Seventeen years ago, Moon Safari took me completely by surprise at The Spirit of 66 — their performance filled me with a kind of glowing, emotional warmth that lingered long after the show was over. Since then, I’ve played their beautiful albums countless times, often in moments when I wanted to relive exactly that feeling. On November 20, they returned to the very same stage in Verviers, and I was there again — finally, after all these years.

The Spirit of 66 remains a special music club: small, warm, honest and deeply connected to both musicians and listeners. It’s one of those venues where progressive rock gains a soul, where every nuance becomes audible and where a band cannot hide behind production or spectacle. Moon Safari belongs here; their music doesn’t become louder or bigger in this room, but clearer, more intimate, more human.

Moon Safari performed in Verviers as a five-piece, yet they sounded as if ten voices were on stage. Petter Sandström, one of the band’s most recognizable voices from the beginning, was unmistakably at the front. With his warm lead vocals, acoustic guitar and natural stage presence, he gave the show a human and energetic centre. Simon Åkesson added the melodic grandeur: his distinctive voice and rich keyboard arrangements remain the foundation of the Moon Safari sound. Johan Westerlund provided a solid, melodic bass supported by strong backing vocals that helped build the band’s five-part harmony. Pontus Åkesson complemented this with refined guitar work and crystal-clear vocals, giving the arrangements depth and colour. At the back, Mikael Israelsson drove the music with precision and dynamics; his drumming was powerful yet sensitive and his vocal contributions elevated the harmonies to a level you would hardly expect from a five-man lineup. The decade-long gap between Himlabacken Vol. 1 (2013) and Vol. 2 (2023) felt anything but like a silence during this concert — the band sounded tighter, more mature and vocally more impressive than ever.

From the very first minutes, it became clear how strong the band is in their current form. The setlist offered a beautiful cross-section of their entire career: from the youthful freshness of A Doorway to Summer (2005) and the melodic richness of Blomljud (2008) to the emotional depth of Lover’s End (2010), the often-overlooked yet defining Himlabacken Vol. 1 (2013) and the modern maturity of Himlabacken Vol. 2 (2023). Their full evolution was literally audible.

The epics A Kid Called Panic and Teen Angel Meets the Apocalypse displayed their symphonic ambition and compositional breadth — true high points where the band explored musical themes and technical finesse. In contrast, lighter melodic songs such as Emma, Come On, The World’s Best Dreamers and the Himlabacken Vol. 1 favourite Too Young to Say Goodbye created moments of warmth and radiance. The interplay between these worlds gave the concert its breathing space, its emotional shifts and its balance.

The new songs from Himlabacken Vol. 2 sounded remarkably mature: 198X (Heaven Hill) opened the evening with warmth and longing, Blood Moon added darker colours and A Lifetime to Learn How to Love and Between the Devil and Me shone with clarity and melodic finesse. Mega Moon, from Himlabacken Vol. 1, injected a playful rhythmic energy that immediately lifted the room.

What made the evening truly special was how the full set unfolded like a living map of Moon Safari’s journey, moving effortlessly through different energies and eras. From the reflective glow of 198X (Heaven Hill) to the expansive sweep of A Kid Called Panic, the modern punch of Between the Devil and Me, the melodic tenderness of Too Young to Say Goodbye, the atmospheric pull of Blood Moon, the openness of A Lifetime to Learn How to Love, the bright lift of Emma, Come On, the nostalgic drift of The World’s Best Dreamers, the epic intensity of Teen Angel Meets the Apocalypse, the rhythmic drive of Heartland, the playful spark of Mega Moon and the early-days charm of The Ghost of Flowers Past, the concert felt constantly alive, shifting and glowing.

And then came the encore — a gift to long-time fans: the live debut of Lover’s End Pt. II, followed by the soaring emotional arc of Lover’s End Pt. III: Skellefteå Serenade and finally Constant Bloom, delivered a cappella with breathtaking precision. It was more than a closing sequence; it felt like an epilogue filled with gratitude, a moment where band and audience shared the same breath, acknowledging the long road that had led them back to this small, luminous room.

Moon Safari didn’t just return to The Spirit of 66; they filled the room again with exactly what makes them so extraordinary: warmth, light and melody — and a five-part harmony that remains unmatched anywhere else in this genre. Seventeen years later, they gave me that same feeling again. Some music stays with you for life — and Moon Safari proved once more why.