If it wasn't for
him, I wouldn't have seen the record release show for HIM's fourth
album "Love Metal" on 8th March 2003 in my native city
Hamburg (Germany). It was a very exclusive event for which tickets
couldn't be purchased, and it meant the world to me to be a part of
it. Not long after, my interest in the band faded. Life went on. Much
has happened since then. But such kind actions are NEVER forgotten.
Thank you, Seppo Vesterinen. ♥
As promised a few days ago, now, I'm getting back to the three concerts which took place
between the live events in March 2019 and the New Year's Eve show by
The Hellacopters.
The first two concerts
both took place at "Dalhalla".
Both in July 2019.
One of the main ideas behind it was to explore
something new again, and since "Dalhalla"
is regularly represented in lists such as "The
most beautiful concert venues from around the world"...
Why not?
"Dalhalla"
is an open air theatre located in a former limestone quarry in
Rättvik (Sweden), in the region of Dalarna. During summers,
"Dalhalla"
is used as a concert venue. With
Iggy Pop, a suitable event was quickly found, but, later on, it
turned out that New Order would play at "Dalhalla",
too. Since it was hard to make a decision, we simply went to both
events.
Not least thanks to
my activities as a music and culture journalist, I have been to so
many concerts in my live, and never have I faced
such huge transportation problems as it was the case with "Dalhalla".
It was really difficult to organise.
Getting to Rättvik by public
transport is actually no problem at all. Getting from Rättvik to the
venue "Dalhalla"...
That's the challenge. "Dalhalla"
is located in the deepest forest, roughly 10 km from the train
station in Rättvik. And don't get me started on how to get anywhere
from "Dalhalla"
in the night when the concert is over.
There are so-called
"konsertbussar"
[Swedish for: "concert
buses"] which
are operated by the venue / in collaboration with the venue. These
concert buses operate between "Dalhalla"
and some cities in Dalarna, including Rättvik. You have to book the
ride with a concert bus in advance, those rides are significantly
more expensive than public transport and, at the time of the Iggy Pop
concert, booking a ride with a concert bus via the website of
"Dalhalla"
did not even work as there was an error in the booking system. We
were not the only ones with this problem on the day of the Iggy Pop
show, so this concert visit turned into quite an odyssey. In the end,
we met some friendly concert visitors with cars who helped us. Things
became really adventurous, and I think it's ultimately thanks to
these nice people we met that this whole experience did not turn too
sour.
Yes, the concert was
great and the venue is stunning, indeed, but arriving and leaving
without a car shouldn't be that difficult, complicated and expensive.
Especially not in the home country of probably the most famous
climate activist worldwide at the moment, Greta Thunberg.
Exactly three weeks
later, we returned to "Dalhalla"
for New Order. Shortly before, I contacted the
venue so that the broken link on the website of "Dalhalla"
would be repaired, making it possible to book a concert bus this
time. It all worked out and, fortunately, we
were spared another odyssey.
However, you have to go
back with the same concert bus that you arrived with. You cannot go
to Rättvik by public transport, spend a nice day at Lake Siljan,
then take the concert bus from Rättvik to the concert at "Dalhalla"
and later on take another concert bus from "Dalhalla"
to another city in Dalarna, in case you have an accommodation
somewhere else than in Rättvik. Suggestions
that have been made: Rent a car and / or book a hotel room in
Rättvik. With most ticket prices starting at 800 SEK per person, a
mere gig trip starts to turn into a short vacation, at least
financially.
In any case, we were
spared another odyssey this time as we travelled with one of the
concert buses. The downside of it was that we had to skip
hanging out in Rättvik altogether, even though the day was absolutely
perfect to hang out at Lake Siljan. Sunshine, blue sky and - if I remember correctly - a temperature of around 30°C. Hopefully, one day, we will catch
up on that: A summer day in Rättvik at Lake Siljan.
We have seen
"Dalhalla".
It is a stunning venue, indeed, and both events we attended there
were great, too, but I think I will leave it at these two
experiences. Travelling to and from "Dalhalla"
without a car is simply too complicated,
inflexible, expensive and also too time-consuming when planning the
arrival to and the departure from the venue.
Here are some visual
impressions of Rättvik and Lake Siljan from the day of the Iggy Pop
concert...
... and here
is an audiovisual impression of Iggy Pop performing "The
Passenger" at "Dalhalla" on 3rd July 2019...
Three
weeks later, on 24th July 2019, Henric de la Cour performed amongst
others "Two Against One" and "Arkham Supermarket" as
a support act for New Order at "Dalhalla"...
... and New Order performed amongst others "Singularity", "She's Lost Control" [Joy
Division cover], "Tutti Frutti", "Blue Monday" and "Love Will Tear Us
Apart" [Joy Division cover] at "Dalhalla"...
The third concert was
comparatively unspectacular in terms of arrival and departure since The Mission
frontman Wayne Hussey chose a club in the city centre of Sweden's
capital Stockholm for his solo show on 8th November 2019, supported by Evi Vine...
Two months have
passed since my previous blog post, so there is a slightly bigger
update now.
First, let's go back
a year, to our birthdays in March 2019 which we celebrated at the
"Klubb Död" event at "Nalen" in Sweden's capital
Stockholm, with Then Comes Silence, TRAITRS, The Foreign Resort and
The Flatfield. Audiovisual impressions of that wonderful evening were
posted on this blog a month later. Further snapshots were published
on "Sound Kitchen Archives" during the course of the
year...
It was definitely
not planned that the publication of these pictures would take so
long, but it did, and maybe one day I will share the reasons for it
with you.
The same applies
to the concert of Ville Valo & Agents on Viking Line's
cruiseferry "Viking Grace" on 30th March 2019. Here is an
audiovisual impression...
Between the live
events in March 2019 and the New Year's Eve show by The
Hellacoptersat
"Debaser Strand" in Stockholm, there
were three more concerts, but I'll get back to those in a
later blog post. We have also attended another concert after the
New Year's Eve show by The Hellacopters. A
concert where cream cakes and fish were thrown into the
audience. Take a guess... ;o)
Back to the
New Year's Eve show by The
Hellacopters, here is an audiovisual impression...
This year, I'm a few weeks late,
but: Happy New Year, Happy New Decade & Welcome To The 2020s,
everyone! ♥ ♥ ♥
We started the new decade with the
Hellacopters show at "Debaser Strand" in Sweden's capital
Stockholm. A golden start into the 2020s indeed. I never thought that
I would ever see this band live on stage, given their disbandment
several years ago. All the more I'm happy that we were given the
opportunity to see them live on stage on this very special occasion.
Just like The Flaming Sideburns, The Hellacopters are
a band that just rocks and whose shows deliver quintessential
Rock'n'Roll.
More about the show can be found on
this blog soon... Stay tuned!
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