17-05-2009 Sugarplum Fairy

Supports: Reisegruppe Fischer; Venue: Slachthof, Wiesbaden (Germany)
By: Nina Mende

To prove that I didn’t turn into a metal head all the sudden after our spontaneous visit at the Metallica show I went to Wiesbaden to see Sugarplum Fairy from Sweden. They played at the little hall in the Schlachthof – there is one big hall and a little one, tonight, as said, we were at the little one.

Sugarplum Fairy is a pop-rock band from Borlänge, Sweden. The members took the name from a version of the Beatles’ song “A Day in the Life” where John Lennon counts the song in by saying “sugar-plum-fairy, sugar-plum-fairy”. Sugarplum Fairy was founded in 1998 by Victor and Carl Noren and Kristian Gidlund. The band has released several demos before getting contracted in 2004, releasing the EP “Stay Young” that received generally positive reviews. Later they released their first single, “Sweet Jackie”, from their first full length album “Young & Armed” that was released later that year (September 29th 2004). The band toured heavily in Sweden, Japan and Germany, and released the debut album in different editions in both Japan and Germany in early 2005. In 2006 they put out their second record “First Round First Minute”. They signed onto EMI Records in 2004. Apart from their music, the band is also famous for the fact that the two singers in the band are brothers of Gustaf Norén, singer in Mando Diao. They have three albums released so far, let’s see when the new stuff will hit the stores.

But Sugarplum Fairy did not perform all by themselves that night, no. They had a support act called Reisegruppe Fischer. That is a German band, singing in German and female fronted. The four guys, well three guys plus the female singer seemed very confident on stage as they warmed up the crowded Schlachthof. There were mostly teenage girls in the audience, only a few adults which were either parents, photographer or simply a lost soul. And there were only few guys as well, mostly boyfriends of the teenage girls. Reisegruppe Fischer warmed up the girls for about 30 minutes and got many of them to dance clap, and sing along. The singer had a quite strong voice and got the kids wild for the Swedes.

And they entered the stage just as wild as the audience was already. The guys came on rocking and the girls were screaming. I really felt like at a Take That show back in the early 90s at some points. They all danced and clapped along to the beat, heating up the club and making the guys sweat. Sugarplum Fairy were very professional on stage and even didn’t get too irritated as guitars and vocals were gone for one song. But with the vocal support of their fans it seemed like it was planned and the Swedes just wanted to check how well the fans know the lyrics. The two singers took turns in singing. While the guitar playing singer sang, the other one mostly played bass (the bass player played keyboard then). By watching all this switching around on the instruments you could figure that these guys really know how to work their instruments and mostly not only one, but more. Victor – the blonde singer that played bass during some songs – did not show any emotions during the show. He acted like the careless rocker, maybe even asshole but no, he was still too sweet for being an asshole. They spoke German after a few songs and even a couple words Swedish. The cheering was extremely loud in between songs and their fans didn’t want to let Sugarplum Fairy get off the stage. The girls called for an encore and got one. Three songs were the very last ones the boys played. Their show lasted for almost 90 minutes and was a lot of fun. Their music was clearly influenced not only by their heroes but also by Mando Diao and The Hives. So basically the typical sleaze sound we know of these bands, which was nice because this kind of music always fits to your mood. And despite the fact it was Sunday and we don’t celebrate Sunday’s they did a great show in front of many many people. More than I had expected on a Sunday evening. The two brothers were great singers as well. I am looking forward to seeing them again some day.

Links:
Reisegruppe Fischer MySpace
Reisegruppe Fischer Official
Sugarplum Fairy MySpace
Sugarplum Fairy Official