I think it’s interesting to have reached a point in life where you have much to look back on, but also much to look forward to. A few weeks from now I’ll be celebrating the 25th anniversary of my first concert in Uppsala. A milestone in that it was the first concert outside my hometown of Borlänge, I got to play with some older more experienced people, and the place itself, Katalin, was, and still is legendary. The quartet that played was put together just for that gig, but it became my first group in my own name. Since then, several of the bands I play in have been around for 20 years or more and within each of those, we’ve been in various ways part of each other’s lives, inside and outside of music. It’s a foundation that gives comfort. Also, some of the people I play with today, was hardly born 25 years ago. And the other end, some of the people I’ve been fortunate enough to play with sadly are not still around.

I like to take these moments to look back. Partly to remember and appreciate what has been, but also to see how things have led me to where I am today. And you might also get a clearer perspective on where your path is headed, or in which direction you want to steer it. I strive to keep exploring and developing and I’m happy to say that the last couple of years have been more eventful in that respect than ever before. And I intend to keep it going.

To celebrate my upcoming anniversary, I’ll be having a concert at Ktvå, which is a part of Katalin, on the exact day, March 7th. The original quartet members will all be there. So looking forward to play with them as a quartet again! That hasn’t happened for quite some years. I will also have other friends playing, for example Leo Lindberg, Erik Tengholm and Ulf Johansson-Werre. And there might be a secret guest!

More info here:
https://andreashellkvist.com/gigs/jubileumskonsert-ktva-uppsala-on-march-7-2023-800-pm/

Hope to see you there!

And if you want to read a little more about the gig in 1998, here’s a blog post about that
https://andreashellkvist.com/gigs/andreas-hellkvist-hammond-quartet-katalin-uppsala-on-march-7th-1998-9pm/

And lastly, sorry for my absence online. Still buried in administrative work, but hope to get out of it soon. Miss you all!

/Andreas