Malmö, SWEDEN: Supporting My Swede Tooth.

Although I never made it to a hockey game, I did eat 600 grams of Swedish Fish.

In the shadows of Copenhagen sits a beautiful Swedish compliment... just over the Øresund Bridge, Malmö is a hip city of it's own!

Money is getting thin (even my credit card is questioning me) and Scandinavia is not the place to be when cash is a concern. I've spent more cheddar in the last two days than I have on the rest of the trip (eight days) combined! Fortunately, the travel is really cheap around Europe right now... I really can't afford NOT to be seeing as much as I can. For example, my flight home to Budapest tomorrow (from Malmö, Sweden) is $31 USD including all taxes and fees!

So, adventure meets Sweden... Lucky for us, Kent has a friend studying at Malmö University and she took the day off to show us around. Yuliya is awesome; she wanted to show us every possible sight in the city and we weren't going to stop her. From the train station, we took off by foot for a day in (and around) Malmö. First we got the tour and some history of the city centre and then ventured out to Västerbron.

On the way, we walked through Kings Park, a beautiful cemetary with English landscape design and big beautiful autumn colours... then, along the water to the wide-open Baltic Sea. On our way back we walked right up to the base of the Turning Torso (the tallest building in all of Scandinavia, and the tallest residential space in the European Union). It is a remarkable building and is surrounded by a mote, like most remarkable buildings...

I had really hoped to catch a Malmö Redhawks game. I'm not going to be able to catch too much live hockey this year, (and what I see in Hungary will be second-rate, at best)... so I was hoping to watch a game while in Scandinavia. Unfortunately, all of the home teams (Helsinki, Copenhagen, and Malmö) are away this week. Oh well, I soon stumbled on an opportune surprise...

As the sun was setting, we rolled back into downtown. I was floating around the big centre square looking at people and posters and patterns in the pavement... and something caught my eye! Among the dozens of brightly coloured posters and ads on the bulletin board was a simple black poster that said Ratatat. I looked closer and realized that, of all nights, of all places... they were playing here in Malmö tonight! And, even crazier yet, I found out that this date was added as a special intimate venue gig to open their world tour... and the show was free to the first three-hundred people.

I left Kent and Yuliya and went looking for the venue to get the scoop... I soon found this little club called the Debaser about a kilometre from the city centre. Of course, it was locked, and there was no information on tickets, set times, etc. But, I went around back and there was one dude outside having a smoke... I started chatting with him and we heard Ratatat take the stage for soundcheck. Kim and I stood out back and bullshitted about art and music and life. He is a super interesting guy... he's from Norway, but lived in NYC for a few years and is now getting his doctorate in some rare choreography program in Stockholm. Well, after talking with him for about ten minutes, I finally discover that he's the opening act for Ratatat.









Fast forward a few hours later... I was with some new friends (Sabina from Copenhagen, Charlese from Paris, and Cody from Calgary, Nathan from Vancouver) in the swanky Debaser getting ready for a free Ratatat show! (The only bummer was that by the time Kent, Emily, and Yuliya arrived, the line was around the block and they weren't letting anyone else in. As I understand it though, they had fun at a university party on their own...)

Kim Hiorthoy rocked the opening DJ slot... dancing, jumping around, laying down the beats, and getting the party started. By the time Ratatat took the stage, the place was amped and luckily they came to play! Honestly, they were one of the most high-energy live acts I've ever seen. The set was clearly orchestrated and precisely mapped out, but they killed it!

Oh, and that wasn't an exaggeration about the candy... I'm a sucker for Swedish fish, so I bellied up to the bulk bin and filled my sack with 600 grams of gummy goodness... and ate every last one!