The Cardigans - Sick And Tired

My Cardigans stories (part 2)

2011-10-25T01:32:00.000-07:00

While you read, as for part 1, you can listen to some tracks from concerts I attended :

1. My Favourite Game (Stockholm Calling, 2003)
2. For What It's Worth (Nyon Paléo Festival, 2003)
3. Interview with Magnus and Bengt about the Cardigans' musical abilities (Stuttgart, 2003)
4. Explode (Stuttgart 2003)
5. Live And Learn (Popstad Festival, Jönköping, 2004)
6. I Need Some Fine Wine And You, You Need To Be Nicer (Paris, 2006)
7. A Camp - Stronger Than Jesus (with the Sweptaways, Stockholm, 2009)
8. A Camp - Love Has Left The Room (Paris, 2009)

Download

Late 2002 or early 2003 came the news that the Cardigans had finally got together and painfully managed to record a new album, Long Gone Before Daylight. The album was worth the wait, as it might be, in my opinion, their best. Their “comeback” concert was to take place at a new festival called “Stockholm Calling”, which they were headlining along with Placebo and Zwan. Several fans on the Cardigans’ forum, including me, decided that they would do the trip to Stockholm to see this definitely historical event. So, on May 30^th, I drove 800 km to Germany, met Astrid there (a 1^st class fan), and we took the cheapest flight to Stockholm and gathered with other fans near the Käknas Tower on May 31^st at 12:00. And it was great to finally meet people that I had “known” for years on the forum. The sun was shining, from a distance we could hear the Cardigans rehearse an acoustic version of “Explode” (that they would call “Implode”), before we got into the festival area, near the Sjöhistoriska Museet. As Placebo was playing, we noticed Lasse passing by.

Then, around 8:00, the Cardigans started playing, and our little group of fans had managed to be close to the stage.

The Cardigans gradually came on stage with The Road which was an excellent intro. They only played a part of it and got directly into Implode, the uptempo and more acoustic version of Explode. The Cardigans were six on stage, as a woman by the name of Eva Landqvist had joined them for the tour, singing (very well) backing vocals and playing a bit of guitar and keyboards. Seeing the great attitude of the band on stage, I knew it was going to be a great evening ! They were smiling and definitely wanted to do a real good show. They really seemed to enjoy themselves and we couldn't tell they were nervous, as we found out later in the evening.

The Cardigans had decided to play most of their last album, although the fact that it's mostly ballads meant it might not be too appropriate to a yelling festival audience. On the other hand, as Magnus explained, their album was number 1 in Sweden, so they could afford that... But they are to play more uptempo songs for their summer festivals dates to come. Lovefool was on the set-list but they didn't play it because of lack of time.

I liked the little grin on Peter's face when he hit a wrong note during the solo of Lead Me Into The Night. And Magnus's face was so funny, when he sang along the lyrics, looking as serious as he could look. And Nina has been coming on too late into "Hanging Around", missing the frist verse ; this was rather fun too and she didn't seem to take it too seriously either !

Long Gone Before Daylight is an album who was made to be performed live, but a festival might not be the best place. People were yelling even during the slow numbers. Of course it's OK to do this with uptempo rocking songs, but I didn't see the point with songs like Couldn't Care Less or Communication...

So it was a fantastic show, especially as the band took the risk of playing mainly Long Gone Before Daylight songs. They were very nervous, Magnus later told me, but we weren’t, we just enjoyed each and every second of it ! Among the great surprises was the new Black Sabbath cover, Changes, certainly the most beautiful they did. Before the last song, My Favourite Game, Nina told in English “We know from our homepage that many many fans have travelled from far, and we just want you guys to know that we’re really happy that you did this for us”. Awwww... What more could we ask for ? Maybe meeting the band ? Well, we did (kind of).

After the end of the concert we hang around near the backstage entrance. We saw Lasse talking with friends or family, but no one of us wanted to bother him. So we waited for a while and then he came to us, spoke a little bit and signed autographs.

Then he went away, listening to the next concert, I think. But before he left he told us "I'll tell the others to come out to see you". Did we really hear what we heard ??? That was certainly not to moment to leave !

Still, it was getting REALLY cold and I had to dance and jump like a madman to keep my vital functions working ! Time was going on, we were still freezing. Then Lasse came back and asked me "Did the others come ?" and I answered "No, you're the only one !" "I told them to come", he said, and left again. And finally a few moments later, we saw Bengt, in a situation where we certainly couldn't disturb him ; and then he recognized Tim, webmaster of the Cardigans' Collector Page, who has followed them on their '99 tour. He spoke a bit with him, then with Astrid, another German devotee, then with me ; when I told him I was from France he asked me where I was living - in French ! Nice surprise. Then he signed autographs, had pics taken and chatted with the other fans.

And then it was Nina's turn ! She came with a big "hello" and shook everyone's hand and asking everyone's name. I tried to talk to her but it was very difficult to have a conversation with the loud music. I said that she looked really happy on stage this evening, same as when I saw her with A Camp. Then she moved onto someone else, and we could also see people rushing to her to have their pic taken. Soon it was almost impossible to approach her.

Just as Nina arrived she was followed by Magnus. Then I went to shake his hand and introduce myself, as he knew my name from being a regular on the forum. As both Nina and Magnus seemed not to mind about having pics taken with fans, well, I thought I'd have my pics as well ! And pics and autographs would be really useful to be sure that what happened really happened and that it was not a dream...

After a while Nina said goodbye and left, I think the festival was over at that point and people were leaving. But Magnus stayed and kept on chatting with us. We all had a relaxed chat with him, talked about Long Gone Before Daylight, the 5.1 remix to come, which he found fantastic, a Cardigans DVD (not planned for the time being), a live album, his solo work as Righteous Boy, his mixed feelings when he was recording Gran Turismo, how nervous they all were for this concert... And he thanked us many times for being here, and we thanked him back as much for being here with us too ! I could also see the security people waiting for us to leave, but they couldn't tell us to go, cause we were with Magnus, ha ha !

Finally we left and said goodbye to Magnus. It was the end of a wonderful, an incredible day, where everything had turned right, better than anyone in our group of fans would ever have thought. We had just missed the last bus to the center of Stockholm, but who cared ? We were still tripping high !

We ended up in a café celebrating this incredible day, before going our own way. For me, this meant waiting in Stockholm’s main station for a bus to take me back to the airport. And after the flight, I still had 800 km to drive back home, after two sleepless nights. I had never been so tired in my whole life, and not surprisingly, got ill right after I came back home. But it was soooo worth it !

Since the Cardigans or couldn’t come to play in France as they didn't get any interesting offer from a promoter, I had to travel again (but not so far) to Switzerland, to see them at the Paléo Festival in Nyon, in July 2003. They had changed their set list, it was now more adapted to festival audiences (they got Lovefool back, for example, and removed most slow songs), but it was less interesting for fans (and for them, I guess). In my opinion, the band belongs more to small intimate halls than arenas or festivals. Anyway, after what happened at Stockholm Calling, I couldn’t help feeling that it was a slight letdown. Not much more to say.

I saw the band a third time this year, in Stuttgart (Germany), in November. After another 800 km drive, my then girlfriend and I arrived at the Römerkastell where the gig would take place, around 4:00. There wasn’t much going on, when my girlfriend showed me someone coming near us and told me “Isn’t it Magnus ?” It was. And he was indeed coming to see us, saying he was ready for the interview. What ? Gasp.

Here’s what happened.

A few weeks before, I asked through e-mail to the Cardigans’ management if there was a possibility I could interview them, then publish the interview on my website, “the only French site about the band”, I boasted to make it look important... I didn’t get any answer in the following days, I forgot about it thinking they didn’t even care to answer, then my computer broke down and I didn’t have access to the internet for several days. In the meantime I had received a positive answer, only I didn’t know about it...

That’s what I explained to Magnus, slightly (did I say slightly ?) embarrassed... He said it was OK, don’t worry, relax, we’ll do it anyway. We went to a room and Bengt joined us, and I had to improvise an interview (although I had a few questions “ready”, about things I always wondered...) Fortunately I had my faithful MiniDisc recorder with me and I was able to record the whole thing. Bengt got the opportunity to practice his French (he studied it in school and went to France for a semester in the university), I also practiced my meagre Swedish. For almost an hour, we discussed various subjects, especially about the 1999-2002 period when the future of the band was incertain and their comeback at Stockholm Calling. We also talked about Magnus’s solo album that had been released the previous year. There was a piano in the room and he played a bit of Loved Among Friends, the first single from the album and the best song from it, in my opinion. I took a few pictures and Magnus said it was time for them to go rehearse, but that we would continue the interview after the concert if it was OK with me. It certainly was !

We wandered again near the hall, listening to the Cardigans’ rehearsal that we could hear quite clearly. We heard a full instrumental version of Hanging Around, among other things. The concert was fantastic. It started with an old-fashioned organ intro, played by Lasse's temporary replacement, Robban Crosioe. Then Peter and Nina arrived, then the rest of the band, to open with And Then You Kissed Me, in the same scenery as during the summer festivals tour (chandeliers and old curtains). Nina had changed her hairstyle again, with a big fringe reminding of Chrissie Hynde from the Pretenders, and dark brown hair. Magnus played barefoot as usual. He spotted me quickly at the first row, and for the first time in a Cardigans concert, I felt like I was not only watching but also being watched from time to time !

The playing was tight, the set-list nearly perfect, the audience was enthusiastic, and they played for over 1 hour and a half, which was at last a reasonable length for a concert ! Before the second encore, Magnus sent a flower in my way ; I tied it proudly on my coat ! He sat on the foldback speaker to play Changes, the Black Sabbath cover. “You won’t stand the speed of that song”, joked Nina, as their cover was, for the first time, faster than the original version, but was nevertheless a quite calm ballad ! Then Nina introduced “the real goodnight song”, which was perfect indeed to close the concert : Lead Me Into The Night. At the end of the show, the band threw flowers again at the audience, and Bengt, recognising us, threw us a couple of flowers. That was nice. I kept the flower for months until it was totally decomposed ! I came out totally amazed by the fantastic concert I had just seen.

At the end of the show, the band threw flowers at the audience, and Bengt, recognising us, threw us a couple of flowers. That was nice. I kept the flower for months until it was totally decomposed !

We then went near the dressing room doors to wait for Magnus, with some German fans. We saw Peter passing by, and then Magnus, who just had a shower, joined us for a chat for a few minutes. Nina came out, signed a few autographs and Magnus introduced me to her as “Yann, the George Harrison fan” (I was, and after having read that Nina especially loved his All Things Must Pass album, I had sent her a CD of unreleased sessions from this album). She told me that he was her favourite Beatles member, that she had a “romantic dream” about him, and that by the way, I looked like him ! Then she left. Magnus told me we could carry on our interview, in the same room as this afternoon. So we spent half an hour talking, then Magnus walked with us out of the building, thanking us for having gone such a long way to see them. Of course we thanked him back, and so ended what was, along with my Stockholm Calling day, my most fantastic Cardigans' experience.

My next Cardigans concert took place in February 2004. The Cardigans were scheduled to play in their hometown, Jönköping, as part of a festival called “Popstad”, on Valentine Day. I was on vacation, cheap flight tickets were available, so I thought, why not ? That was another fan gathering, a smaller one, as it was Astrid from Germany, Erica from Sweden, and myself. (We were also joined by another French guy who became more and more annoying as we got to know him, and we did our best to avoid him as much as we could...) Right after our arrival, we ate at "Papillon", the Cardigans' favourite pizzeria, "a big part of our upbringing", according to Magnus. Then, on our first complete day there, we were invited by another fan, Poa, a ballooning champion, for a trip over the lakes and forests near Gränna, a small town not far from Jönköping. I was afraid to be totally frozen (and I got frozen), but I decided at the last minute to go along and I didn’t regret it.

On the evening of the show, we managed to get rid of the annoying guy and went to the hall where the concert took place :another great one, and we had the privilege to hear the first-ever performance of what would become Good Morning Joan. They played the song at the beginning of the concert, just before it started being broadcasted by national radio. It was just for us ! Another unusual song was Downbound Train, a Bruce Springsteen song that they performed with Nicke Borg from the Backyard Babies.

Before My Favourite Game, Nina announced that she was going to speak English for a while (she'd been speaking Swedish until now, of course). She said, looking at us, "We see there are some old friends of ours this evening as well, thanks for coming over". It goes without saying that it touched our little group of mad Cardifans and that we clapped, yelled and waved back at her !

After the end of the concert, we waited for a while in the hall then out out of the hall, hoping that Magnus would come to say hi, which he did. First thing he asked was "What are you doing here ?" He knew we were supposed to come but it probably seemed unbelievable to him the people could actually travel from far away to see the Cardigans in Jönköping during the Swedish winter... We had a little chat about the official website and then the new song : Magnus thought they had played it quite right and said that the working title was For The Girls. On the set list that Astrid got it was called Låt 2 (Rhum & Cola) as one of the Cardigans' crew members thought the song reminded him of another song about rhum & cola, although he couldn't be more precise about which song and which artist it was... We chatted a bit more, and then Peter came along, said hi, shook our hands and went away. So did Magnus, after thanking us for coming and giving us "a little present", a bottle of Corona Beer each !

The next day, we had a little tour of Jönköping, saw Cardigans-related places before heading back to Erica’s place, then Göteborg where we took our plane back to Germany. Another 800 km drive and I was back home, extremely tired but once more very happy with the whole experience.

The Cardigans finally went back to France to promote Super Extra Gravity when it was released in October 2005. Unfortunately they didn’t play any “regular” concert, only TV and radio appearances that I wasn’t able to attend. So I had to wait until April 2006 to get another chance (probably the last) to see them, in Paris one more time. They did a fantastic show, the audience was wild (the best of this tour, Magnus later wrote on the Cardigans’ site), and I was happy to be able to go there with my future wife. We were both working the next day and we had a 400 km-drive back home, so there was no way we could try to wait for the band after the concert and say hi or anything. I guess that’s also what you call growing old...

About five months later, the Cardigans gave their last shows in Brazil, and I personally think it’s highly unlikely they’ll play together again.

Fortunately we still have solo projects to look forward to, and I got to see Nina performing live with A Camp twice in 2009. First, in Stockholm, in a wonderful old-fashioned hall called Cirkus. They played Golden Teeth and Silver Medals with the same singer as on the album, Nicolai Dunger (not that I care that much for him, but...) and the best thing of the evening was probably the performance of Stronger Than Jesus with a great choir called the Sweptaways, who did the opening for A Camp. A few weeks later, in a very small hall (“La Maroquinerie”) in Paris, they played a set which was way too short (not even an hour) but I had the delight to be in the first row, right in front of Nina and the others. Unfortunately they didn’t do a signing/selling stuff session like they did in some other places.

With hindsight I’m really happy to have been able to see the Cardigans at so many various points of their career, see them evolving and I guess, growing up too. It’s also very nice to see that people who make music you like so much also seem to be very nice, pleasant and intelligent human beings, as far as I was able to see, and who never got their heads swelling too much. And I can only finish this by thanking them again and again!

My Cardigans stories (part 1)

2011-09-24T01:16:00.000-07:00

What follows is based on an idea by Jason, who runs the cardifans.com page and asked Cardigans fans to record videos where they would tell their experiences and thoughts about the band. I was not too keen on auto-interviewing myself, but I thought I could write down all my experiences about/with the Cardigans, for your enjoyment (hopefully) but also to make sure that my memories don't disappear too quickly in the mists of time - I noticed while writing this it that there were already some blurry parts about things that happened not even ten years ago, so I guess it was time to do this !

While you read this, I suggest you listen to the following selection of tracks from concerts I attended, so that you feel like you were there too !

1. Hey! Get Out Of My Way (Paris, Erotica 1996)
2. Celia Inside (Paris, Erotica 1996)
3. Been It (Paris, Elysée Montmartre 1999)
4. Lovefool (Paris, Elysée Montmartre 1999)
5. A Camp - Frequent Flyer (Paris, Le Cabaret Sauvage 2001)
6. A Camp - I Can Buy You (Paris, Le Cabaret Sauvage 2001)

Download

I discovered the Cardigans in May 1995. Wow, that was 16 years ago ! I was in my room while some radio played Sick & Tired and I was simply amazed by what I heard. I was staring at the speakers, trying to understand how something could sound so beautiful. I taped two thirds of the song and the next problem was : who was that ? They played this song as a filler and no DJ said anything about it.

No Internet yet to search info. I tried to find who they could be with my meagre clues by browsing endlessly in my usual record shop, but I wasn’t successful. Fortunately, about a week later, some local radio played In the afternoon (or maybe Black letter day ?), I recognized the voice (THE voice!) and they were kind enough to tell the title of song and the name of the band. I rushed to my record store the next day to buy Emmerdale, and that was it, I was hooked.

What was kind of frustrating is that I only had this single album to play, as, I guessed, this was their first one. I only had to regularly check my record store, hoping there would be another one coming one of these days. And it did, late 1995, Life was released, with a slight disappointment that it included some songs already featured in Emmerdale (it was the UK version and not the original Swedish one). Around this time I managed to make a friend addicted to them too (although not as seriously as me).

I first saw the Cardigans in concert in May 1996. Purely by chance I happened to find that they would play a very small venue in Paris (they were virtually unknown, not played on national radios or TV channels or anything). So I travelled 400 km to see them (that was a short trip compared to what was to come) in this “Erotica” hall. Maybe 200 people, and funnily, maybe more Japanese people than French. I didn’t know about the success of the band in Japan yet, but it all made sense later. And they were screamin “En gång till” (“one more time !”) in Swedish, now, that was exotic. I remember thinking later that I was in France, along with Japanese people, listening to a Swedish band singing songs in English. About the concert itself, well, it was obviously fantastic, with this funny contrast between Nina, very calm, snapping her fingers as the ultimate stage action, and Peter and Magnus who were jumping everywhere all the time. They played Step on me which was yet unreleased at that time and had me clapping at the wrong time, thinking that the song was finished when it wasn’t... I also remember Lasse’s old-looking keyboard with a Star Wars “May the force be with you” sticker on it. Great concert, but way too short, barely one hour. But you can’t expect more from a band that had only two albums released, I guess. Another regret : they had theses great “We’re the Cardigans, and you’re not” T-shirts for sale, and I didn’t buy one, as they were extremely expensive. Now I wish I had.

Came Lovefool and everything changed. Until then when I spoke about the band to some of my friends, I always had to explain who they were, nobody had heard about them. And suddenly I found myself being a fan of a fashionable band, which I certainly didn’t see coming. I was probably slightly less enthusiastic about First band on the moon than about the first two albums, but I still enjoyed it very much, Lovefool included.

But when Gran Turismo was released, I was at first not thrilled at all, except by the instantly catchy My Favourite Game. I have a tendency to prefer “natural” instruments to electronic ones, so it took me a while to get used to this album, and find that there were still great melodies (which is always what attracts me in the first place) buried under the electronica.

I think that’s around the First Band On The Moon era that I wrote to Stockholm Records to request autographs from the band. They were away on tour at the time, but I was sent a great (real) autographed picture of the band in tennis clothes.

My next opportunity to see the Cardigans in concert came in April 1999. Once more I had to travel to Paris, book a hotel room close to the Elysée Montmartre hall where they played (a much bigger venue than the Erotica !) I had just dropped my stuff in my hotel room and went down for a walk in the streets, when in Rue Dancourt I stumbled upon Nina and her boyfriend (was it Nathan Larson yet ? Can’t remember). I just couldn’t believe it (what are the odds ?), I somehow managed to ask for her autograph (I had a pen and some paper, just in case), tell her “see you tonight at the concert” and that was it. I certainly didn’t want to disturb them more, and away they went. And away I went with a big silly smile on my face. I hope they erected a statue in Rue Dancourt to commemorate the event !

The concert itself illustrated how things had changed for the band since I last saw them. Bigger hall, I was much further from the stage, which was disappointing. Magnus wasn’t there, being too tired and stressed by life on the road, Nina was experiencing throat problems (some gigs had to be cancelled to preserve her voice) and seemed rather gloomy. At one point during the concert, she said “You’re very quiet... Do you hate us ?”, which is something that might be a bit dangerous to tell the audience... It goes without saying that I enjoyed the concert, anyway, but things had clearly changed. Later, Magnus told me how much pressure there was on the band then, and how close they were to breaking up.

By the way, got my first Cardigans T-shirt there. “Gran Truismo”, it said !

I saw the band perform again a few months later, in July 1999, in La Rochelle, on the Atlantic Coast, in a festival called “Les Francofolies”, usually devoted to French-speaking artists only, but for whatever reason they had decided to bring a few English-speaking bands, so they were there, playing a slightly shorter set than in Paris, mostly Gran Turismo songs. Once again I was too far from the stage for my taste. I can’t say I have lots of memories from this concert.

A few days later I went to Sweden for the first time. I had been invited there by a girl that I had met through the Cardigans’ website forum a few months before, who had also bought for me Peter Svensson’s solo album, Paus, that wasn’t available outside of Sweden. She was a Cardigans’ fan, especially interested in Magnus, but maybe not only for musical reasons. We were staying in Lund, a beautiful little town close to Malmö. We had a phonebook for Malmö (a Swedish phonebook is a funny thing : dozens of pages of “Svensson”, dozens of pages of “Persson”...) and I can’t remember how, but she got what seemed to be the right address for Magnus. We went to Malmö, found the right building, but we were both too shy to try to ring at Magnus’s door. Just took a pic of me in front of the door. With stalkers like us, he was safe, really. We also went “where the magic happened”, to Tambourine Studios, which we had a hard time finding. The doors were closed, quite obviously.

Later, my Swedish friend got to meet Magnus when he was DJing in a club in Malmö. She told her about our attempts, he said we should have rung, he would have given us a tour of Tambourine... Oh, the regrets !

During this stay, we also went to a music festival that took place in Malmö. Not that the Cardigans were performing there or anything, but that was nice to hear some good Swedish bands, and the icing on the cake was that Peter Svensson was there in the crowd, and I got to shake his hand and tell him how much I enjoyed his Paus album. (I might be the only, or one of the only person(s) in France to own this album, by the way...)

Later that year I created a website dedicated to the Cardigans, that I naturally called Sick And Tired, both in French and English.

Then it clearly appeared that the Cardigans were on a hiatus, and the spotlight was now on Nina who released her first A Camp album in 2001. (I received mine in the mail on September 11, 2001.) One more trip to Paris in October, to see her perform in a small hall this time, called “Le Cabaret Sauvage”. And she looked the opposite of what she looked like in ’99 : now she seemed relaxed, happy to be there, as she was free from all the pressure she felt with the Cardigans. And I enjoyed myself a lot too, I especially appreciated the fact that the songs were free of what I would call the “beeping sounds” that were almost all over the A Camp album to make it sound “modern” or whatever, and were, in my opinion, useless and distracting.

To be continued !

Live at Sirius Radio, 31.01.2007 (?)

2011-07-04T12:09:00.000-07:00

And now, a true rarity : 4 acoustic songs recorded by Nina and Peter for Sirius Radio. The given date is 31.01.2007, however it might be the date it was aired, as it seems likely that it was recorded during Nina and Peter's trip to the USA in October 2006. The set list is the same as what they played on Oct. 31st, 2006 at the CMJ Music Marathon in New York. But it's just my guess, what do I really know ?
This recording is featured here courtesy of Juan, who finally found some time in his busy schedule to share it with us ! Gracias !

1. I Need Some Fine Wine And You, You Need To Be Nicer
2. Don't Blame Your Daughter
3. Overload
4. Live & Learn

Link

Cologne, 09.02.2006

2011-06-01T02:00:00.001-07:00

This concert was part of a promo event led by German mobile phone company O2. Perfect soundboard recording and great performance, a few months before the official start of the Super Extra Gravity tour.

1. In The Round
2. Losing A Friend
3. Erase/Rewind
4. I Need Some Fine Wine And You, You Need To Be Nicer5. Live And Learn
6. Little Black Cloud
7. Don't Blame Your Daughter (Diamonds)
8. You're The Storm
9. Godspell
10. Hanging Around
11. My Favourite Game
12. 03.45 No Sleep

Link

God Jul / Merry Christmas / Joyeux Noël !

2010-12-20T01:56:00.000-08:00

Here's a little Christmas gift, two old - but so fresh - live recordings, the first being the oldest known recording for a Swedish radio (in Göteborg), from July 4th, 1994, seven songs along with some interviews.

1. In The Afternoon
2. Carnival
3. Over The Water
4. Black Letter Day
5. Sick And Tired
6. Rise And Shine
7. Sabbath Bloody Sabbath

Download

Next, we have the Cardigans' first appearance at Roskilde Festival in Denmark, June 29th, 1995 (from a Danish radio broadcast).

1. Carnival
2. Daddy's Car
3. Gordon's Gardenparty
4. Tomorrow
5. In The Afternoon
6. Fine
7. Hey! Get Out Of My Way

Download

Up The Mountain live !

2010-11-17T08:10:00.000-08:00

Up The Mountain is a "fake Christian country band" (their own description) featuring the "rhythm section" of the Cardigans : Magnus Sveningsson (bass), Lasse Johansson (guitar/vocals/mandolin), and Bengt Lagerberg (drums). It also features Maria Davidson (vocals/guitar), Lotta Wenglen (vocals/guitar/maracas), Johan Olsén (vocals, banjo), "Dubbel" Johan Bandling Melin - pedal steel guitar and various guests : Titiyo Jah, Anna Maria Espinosa, Daniel Lemma and Sylvester Schlegel.
Formed in 2006, the band mostly plays cover versions of songs by (or made popular by) Neil Young, Bob Dylan, Johnny Cash, Dolly Parton, Willie Nelson, but also country-ish covers of songs from The Velvet Underground or Beck. And let's not forget their sole original composition, aptly titled Up The Mountain, written by Magnus.

If you hate country music, you probably won't like Up The Mountain very much. But if you have at least a slight interest in the genre and if you enjoyed the Cardigans' country-rock songs of the Long Gone Before Daylight era, you're in for a very enjoyable experience, and their inspired performances are also a good way to discover the works of the great artists mentioned above, if you don't know them already.

The band has released 2 live albums ; you can still buy the second one directly from Magnus, at a bargain price, on his ebay page (he hasn't got any CD directly on sale, click on "Contact member" - you'll need an ebay account).

With his permission (thanks !), I have the pleasure to offer you three songs from the second live album :
1. Up The Mountain/Neverending Song Of Love (sung by Lotta Wenglen & Maria Davidsson)
2. Born In Time (sung by Anna Maria Espinosa)
3. Gotta Get Drunk (sung by Lasse Johansson)

Link

Dun Dun - Malmö, 22.04.2010

2010-10-31T02:10:00.001-07:00

Dun Dun is a Swedish band featuring two members of the Cardigans, Magnus Sveningsson (bass, guitar, vocals) and Lasse Johansson-Ståle (guitar, vocals). The rest of the band is : Erika Rosén (vocals, guitar), Christine Owman (vocals, guitar), Tittie Åsberg (drums), Henrik Hoffer (guitar, bass), Sanna Jacobsson (tambourine).
This is their first live performance in Kickstart Club, Malmö, on April 22nd, 2010.
Taken from a live stream, AVI video file, 480x360.

1. Dun Dun
2. This Time I Know For Sure

3. ?
4. Already Gone
5. Magazine Woman

Link

Helsinki, 28.10.2003

2010-10-09T01:49:00.000-07:00

A great soundboard recording (with a better mix than the official "Live in Kiev" tracks, for example) of what might be the Cardigans' finest hour and finest tour.

1. Intro
2. And Then You Kissed Me
3. Please Sister
4. For What It's Worth
5. Live And Learn
6. Paralyzed
7. Erase/Rewind
8. Hanging Around
9. If There Is A Chance
10. 03:45 No Sleep
11. Higher
12. Implode
13. You're The Storm
14. A Good Horse
15. Lovefool
16. Feathers And Down
17. Communication
18. My Favourite Game
19. Lead Me Into The Night

Link

A Camp - Hamburg 2009 (video)

2010-09-15T00:50:00.000-07:00

Courtesy of Resistent (thanks a lot !), nine songs from A Camp's concert in Hamburg on April 15th, 2009 (WMV video file).

The songs are :

1. The Crowning
2. Walking The Cow
3. I've Done It Again
4. Algebra
5. I Can Buy You
6. My America
7. Stronger Than Jesus
8. Song For The Leftovers
9. The Weed Had Got There First

Link

Göteborg 14.10.2003

2010-08-18T04:51:00.000-07:00

From their late 2003 tour, a good audience recording, featuring most of the Long Gone Before Daylight album, but also the fantastic cover of Black Sabbath's Changes, and also the only song from the early days that the Cardigans would play from time to time right until their last tour in 2006 : Rise And Shine.

CD 1
1. And Then You Kissed Me
2. Please Sister
3. For What It's Worth
4. Live And Learn
5. Paralyzed
6. Erase/Rewind
7. Hanging Around
8. If There Is A Chance
9. 03:45 No Sleep
10. Higher

CD 2
1. Explode
2. You're The Storm
3. A Good Horse
4. Lovefool
5. Feathers And Down
6. Communication
7. Rise And Shine
8. My Favourite Game
9. Changes
10. Lead Me Into The Night

Link

In The Beginning

2010-08-02T03:46:00.000-07:00

For several years, three demos presumably from 1993 have been available among Cardigans collectors : Simon Says, Celebration and Fine.
But the Holy Grail for collectors was only recently found. First, let's go back to late 1992 (or early 1993), when the just-formed Cardigans recorded two 4-track EPs, to be sent as demos to record labels in Sweden. The two EPs were named The World According To... and In Pursuit of Pooh, and only 300 copies of each were pressed. Some of these copies were sold at extremely high prices by various sellers. In 2009, SmallTalker, a regular on the Cardigans' forum, bought the two EPs and after a few months, generously made them available to everyone.
The sound of the recording was quite strange : unsurprisingly, there was a lot of vinyl static, but most of the songs sounded "thin", with no bass, except for two which were the opposite, very "boomy', with no high end.
What you will find here is, in my opinion, a better-sounding version of these fantastic recordings, carefully re-equalized and denoised. The three other demos were also treated, in particular Fine where a drop-out has been fixed. (Note : The MP3 labelling of the tracks is a bit messy. Feel free to correct that if needed).
I hope you'll enjoy this.

Track-listing :
1. Rise And Shine
2. Happy Here
3. Wrapped
4. Hard
5. Treasure
6. The Rescue Of The Man Next Door
7. Pooh Song
8. Dig My Earth
9. Simon Says
10. Celebration
11. Fine

Link

This blog is back on track !

2010-07-29T08:50:00.000-07:00

After several months of inactivity, I've finally decided to update this blog : I've removed all the dead links and replaced most of them by new links. I couldn't bother to re-upload the A Camp DVD and the NerveWrecking film again, because it's simply too huge and takes days.

New stuff coming soon, hopefully !

"Morning Becomes Eclectic", KCRW 1996

2009-08-24T01:20:00.000-07:00

A short set recorded on June 18th, 1996 for Los Angeles radio KCRW. Courtesy of Jason, thanks !

1. interview
2. Hey! Get Out Of My Way
3. interview
4. Carnival
5. interview
6. Celia Inside
7. interview
8. Sick And Tired
9. interview

link

A Camp - Philadelphia 2009

2009-08-02T01:54:00.000-07:00

Soundboard recording, in one MP3 file, nearly complete (the three missing songs being probably Algebra, Here Are Many Wild Animals and Boys Keep Swinging), of a concert that took place on May 31st, 2009 at Johnny Brenda's tavern in Philadelphia. As far as I know it's probably the only soundboard recording made during the US tour.

Track-listing :
1. The Crowning
2. Love Has Left the Room
3. Frequent Flyer
4. Angel of Sadness
5. Walking the Cow
6. Golden Teeth and Silver Medals (w/Gentleman Reg)
7. I’ve Done It Again
8. Bear on the Beach
9. I Signed the Line
10. I Can Buy You
11. Chinatown
12. My America
13. Stronger than Jesus
14. Song for the Leftovers
15. The Weed Had Got There First

Link

The Cardigans - Last video ?

2009-05-27T07:42:00.000-07:00

Here is an edit of the available videos of what seems to be the last Cardigans' concert (well, kind of, as it's "only" Nina & Peter), at the Knitting Factory in New York, on October 31st, 2006.
So here are Don't Blame Your Daughter (Diamonds) and I Need Some Fine Wine... from this concert, trying to make an enjoyable edit with the different (and quite dark) sources, and also using the best sound sources I could find.

Link

A Camp - Stockholm 2009

2009-04-22T01:55:00.000-07:00

Here are some highlights of A Camp's concert in Cirkus, Stockholm ! This is an audience recording.

1. Angel Of Sadness
2. Golden Teeth And Silver Medals
3. Here Are Many Wild Animals
4. Walking The Cow
5. Chinatown
6. Algebra (rehearsal)

Link

A Camp live in Stockholm ! (featuring 2 videos and pics)

2009-04-14T08:04:00.000-07:00

A Camp's stop in Stockholm took place on April 6th in Cirkus, a very nice old-fashioned hall, and a perfect setting for a touch of Colonia. While we were getting our tickets at the entrance, we could hear the rehearsal going on and we were told by the staff that we could stay around. We happily did, and heard the band going through complete or partial versions of Stronger Than Jesus, Algebra, The Crowning and My America.
Around 9:00 PM, Kristofer Åström opened the show (he also played acoustic guitar with A Camp on several songs during the end of the concert), and he was followed by the Sweptaways, a female choir doing great acappella covers of classic tunes such as Sign Your Name or Time Of The Season.
Then it was time for the three N's to come on stage, along with Emm Gryner and Jens Jansson.
The Crowning was the obvious but perfect opener, during which Nina got the lyrics wrong at some point (she also got lost during Walking The Cow...) I noticed that her voice was very slightly hoarse at the beginning of the concert, but that never prevented her from reaching any high note, and that kind of gave a little extra edge to her singing.
Love Has Left The Room followed, and showed how powerful the whole band is ; the song sounded much rougher than on the album. Nina wished the audience a good evening, and then came three songs from A Camp's first album, Frequent Flyer, Angel Of Sadness and Rock'n'Roll Ghost, with slight differences in the arrangements, compared to the 2001 live versions. The choice of the songs and the general set-list was nearly perfect for my taste, the weaker songs (in my opinion) of the first album being put aside (though Elephant would have been nice), and the whole Colonia album (bar one song) being performed.
The Stockholm audience got the chance to hear Golden Teeth And Silver Medals featuring the original co-singer of the song, Nicolai Dunger, who probably won't be there for the whole tour around Europe and the US ! I wonder who will be singing it for the rest of the tour.
A nice surprise was the addition of I've Done It Again, a Grace Jones song. Nina said a few words about it, but my Swedish being limited, I can't say much more !
The crowd was relatively quiet until I Can Buy You, which was clearly not forgotten and played and sung wonderfully. Then Nina left, to come back after the long intro to Chinatown. The audience is seated in the Cirkus hall, and remained so until Nina, during the beginning of My America ordered everyone to stand up ! (We did, and stayed that way until the end of the show).
Then the Sweptaways came back on stage, as back-up singers for Stronger Than Jesus, giving a great sound to A Camp's first single from Colonia.
The band, along with the Sweptaways, left the stage, but it wasn't the end, of course. They came back for Song For The Leftovers, and the David Bowie cover Boys Keep Swinging. Away they went again, but came back one last time for The Weed Had Got There First, which Nina ended almost accappella, backed only by the audience clapping gently. This made me love the song much more than on the album. A great ending to a fantastic show. I can't see anything to complain about ! :) So if A Camp is playing somewhere in a 500 km-radius around your home, don't miss them ! (Personally speaking, I was 2500 km from home...;) )

Set-list :
1. The Crowning
2. Love Has Left The Room
3. Frequent Flyer
4. Angel Of Sadness
5. Rock'n'Roll Ghost
6. Golden Teeth And Silver Medals
7. Here Are Many Wild Animals
8. Walking The Cow
9. I've Done It Again
10. Bear On The Beach
11. I Signed The Line
12. Algebra
13. I Can Buy You
14. Chinatown
15. My America
16. Stronger Than Jesus
17. Song For The Leftovers
18. Boys Keep Swinging
19. The Weed Had Got There First

Watch two videos from this concert, I Can Buy You and My America :

Stockholm 2006

2009-03-04T05:13:00.000-08:00

Soundboard recording of a concert in Nalen Theater in Stockholm, during the Cardigans' last tour to date. The main attraction for collectors is that it features the And Then You Kissed Me "medley" (of the two different songs of the same name, the first one released in 2003 on Long Gone Before Daylight, and "number II" released in 2005 on Super Extra Gravity), and also rare live versions of Good Morning Joan and Holy Love, only performed during part of this tour. You also get the usual My Favourite Game, Erase/Rewind, but no Lovefool, that they bravely chose not to play during this tour !

1 FM4 Introduction
2 Little Black Cloud
3 Don´t Blame Your Daughter
4 For What It´s Worth
5 Live And Learn
6 A Good Horse
7 And Then You Kissed Me
8 Paralyzed
9 Erase And Rewind
10 Hanging Around
11 Holy Love
12 I Need Some Fine Wine And You, You Need To Be Nicer
13 Good Morning Joan
14 Losing A Friend
15 Godspell
16 My Favourite Game

Many thanks to Coke_B for providing this recording !

Link

Toronto 1996

2009-02-19T04:56:00.000-08:00

One of the first shows after the release of First Band On The Moon, this particular soundboard recording had the privilege to be issued as a bootleg CD called Weekend Warriors. Unfortunately this is certainly not the best concert the Cardigans gave, as it includes several bum notes and/or technical problems. Still, in the same way it's good to hear the Beatles butchering Paperback Writer live, it's good to hear than even great musicians are human and therefore can make mistakes... And you get to hear a great live version of Sabbath Bloody Sabbath, the Cardigans' first Black Sabbath cover, but also Nina's skeptical introduction to Lovefool : "This is what in the industry they call a single, and it's supposed to be a good song, that's what they say", as if she already felt that this song was going to be both a blessing and a curse for them...

1. Iron Man
2. Your New Cuckoo / Sick And Tired
3. Hey ! Get Out Of My Way
4. Step On Me
5. Lovefool
6. Fine
7. Been It
8. Celia Inside
9. Rise And Shine
10. Carnival
11. Sabbath Bloody Sabbath

Link

A word from Magnus

2009-02-14T07:03:00.000-08:00

Here is what Magnus (the Cardigans' bass player, for those who don't know) wrote on the Cardigans forum about this blog :

"Great stuff Yann!
I am flattered and proud that you and other guys want to collect our music.
Thanks for sharing in a brotherly and sisterly fashion. Hope I can contribute in any way."

:)

Roskilde 2003

2009-02-07T04:17:00.000-08:00

Roskilde is a huge festival taking place every year in Denmark. This was the biggest crowd the Cardigans ever played to (about 50000). This concert took place a few months after the release of Long Gone Before Daylight and therefore features many songs from this album, plus the big hits from Gran Turismo. The set also includes Changes, in my opinion the greatest of the Black Sabbath covers that the Cardigans did. And in spite of the band's usual reluctance to play their oldest songs, here we get to hear their first single, Rise And Shine.
Soundboard recording.

1. The Road / Explode
2. You're The Storm
3. Live And Learn
4. Paralyzed
5. Erase/Rewind
6. Feathers And Down
7. Lovefool
8. Been It
9. A Good Horse
10. Changes
11. For What It's Worth
12. Hanging Around
13. Communication
14. Rise And Shine
15. My Favourite Game

Link

KCRW Acoustic Session 2004

2009-02-07T03:45:00.000-08:00

One of the greatest live (in-studio) recordings of the band, during the promotion of Long Gone Before Daylight in the USA.
They play stripped-down arrangements of songs from LGBD, but also Erase/Rewind and My Favourite Game from Gran Turismo, allowing us to hear these songs without the heavy electronic wizardry (and that's a kind of relief :)). Absolutely essential to your collection.

1. intro
2. And Then You Kissed Me
3. Erase/Rewind
4. You're The Storm
5. interview
6. For What It's Worth
7. Communication
8. My Favourite Game
9. outro

Link

Welcome !

2009-02-07T02:49:00.000-08:00

This page is all about the Cardigans, a Swedish band mostly known for two huge hits, Lovefool (1996) and My Favourite Game (1998).
But there is much more to them than these two songs.
Re-inventing their music constantly, you never know what to expect from them. Formed in 1992 by two hard-rock/early Britpop fans, Peter Svensson and Magnus Sveningsson, with Nina Persson as their singer, they first became known for their light indie pop, retro-sounding music (Emmerdale, 1994 and Life, 1995). before turning to harder and colder sounds for their most successful album, Gran Turismo, in 1998. After internal problems and a quasi break-up, they came back in 2003 with what might be their greatest album, Long Gone Before Daylight, a warm, Americana-influenced collection of songs. It was praised by critics but was not a commercial success, unfortunately. Neither was their last album to date, Super Extra Gravity, in 2005. The band was dropped from Universal Music in 2008 after the publication of a best-of CD.

More details about the band : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Cardigans

Sick And Tired is the title of the first song on the Cardigans' first album, and the song that instantly got me hooked. Since 1995, I've tried to attend as many Cardigans concerts as I could. and over the years, I've built a quite nice collection of live recordings. Sick And Tired is also the name of an old Cardigans webpage that I ran from 1999 to 2004. And now, in 2009, it's back again as a blog where you will find links to various live performances from the band, from their beginnings from their last tour to date in 2006.

I will try to document all "periods" of the band, and will also include performances by Nina Persson with her band A Camp.

Enjoy, and if you like what you hear, please send comments !