THE HAPPENING 27/12 – 2000 review by Mika Kertunnen

Indeed the long awaited Swedish Psychedelic happening saw the light of day on the 27/12-99. My friend and I came at 6pm, in order to not miss out, on this free treat. Well when we came there Guru (Stefan Kéry) and his friends were still decorating the Kolingsborg hall. The gigs were originally meant to begin at 7pm but this had been changed to 8pm. Well instead of just waiting around I leant a hand and helped the guys out, which was a lot of fun. One of the opening acts Sagor & Swing (a modern Hansson & Karlsson influenced band!) was jamming a way in a real cool, free relaxed way, while the decorating was still done. Swedish folk rock legend Turid was there as well. The Kolingsborg venue is a rather big venue with a capacity of 600. Stefan Kéry and his friends had the main stage, there was a relaxing/meditation room (The S:T Mikael room) and down stairs there was a garage psych disco (Run by the "Mod" guy as we call him, ha). Well between 6pm to approximately 8pm there were about 10 to 40 diehard guys and gals. The Swedish 60's/ 70's freaks. Around 8:30pm we experienced an avalanche of people pouring in to all our disbelief!!! It's said that there were 800 people at this happening… I could never even in my wildest dreams think that would be possible. Of course it is great that SWE 70's stuff can get people interested.

Sagor & Swing

Well Sagor & Swing began to play their short set… but damn the guys went stiff! Hell the great wild relaxed jamming was gone and they played a more strained set (A case of nerves, it happens to us all), well the last song of their set got everyone going wild…Guys! play more of these swinging songs! (These guys have released a 7" ask Subliminal Sounds for it) Really cool, happening bands, which will leave their mark, mark my words. (Editor: the strained vibe was due to bass pedals of the organ fucking up) Well after the set came a break and it was mingling time… Yes it was time for talking with all the hip people from way cool hippie guys from Helsingborg (South Sweden) (Hi guys!) to legends such as Torbjörn Abelli (Always on a good mood, mycket bra spelning ni gjorde!) and naturally all of Guru's mates and even VG(-) record shark Tommy.

Xotic Mind band

Well after this we finally got to see S:T Mikael live on stage with the rest of the Xotic mind band members, Stefan "Guru" Kéry, Adam, Voven etc (Editor: they had wild go-go dancers as well!). Xotic mind band did a wild 30 minute Heavy psych/Hardrock jam that sent me and the rest of the freaks into a wild dancing frenzy rarely experienced now days!. Man Stefan and Mikael played some real wild guitar and wah wah runs…This was the best S:T Mikael band debut you could imagine…Mikael you guys are more than ready to play live is all am saying. A fuckin' wild jam, which parallels the Old Swedish Legends: Fläsket Brinner for dynamics and drive. That mentioned band was originally surposed to have played at this happening but the guys couldn't get their acts together, damn shame is all I am saying. The substitute bands Baby Grand mothers(!!) and Arbete & Fritid (!!) couldn't play due to health reasons.

Turid

Well after a break in the S:T Mikael mediation room and a few scenes from Med pupillerna i kosmos film festival on Video(!) I came back for a set with Swedish folk rock legend Turid. Well I had only heard 2 to 3 songs by her previously so all the songs on her set were, new to me. I knew that she had a great voice and sang both in English and Swedish. Turid was backed by the guys from Landberk (a new Progressive/art rock band with Stefan Dimle and Reine Fiske among others)
Well the set started of a bit nervously due to the fact Turid hadn't sang these given songs for 25 years. Well her great voice was still good and after the nerves let off, the set really took off. Damn the more she plays live the better she will get. It was a blast hearing real Swedish folk rock by a legend such as her self. The only problem was the noisy crowd, yes these mainstream party people lacked respect for Turid and it showed on her face. Well the hippie guys were cool so at least we got into her stuff. She did a couple of covers by another Swedish folk rock musician Thomas Wiehe (från Skåne, South Sweden) that sounded good. All in all a good show and I am looking towards the next one. Thanks to Dimle and Fiske for helping Turid out!

Träd, gräs och stenar

Indeed our gurus! Man I always look towards their shows. This evening the Trees rocked and psyched out in a grand way. Bo Anders Persson was in a real good mood and his playing was just great. (He had a reverb amp, which gave him a nice edge to his psychedelic lead guitar sound) Mera Gartz was his usual(!) wild fluent heavy self, Torbjörn played his usual(!) H-E-A-V-Y groovy bass lines, and even the shy Jakob was good. Their first set was a blast and everyone loved it…The venue was jam packed with grooving people mixed with the smell of all those at least 100 smoking joss sticks (The crowd smoked cigarettes and it killed the fragrance of the joss sticks… a shame) Next time there should be a ban on smoking nicotine cigarettes. I dislike the stench of those over commercialized things. Well the Trees 2nd set was a really psyched out affair with some of the most psychedelic music played in this plastic age of time. The dedicated Tree huggers (Träd krammare) loved every second of it… I couldn't wipe the smile of my face (Yes I'm a naive fool ha ha) One negative incident was when a punk spat at Torbjörn and Jakob(???) and threw beer nuts at them, this got me almost pissed off. I talked to the drunken minor, as did Guru. These drunken kids really put a bad vibe onto the last set; you could see it on Torbjörns face, that he was displeased with these youngsters. The sale of alcohol should be reconsidered. You don't need booze to get off on the Trees; all you need is just an open heart and a bit of real people vibe. All in all, this happening was a success for both Guru , as the organizer and the Kolingsborg bars. ( A sad sign of the times… people must "drink" to enjoy themselves) There were a lot of way cool hippies ( both young and old ) and a good vibe. My thanks to Stefan Guru Kéry and his way cool friends, the bands. Naturally a BIG thanks to all of you who attended. When we came there we NEVER thought that there would come so many people.