Hello everybody, and welcome to this new blog post! Today, we are going to talk about Stockholm’s music scene. Personally, I love listening to live music – and I really value the many opportunities that the city has to offer in this regard!
Concerts
I have been to three concerts since I’ve moved to Stockholm. The first one was held in the beautiful Eric Ericsonhallen – a super scenic historical building lit by candles – and it was a string quartet performing the most famous songs from Studio Ghibli’s movies. being a huge fan of Miyazaki’s work, I definitely couldn’t miss it! Plus, it was a nice deal: this 90-minute concert only cost me 240 SEK.
Later, I went to a metal concert in Annexet, a small structure that is part of the (much bigger) Avicii Arena, where most of the bigger concerts are held. I loved it! Metal is my favourite genre, and it was nice to see some headbanging even in a calm city like Stockholm!
This concert was way bigger than the previous one: three bands played for a total of four hours of loud music. However, I found the price to be more than fine: 450 SEK for the concert, plus 50 SEK for a drink and another 50 SEK for the guarded wardrobe.
Lastly, a couple of days ago I went to the Melodifestivalen in the Friends Arena. This is one of the most important music events in Sweden, as the winner of the festival gets to represent the country at the 2023 Eurovision Song Contest. It was super fun: 30.000 people were in the arena and we got the chance to see many different Swedish artists playing live! The price of the ticket was around 350 SEK – but it could have been lower if only we had reserved a little bit more in advance.
Gigs, pubs and music cafés
As you can imagine, concerts aren’t the only way to listen to live music here. In Stockholm, there are a ton of clubs, bars and pubs where you can listen to all kinds of music: from jazz to hard rock, as well as popular pop music – perfect for a karaoke night – and local artists. In general, you either pay for the entrance or the entrance is free but you have to order something, be it a drink or a complete meal. I’d guess that the budget for such an evening could lie anywhere between 100 and 300 SEK, depending on the place and what you order.
In this case, I really enjoy the “surprise effect”: just choose a place and go in, without knowing anything about who’s playing on that night. It can be really funny and make you discover some genres or bands you wouldn’t have listened to otherwise!
In conclusion, if you love live music, Stockholm is definitely a good place for you to stay. Besides, Sweden gave birth to some important artists like Abba or Avicii – meaning that the country actually has a lot of that “live music culture” that many of us love!
Thank you very much for reading today’s post. Don’t remember to check out the second part of Martyna’s super interesting series “Coffee with graduates”, as well as Raygo’s last post on a day in his life – I’m sure you’ll find them both really interesting as I did!
I’ll see you in the next post! Have a nice weekend.
// Lorenzo
Hi, very interesting, as usual.
Thank you!
Molto interessante!!!
Grazie!