The Swedish entertainer Eva Rydberg has confirmed that she will return to the concert stage at the age of 83, framing the outing as both a homecoming and a goodbye. The production, titled ‘It would be pure madness to sit still,’ is scheduled to open in Malmo on 12 March 2027 and will then travel to a string of cities over the following weeks. It marks a rare full-length solo return for a performer who has remained a familiar presence in Swedish entertainment for decades.
Rydberg described the project as a return to a format she has not performed in for many years. ‘I haven’t been doing this since the late 80s. So it will be a comeback and a farewell,’ she said of the decision to revive the solo concert show. She has spent much of her recent career at Fredriksdal, where she served as artistic director across 32 summers before stepping away from that role.
The tour is planned as an 11-date run that stretches from March into April 2027. Alongside Malmo, the schedule takes in Halmstad, Karlskrona, Kalmar, Vaxjo, Linkoping, Jonkoping, Stockholm, Gothenburg, Kristianstad and Helsingborg. The staging has been built as a two-act evening that blends autobiographical storytelling with the character work she is known for, and it is being directed by Hans Marklund.
Whether the tour will genuinely mark the end of her performing life remains an open question, at least in Rydberg’s own telling. ‘Right now that’s it. Then we’ll see,’ she said. ‘If I feel like I can do it, then I will.’ The comments leave room for the veteran performer to reconsider, even as she presents the shows as a closing chapter. For audiences across the country, the run offers a chance to see one of Sweden’s enduring stage figures revisit a form she largely set aside more than three decades ago.
