The music freak in me strikes again! This time: James Bay. I think everybody knows “Hold Back the River”. Even though radios and TV stations were playing it like crazy, this time last year I was ignoring this song until I had the patience to actually listen to it. And I fell in love totally and completely.
Coming back to Sweden meant that I could take full time and full speed advantage of my Spotify account, which I did almost instantly. And one of the first artists I stopped to was James Bay. Practically all Spring and all Summer long I’ve been listening to his songs till I learned them by heart. I was very happy when they played “Hold Back the River” at Swedish Open during the changeovers. I also took the time to listen to live and acoustic versions of the songs and ended up wanting to see James Bay live. Unfortunately for me, two weeks of not checking his official website for the tour dates led to me missing his concert in Stockholm last week. It was already sold out when I heard about it. I even dreamt I went to one of his concerts and it was amazing. Well, I am getting a second chance in March, and this time I will not miss it. Tickets go on sale tomorrow at 9 AM and I will make sure I get one. Until then I am going to enjoy his latest video that came out today. Watch it below. (Isn’t it funny that 90% of the audience in the video is made out of girls? Wish I were one of them!)
It was that time of the year again: tennis time. My 3rd year in Stockholm Open left me thinking about the fact that after my home tournament in Bucharest, this is the second one I attended the most. I have to say that this tournament is an experience as a whole and it makes me feel like I were in the middle of it all. As always I am going to start with Marius Copil. Pretty much the only tournaments where I see him play are Bucharest and Stockholm. It is always a pleasure to watch him play. This year he started the tournament quite well, for a set, just to bow in front of Jesse Huta Galung 1-6, 6-3, 6-2. It wasn’t quite clear why, but his game shifted drastically in the middle of the second set. From there it was just a downfall and his strong service didn’t help him anymore. The opponent increased the quality of his game and Marius was out of the tournament from the first match he played.
Jarkko Nieminen
With no Romanians to watch, I focused on Jarkko Nieminen, my favorite Finnish tennis player, or should I say now former tennis player? I doubt I will. For someone that I liked following around for so long, loved watching and enjoyed every moment of his matches, I think I will continue to call him a tennis player because in the end that’s what he is. He was the main character in some of the most amazing matches I’ve seen live, he got a standing ovation in Bucharest even though he was walking out of the central court as a looser in a direct match with Gilles Simon. On top of that he is Finnish and he has a very good taste in music. No wonder that after he played his last match it was a bit heartbreaking to see him sitting on the bench with the towel over his head and sobbing. It was quite an emotional moment, just like the farewell ceremony that the ATP organised for him on Friday evening. And I was there to watch both events. I will be forever grateful and happy for this.
Berdych vs Sock
The evenings brought some beautiful three sets matches, some starting at 18:30, others later. Monday it was Alexander Zverev vs Mikael Ymer at 18:30. The clash of these two young players left the audience pleasantly impressed and a bit sad because, even if the Swede fought bravely, he lost 7-6 (9), 6-7(5), 6-4. Tuesday Jarkko played his last singles match in a three set thriller, falling to Nicolas Almagro 3-6, 7-6(6), 6-4. Wednesday Jack Sock triumphed in an amazing match against Fernando Verdasco. It is matches like this when you actually wish both players could win because they both fight so hard. But Sock was the winner: 7-6 (5), 6-7 (5), 6-4. Thursday brought a quiet evening. Friday the three-setter came as the last match: Marcos Baghdatis vs Gilles Muller. The 2009 winner of Stockholm Open prevailed after a long and beautiful match that ended 7-6 (5), 4-6, 6-3. Unfortunately, the second day he retired during his semifinal, so Tomas Berdych had a clear path to the final for the second consecutive year and for the third time in Stockholm Open.
Doubles prize ceremony
He met Jack Sock there and, after a tight first set, Tomas won Stockholm Open for the third time: 7-6 (1), 6-2. My favorite part of the last day was the doubles final where the singles finalist, Sock, teamed up with Nicholas Monroe to capture the title after a match with Mate Pavic and Michael Venus. This match was truly spectacular, as almost all doubles matches, full of breathtaking shots and thrilling points. And after the last point had been played I realized that another edition of If Stockholm Open was over. Game, set, match, championship: Tomas Berdych, Nicholas Monroe/Jack Sock.
In between watching the news, filing invoices and updating websites, I take the time to go to my Swedish classes twice a week (for now), classes which I absolutely love and which give me the most pleasant headaches I ever had, or I take the time to just reflect on the World. It is amazing that when I am not at work, like, during the week-ends, I still go online to read the latest news because being up to date with World issues became some sort of addiction. I’ve subscribed on Facebook to all TV channels that are of my interest so, if a bomb goes off I know almost instantly. And unfortunately I do. Because that is pretty much what comes up in the news these days: bombs going off. From Syria being bombed, to terrorist attacks, to killings at a peaceful rally or shootings in a school, an explosion at a chemical plant, there is no happy news. Not in the headlines at least. So it takes a lot of strength to watch the news. At a certain point it becomes a reflex but sometimes it is simply impossible to stay indifferent to what you watch. It’s like you live in a bubble when you have no idea what is happening in the World, and a lot of people don’t. On the other hand if you get too much into this, it can bring you down harder than you think. As any other things, a middle way would be ideal. But when your professional interest spins around the news and what comes up in them, well, sad or not, you get over the depressive stuff and you try to understand the World or, to be more precise, the way it is being presented in news narratives, because in the end, if you probably draw a line, there are more happy things in this World and more love than news bulletins show. Yet the World is not pink. It is not as gray as it is pictured either. It’s a lovely blend of all the colors. And I have no idea why I am talking about this because when I sat down to write this post I actually wanted to say a few words about something that I love writing about a lot, music, and a bit about U2. Yet writing led me here. May be because of my fever, I am becoming delirious. Or just loosing trace of my thoughts. Or these things just needed to come out in the open. It’s a bit of a personal post that was supposed to discuss my biggest passion, one of them at least, maybe even the love of my life. But yet again I can’t realize if the love of my life is music or tennis. I guess it depends on who’s playing.
Surprisingly and unintentionally, this has been a week-end full of music. Starting with the Europe concert on Friday, (you can read about it here), the week-end kicked off on a rock tempo, carried on the same on Saturday and ended melodically yet full on energy on Sunday.
Let’s Say We Did
Saturday evening I ended up with a friend in Restaurang Landed, at Telefonplan. The idea was to see a band she liked, The Wave Pictures, have some beer and enjoy. The really small bar on the first floor hosted probably 50 people. My shock came with the first riffs of the opening act: the Swedish band Let’s Say We Did. They were simply great for that small concert atmosphere. They called us closer to the stage, so we were practically 2 meters away from them and were able to fully enjoy their music. It’s times like this when you are happy you are in such a small venue with people who really come there for the music but you also wonder why they can’t play for a larger audience (maybe they do that other times?), simply because their music deserves a wider public. So of course that now I follow them on Facebook and I listen to them on Spotify. Apparently they’ve been around since 2008, and already have released two albums and a couple of singles. And they’ve been quite nice to listen to.
The headliners, The Wave Pictures, come from the UK. They do a good job on stage and sound harmonious given the fact that there are just 3 guys playing in the band. They were full of humor and very friendly and communicative. Unfortunately they couldn’t play too long, or better said they weren’t allowed to have a longer setlist because of location regulations. However, after the concert they just took the time to hang and chat with people.
The week-end ended with a classical music concert in Eric Ericsonhallen in Skeppsholmen. The event was named “Sinfonia Antartica” and the pieces the orchestra interpreted were Gustav Holst – The Perfect Fool (Ballet Music), Edward Edgar – Sea Pictures (with Amelie Fleetwood as soloist) and Ralph Vaughan Williams – Sinfonia Antartica. A totally different sound compared to the previous two concerts that I attended but not less exciting. The music was simply beautiful. And after the concert was over and I had to rush home, I came across a beautiful sunset above the city. Yes, I was in a hurry but I took the time to snap a picture. Music and week-ends go amazing together. Add sunsets and coffee and it’s even better. Walks too. But now it’s Monday time…
And the final concert of the season came and went as fast as the whole season itself. Today it was time to see Europe again. It’s barely the second time I see them live and I would probably go see them again. I was supposed to go to their concert in Bucharest last year for my birthday, but they canceled and rescheduled for a date when I wasn’t at home anymore, or better said, “home” was somewhere else. So I saw them today. I have to say that I am familiar with their old songs, most of which I’ve been listening to since I was 6 or 7. So their new material is what I come across on the radio and have the curiosity to look into if it seems appealing. However, not knowing all the songs from a band is not a reason for me to go insane and say I won’t go to their concert. A rock concert is a strange combination of sound, show, energy, a feeling to be experienced as a whole. And the cool Autumn evening made it even more enjoyable. The guys led us through a very nice ride made out of new and old tracks. Fortunately they played “Rock the Night” which is my favorite from them. Unfortunately I have to say that I’ve never seen a more passive crowd. Besides the drunk kids standing somewhere to my left, people around just sang along a bit and clapped eventually. I really hope that the people in front of the stage were more active. It is true that for “The Final Countdown” all the audience simply exploded and that everybody sang along to “Carrie” (I still don’t like this song) but come on people, put some spirit into it, dance a bit, jump some more. And that comes from someone who is quite passive while attending concerts. But how can you let such a track pass you by without singing out loud, clapping and jumping?
Long story short, it was a great concert. It is simply amazing to actually see bands that I’ve known of for a quarter of a century (sounds better than 25 years, doesn’t it?) The list of artists I’d like to see from that time is still long but slowly I am working on it. I am a bit sad the concert season in Gröna Lund is over, if I stick around here long enough I might just do this again next year. Until then: tusen tack, det var en trevlig sommar!
Spinning Words 