis in Taserud said, a quote that is perpetuated above the gateway to the Värmland Museum.
When Benny Andersson Band plays on Sandgrundsudden and Klarälven is glittering behind the crowd, well, then I am prepared to make a similar order.
BAO succeed to entertain and enchant even though the odds are against them by a wide margin. For even if the rainy weather took a break when the first flute melodies sounded, it isn´t the best of weather, nor times either, for that matter. Only a few hundred miles to the west occurred in these days one of the worst terrorist attack ever on Scandinavian soil, and it´s the explosion in Oslo with its aftermath, which many listeners have in mind this evening. So also Benny Andersson; in the concert introduction he says that it may seem strange to play and dance on this particular evening, but that both band and audience will do the best they can, while sparing a thought for our friends in Norway.
Said and done. Andersson promises 50 bucks for the pair who will be the first on the dance floor they brought, and in a few seconds the dance floor is filled with waltz virtuosos and true love in front of the stage. The wind blows and it´s cold, drizzling occasionally, but even though your hands are blue with cold and your shoes muddy, it is hard not to feel at home.
It goes pretty fast: Helen Sjöholm and Tommy Körberg are a comical pair that shines, Kalle Moraeus plays a brilliant Bach-interpretation on banjo (!), and Kristina Lugn’s hilarious lyrics in the song “Nu mår jag mycket bättre”come into its own when you see actors in the relationship comedy in front of you. The sound is always balanced and doesn´t hurt the ears, and despite the fact that we stand outside in the biting wind everything from clarinet to trombone is heard.
Overall, the effect of these and other gold glimpses is that the stage and dance floor turned into a private room, shielded from both disasters and rainy weather. A heavy rain disturbs the harmony at the beginning of the second two-hour-act, but then Benny Andersson and the Moreaus brothers, with the genre experiments that is BAO, already won us to their side.
We needed great music this weekend, which we received. Especially the jazzy tracks, as För dig from the last album, hits right in the chest under the cloudy sky, and the new single Kära Syster, may not have the recording pomp, but it´s offset by Helen Sjöholm’s gestures and facial expressions.
The statement reads not surprisingly that now that Bob Dylan has played there is only one show that you have to see this summer. You must treat yourself to see BAO.
FACTS
Benny Andersson Band with Helen Sjöholm and Tommy Körberg, on Sunday evening at Sandgrundsudden
Stage: Sandgrundsudden
Audience: Approximately 3500
Rating: 4