RUST 08162008: It’s a gutsy move, getting on stage alone with nothing but guitar and a sampler as backup. Swedish electro-popper Juvelen aka Jonas Pettersson did it this weekend at Copenhagen venue Rust, and it was a pretty mixed experience.

Basically Juvelen lost the battle to a city which offered so much to so many people on a summer night that made being inside seem about as tempting as a root filling. The free outdoor electronica festival Strøm, Copenhagen Pride and massive street parties meant that Juvelen ended up presenting the funky Prince-like pop of his debut album ‘1’ to around 10 mildly interested people waiting for the night club.

Not a very motivating situation for an artist, solo or band, but he did kick off like he was playing a packed venue in hometown Stockholm. As you need to when you’re an unknown artist trying to hijack new fans. As the gig progressed, however, Juvelen seemed increasingly like he just wanted to get it over with, shoulders hanging and talking less and less between songs.

That said – and it’s hard to blame him – you just gotta surrender to Pettersson’s pop, not least when it comes to brilliant songs ‘Hanna’ and ‘Don’t Mess’. It is in short great and deserves a much bigger audience, something that stand a good chance of happening in September when he supports Swedish sensation Familjen and Danish indie queen As In RebekkaMaria on a three gig tour of Denmark.