After June’s Marillion Weekend in Berlin, which I wrote about here, it was now time to see Steve Hogarth. Though his Holidays in Sweden tour had a date scheduled for Stockholm too, I couldn’t resist the temptation to travel to another location and catch an extra show. I had to choose between Linköping and Gävle and I made my choice by thinking: do I want to see The Swedish Air Force Museum or The Swedish Train Museum? Airplanes won and so did Linköping.

After getting off the train from Stockholm, I got straight on the bus and went to see the planes. I scheduled my train ride in such a way that I’d have enough time to visit the place just before it was time to check-in at the hotel. The museum is a piece of Sweden’s history, and besides all the cool aircrafts and their stories, it also paints a very interesting picture of Sweden’s relationship with war, peace and offers some depictions of what life was like in Sweden during and after the Cold War. So after learning some new things and standing a few meters under a real SAAB A-32 Lansen jet fighter aircraft, it was time to head back to the city centre and get ready for the concert (Side note: war sucks and I wish there was never a need for army planes).

I arrived in front of the venue at 18:02. There was already a queue… but not a very long one. I went in soon after and found a seat in the second row in front of the stage. There were very few people in the crowd, but slowly the seats started to get occupied. At a certain point, quietly and without a big fuss, Steve passed us all and went up to the backstage area. It was almost time for the concert to start, and right after 7 pm, with a laptop under his arm and a big smile, cheered by the audience, Steve Hogarth took his seat behind the piano. And the show began, though the first 10-15 minutes or so felt more like a stand-up comedy rather than a music show. To explain: besides the concerts with Marillion, their lead singer organises some events in which he spends time chatting with the audience and playing his songs, Marillion songs, other artists’ songs accompanied by a piano. My third such event, so I know the background story. The fun part about these events is that they’re unscripted and things can go either way. The main idea about last evening is that after the first 15 minutes my cheeks were hurting from all the laughing. Between chats with the crowd and stories about Happiness Is the Road the music started: Seasons End. In the blink of an eye we were all caught up in the song. Sympathy next, then Sounds that Can’t Be Made. A story about a song, a totally unrelated pun, a Marillion song, some tracks from his solo work (yay for Nothing to Declare), some Bob Dylan, some Kate Bush, some more laughs and a very, very happy crowd of people, both off and on the stage.

At a certain time during the show, Steve told us that the crown on the previous evening was rather quiet, partly because of him and his quarrel with two chatty persons from the audience, and that he was impressed by the fact that we were quite loud. We might have been asked to be a bit more involved but I don’t think we needed much extra motivation to cheer as loud as we did than the great music, the conversations, the intimate vibe of the event. It was a fantastic place to be! It is incredible how different the perception on the artist is in such events. From leading a rock band in front of thousands of people with Marillion, where the music is blending with the lights, the atmosphere, turning the concert into an epic gig, these events shift the focus. You hear the music differently, the lyrics are clear, you hear every word, there is no guitar riff to cover the verses, no melodic piano to carry you through the rhythm of a song. The sounds are raw, the voice is strong (and what a voice). I said it before in different contexts: it’s a distinct way of living the music. It is hypnotising.

I wrote down on my phone the setlist. I managed to count 18 songs, but I am sure there were bits and pieces of more tracks here and there, in-between chats and giggles. But to make it a memorable night, the ending of the event brought us Afraid of Sunlight, Easter, Care (Angels on Earth), and Life on Mars. So much emotion in one evening!

When buying the ticket, one had the option to suggest 10 songs for the evening of the concert, and to ask a question. I am the worst at asking artists questions as most of the times all I want is to hear them play. But I did list 10 songs, and I got to listen to 3 of them: Nothing to Declare, You’re Gone and Afraid of Sunlight. I still have a chance to hear some of the other 7 and I really hope that some of them make it on the setlist at the next gig.

I went to the hotel after the concert but not before taking a short detour to see how Linköping looks like in the evening, and I spent the next morning enjoying some good brunch at Wayne’s Coffee, walking around the streets and visiting Linköping Trädgårdsförening, a lovely park full of pretty flowers and lovely fika places. But early afternoon it was time to return to a cold and rainy Stockholm and leave behind the sunny and cozy Linköping city centre, and the concert at Wallenbergsalen.