Per Gessle’s concert in Örebro was planned to be held at Slottsparken, but at the end of April, the venue was changed to Gustavsviksbadet, because the castle park is now declared not to be suitable for concerts.
Zigzagging in the country from one concert town to another, we arrived to Örebro in the afternoon. Not much later than we had arrived to the venue, Per and the band started their soundcheck before 5 pm and it lasted for about 20 minutes. Some of us stood up on the fence and watched them on stage. HERE you can see a short part of it. The energy level is indeed different when you have a crowd in front of you, isn’t it? Haha.
It was raining almost all day and so we prepared our ponchos for the night, but fortunately, the sky got clearer and clearer. It rained until 4 pm, then started again at 6 and once again a bit later, but by the time Per & Co came up on stage, there was no rain at all and it stayed like that all night.
In the queue I met a young Swedish guy. We chatted a bit and were standing next to each other in the front row. He is 22 and got into PG’s music only 4 years ago. He knew Gyllene Tider before that and wasn’t really fond of them, but something kicked in at the age of 18. Cool! It’s never too late to become a Per Gessle fan, eller hur? I love it how the younger generation also finds Per’s music attractive.
Good Harvest and Strandels were there in Örebro and played their 25-25 minutes before Per and the band came up on stage. I haven’t written about the stage outfits so far (besides Per’s white clothes, of course!). I like it very much how everyone’s appearance fits each other’s set, but still everyone has their clothes tailored to their own personalities. You can see it on the pictures and in the videos. Do I have to mention that I just love PG’s black outfit with those red stars and stripes on? It’s too hot and it’s so much his style! Lookin’ cool!
Now both Per and the band were even more relaxed than in Oskarshamn. Mr. G was jumping around and doing his circles (mainly during Joyride) on stage all night very energetically. Even if now there are more slow songs in the setlist, during which Per is more of the swaying his hips guy, during the uptempo songs he still shows us his left leg stomping trademark. Adorable! His voice needed some ginger tea during the show, but we loved how he sounded. During the concert he was licking the picks quite often. We know that from the 2014 plec interview that he is doing it for the picks to stick more to the finger.
There were several funny and / or adorable moments during the whole show, as usual, but I have to mention especially one of those moments. After Första pris Per was talking to the crowd and a guy was shouting from the audience: ”Perra, vi älskar dig!” ( = Per, we love you!). How PG reacted to it, with an ”Aaaaaah!” leaving his mouth and how the crowd was cheering him was absolutely priceless!
The band was very energetic too. They communicate more and more with the crowd and we love that. Keep it up, guys and girls! They are all so talented and nice people and you must love how they enjoy performing. There is a very lovely scene during each show when Sommartider is being played. The band members all go to Andreas to stand in front of him, very close to each other, while Per is in the very front, making the crowd sing along. In Örebro BoJo gave the job to someone else to film the crowd during this song. The screens and the camera cooperated perfectly this time and we could see crowd pics on the background screens.
The second RoxBlog live video in history was Varmt igen in Örebro. Cool that so many of you wacthed it! And isn’t it a most beautiful presentation of the song by Per and his beautiful band? It absolutely is!
The setlist was the same as in Helsingborg (except for the LTYH intro to The Look), so Mahi Nana got back! Woohoo! The last song was again Småstadsprat. Still makes me think that Sommartider would be a better ending to the show and they should find another spot for Småstadsprat. Regarding the setlist, I mean the songs it includes, I like it like that (except for IMHBL, for obvious reasons already mentioned earlier), but it could still have at least 1 song that could be changed for each concert. Most of the hardcore fans agreed on the fact that the changing song could be Honung och guld. Per’s brilliant career has so many eras that are still not represented on this tour. Yet. We miss at least one song from his English solo, ’80s Swedish solo or SOAP. And if Roxette, then She Doesn’t Live Here Anymore is a most wanted song or any other uptempo Rox hit. Can be something that had never been played live with Roxette. Maybe next time? Wishful thinking?
At the end of the show the crowd (4000 people) were cheering the fab 8 on stage. Per and the band were smiling continuously. They bowed to the crowd 3-4 times before they left the stage. Per even tried to throw picks from his mic stand to the audience, but after approximately 3 attempts he gave up, because he failed to throw them further than the edge of the stage. His facial expression after each attempt was too funny. Try just a little bit harder next time, Mr. G! Haha.
Oh, one more thing. When the crowd was leaving the venue, some fans got close to the stage and asked Micke N-S for the setlist. He threw some sheets of paper to them and what you could read on them made you laugh. It was written in English (why not in Swedish… LOL… 😉 ) and it reads: ”You don’t get a setlist, because your ticket does not say entertainment and a souvenir. It just says that you get to see the show. That should be enough. What are you going to do with a lousy piece of paper anyway?” Thanx for the laugh of the day, MNS!
Tack Örebro! Tack för en härlig kväll i Gustavsvik igår. Grymt att se så mycket folk och höra så sköna röster överallt! Och, håll i hatten, inget regn!!! “Honung och guld” var magisk och Christoffers “Queen Of Rain”-intro till “Varmt igen” är en pärla. Cheers. Syns igen! /P&Co
All photos in the article are taken by Patrícia Peres.
Setlist
1. Min plats
2. På promenad genom stan
3. Vilket håll du än går
4. Juni, juli, augusti
5. Det hjärta som brinner
6. Segla på ett moln / Första pris
7. Tittar på dej när du dansar
8. It Must Have Been Love
9. Honung och guld
10. Här kommer alla känslorna (på en och samma gång) / Flickan i en Cole Porter-sång
11. Kung av sand
12. Ljudet av ett annat hjärta
13. Spegelboll
14. Gå & fiska!
Band presentation
15. The Look (with Listen To Your Heart as intro)
Encore:
16. Varmt igen (with Queen of Rain as intro)
17. Tycker om när du tar på mej
18. Dressed for Success
19. Joyride
Encore 2:
20. Sommartider
21. Småstadsprat
Videos:
Min plats
På promenad genom stan: 1; 2;
Juni, juli, augusti: 1; 2;
It Must Have Been Love
Honung och guld
Flickan i en Cole Porter-sång
Kung av sand
Ljudet av ett annat hjärta: 1; 2; 3;
Gå & fiska!
The Look: 1; 2;
Tycker om när du tar på mej
Sommartider: 1; 2; 3; 4; 5;
Articles, pictures:
Örebroguiden
Örebro Tribune
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