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Melissa Horn at the Skråen

Thursday night was the concert of Melissa Horn at the Skråen. She is only touring in Scandinavia (because of the language and the fact that people would not get the lyrics otherwise).

I bought my ticket in September to be sure to have a seat! She is currently touring: “på turné” (On Tour in Swedish).

Just before talking about the concert itself, here are a few lines about how I discovered Melissa Horn.

One day, looking for Mozart’s Horn Concertos, I typed ‘horn’ in Spotify. As you may know, Spotify is Swedish (and also sorts music by popularity) so I ended up with a couple of lines of Melissa Horn before even seeing some horn concertos at the bottom of the list. Clicked on it (I already had a couple of really nice Swedish music) to give it a try. I really liked it so I went to my fav’ website and get the albums from it. Listened to the albums quite a lot. It was about a year ago.

Then, when I arrived in Aalborg, I checked for things to do & see, including concerts. When I spotted that Melissa Horn was touring for her new album, I bought the ticket. I also bought the new album and the debut album “Langa Natter” (for Long Night) too.

So, what about the concert? Well, people were not as young as expected. The room was strangely made for a concert room : seats were not facing the scene but some tables were … perpendicular to the stage. Well done. Still, I managed to get a seat perfectly in front of the stage!

— Stage, plain front!

Concert lasted for about 1h40. Starting with the new album songs (as usual) and finishing with the already classic (!) Långa Nätter (also debut album) or Falla Fritt. A few talks between some songs. I guess it was Swedish but many people laughed so whether the Danes can truly understand Swedish or the Swedes living here came to the concert. I? Didn’t get a thing except the “God Tack”.

— Pictures from the show (maybe not in correct order…)

One important thing to say is that Melissa Horn is changing as often of guitar as The Edge (U2) does. But here, only acoustic guitar (for her at least).

— Changing the guitar

— The Edge (U2 in Paris)

The band included four other people: a keyboardist, a drummer, a bassist and a guitarist. The guitarist did also some vocals parts (such as Lars Winnerbäck part on ‘Som jag hade dig förut’). Extra instruments were present too.

Some songs were more dynamic than in the album. I should really have taped this show!

After the show, she did a signing session and there was not too many people in the queue. Got my ticket signed and the debut album cover signed too. She was surprised when I told her where I was coming from. Still, don’t expect a show there.

(few) more pictures are available on Flickr.

#melissahorn

Vrångö

Woke up late due to the long day the day before.

Went to the tourist office and asked how to go to the archipelago. The archipelagos are on both sides of the mouth of the Göta älv on the Kattegat.

Learnt that the archipelagos are served quite often by boats. Indeed, there are some people living on the islands and the boats act like a tram or a bus. Therefore… it is the same price as other public transportations! SEK 21 only!

The boat is to catch at Salthomen. There is the tram #11 ending at Salthomen. It is a ~30-minute ride from the center of Göteborg.

Arrived at 1 pm at the ferry terminal. The light outside was already like a 4 or 5 pm light!

I decided to go to Vrångö instead of the other islands because:

• Vrångö is the farthest. Meaning I would see all the others by the sea
• It is also the wildest one, with the fewer people leaving there (only 400 inhabitants)

While going there, the boat stopped about 6 times, dropping and getting less than 10 people each time.

On the islands, there are no cars. People have some small electric cars (such as golf cars), some kind of moped with a place to put things or wheelbarrows.

After an hour, the boat finally stopped at Vrångö. On the way, the boat came very close to the coast many times, allowing me to see the small houses on the rocks facing the sea.

When I disembarked, there was a couple loading a bunch of stuff on a small moped. Quite funny.

I crossed the village to the other end of the island. There is a rock which is one of the highest spot of the island!

The North of the island is wooded while the South is mainly rocks. Headed North, starting by visiting the small harbour.

I then took a small path to a creek, then continued to the North. The path was leading to the cemetery. Cross a bit of the forest to go on the top of the rock that was surmounting the small creek I was before. Saw some deer.

Had to go backwards, from the cemetery to the main path before heading North again. Did not encountered a lot of people on the path. Headed to another creek on the West of the island before going back to the town.

The weather was becoming cloudy so I decided to go closer to the ferry pier, just in case… As I arrived in advance, I decided to walk a bit South. It was starting to be windy. I was on top of a rock when the boat arrived. Rushed down the rock and run along the shore to be sure to get that boat… and not the one 1:30 hour later!

On the way back, the boat stopped to a small island where people had to call at least half an hour before the boat leave in order to have it to stop at the pier!

Once back in Saltholmen, took the tram “home”.

West Side Story at the GoteborgsOperan

This year is the 50th anniversary of West Side Story (the film)!

When I came to the ticket office, I asked for something not too expensive even though musicals are less expensive than “opera” or “dance” categories. I chose a seat on the 3rd balcony, on the side and in the back. Not the best seat indeed.

The balconies are weirdly set up. Very rounded and seats do not start from the stage (but a couple of meters away).

Still, it was fine. And the view from the top allowed me to see all the shadows, much more than from the ground in fact.

The conductor was not clapped. He just arrived and the show started. A little bit surprising.

The musical was all in Swedish, and even though I knew what was going on, I did not recall everything.

The musical was upgraded with some really nice dance parts.

After the intermission, I changed from the very side to a seat more in the middle. Maybe I have changed of seat category too. Here is the view after the change.

After the intermission, no bell, no clap for the conductor. Everyone was back in their seats at the correct time, lights turned off again and the music started instantly.

– The cast at the end

– The opera by night (blurry but also the only one I have got …)

Here is the trailer.

Definitely worth it!