REPORTAGE

When world stars take over the city

Thank you, Skellefteå!

Several of the world's most celebrated musicians have performed in Skellefteå over the years. Abba, Ramones, Iggy Pop and Ray Charles are some examples. Here is the story of when the stars take over the city.

Most people know that Skellefteå is a music city of rank. Today, Skellefteå boasts several major music festivals and a famous cultural center in the center. But music fever and pop hysteria have existed in Skellefteå long ago.

As early as the 1960s, many of the big bands and artists of the time came to Västerbotten. When the pop idols in The Shanes from Kiruna visited Skellefteå for the first time in February 1966, police and security guards had to interrupt the concert to get the crowd under control. In 1968, Hep Stars took Skellefteå by storm, including newly acquired member Charlotte "Lotta" Walker on vocals.

"Most Swedish pop bands can go and bury themselves if the "Hep Stars" continue with the style and set-up they have settled on for this year's park summer," Norra Västerbotten wrote at the time.

And there would be even bigger visits. In 1975, one of the world's hottest pop groups - Abba - came to Skellefteå Folkets Park. The group premiered their summer tour on Midsummer's Day. The entrance fee? 20 kronor. The local press wrote about a show with smoke and thunder, Bengal fires, rockets and soap bubbles. Britta Bergström from Strömsbro outside Gävle was seven years old at the time. She was up in Västerbotten visiting her grandmother in Bureå during the summer vacation. She still remembers how she felt when her parents told her they were going to Abba's concert.

- "It was incredible. Apart from the fact that I could probably sing along to all the songs, I was very fascinated to see those cat dresses in real life. Which started out as long dresses but part way into the concert they ripped the skirt off so it became short. I remember thinking it was so cool! Britta has a picture of herself from the concert.

- You can really see how enchanted I was. I can't believe I got to see them for real after admiring hundreds of pictures on posters and in magazines! But it's probably only in adulthood that I really understand how unique and great it is to have seen them live during that time. I would love to know how that booking went. ABBA at Children's Day in Skellefteå when they were at their hottest! A "once in a lifetime" booking!

Today, Britta is one of the country's most hired choir singers. She is recognized from "Så mycket bättre" and "Allsång på skansen" and has sung behind artists such as Carola, Orup and Robyn. And actually also with three quarters of Perch.

- "Agnetha was my favorite, and when, as an adult, I got to add choir parts to her comeback as a solo artist, the circle was complete. It's probably my most powerful job as a freelance musician," she says.

One person who has probably met more world artists than any other Skellefteå resident is Gunnar Karlsson. Today he works at the entertainment company Artistkontoret, including with the Summertime festival. During the 1990s, he was the general manager of the Skellefteå Festival, with an unerring ability to book international acts to little Skellefteå.

- "We set a goal in 1994 that we would find some big international act every year. I was a musician myself and had a good network of contacts. When the big artists came to Sweden, it was usually Stockholm or Gothenburg, but we were a few festivals that were good at attracting foreign artists," he says.

During a few intense years, the festival was visited by punk legends Ramones, The Corrs, Aqua, Robyn and Mel C to name a few. And Gunnar Karlsson has no shortage of anecdotes. He fondly remembers how the hot British pop group Suede rode around the city center on the municipality's borrowed bikes one June day in 1995. That same year, the Ramones, perhaps the world's most legendary punk band, played.

- Joey Ramone was in pretty bad shape then. He was a great guy to deal with, but his addiction had taken its toll on him. Between songs, he had to run off stage and tape his ankles with duct tape because his bones were weak. He died just a year after the gig in Skellefteå," says Gunnar. And speaking of punk legends. Iggy Pop has actually visited Skellefteå not once, but twice. As a solo artist in 1998 and with the group The Stooges in 2004.

- When he was here solo, he was very lively. With the Stooges, it was a bit more messy, Gunnar says. Among other things, he remembers a memorable night-time episode with Iggy at the Tre Trappor nightclub.

- He sat down at a table with his entourage and didn't want to talk to anyone. But when the DJ played the song "Rockafeller Skank" by Fatboy Slim, Iggy rushed out onto the dance floor and started doing a wild kick dance! The others on the dance floor just gaped. He stayed at the party for quite a while, Gunnar remembers.

One of the more curious episodes in Skellefteå's musical history must be Ray Charles' mythical visit to Rönnbäckens golf course in 1999. A gig that, in retrospect, seems almost unreal. Did the man known as "The Father of Soul" and "The Genius" really stand on a golf course outside Skellefteå, in front of a sparse audience? One person who knows is Johan Stäck, a longtime Skellefteå resident who now lives in Stockholm. In 1999 he was chairman of the Skellefteå Chamber Choir.

- A request came to us in the spring of 1999. An organizer presented something that would be a big event out at Rönnbäckens golf course at midsummer. We would be "background vocals" to Ray Charles! You jump on something like that straight away," says Johan. No sooner said than done - Johan shook hands with the organizer. The event was eventually advertised. But many were probably skeptical. Maybe it sounded too good to be true? In any case, on Midsummer's Eve, a large stage was erected out by Rönnbäcken. The backing band on stage was the New York band Funk Filharmonik, plus a large number of local musicians - and the big choir. And suddenly he was standing there in the midsummer sun, the legend with a capital L.

- It was magical, almost unreal. "You thought 'this can't happen'," says Johan. Filming was not allowed - Ray Charles' guards put a stop to it. But Johan Stäck still has documentation from the evening, and many years later he has posted clips from the gig on YouTube.

- "I had taught the wife to sneak around with the camera. It's evidence. Because when you tell people that we in Skellefteå Chamber Choir have sung with Ray Charles, no one believes us! When you watch the movie today, you are struck by how good Ray Charles and the musicians on stage sound. And how sparse it is in the audience.

Unfortunately, the turnout was poor. But it was a fantastic evening. Warm, no wind, not a mosquito," recalls Johan Stäck. Financially, the event was a disaster for the organizer, who is said to have gone bankrupt. But Johan Stäck feels no bitterness, on the contrary.

- "I only have positive memories. We got to sing with Ray Charles, so we were completely satisfied anyway! In recent years, Skellefteå has once again begun to challenge as a really big player when it comes to international artist visits. For example, both Zara Larsson and the Danish group Lukas Graham have chosen to give exclusive concerts at Sara kulturhus. Anna Jirstrand Sandlund is the CEO of Sara Kulturhus. She believes that hard and dedicated work from the program team combined with good hospitality in the house is the success factor for Sara.

- "We have our sights set high, with a vision that says we will aim to be northern Europe's most talked about and respected cultural center, constantly recognized for its sustainability, high quality, courage and cultural innovation," she says. She hopes for more brave bookings in the future.

- "That we can surprise our audience but also get visitors to dare to challenge themselves and trust that what we bring into the range is of high quality and thus test their own limits, but also to get new visitors to take their first steps into Sara Kulturhus. A dream booking for me is when we dare to be brave and at the same time promote values such as inclusion and diversity," she says.

Gunnar Karlsson at Artistkontoret also continues to work to bring more international artists to Skellefteå. And there are still dream bookings.

- Two dream artists would be Metallica and AC/DC, just because they are so big. Justin Bieber was actually in the pipeline a few years ago. It would be cool to do a production like that," he says.

FACTS/TIMELINE:

Some of the world artists who have played in Skellefteå over the years:

1975 - Abba, Folkets park

1989 - Roxette, Folkets park

1995 - Suede

1996 - Ramones, Skellefteåfestivalen

1999 - The Corrs, Skellefteåfestivalen

1999 - Ray Charles, Rönnbäckens golf course

2001 - Aqua, Skellefteå Festival

2003 - Mel C, Skellefteåfestivalen

2011 - Robyn, Stadsfesten

2023 - Zara Larsson, Sara Cultural Center

Text: Olov Antonsson