Since 2020, Umeå musicians John Andersson and Viktor Asbaghi Sandström have been interpreting the Palme investigation in rock format. In songs like “Maybe it was me” and “The light at the end of Tunnelgatans Slut” they sang about the PKK, the Scandinavian Man and other stray trails that the investigation has lost over the years. Even their band name, Polisman B, references one of the suspects.
– He appears on the so-called police trail. But we have to be clear that the real person has nothing to do with our band, says John Andersson.
– Dramaturgically, we use a character called Policeman B, who is under John’s mean supervision. He works in the police station at Kungsholmen in Stockholm and spreads false information about the culprits. Policeman B is the spider in the web, says Viktor Asbaghi Sandström.
On the occasion of the 40th anniversary of the murder of Olof Palme, the band and the Profilteaters are playing a bizarre performance about a team of investigators who want to solve the case. The stage design is part of the “Odd Weekend” theater concept, in which new formats and ideas are tried out.
“It is a rock opera in the sense that the story is framed and driven by music, influencing how we deal with the Palm investigation together and how the Palm investigation deals with itself,” says Viktor Asbaghi Sandström.
This is not the first time that the Palme investigation has been portrayed with comic understatement. Previous examples include Looptroop’s song “I Shot Palme” and Måns Månsson’s film “Hassel – Private Detectives”. While Officer B emphasizes that the murder itself is a traumatic event, they believe that the awkward aftermath is a constant source of humor.
– No matter how long we go on and how funny we try to be, we will never be able to top Krister Petersson’s press conference when he singled out Stig Engström, says John Andersson, repeating his impressions: “Yes, it was probably him. But now we tell you how many A4 papers we used, and then we look, where are we now in powerpoint control?”
– It is the Swedish bureaucracy that is very funny, adds Viktor Asbaghi Sandström.
A planned show has turned into three sold-out performances and people from other parts of the country are now making a pilgrimage to see the rock opera in Umeå. There remains no sign that interest in the Palme investigation is waning.
Will we ever find out who assassinated Prime Minister Olof Palme on the evening of February 28, 1986?
– We hope so, because we said that we will close as soon as someone is prosecuted. “I don’t want to dress up as a police officer in my 60s,” says Viktor Asbaghi Sandström.
“Palmegruppen rides again” will take place from February 27th. until 1.3. performed at the Profilteatern in Umeå.
