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Mikael Rickfors acoustic show at Slussen, Orust, Sweden, 29 September 2007.
Göran Antefelt, a great fellow Hollies fan from Gothenburg, and I arrived in good time before the dinner and show at the nice venue, Slussen. Slussen is a cozy hotel placed near the sea on Orust, a green island on the western coast of Sweden. In the room where the concert was to be held, Mikael Rickfors and his charming young and pregnant wife were doing a sound check. Mikael had not been satisfied with the sound on the show the night before. We first talked his wife, Eva-Lotta. When I presented myself, she immediately mentioned my website that Mikael’s links to. Mikael was so happy about the introduction to The baby, that I recorded at the Hollies show in Dalhalla the year before and placed on the website. During the intro Tony saluted Mikael’s contribution to the Hollies during the early 70’s. Those words were obviously highly appreciated by Mikael, a fact I intend to tell Tony about next time I see him. By the way, Mikael had in fact informed about my Rickfors website by Carla Olsson’s management in LA. Many of you will know about Mikael’s collaboration with Carla in the past. I’ve seen a very nice duet of them together, that can be recommended.
Göran and I showed him the EMI reissue of Romany, and he was impressed by the quality of the sleeve. He admitted never to have heard the previously unreleased songs Papa rain and Witchy woman after the recording sessions, so we played them on the hi-fi. Mikael seemed to be getting increasing interest in his time with the Hollies, which was reflected by the fact that he played “Bus stop” during this tour of Sweden and Greece. About Romany he said that everything was supposed to sound like Crosby, Stills & Nash in those days. He told us that he had written “They don’t realize I’m down” at a NY hotel, with Terry. But mostly he wrote songs alone.
I also showed him the French Magic reissue of Out on the road and told him EMI was considering a reissue of that album with bonus tracks, too. He signed both CDs.
About new projects his wife told Göran that he had written enough songs for both an album in Swedish as well as an album in English. He did not know what to release first. The release date has been postponed until the next year. Eva-Lotta also told us that more songs from upcoming albums will be uploaded to MySpace, here is the link thanks to fellow Hollies fans Agneta and Susan (Susan having a link to Mikael):
http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewprofile&friendid=198760497
In fact he started the show with new songs. Later, when he introduced “Bus stop,” he was smiling when he said that the Hollies fan club was present in the audience. What a nice gesture to us three Hollies fans (Agneta Andersson had arrived for the dinner) with husbands and wives. For the concert he was joined by Steve Eriksson on mandolin, who did some solos with acoustic guitar as a warm up.
The complete set list was:
Whispers of winter
Away again
I want you
How long
En kärlekssong (Grymlings song: A love song)
Där gullvivan blommar (Grymlings song: Where the mayflower blooms)
Mitt bästa för dig (Grymlings song: My best for you)
Bus stop
En flaska Chablis (Solo: A bottle of Chablis)
Balladen om Briggen Bluebird av Hull
Vingar (Solo: Wings)
When a man loves a woman
After the show a tremendously nice incident happened. The six of us went up on the first floor to talk and possibly play and sing for a while. After some persuasion, I took up my G blues harp and played “He ain’t heavy he’s my brother.” Then, just after the intro, Mikael stuck out his head from a room just by us, and sang along for the whole of the song. I was astonished and could not be happier!
The day after we had breakfast in the same room as Mikael and Eva-Lotta, with a beautiful view over the bay and the island. Göran helped Mikael carry his guitar and loudspeaker out to the car, since Mikael suffered from a knee problem. He was grateful and hoped to see “Hollies fan club” again!
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He played 3 Hollies songs, Words don't come easy, Magic woman touch and Bus stop.
Thanks to Agneta for reporting and photo!
