Per Gessle Unplugged – Hotel Tylösand – #8 – 29th July 2021

The weather forecast for yesterday looked horrible, but we still kept our fingers crossed that it changes for the night. It changed, but unfortunately, not to the extent we would have been happy with. During the day it was raining cats and dogs several times, but the sun was out too for shorter periods. One thing was constant though, the extremely heavy wind. We were checking on the stage by walking around the hotel, to see if it was already set up, but it was quite late vs. other days when we could see the set was finally on. Until then we were afraid the concert could be cancelled or delayed because of the weather.

We could see that the front line – Per’s, Helena’s and Christoffer’s place – was moved towards the back of the stage and Christoffer’s and Clarence’s instruments were covered with foil not to get wet. We could enter the picnic area exactly when the heaviest rain was falling. We got ponchos in the picnic bag this time again, and now we had to use them. Everyone had a poncho or raincoat on.

The merch stand was put next to the bar for the tees not to get wet. The wind was blowing so hard that the side „curtains” on stage were moving all the time. Flying. Åsa and BoJo checked the stage set and together with the crew they were fixing some elements, so the wind can’t move them and the crew also cleaned the stage from water.

BoJo tested the mic if those on the terrace could hear him. They definitely couldn’t hear him, because all the windows of Leif’s were closed and so no one reacted. Both Åsa and BoJo arranged a solution, so that those who had the terrace ticket could also hear and not only see the concert from their places. The windows got open after a while, before the concert started.

There was a drunken gang sitting at a table in Solgården. They were loud, but they were rather singing GT and PG songs. Kind of 2-3 lines from several songs. While BoJo was sharing the safety info, they were not paying attention and were loud during his speech too, so BoJo told them he will be their nightmare if they don’t listen to him. They seemed to understand, but then went on being loud, so after the speech, BoJo went off stage and went directly to the gang and told them to behave. After that there was no issue with the guys.

The band entered the stage before 20:45. I’d been already wondering what Per would be wearing, because the leopard or the black shirt seemed to be too much of summer shirts for the weather conditions. In the pictures you can see he changed his outfit.

The band felt cold, just like the audience, but it wouldn’t have been possible to wipe off the smile from anyone’s face on and off stage. The mood was great despite the windy and rainy attempt of making it worse. The crowd was singing along a lot, however, the sound of the ponchos blown by the wind and the heavy wind’s own sound made it difficult to hear the crowd reactions, as well as the little jokes in between the songs, but the songs sounded superb.

It happened again that Per started counting in for the start of Det hjärta som brinner, but then stopped and asked Chris to start counting and Christoffer did so.

Här kommer alla känslorna was a real highlight last night, besides the GT songs.

When the guys and girl came back on stage for the encore, Chris showed he was shivering with cold – oh well: no shoes, no socks, haha – and Per had some trouble with the curtain on the side when he was climbing the stairs. Fortunately, he could manage it and we could cheer him too for coming back to play more.

I first thought they would play Honung och guld as the first song of the encore, because the Tom Petty story was told by Per only before that song during past shows. This time it was the intro talk to Vandrar i ett sommarregn.

Vid hennes sida, Honung och guld and Om du bara vill were not played. It made us disappointed, but of course, safety is first. When we saw Åsa entering the stage to switch all the bulbs off, we could already be sure that there would be no second encore. After the show we bumped into Chris and he told it was BoJo who made the decision to end the gig after the first encore, because the tent was „flying” and moving too much. We could see that. The Hotel Tylösand banner that covers the stage’s bottom was already flying before the encore. However, maybe it would have survived 3 more songs.

Regarding the stage lights, this time the 4 big lights in the back were not switched on and it was very eye-friendly for those who were sitting in the front. The band was still very much visible even without that.

Setlist

1. Kung av sand
2. På promenad genom stan
3. Flickan i en Cole Porter-sång
4. Småstadsprat
5. Tycker om när du tar på mej
6. Det hjärta som brinner
7. Tuffa tider
8. Juni, juli, augusti
9. Pappa
10. It Must Have Been Love
11. Ömhet

Band introduction

12. Här kommer alla känslorna
13. Min hälsning

Encore
14. Vandrar i ett sommarregn
15. Listen To Your Heart (dedicated to Marie Fredriksson & Pelle Alsing)
16. Sommartider
17. När alla vännerna gått hem

Photos in the article are taken by Patrícia Peres.

Per after the gig: