I first discovered Peter Jöback through the musical, “Kristina från Duvemåla”. He was one of the musical’s main characters and sang one of the show’s most popular songs, “Guldet blev til sand” (The Gold Turns To Sand).
Since then, thanks to my friend Grant, I’ve been introduced to a lot more of Peter’s works. I’ve become quite a fan of some of the more melancholic, singer-songwriter styles of work he has produced. He has done quite a few up-tempo pop songs as well, though I think it’s in the ballads that his voice sits most comfortably.
Three years ago I saw him perform at Skansen in Stockholm (along with Eva Dahlgren), and last year I saw him in Melodifestivalen (the Swedish finals for Eurovision). And so when I saw that he was doing a tour with Swedish country music group, Cookies ‘n’ Beans at the same time I was going to be in Sweden, I just had to book a ticket.
I’ve also become a bit of a fan of Cookies ‘n’ Beans with their Dolly Parton-influenced style of country music. I saw them do a fantastic version of Leonard Cohen’s “First We Take Manhattan” on Swedish television last year that was to die for. They’ve turned it into a rousing country/pop song, but have maintained the song’s integrity. The song really went over well with the crowd of maybe 500 people at Nyköpingshus, the old castle in Nyköping, about an hour south of Stockholm.
There were lots of great moments from the show. Too many to list of course. Overwhelmingly though, it seemed as though they were all enjoying performing together very much, and the country music style of Cookies ‘n’ Beans blended well with Peter’s singer-songwriter style. I sensed from the look on Peter’s face from time to time he wasn’t entirely happy with the sound, but that didn’t seem to get in the way of a really great show that ended with two standing ovations.
On a rather amusing note, there was a mix-up with my ticket. When I arrived I happily took my seat in the fifth row until someone else came along and told me they also had this seat. We compared notes and that’s when I discovered I’d actually booked a “wheelchair seat”. OMG.
“There’s a Swedish word I haven’t used before”, I thought to myself. It was all okay, though, as I took up a place on the nearby rockledge which actually gave me a much better view of the show. And no, there were no people in wheelchairs whose seat I had taken.
Leave a Reply