Dalhalla is a unique outdoor musical event stage situated and built in an ancient lime stone quarry in Dalecarlia. It's supposedly quite an experience to see a concert there, at the bottom of the quarry surrounded by the forest, the dark sky, the lights, the performances, the acoustic makes it magical. They claim, some say. Since 1993 there have been 20-30 performances from May-September.
Until a few months back I had only seen the stage and quarry from outside the surrounding fence. Then we had the opportunity to see a musical entertainment with
Peter Carlsson & Blå Grodorna (Blue Frogs). A mix'n'match band (music from different genres, jazz, Swedish folk songs, rock, French chansons, blues, pop, ballades, quite a bit of tall tales, sing-talking and so forth....) that has been pretty much sold out since the band got together somewhere around 1993.
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This Dalhalla show was my first proper encounter with them and we had a lovely (even if not everything in the repertoire appealed to me) evening, even if I wasn't
all that impressed by the venue and the acoustic, lots of mosquitoes, and alas not the least bit of magic. (For some reason I always find it difficult to "feel the magic" when one has to share a live show with thousands of others...) So, no, I would probably not jump at the opportunity to attend another event at Dalhalla -
well, perhaps if Pet Shop Boys would perform I would find it quite irresistible - but I'm glad I've experienced the place from inside at least once.
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The first night of the Dalhalla season was a lovely light, warm, early summer evening, a couple of the best seats "in the house" (front row, as close to the stage one gets, still not as close as one would think since there's a moat separating the stage from the audience), an appetizing picnic, a brisk walk uphill after the show ended (when the night had far from fell as far as light was concerned) made for an overall rather awesome night with or without magic and spell bounding acoustic.
a couple more pieces with the band can be found here and here,
well, it does seem like an impressive venue...
ReplyDeleteIt looks great. I'd love to see Coldplay there or everything but the girl.
ReplyDeleteMmmm, I love summer concerts.
unusual for sure, p.k, perhaps an opera or huge rock concert would make more of the acoustic. and a darker late summer evening.
ReplyDeleteoh, everything but the girl, me too, julie!