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Monday, 6 September 2010

Arbetarbladet's Gävle review: do you agree?

Stefan Westrin in Arbetarbladet enjoyed Salem's performance with the Gävle Symfoniorkester yesterday at the reopening of Stortorget, and awarded it three stars: http://arbetarbladet.se/noje/recensioner/pascen/1.2306009-svarflortad-publik-gick-igang-till-sist

It's a frank and honest review and here's a translation of some of it:

"Apart from some fans near the stage, it was a fairly disengaged audience, but Al Fakir did his best to get the mood and when he launched into Good Song from his debut album it began to swing. With the symphony orchestra, it became an ultra-stylish show of soul funk disco that sounded as good as Earth, Wind & Fire... Astronaut offered dramatic strings and and it sounded better than on disc"

"But the quadruple Grammy winner was still fighting the stiff headwind in the audience, although it was loosened in 4 O'Clock...But the grand finale of course is the song that should have won Melodifestivalen: Keep On Walking is a colossal hit and the audience belonging to the upper age group sweeps their hands in the air and look really happy instead of somewhat bored. I can not help but feel a bit sorry for Al Fakir. This is not the most fun audience he encountered. I have seen him at both small and large venues include music festivals and then there has always been good reaction. Gävle Symphony Orchestra put hard work into arranging Al Fakir's songs for orchestra and it is somewhat sad that the only time it received thunderous applause was after the song contest hit. But both he and the orchestra did a good job. He can avoid a free ungrateful audience, and concentrate on playing for people who really want to see him next time he comes to Gävle."

Do you agree with this review? Was the Gävle audience as unresponsive as the reviewer described? If you were at Gävle, tell us your story about the show, and I'd love to read the setlist too!

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