Mr Big at Skogsröjet
Mr Big’s Big Finish at the Skogsröjet festival in Sweden.
Mr Big at the Skogsröjet festival in Rejmyre, Sweden on 3rd August 2024
American rock band Mr Big stopped at the Skogsröjet festival as part of the final leg of their farewell tour. The band was formed in Los Angeles in 1988 by Eric Martin (vocals), Billy Sheehan (bass), Paul Gilbert (guitar) and Pat Torpey (drums). Torpey’s death in 2018 was the beginning of the end. The band has soldiered on with fill-in drummers (such as the excellent Brazilian musician Edu Cominato who sat on the drum stool at the Skogsröjet gig) to honour Torpey’s legacy. But the tour bus has now been parked in the garage for good.
They opened the gig with the excellent “Addicted to That Rush”. It is a song demonstrating that Mr Big is a band of virtuoso musicians. This is a band of players. Musicians’ musicians. They continued with “Take Cover” and had the festival audience with them. Playing a festival can be quite different from doing a headline show. All the audience members are not necessarily there to see you at festivals. It can be a challenge but also an opportunity to win new fans. At Skogsröjet there were plenty of Mr Big fans.
The set featured some of the best songs from the band’s catalogue, such as “Never Say Never”, “My Kinda Woman”, “Voodoo Kiss”, “Colorado Bulldog”, “Alive and Kickin’” and, of course, “To Be with You”. Mr Big’s version of the Talas song “Shy Boy” was excellent. They finished the show with a cover of The Who’s “Baba O’Riley”. While it is sad when a great band calls it quits, Mr Big does so while they are still in their prime. That is how it should be done. Thank you for the music, Mr Big, and The Big Finish. We will miss you.
Check out parts 1 and 2 of our backstage video interview at Skogsröjet with Mr Big’s Eric Martin here and here.
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