This is a nice memory from the middle of the 2021 Corona time. During this time, most of the concerts across Europe were pretty uncertain... most of the large scale ones were being cancelled left, right and centre. Even many of the small ones were incredibly uncertain due to the audience size limitations.
However, during this period... Sweden was a bit of an outlier with respect to the way that they were handling the restrictions due to Coronavirus. In comparison to many other European countries, they had very little in the way of mandated controls. Now, in hindsight... it is a bit debatable as to whether or not that was a great idea or not... but in the much longer run... it appears that most countries in the world have pretty much reached the same spot albeit at different speeds and timings.
So, it was a nice surprise when one of the groups that I play with was invited for a very very fast weekend to fly into Stockholm and play a concert for a live audience and broadcast. Keep in mind that at this time, there were no concerts in the Netherlands for a live audience... so, the opportunity to actually play a real life, real time, in person concert was something quite astounding!
The little church is quite special... in the old part of Stockholm, it is nestled away in a set of small streets. Inside the church, it is quite cluttered in terms of space. It feels like there is just too much stuff in the small space! Lots of furniture and pews and very little in the way of empty space!
Although, I do wonder if the feeling of lack of space was just a result of needing to fit in recording equipment and a smallish stage on one end of the church. That would have resulted in all the pews being pushed back towards each other. The stage wasn't huge, but it would have been enough to contribute to the cramped feeling if it was already a touch tight to begin with.
The church is quite interesting from a historical perspective as it was apparently the place where the German royal family would attend mass when they were up in this area. The two large pillars that stand in the middle of the church are also the result of a later enlargement and renovation of the original space, being required to support the larger roof area.
Even though the church is surrounded on most of the sides by buildings, there is still enough light to illuminate the beautiful stained glass windows that adorn the walls of the church.
Even the smaller walls have their own stained glass windows!
Of course, the relative cluttered and full feeling is mostly also compounded by the various large artefacts and adornments that have been stashed in the various sides and corners. All of them are incredibly beautiful and ornate, but they do appear to be more suited for a larger space!
Really... every last bit of a floor real-estate space is taken up by something! Even the far corner underneath the loft is set up with a nice but gaudy corner piece and seating area.
So, the Tyska Kyrkan (Old German Church) was a lovely place to visit and a very nice place to do a concert in. There were still distancing measures in effect for the stage performers (1.5 metres) which did make it difficult to play as an ensemble... but the general feeling of the acoustics was very nice to play in! More importantly, for the musicians, it was such a great pleasure to be able to play for a real live audience after so many months of recordings and lack of live feedback from the hall!