Per Gessle Unplugged Tour – #13 – 30th April 2022 – Örebro

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The two Örebro gigs would have happened in December 2021, but they also became postponed. Both gigs were sold out already last year, so everyone was just waiting for being able to join the unplugged fun.

It was Walpurgis night, but no bonfire inside the concert hall, of course. A band on fire instead! They were in a fab mood, all smiles on stage and they – just like us – loved the audience. The crowd rewarded the gang with lots of loud sing-alongs, clap-alongs and long applause after the songs. Great energy!

The audience liked the Gyllene Tider songs the most – literally all of them, but It Must Have Been Love and Här kommer alla känslorna were also very much loved by the crowd.

There were again some capo adventures and at one point, someone in the crowd shouted, “you can do it, Per!”, but Mr. G didn’t hear it first, so he asked back and the one in the audience repeated it. Per thanked for it and said “I feel strong now!”. Haha.

The band presentation was also much fun. Per introduced Christoffer as a magnificent musician, with questionable wardrobe though. “One can’t have everything”, Per said and Christoffer reacted, looking at Per’s clothes “and you say it to me?”. Haha. Then Per turned to Clarence and after telling why he doesn’t have a mic in front of him (because he talks too much and sings poorly), he said Clarence is a fantastically talented producer and “without him the earth would have stood still for me”. So lovely! Magnus was next, the newcomer in the band, whom Per works together with only since 18 years. “Feels like yesterday”, said Per and Magnus reacted “it does, every day we meet”. Per went on saying Magnus is a “fantastic musician… in his own way”. They all laughed. Helena was already introduced before, while Per was talking about how they started working together 20 years ago, when he recorded the Mazarin album. From the three female vocals Chris wanted to suggest him it was enough for him to hear the first one, because that was just amazing. That was Helena. Helena said “I’m so lucky” and Per reacted “we are all lucky to have you”. Heart-warming!

When PG told before playing Min hälsning that they are to finish the show, the crowd went loud saying “noooo”. Per joked that Christoffer has to go home and watch Dallas. Chris said he has a lot to do.

The crowd stood up both times the band left the stage before the encores and didn’t sit down until the gang was back. At the previous concert someone in the audience shouted Honung och guld several times. It came true last night! The song kicked Födelsedag off the setlist, so it was the first track in the first encore. Before playing När vi två blir en, Per again told the story of lyrics that one can write only when he is very young, e.g. Flickorna på TV2, which has a text that is not politically correct nowadays. The crowd would have loved to hear the song, but Mr. G informed: “We won’t play Flickorna på TV2, take it easy!” Haha. Nevermind! Everyone was very happy for NVTBE too.

As I wrote above, all GT songs had loud crowd reactions and so was the case with Sommartider. This time everyone stayed on their feet for the last song, När alla vännerna gått hem as well. A well-deserved standing ovation it was this time too!

At the end of the gig PG said he hopes to meet the Örebro crowd soon again, maybe there will be some who join the show tomorrow. “Maybe it will be the same crowd tomorrow.” Haha.

Last night’s concert was Sandra Knospe’s 300th Rox world related show. Congrats! And to several hundreds more!

Next stop is Örebro again on 1st May!

Setlist

1. Kung av sand
2. På promenad genom stan
3. Flickan i en Cole Porter-sång
4. Småstadsprat
5. Min plats
6. Tycker om när du tar på mej
7. Det hjärta som brinner
8. Ljudet av ett annat hjärta
9. Varmt igen
10. Tuffa tider
11. Juni, juli, augusti
12. It Must Have Been Love
13. Vilket håll du än går

Band introduction

14. Här kommer alla känslorna
15. Min hälsning

Encore 1
16. Honung och guld
17. Listen To Your Heart (dedicated to Marie Fredriksson & Pelle Alsing)
18. När vi två blir en

Encore 2
19. Vid hennes sida
20. Sommartider
21. När alla vännerna gått hem

Photos in the article are taken by Patrícia Peres.

Per after the gig on Facebook & Twitter:

Wow! Örebro. At last. And what a welcome we received! Amazing evening, very loud crowd which we love! Lots of new boogaloo happening on stage. We played “Honung och guld” tonight. Just for fun. Second show tomorrow. Can’t wait. Have a great Valborg everyone!

And on Instagram:

Wow. Örebro. At last. Thanx for an amazing evening!!! Ten out of ten when it comes to the audience!!! We had a blast. See you tomorrow again!

Per Gessle Unplugged Tour – #12 – 26th April 2022 – Kalmar

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Kalmar would have been the closing gig on 15th December 2021 originally, but instead it became the best show so far on this postponed tour leg. You could feel already in the beginning of the concert that it would become a fab one. The audience was very active during the whole evening. Clapping along, singing along most of the songs and laughing out loud at the jokes on stage. The band enjoyed it a lot and they were in a great mood too. Also, they were playing and performing wonderfully. What a combo!

Last night there was no smoke on stage and indeed, Per had no issue with his throat this time. Keep it this way! However, after På promenad genom stan he took a tissue and told the crowd it’s pollen season. At that point, someone in the crowd started singing the first words of THIS song and everyone was laughing so hard on and off stage. Per even applauded the one who sang. That was too cool!

Per mentioned that Helena was born in Kalmar and the crowd really loved her. They cheered Helena everytime she was singing, especially after Småstadsprat. Well-deserved!

Beforethe second GT song came on the setlist, Mr. G told they thought to play some more Gyllene Tider and asked whether the next song should be Chrissie, hur mår du? or Tuff tuff tuff (som ett lokomotiv). Christoffer said it should be Revolver upp. Someone in the audience shouted Chrissie. PG said they would play Det hjärta som brinner. The crowd was very happy about this one too.

When Helena, Magnus and Christoffer went off stage before Ljudet av ett annat hjärta, Chris said they would drink schnaps. Someone in the crowd shouted „I’m coming too!” Per’s reaction was to Chris: „you’ve got a friend, Christoffer!” Then Clarence and Per played LAEAH. Most beautiful song on this tour (if I haven’t mentioned it enought times yet)!

After Tuffa tider, Per asked for more ginger tea, but a stronger one than what he had so far. Christoffer’s reaction was „ginger tea” huh? Micke N-S was right back with a mug of fresh tea. Someone in the crowd shouted „Honung och guld” at this point. Per said „it’s not a bad song”.

When before Min hälsning PG said it’s time to end the show, the crowd shouted several loud nooooo-s. After the song, the audience stood up and applauded and cheered the band who were leaving the stage. They were back in a short time, because the crowd didn’t stop clapping.

Before the last song in the first encore, PG asked if we want one more. Someone in the crowd shouted „two”. And the one who shouted Honung och guld before, shouted again. Haha.

After the first encore, the crowd stood up again and gave a standing ovation. PG & Co. were back on stage in a minute and before they started playing Vid hennes sida, Per said it’s from the latest – he hopes not the last – GT album. Someone in the crowd shouted in excitement: „Excuse me, what did you say?” Haha.

After Per told the story that there is one song he didn’t want to play at all, but Magnus insisted on it, Christoffer said, of course now everyone knows they would play Björn Skifs’ Hooked on a Feeling. Per laughed and said „Ooga-Chaka, it’s gonna be fun”! Haha. Sommartider was a blast again, of course and got the whole audience standing. After the gang finished the song, the crowd was clapping for a very long time and the band enjoyed it. They waited for a while before starting to play the last song. Everyone was happy to hear När alla vännerna gått hem as the closing ballad. Obvious ending: standing ovation again! Amazing show it was!

Next stop is Örebro on Saturday, 30th April!

Setlist

1. Kung av sand
2. På promenad genom stan
3. Flickan i en Cole Porter-sång
4. Småstadsprat
5. Min plats
6. Tycker om när du tar på mej
7. Det hjärta som brinner
8. Ljudet av ett annat hjärta
9. Varmt igen
10. Tuffa tider
11. Juni, juli, augusti
12. It Must Have Been Love
13. Vilket håll du än går

Band introduction

14. Här kommer alla känslorna
15. Min hälsning

Encore 1
16. Födelsedag
17. Listen To Your Heart (dedicated to Marie Fredriksson & Pelle Alsing)
18. När vi två blir en

Encore 2
19. Vid hennes sida
20. Sommartider
21. När alla vännerna gått hem

Photos in the article are taken by Patrícia Peres.

Per after the gig on Facebook:

Wow! Amazing evening in Kalmar. Thx everyone for singing along and showing us a good time. One to remember for sure!!!!

And on Instagram:

Wunderbar evening in Kalmar. Oh Yea! Thanx everyone for singing along and having a good time. Amazing. I got the best job in the world!

An on Twitter:

Truly amazing evening in Kalmar! Thx everyone for singing along and sharing these fab two hours with us. See you soon again. Promise.

Per Gessle Unplugged Tour – #11 – 25th April 2022 – Jönköping

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The original date of the Jönköping gig would have been 14th December last year, but for known reasons, it was postponed until last night. The venue greeted us with a PG Unplugged sign already at the entrance of the concert hall building. Inside, at several places, there were monitors showing a pic of Per and Helena from an earlier unplugged concert.

When PG & Co. entered the stage, Per talked to the crowd and said they are happy to be in Jönköping and that they are glad the audience chose them instead of the hockey match that was played in the arena next to the concert hall. After playing the Nashville songs, PG asked the crowd if everything was fine and if they wanted to know the scores from the match. Half of the audience shouted yes, half shouted no. Haha. Christoffer asked what teams are playing and Per replied „HV against PV” – he said he has no clue. The crowd was laughing. Per told he was at one hockey match in his life in the 70’s or 80’s. It was Halmstad Hockey Club’s match and they lost, actually against HV (the Jönköping team). The crowd gave it an applause. Later Per asked the crowd again if they wanted to know the scores, then the audience shouted no. PG said 1-1. Haha.

The band sounded great and the crowd was clapping along several songs, even singing along. The jokes and anecdotes also worked very well on this audience, they laughed a lot and applauded the guys and girl loudly.

Per had some issues with his throat, but it turned out it was because of too much smoke on stage. Once he went off stage and asked the tech guys to make it less, because it was irritating his throat. He asked for more warm ginger tea as well. Keep your throat safe, Mr. G!

Ljudet av ett annat hjärta, Tuffa tider, It Must Have Been Love, Vilket håll du än går and Sommartider were the highlight songs in Jönköping.

Before the first encore, the crowd didn’t stop clapping until Per and the gang came back on stage. Per said they would play a little more and someone in the crowd shouted „one more hour!”, to which Per reacted „one more hour? Would be a pleasure, but I have to go home to watch the hockey on YouTube or somewhere.” Haha. They started playing Födelsedag.

After the first encore, everyone stood up and cheered the band and they didn’t sit down and didn’t stop clapping until the gang was back again soon. Everyone sat down for Vid hennes sida, but Sommartider became a standing song of course. And even if När alla vännerna gått hem became seated, the audience was up on their feet again before Per, Helena, Clarence, Magnus and Christoffer took a bow.

The match ended at the same time as the concert, so it was quite tough to get out of the parking area, but who cares. It was a wonderful evening!

P.S.: For those, who are interested, HV71 (local team) played against Björklöven (from Umeå) and Björklöven won 3-1. Oops. Nevermind. Those who chose the concert won a lot!

Next stop is Kalmar on 26th April!

Setlist

1. Kung av sand
2. På promenad genom stan
3. Flickan i en Cole Porter-sång
4. Småstadsprat
5. Min plats
6. Tycker om när du tar på mej
7. Det hjärta som brinner
8. Ljudet av ett annat hjärta
9. Varmt igen
10. Tuffa tider
11. Juni, juli, augusti
12. It Must Have Been Love
13. Vilket håll du än går

Band introduction

14. Här kommer alla känslorna
15. Min hälsning

Encore 1
16. Födelsedag
17. Listen To Your Heart (dedicated to Marie Fredriksson & Pelle Alsing)
18. När vi två blir en

Encore 2
19. Vid hennes sida
20. Sommartider
21. När alla vännerna gått hem

Photos in the article are taken by Patrícia Peres.

Per after the gig on Facebook:

Thanks Jönköping for a splendid Monday evening. We had a blast, could go on forever!! Soooo many people in spite of the hockey game going on around the corner. See you all soon again. Lots of love from PG + band!

And on Twitter:

Thanks for a splendid Monday evening, folks. Amazing to sell out this place in spite of the hockeygame going on around the corner. Loved every minute of this. See y’all soon again!

Per Gessle Unplugged Tour – #10 – 21st April 2022 – Karlstad

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When I wrote my latest PG Unplugged report in Halmstad, November 2021, I finished the article with this sentence: „Next stop is Karlstad on 8th December!” Oh well… a lot of things happened since then. First of all, on 7th December we were informed that Mr. G had tonsillitis, so some shows – including Karlstad – had to be moved to January. We were still hoping for other December dates to be kept if Per got well, but unfortunately, he had a longer fight with that tough tonsillitis and all remaining shows were moved to January. We were (and still are) in Covid times, and on 22nd December we got the news that the shows in January would be affected by the new rules related to Covid-restrictions in Sweden and had to be moved to a later period in the spring. We had to wait until 20th January to get to know the new dates for the postponed gigs and there came a couple of additional dates in new cities as well. The date was set, the tickets were in our pocket, no tonsillitis in sight. That’s how the show in Karlstad finally happened last night vs. the originally planned December date.

Almost 5 months passed since the last time we could hear Per & Co.’s unplugged performance live, but it was all worth the waiting! The band was in top shape, as if there was no major break between the 2 gigs. However, after the gig Per said that at the rehearsal the day before they didn’t sound too good. For show day they were their old selves again it seems. Haha.

The crowd reactions were nice. The audience was rather clapping along than singing and reacted to Per’s, Christoffer’s and Magnus’ stand-up anecdotes with laughing. The anecdotes were actually the same as before (from Roy Orbison to It Must Have Been Love via Tom Petty and Dallas), but one can never get tired of these stories. And some extra funny interactions were born between the band members on stage. It was real fun to see and hear their reactions to each other’s comments. One must love the chemistry between these guys and girl.

Before the show started, Per told they arrived the day before and tested Karlstad’s wild night life. He said it’s much fun to be in Karlstad.

The capo was in focus last night again for several songs. Here you could see Mr. G got out of practice during the past 5 months, but also Micke N-S, who brought the guitar to Per with the capo on for Sommartider and after Per started to play it, he realized that it should be without the capo. He said it’s not only him who has problems with capos it seems and laughed.

Before PG & Co. played Det hjärta som brinner, Per said Göran celebrates his 60th birthday today. The audience was cheering, some people even started singing the Swedish birthday song. Mr. G said „Happy birthday, Göran!” and that they play this song for him.

Ljudet av ett annat hjärta is still the No. 1 song for me on this tour. I could really listen to it 24/7 and even for that one song it would be worth going to see each gig. So beautiful how Clarence and Per play it together and Per’s vocals on it.

Before Vilket håll du än går Per told the story of Mazarin, how Helena became part of his gang and that as we know, he likes to mix his voice with female vocals. He now added „I actually need all the help I can get”. The crowd was laughing.

After the first encore, the audience stood up and was clapping and shouting to have the band back for another encore and they soon got back on stage. Then everyone sat down for Vid hennes sida, but were up on their feet again when Per said for Sommartider we should stand up. När alla vännerna gått hem, was a seated song again, but the gang got a well-deserved standing ovation at the end of the concert and they appreciated it.

Next stop is Jönköping on 25th April!

Setlist

1. Kung av sand
2. På promenad genom stan
3. Flickan i en Cole Porter-sång
4. Småstadsprat
5. Min plats
6. Tycker om när du tar på mej
7. Det hjärta som brinner
8. Ljudet av ett annat hjärta
9. Varmt igen
10. Tuffa tider
11. Juni, juli, augusti
12. It Must Have Been Love
13. Vilket håll du än går

Band introduction

14. Här kommer alla känslorna
15. Min hälsning

Encore 1
16. Födelsedag
17. Listen To Your Heart (dedicated to Marie Fredriksson & Pelle Alsing)
18. När vi två blir en

Encore 2
19. Vid hennes sida
20. Sommartider
21. När alla vännerna gått hem

Photos in the article are taken by Patrícia Peres.

Per after the gig:

Thanks for a truly amazing night in Karlstad. LOADS OF PEOPLE + LOADS OF FUN! Five months off the road could mean rusty business but this band still amazes me every time we play together. This tour is a killer in my book. Thanks Karlstad for love and affection!!!! See you soon again! Badabam from PG.

Per Gessle interviewed by Stella Event

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Stella Event, promoter of the last 3 unplugged gigs up in the north of Sweden did an interview with Mr. G.

SE: – Do you have any dream collaboration? Either as a dream that already came true or as something you still hope for?

PG: – No, all my heroes in music have already died. Or about to die. I’m so old so all my heroes are even older, like The Beatles and Tom Petty and Joni Mitchell. So there is like no one. I’ve had the chance to meet many, like Paul McCartney, Keith Richards and Springsteen and it obviously feels super big but it would feel uncomfortable to sit in a studio with one of them.

And when it comes to modern musicians, they work in a completely different way, where you make electronic music separately and then you send the material to each other. And I have had the opportunity to do that, I have worked with David Guetta and a bit with others, but that’s a different thing. I feel that I have grown old in that way, that I like it the way I can do it. When I talk about music with my son, who is 24, we don’t understand each other at all because we hear so many different things. But it was the same when I grew up, so my parents didn’t understand why I wanted to listen to T-Rex.

SE: – As organizers, we often take care of the artists’ requests. Do you have something specific that you always want in the dressing room? And when you toured the world with Roxette, did you have any crazier rock star requests then? Just because you could like…

PG: – Nowadays, my tour guide always asks if I want the same as usual in the dressing room and I never know what it is, but I usually want flakes, in case I don’t have time to chew. It can be irregular times so then it’s good to have some energy. And then I want fresh ginger for the throat. And then we usually ask for a little champagne, but we drink it after the concert and only if we in the band think we have earned it. Type of stuff like that…

In the past, it was maybe a little more extravagant stuff and on a tour I kept asking for Mouton Rotschild, such a very expensive wine, and it was mostly to see if anyone could provide us with it. And there was ONE guy, his name was Andre – you see I remember his name – in Zurich who pounded a bottle of Mouton in my dressing room. Otherwise you were disappointed every time. But this was a long time ago, so it’s statute barred.

SE: – Is there anything you always do before stepping on stage? Either as a warm-up or for more superstitious reasons for it to go well?

PG: – I actually never sing up. Marie always sang up, on the last tour she could sing up for two hours. But I usually never do it, I do sound check and then it must be good. I probably have no such fuzz for me but I always want to go last on stage. I kind of want to gather the band and feel that everyone is on the same wavelength and like to look everyone in the eye. So I’m a bit of a guide dog. And I’m so addicted to this friendship in the group.

That’s a bit what made me so scared at the thought of this tour because it felt so naked. I have always played in front of a large audience and with a large band and so on. Now I’m the only guitarist so it becomes obvious if a mistake happens. But I got the question from the management at Hotel Tylösand and since the max. audience was 500, I thought that if it fails miserably, there wouldn’t be so many witnesses. So we did two gigs there and then it became an acoustic tour.

SE: – This tour is described as “dipping your toes in your song catalogue”. Is there any song in your song catalogue that you yourself thought would be a real hit but didn’t really break through?

PG: – It’s a difficult question. I myself am the world’s worst at hearing what can be a single and what cannot. In addition, there are so many factors that are needed for a song to become a hit, especially internationally. But we can say this, “Spending My Time” of Roxette was on the “Joyride” album in 1991. And then there were three songs that our record company said would be hits, it was “Joyride”, “Fading Like A Flower” and “Spending My Time”. And it was the last one they thought would be the biggest. It was during the MTV era that it got the biggest video budget, four million or something like that. But then when it was to be released and become our fifth America number one, our record company collapsed. So all of a sudden no one worked with Roxette and our record was almost forgotten in the US, which led to “Spending My Time” not really being the big song that everyone had thought.

Get your tickets for the PG Unplugged Tour HERE!