Norrbottens-Kuriren 2021-11-19
By: ULRIKA VALLGÅRDA
In the summer of 2003, Kay Pollak’s feature film As it is in heaven was played in Luleå and we were probably many who got a special feeling for Helen Sjöholm after that.
Concert
Helen Sjöholm – En ny tid (A New Time)
Participants: Helen Sjöholm, vocals, Andreas Dahlbäck, percussion, Rickard Nilsson, piano, Jerker Odelholm, bass, Erik Arvinder, violin and more, Ola Gustafsson, guitar.
Location: Culture House, Wednesday, November 17 at 7 pm.
Not least in Norrbotten where an innumerable number of extras came in contact with this rising star. I got to experience for myself when she performed Gabriella’s song for the first time in front of an audience in a rural area here in the hooks. Pollak’s instruction to us, the large crowd of extras, was to let us be touched and show it. It would look real on the screen and it became real. 18 years later, when I hear Helen Sjöholm sing Gabriella’s song live for the second time, the feeling is just as real, the tears start to flow, and I would think that “not an eye is dry” as they say, in the totally crowded Culture House (…)
Therefore, only the best is good enough for Helen Sjöholm. She deserves songs that make her hair stand on end and she has several of that product. Du är min man (You Are My Man) in the beginning makes the audience’s eyes glisten. Imagine that it was 278 weeks on the Swedish charts, yet she manages to sing it as if it still has the pleasure of the news. Maybe because she’s so happy to be on stage again after the pandemic.
She sings extremely well, really top class, and at the same time is a natural and unassuming star, thanking and crediting songwriters and musicians and technicians in pretty much every track. The band is fantastic.
Then she sings a bunch of songs from her new album En ny tid (…) The best from the new album are probably those by Andreas Mattsson.
The concert really picks up speed again with Barpianisten (Piano Man) by Billy Joel with Swedish lyrics by Tomas Andersson Wij. It rolls straight into my music heart. Her interpretation of Euphoria, which Loreen otherwise usually sings, is also wonderful, as is Anders Widmark’s Sylvesters sista resa (Sylvester’s last journey) and of course Du måste finnas (You Have To Be There) from the musical Kristina from Duvemåla.
Gabriella’s song gets standing ovations and there were also be couple of extra numbers.
(The full review is not reproduced for copyright reasons)