David Ritschard is the Swedish country’s new flag bearer – and the audience wants to get to know him

In 2019, David Ritschard got to play on mercy, in the afternoon, in a lobby. While American stars took turns on Sthlm America’s larger stages. I had never heard of him before but went and looked mostly to be good. There was a character in a purple tracksuit, shirt, tie and Stetson hat, singing about “the color of the international proletariat”, about work, capital and feeling like a Hank Williams chorus.

It was overwhelmingly good, like seeing a new star born. Yet David Ritschard was not a debutant in the true sense. He had played stylish bluegrass and country for many years before he started singing his own material and performing in his own name.

Three years later he quits the whole Sthlm Americana on the biggest stage with a fat record deal in his pocket. This spring, he resigned from his job at Systembolaget on Folkungagatan. He is well prepared and surrounded by a good band.

It’s like now it’s really starting. For it is one thing to play on the small stages, strike from below and perform without expectations and it is quite another thing to fill the space on the stage and to shift up the small-scale without losing one’s identity.

A lot is about understanding who you are and what you have to work with. David Ritschard has chosen to affirm his peculiarities. He wears his trousers high, he has let the hair in his neck grow long even though his head is bald. He comes out on stage with a bare torso and a too-small denim vest, even though his stomach is round.

It’s festive for those involved, but the audience is not really invited

This summer he’s going out and show off to the large audience on the Kalasturnén around the country. So now it’s time.

Even if the concert at Sthlm Americana did not turn out quite as well as I hoped, I think it will go well. The choice of song must be sharper, with a higher tempo and more recognition in the beginning, less focus on the musicians and a more direct address. Because this got a little confused. The audience wants David Ritschard, not solo numbers from the choir singers and drummer. It’s festive for those involved, but the audience is not really invited. It wants battle songs and intimate interludes. It wants to get to know the Swedish country’s new flag bearer.

Read more concert reviews and more lyrics by Po Tidholm

David Ritschard: “The clothes come off, I want to be naughty”