It was already the penultimate Swedish show on the Hux Flux tour last night in the botanical garden of Uppsala. We saw no chance to be lucky with the weather again. It was raining almost all day. After the doors opened and we were inside the venue, it started raining cats and dogs (see this pic of mine for reference). The technicians had to remove the speakers from the front to save them from the rain and also cover everything they could. Ponchos and raincoats on, this is how we were waiting for the concert. We already saw the lakes under our feet and were wondering how fans would look for the guitar picks in the mud. Haha. We even thought about the schedule of the night, that maybe they would change something (beginning much later or much sooner than planned), because of the heavy rain. And then hux flux, it stopped raining before Uno Svenningsson went up on stage and we never heard of the rain again. GT must have had a good deal with the Weather Gods. Unbelievable! Really!
The technicians cleaned everything from the water on stage and dried up places where e.g. Micke Syd sits during the closing song. One place where they couldn’t remove the water from was the roof. And it would have been no problem if it didn’t fall down like a waterfall during Uno’s performance, exactly when he was standing in the front and exactly to that spot where he was standing. It must have been cold and it was really a lot of water falling on his neck, but he went on singing and tried to step away. He looked up several times to see if more might come, but fortunately, that was it. The audience cheered him and he got a loud applause. The technicians put a towel on his monitor, so that he can dry himself when he gets back to his starting spot, but he even threw the towel away, didn’t dry himself with it. Rock ’n’ roll! And it was funny that it was during the song Du kommer ångra det här, where he sings Det har regnat över oss / I så många år / Men jag håller mig vid liv (It’s been raining on us / For so many years / But I’m staying alive). He laughed and looked up at the roof again and the crowd laughed with him.
Malin-My and Dea joined Uno again for one song, Under ytan.
Gyllene Tider came up on stage at 21:15. The whole gang was full of energy and of course, they wanted to top their previous Uppsala gigs. I think they managed to do so. It was a fantastic concert with a loud sing-along crowd who enjoyed their Thursday night to the full. I would say it was one of the Top5 gigs on this tour.
Billy liked it so much in Karlstad that he decided to stay there, so the setlist contained 21 songs, including the medley. It was very nice to hear how the crowd accepted all the songs, cheered for each one of them.
When Per greeted the audience, he asked them to sing along if they know the songs and sing along anyway, even if they don’t know the lyrics. That’s what they in the band usually do. Haha.
The mix Micke prepared for PG last night had the effect that Per can only write and play sympho prog rock from now on, Micke said. Haha.
Before Min tjej och jag Micke pointed at a girl in the audience who was holding up a GT banner from 1981 that was available in the fan club. He asked for a shout-out to that girl and her mom who was standing behind her. She was shown on the screen too and the audience cheered.
During När alla vännerna gått hem, Per asked Uno to join them on stage and he was also singing part of the song. They hugged each other after the song and Uno stayed to take a bow with the whole gang.
Next stop is Gothenburg, the last Swedish show on Saturday. Let’s make some noise!
Setlist
1. Gyllene Tider igen
2. Juni, juli, augusti
3. Det hjärta som brinner
4. Skicka ett vykort, älskling
5. Gammal kärlek rostar aldrig
6. Flickorna på TV2
7. Vandrar i ett sommarregn
8. (Hon vill ha) Puls
9. En sten vid en sjö i en skog
10. Flickan i en Cole Porter-sång
11. Tuffa tider
Band presentation
12. Min tjej och jag
13. Kung av sand
14. Ljudet av ett annat hjärta
15. Ska vi älska, så ska vi älska till Buddy Holly
16. (Kom så ska vi) Leva livet / (Dansar inte lika bra som) Sjömän / Tylö Sun medley
Encore 1
17. Det är över nu
18. Gå & fiska!
Encore 2
19. När vi två blir en
20. Sommartider
21. När alla vännerna gått hem
All photos in the article by Patrícia Peres
Per after the show:
Tack för en fantastisk torsdag i Uppsala. Underbar publik, regngudarna på vår sida (igen!) och vi fick t o m upp Uno S på scenen i “När alla vännerna gått hem”. Nu reser vi till Götet och avslutar vår Sverige-sväng på Ullevi imorgon. Kommer att bli mäktigt!!!