One of my favorite new albums is the brand-new Ek-Ahlberg-Roswall record Vintern, which is brilliant on oh-so-many levels. And we enjoy Niklas Rowall as one of our regular-if-infrequent teachers. So we were all excited that his band was going to play in Stockholm on a date we could actually get there, so we could see them in real life. But then the date got even more exciting: we-the-ESI-class were offered the opportunity to play a couple of short sets during the breaks. Cool!
Daniel-and-Emma-and-Niklas’s concert was at least as amazing as their record. Super-tight band, interesting arrangements, great tune selection — also great stage presence, and wonderful to watch how much fun they have playing together. Their dance sets were also brilliant, and I had a very nice evening on the dance floor.
Our ESI sets, which had gotten a little less rehearsal time than I had expected, went quite well too — I was proud of us. I think it helped that we had all just had a practice session at playing for dancing. The second of our two 20-minute sets, in particular, I thought had more relaxed playing and more smiling faces and more gazes torn away from nyckelharpa keys than we have had in any previous performance. Yaay, team!
Gunnar and Maria came to the concert and took us home with them — Mills and I visited them in August, but this was Andrea’s first chance to see them since that serendipitous meeting in Brattleboro a couple years ago. They were of course lovely hosts, beginning with their heroic willingness to go to a folk concert in town late on a Friday night. It was great to see them again. And also fun to have someone we knew in the audience when we played.
