Marit To The Mob

Marit Bergman's show at the Hoxton Bar & Kitchen on Monday was a magical experience for the forty-or-so people who could be bothered to turn up. As witty and effervescent in person as she is on record, the between-song banter about her shrinking chest and having a song rejected by Kylie would have been worth coming along for on its own. Her eight-piece band (two of whom had to stand on boxes to fit on the rather small stage), cranked out fizzy, pop-punk versions of the highlights from Baby Dry Your Eye and I Think It's A Rainbow with the slickness and professionalism of an act more accustomed to huge arenas but charm enough to match any of Sweden's more lo-fi indie icons. Whether soaring through songs like Let's Just Fall In Love or bouncing around the front row of the audience, Bergman herself was as magnetic a performer as you could wish to see. Perhaps the finest moment was I Will Always Be Your Soldier, apologising for how beastly Marit had been to her elder sister when growing up in Rättvik. If she ever makes it back to London, help ensure the size of the crowd does justice to her enormous talent.

Marit Bergman - I Will Always Be Your Soldier