Conor Oberst Gig In Stockholm

Despite of his young age Conor Oberst is by far one of the most productive musicians with his solo career and several bands. I totally adore his talent, lyrics and music. I got to see two Bright Eyes concerts in Sweden in 2011 and instantly booked tickets to his solo gig in Filadelfia Church in Stockholm in January.

Bright Eyes Debaser Medis Stockholm Feb 2011

Bright Eyes WTAI Gothenburg June 2011

A good seat really makes a difference! I sat some 5 meters away from the stage so that I could really enjoy the performance full.

 

  

And it was such a wonderful concert: Setlist - absolute top gigs I have ever been!

One of the curiosities with Conor is his collaboration with Swedish band First Aid Kit, whom I also like a lot. Therefore it is often the sister duo visits Conor on stage and he also visited their latest record on song King Of The World.

Johanna and Klara Söderberg with Conor in Stockholm Feb 2011

While in Stockholm it is a perfect opportunity to enjoy the town...

... and catch lots of other events, like Ola Salo's Swedish version of musical Jesus Christ Superstar in Göta Lejon. As being a big Ola fan I had already seen the musical when it was first performed in Malmö in 2009, but then I sat quite far away. This time we got the seats in very front and that really gave added value to the performance!

My favourite Stockholm museum Fotografiska had amazing and partly also a bit disturbing David LaChapelle exhibition. One could wish that we get this kind of high profile exhibitions also to Helsinki.

I also went to independent movie theatre Zita see the award-winning movie Eat Sleep Die, which has yet not arrived to Finland. Touching story about immigrants and job situation when "you do not have a change, take it". The film comes to the new Season Film Festival in Helsinki in April.

Learnings from the trip: always aim for a good seat!

Concert Trip To Stockholm

When tickets for Coldplay concert in Stockholm on 30th August were released last December I immediately decided to attend. Coldplay is one of my favourite bands and their live shows are always amazing. And this was a good opportunity to make a short visit to Stockholm.

Coldplay Stockholm Stadion 30.8.2012

There are few places I always tend to visit while in Stockholm: department stores PUB with interior stores R.O.O.M and Systrarna Voltaire as well as Åhlens with lots of Swedish clothes brands such as Odd Molly, Hope and Twist&Tango.

R.O.O.M.

Systrarna Voltaire

Designtorget has lots interesting and clever small items and it is always easy to spend some time going through the stuff there.

Designtorget

Bengans record store I usually visit in order to check the latest album releases or just enjoying to leaf through albums.

Bengans

Book stores and the best newspaper and magazine store Press Stop at Götgatan are too tempting for me...

Magazines from Press Stop

And when it is time for a break there are many nice coffee houses such as Vete-Katten and of course Wagamama for lunch.

Wagamama

Vete-Katten

This time the main reason for the trip was magnificent Coldplay concert at Stockholm Stadion and I also got to see Lady Gaga's Born This Way Ball at Ericsson Globe Arena the next day.

Coldplay 

Lady Gaga

There are so many great gigs and exhibitions (such as David LaChapelle at Fotografiska) coming to Stockholm later this year so it is about time to start planning the next trip!

Weekend Trip To Stockholm

It takes less than an hour to fly from Helsinki to Stockholm. That (among other things) makes Stockholm a perfect weekend mini-holiday destination.

I love just walking around beautiful Stockholm watching people, buildings and the seaview.

Vasastan

There are many interesting museums, like my favourite Fotografiska, where I tend to visit every time. They have had really high profile photo exhibitions, such as Annie Leibovitz, Anton Corbijn, Robert Mapplethorpe and now Sally Mann. 

Fotografiska

This time I did two museum visits as I also wanted to see Yoko Ono's exhibition at Moderna Museet. Few weird videos and texts from the book Grapefruit.

Moderna Museet's permanent exhibition includes some interesting pieces like Andy Warhol's Brillo boxes.

The museum itself locates at beautiful Skeppsholmen and even if one is not interested in the museums (The Museum of Modern Art, The Architectural Museum and East-Asian Museum) it is nice to have a walk around the tiny island.

View from Moderna Museet

When getting tired of museums there is another reason to walk around as Stockholm offers plenty of opportunities to shop.

Tiogruppen on Götgatan

Besides my usual shopping spots (Åhlens, NK, Biblioteksgatan and Södermalm area) this time we also visited Quality Outlet Stockholm at Barkarby. It was very convenient to take a local train from Stockholm Central Station (pendeltåg towards Bålsta) to  Jacobsberg, where you chang to bus 567 and get off at bustop Herrestavägen. The whole trip takes approximately 30 minutes and if you like the brands that are present at the Outlet, it is worth for a fews hours journey.

Stockholm Quality Outlet

After visiting museums and shopping it is nice to sit down and have something good to eat. Dumplings are the new sushi and there are plenty of places to choose from. This time we chose Jappi Sushi & Wok at Drottninggatan and both sushi and dumpligs were delicious.

Sushi

Dumplings

I like this new trend of Asian fast food and cannot wait this kind of dumplings restaurants and Wagamama to land in Helsinki.

Salmon and noodels at Wagamama

We had dinner at Lebanese restaurant Sahara, which was cozy, yet little bit cold restaurant in Vasastan. Would really like to have their lunch buffee as it sounded very versatile yet reasonably priced. Tasted some nice meze portions and my favourites were meat pies (Sambousak Bel Lahme) and Halloumi cheese.

Sahara, Olofsgatan 7B

  













So this trip was mainly museums, food and shopping. What a nice and relaxing weekend!

Museum visits at Fotografiska and Moderna Museet

Wagamama, Klarabergsviadukten 65

Really need to go to Stockholm again soon!

Winter Visits to Sweden

I have a huge travel fever and eagerly want to go somewhere far away. Started wondering why and figured out that usually I tend to travel in March. And skipping this routine has caused me restlessness.

Still, I believe this is going to be satisfying travel year. So far I visited Gothenburg in January and Stockholm in February.

Winter view of beautiful Stockholm.

Humlegården park in Stockholm.

 And managed to catch some great concerts and exhibitions on these two trips:

Anton Corbijn photo exhibition at Fotografiska in Stockholm.

Independent cinema Folkets bio Zita has great selection of foreign films.

Frida Kahlo and Diego Rivera exhibition at The Gothenburg Museum of Art.

Ola Salo and Sveriges Radios Symfoniorkester in Stockholm

Anna Ternheim starting her Night Visitor tournee in Gothenburg.