Miss Li – Liseberg: A Little Chaos and a Whole Lot of Heart

Miss Li at Liseberg 2025. Photo: Jonas Gustafsson/CrowdSnapper

Despite broken glasses, a few stumbles, and the occasional onstage chaos, Miss Li lit up Liseberg with booming choruses, raw emotion, and a whole lot of heart — in a performance as unfiltered as it was unforgettable. Who says pop music has to be polished?

Can’t Please Everyone — With or Without Hats

Just days before Linda “Miss Li” Karlsson took the stage at Liseberg, a thread titled “Miss Li hattråd” popped up in my Reddit feed — a word that, thanks to Swedish grammar, could mean either “hate thread” or “hat thread.” Naturally, some users sarcastically steered the conversation toward her impressive hat collection rather than addressing the actual criticism.

But honestly, it’s hard to imagine anyone truly hating Miss Li — she’s so full of joy, empathy, and disarming self-awareness.

While the thread indeed dubbed itself a “hate thread,” the label was clearly hyperbolic — more of a nostalgic gatekeeper rant, really. The kind of thing you’d expect from a longtime fan mourning her shift from indie darling to mainstream pop fixture. But hey, it’s hard to please everyone.

Linda radiated energy and joy — as always.

Uplifting Words for a Worried Generation

Oddly enough, themes of criticism and negativity surfaced during Miss Li’s between-song banter — though always delivered with warmth and wit. She spoke upliftingly about everything from hateful world leaders — “When I see you, I know there is a bright future,” she told the audience — to the superficiality of social media influencers and the pressure they place on young people, especially online. “You don’t get happier from that stuff,” she added, to knowing nods from the crowd.

She also offered a moment of reassurance to her younger fans, admitting that she herself still doesn’t know what she wants to become — a moment of genuine vulnerability that made me chuckle, considering her massive success.

Now and then, she slowed things down for warm, uplifting talks between songs.

Pop Music Delivered with Rock Energy

I’m more of a rock guy myself, but I’ve seen Miss Li live several times since the early 2010s. Even as her sound has grown slicker and more pop-driven, her concerts retain a raw, almost garage-band energy.

A lot of that edge comes from her longtime collaborator and guitarist Sonny Gustafsson, who could easily pass for a member of The Hellacopters. On this blisteringly hot, 28-degree evening, he performed in a long black coat — so I suppose he traded one kind of coolness for another, if you know what I mean.

Sonny Gustafsson performing with Miss Li at Liseberg 2025. Photo: Jonas Gustafsson/CrowdSnapper

Sonny Gustafsson kept it cool — even on a sweltering summer night.

Chaos, Charisma and Platform Boots

The show was gloriously chaotic in all the right ways. Miss Li managed to break two pairs of sunglasses, shatter a water glass, forget her microphone after walking over to the piano, and stumble across the stage, falling flat in towering platform boots that would make Marilyn Manson and the gentlemen in KISS green with envy.

Through it all, she laughed it off with the kind of charisma and self-deprecating humour that’s impossible to fake. It was genuinely endearing!

Miss Li mounting the piano. Don’t ask why.

Setlist Bringing Metallica and Y2K Techno to My Mind

From the photo pit, I caught the first three songs: “Småstadsdrömmar” (a clear nod to Carola’s Främling), “Komplicerad” (which always brings Blue by Eiffel 65 to mind), and “Dancing the Whole Way Home”, a fan favourite among long-time followers. It was during the latter that she realised she’d left the mic back at the stand and had to double back for it — a moment both chaotic and charming.

The setlist was a colourful mix spanning her full career — from her Swedish-language radio hits to her early English-language indie tracks. And if referencing “I’m Blue Da-ba-dee Da-ba-dye” wasn’t quirky enough, the lingering guitar intro to her rendition of Pugh Rogefeldt’s “Här kommer natten” weirdly reminded me of Metallica’s “Nothing Else Matters” — until the vocals kicked in, anyway.

The set featured plenty of catchy pop bangers like “X”, “The Day I Die (I Want You to Celebrate)”, and the official Football World Cup anthem “Våran sång” — complete with trumpet — as well as more somber tracks like “Aqualung” and “Porslin”.

At the piano, Miss Li delivered her indie classic “Dancing the Whole Way Home.”

Apparently, this funky tube-piano thing is called a melodica. Go figure.

Spotlight Moments and Smoke Cannons

The band was large and tight, complete with backing vocalists, guitars, bass, the aforementioned trumpet, and even a melodica — which Miss Li played herself, during “På måndag”.

One of the backing vocalists got her moment in the spotlight during the dramatic “Dangerous”, kicking off the track with a rapid-fire rap verse while Miss Li ran through the crowd barrier to shake hands with fans. Smoke cannons blasted as the chorus dropped, making it one of the most theatrical moments of the evening.

One of Miss Li’s backing singers stepped into the spotlight –

– launching into a duet amid smoke cannons.

The production was top-tier overall, even throwing in a dash of pyro for good measure.

Pop, Indie and a Fitting Finale

Over the course of the gig, spanning well over 90 minutes, Miss Li delivered a set that surely satisfied both long-time fans of her indie-pop era and newer followers drawn to her more recent Swedish-language anthems — including the popular Petter cover “Lev nu dö sen”, which appeared towards the end of the show.

Whether you came for the piano ballads, the disco-drenched bangers, or just her infectious energy, one thing’s for sure: Miss Li doesn’t just perform — she throws herself headfirst into the night, boots, broken glass, laughter and all.