SWEDEN. Akers Styckebruk 18th of January 2014. When we arrive early the party is already in full bloom. Perfumed, newly styled, recently showered party ready people is mingling in the lounge with nothing but wide smiles and great expectations. In the showroom couples are already dancing to the tunes from Jan and the Jammers. The annual Winter dance party is here.Av Ellen Kay Krantz. Foto: Anna Lantz & Ellen Kay Krantz.
Kari from Eskilstuna hangs by the hot spot in the bar.
They sure know how to set the mood.
The 11th annual Winter Dance Party is arranged by Ronnie Bergvall and Rockabilly.nu. It clearly shows it’s a party with a great past when the place is nearly packed before ten o’clock. Which is a great indicator for a great evening. The newly built bar is proudly presented next to the jukebox which puts you in the right mood from the get go.
Rockabilly.nu have a tendency to hire the prettiest bartenders. Whether it is a requirement or not has yet to be confirmed.
The bartenders. – You can’t even order a Coke without blushing.
Smooth music from the 60’s
Smooth music is coming from the dance hall were Jan and the Jammers are rolling steadily. A newly improvised band that rose before Christmas and include members from The Major Keys. Janne Ostlund plays electric guitar. Simply that is worth the ticket.
Tonight I got to see Ostlund in a different light and that change, the tender voice, the more developed harmonies that comes with the beautiful 60’s
music suits Ostlund terrifically.
Jan and the Jammers with Antti Pihkanen on – wait for it – a Longhorn.
The band also surprises by Antti Pihkanen playing on a Longhorn instead of a double bass! The new winds blowing in from the south from these gentlemen generates big smiles and the search for the perfect dance partner begins.
The rehearsals leading up to Winter Dance Party presumably haven’t been neither long nor many.
As a younger observer I can’t help but to get impressed by the fact that these men, who year after year travel the length of Sweden many times around, still finds it in them to change things up, reach beyond “Pure Rockabilly” and spontaneously cook something new up. Music is dynamic and Jan and the Jammers are too.
- Jan and the Jammers passed 1956 and dipped their toes in new water.
Pianist Frank Snow and I share two Evian’s during the break and I ask him what’s up with up with the sitting arrangement.
– Uuuuuhmm.. Guess it turned out that I left the chair and stand at home. When I got here, the only things that actually made it here with me was the piano and this shirt.
Marcel Riesco tickles with his head voice to Roy Orbison covers.
You know how it works. Roy Orbison classics mixed with exciting B side’s that everyone forgot. I also know how you are thinking: Oh, no, not another interpretive text about the interpretation of the covers. Naaw, not really. Choosing to focus on the impression that remained all the way home. The delivery, the touch, the experience. Number by number is delivered with enthusiasm, intensity and with a lot of smizing. In black boots and a slick down that you just want to run your fingers through, he gives a very youthful impression. Riesco has got great contact with the audience. The stage talk is a combination of “- Hey, how is everybody doing tonight” and in a sweet, tentative voice provide information about the song. Conclusion: Guy with sympathy.
Taken. Riesco made Orbison look more alive than he’s been for many years. Something in the way of the approach in the singing and his way around the stage really impressed.
It could be the energy. It could be his kind of raw urge to please. His apparent will to please the audience that we don’t really see in that magnitude around here. The audience noticed the intensity and replied with a lots of shaking hips, sing-alongs and applauses’.
Jonas Holmberg from The HubCaps. Kind of injecting energy with high skills from the right wing.
Best dressed man and woman receives the prize from Ronnie Bergvall.
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Days of glamour.
The night has a feel of the glamour days of the public houses.
They won best dressed – Engaged to be married Lars Ove Jansson and Angelika Eriksson from Stockholm. Attended a course in LindyHop through Chicago swing dance studio.
Some have put a lot into this night by shovelling their way to their garages and backing out their historic cars. Iced pearls of frozen water makes the cars shimmer as they pull up to the entrance to pick the happy, cheerful party people up. Some of them have exchanged numbers, some already tagged in Facebook photos, some are held in a safe grip for the hundredth time by their lover and some of them are walking home, hand in hand. For the first time.
The talk on the town is already simmering. Rumours and speculations in the coat check line. They talk about which bands are going to play on the next, naturally warmer edition of Winter Dance Party.
– Summer Dance Party 2014!
En klart ass grym kväll, med mycket bra band.
Träffade mycket trevliga människor;)
Längtar tills nästa år igen.
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