"Grattis Victoria" revisited, yet again, in the absence of anything else to write about.

So there is no news at the moment about Salem, and I am now having to accept the fact that this will probably be the case for most of 2008.

Still no sign of any material being released in the UK either. Maybe I'm wrong but I think that his record company will now wait till the second album is released before releasing anything over here - I had really hoped that "This Is Who I Am" would get a UK release early in 2008 but that doesn't look like happening now, but as ever I hope I'm proved wrong. This blog will continue though! Even if we don't have anything to write about :(

In the meantime, the "Grattis Victoria" concert from 14 July 2007 is still available over at http://www.svt.se/. As if anyone needs reminding, this was the night when I discovered Salem Al Fakir and my life was never the same again!!!

If you haven't seen this yet (and why not???) check out http://svt.se/svt/play/video.jsp?a=867294 and at 25 minutes and 30 seconds Salem sings "It's True" and "Dream Girl". I've watched this about 300 times now but still love it, because he is such an entertaining performer who enjoys every moment of what he is doing. Brilliant!!

Stuff from another blog, about last night's Stockholm gig

I read a Swedish blog just now, the person who wrote it went to see Salem at Debaser in Stockholm last night. Not surprisingly it was a very good review, the band were great as ever and the songs were even better live than on record. There were apparently a lot of new songs and the blogger said that there could be a new album in the spring - I know Salem's very prolific but this might be wishful thinking, although how good would it be if that was to happen?

Salem playing Stockholm tomorrow night

Still no real news to report apart from this: Salem plays his last gig of 2007 at Debaser, Stockholm tomorrow night. Hopefully there will be a bigger turnout than at his last gig in Gavle :( anyway I hope someone from the Swedish media will review this at some point. Good luck for this gig Salem, hope it's a great one.

Right I'm off now to get ready for Santa Claus!

Gävle gig review in Gefle Dagblad

Another four-star review of Salem's gig from Thursday night can be found in Gefle Dagblad: http://www.gd.se/Article.jsp?article=121264 . The heading reads "Big entertainer - small audience" and the reviewer highlights that despite the poor turnout, Salem ("Mr 100 percent") took it like a professional and provided those present with a high quality show. I liked the reviewer's comments that if there was a "most humble" and "most charming" category in the Swedish Grammys, Salem would win. The reviewer also highlighted that Salem and his band are at their best in smaller venues such as this one. The review also stated that Salem has taken Sweden by storm this year, with many hit songs and sell-out concerts (and a bigger tour bus now) but looked forward to what he'll come up with next, as he's got much more to give. We certainly agree with that. Here's a picture from the gig, courtesy of Gefle Dagblad:

Gävle gig review in Arbetarbladet

There is a great review of Salem's gig from last night on the Arbetarbladet website http://www.arbetarbladet.se/PGarticle.php?id=586955&avdelning_1=111&avdelning_2=173 . The heading read "Al Fakir hot - but Gävle dead" in which the reviewer Erik Suss expresses his disgust that only a very small crowd (50?) turned up at the Slick City club for the show, which was the only gig on Salem's current tour which wasn't sold out. The review stated that in spite of the low turnout, Salem put on the same high quality show which he gave when playing to thousands at the summer festivals this year, and the reviewer described Salem's band as one of Sweden's best. It was everything you'd expect from a Salem gig by now - headbanging, swinging from the lights, running around from one end to the other whilst delivering a mixture of everything from pop to soul to heavy rock. Mr Suss apologised on behalf of the people of Gävle for not coming along to what was an amazing gig, and said that this gig proved that Salem was worth every one of his Grammy nominations. Here is a picture of Salem from last night's gig (courtesy of Arbetarbladet). Wink wink!

Salem's tour reaches Gävle

After a few days off, Salem and his band will be playing the Slick City venue in Gävle (north of Stockholm, that's today's geography lesson) and on checking their website, I note that he won't be on stage till 23.30. Ooh what a late start! Too bad if you're going for the last train/bus home :-( Anyway I know whatever time he's on stage he will be wonderful!

Another day, another live show

Tonight Salem is playing the Konserthus in Vara, I wasn't sure whereabouts in Sweden that was so I had to Google Earth it (!) and now I know it's in the west of the country, north-east of Gothenburg. That's my Swedish geography lesson for today :-)

Today's gratuitous Salem pic

A recent one from his gig at the Rival in Stockholm. As the man himself would say...."Nice!"

Current Swedish tour: full list of dates - updated 02.12.07

18.11.07 - Rival, Stockholm
26.11.07 - Storan, Gothenburg
27.11.07 - Platens Bar, Linköping
28.11.07 - Konserthuset, Västerås
29.11.07 - Katalin Jazzclub, Uppsala
30.11.07 - Mejeriet, Lund
07.12.07 - Konserthus, Vara
08.12.07 - Klubb Smart, Örebro
13.12.07 - Heartbreak Hotell, Gävle
14.12.07 - Högfjällshotellet, Sälen
25.12.07 - Debaser, Stockholm