Melissa Horn is one of the most gifted Swedish artists. She is a singer songwriter who started out with her first album 21 years old in 2008. Since then she has released four more albums, the latest, Jag går nu (I am leaving now) in 2015. Last night she played at Sukkerbiten in Oslo.

Barcode seen from Sukkerbiten

Sukkerbiten (the Sugar Cube) is a small peninsula located utside of the Norwegian National Opera, and beside where the new Munch museum is being built. It belongs to the new seafront area in Oslo, with apartments, the opera, the museum, a new library and office blocks (Barcode) will eventually be fighting for attention. Hopefully Sukkerbiten will be allowed to stay as it is, and continue to be a venue for relaxation and outdoor summer concerts.

Melissa Horn’s concert is one in a series of summer concerts at Sukkerbiten. So far I have seen Turbonegro and Gogol Bordello there this summer, and last year I saw a two day festival there, the Oslo Fjordfest, with Emmylou Harris and Rodney Crowell as headliners one day, and d!Angelo on the other.

About 2500 people had come to see Melissa Horn, the majority of them female. It is always interesting to see the different audiences for different artists, and Melissa Horn obviously attracts a totally different crowd than Gogol Bordello who played there on Wednesday. And you can say that Melissa Horn’s performance was far from the rowdy happening of Gogol Bordello, relying heavily on the strength of her lyrics and melodies.

I didn’t see the whole concert, but I saw enough to go home and listen to Melissa Horn’s albums. She played Du går nu (You are leaving now) from her latest album Jag går nu as song number two, a bitter song about the moment you realize that a relationship is over. A great song, and quite typical of Melissa Horn’s songs, being low key with deep and personal lyrics.

All photos are © Per Ole Hagen and must not be used without written permission.