Per Gessle’s first single off his upcoming album was released on 17th March. As you could see it in Mr. G’s video showing his brand new album, En vacker natt (out on 28th April), he also showed a physical Småstadsprat single which is for promotional use only, distributed to radio stations in Sweden. It’s a bit sad, mainly for collectors, that we are living in a ”digital single release only” world.
On the promo single’s back cover we can see who created the magical sounds on this track.
Per Gessle: acoustic guitar and vocals
Lars Winnerbäck: vocals
Clarence Öfwerman: piano
Christoffer Lundquist: acoustic guitar, contrabass, percussion and keyboards
Dan Dugmore: pedal steel guitar
Stuart Duncan: violin
Helena Josefsson: backing vocals
Lyrics and music by Per Gessle.
Produced by Christoffer Lundquist and Per Gessle.
Recorded in Blackbird Studios in Nashville, Tennessee.
Additional recordings were done at Tits & Ass, Halmstad (Technician: M.P Persson) and Shortlist, Stockholm (Technician: Anders Herrlin).
The single is released under Space Station 12, Per’s record label that has just celebrated its 1 year anniversary this week. All guests are now lucky owners of a Småstadsprat promo single.
Per wrote Småstadsprat on 5-6 May 2016 in Halmstad. This is what he says about the song:
I wrote Småstadsprat in Halmstad in the beginning of May last year when the sun started to shine seriously. It became one of the signature songs of how I wanted my new album to sound. I wanted Helena Josefsson on the choruses and then I met Lasse Winnerbäck at Sofiero in Helsingborg in July and asked him if he wanted to sing a bit too. He liked the song and joined in. The lyrics is about being young and in love and confused and disappointed at the same time. Everyday life in small towns.
Listen to the song on your favourite digital platform! Or if you are more into the live version, now you can choose from 2 beautiful live performances. The one you could hear on Skavlan and the other from the SS12 anniversary party.
Per’s latest posts made many fans wonder what Mr. G is cooking again. First you see him posting a video, getting ready to work with Clarence. In a different time zone. Okay, it’s music in the making, not just a random holiday. Then bang, there is a Sunday selfie with Anders Herrlin, Clarence Öfwerman and Per. Anders? Hm hm… Then it comes to your mind that Anders is very much into soundtracks and you remember Per said in an interview quite some time ago that he is working together with Jonas Åkerlund again on a soundtrack for Jonas’ new movie. Jonas is indeed working on a new film. The title is Lords of Chaos and it’s based on a true story. It was announced already in May 2015 that Jonas is directing this movie, but the shooting was a bit delayed for whatever reasons. Now it seems Mr. Åkerlund is very busy with it and the project is in pre-production phase.
Back to Mr. G’s new dice, the storyline on IMDb states: A teenager’s quest to launch Norwegian Black Metal in Oslo in the 1980s results in a very violent outcome.
Black metal… Aha… What does Per have to do with black metal??? Oh my… Then ooops, he posts a picture of Christoffer Lundquist and Clarence Öfwerman hanging out with a cutout Alan Jackson (famous country musician) and he writes ”Chris, Anders & Clare preparing yet another heavy metal arrangement.” Heavy metal… so why Alan Jackson? Just to confuse us… Oh, Alan Jackson has a good-looking country bar in Nashville.
Back to the movie. You check anything related to the ”music by” section of Lords of Chaos, but all you can find related to sounds / music so far is that Mattias Eklund’s name is stated as re-recording mixer / supervising sound editor. Mattias was there to edit sounds for Small Apartments as well. You know, the movie with beautiful soundtrack music by Per Gessle.
So is Per making black metal music together with Anders, Clarence and Chris? Or are they all there in Nashville for country music only? Haha. This guy is certainly not running out of projects. Good for us!
Update on 2nd November 2016:Helena Josefsson joined the gang in Nashville for 3 days & they are recording together with Jessica Sweetman (British singer / songwriter). Jessica says: “Yesterday [1st November] I was recording in the Blackbird Studios in Nashville with Per Gessle from Roxette. I am so happy that I am going to be featured on a song of his that he is releasing next year. Per and his team are such wonderful souls and incredibly talented musicians. I feel blessed I have had this opportunity of collaborating with them on this project.”
Update on 5th November 2016: Drummer Elizabeth Goodfellow joined Per Gessle & Co in Nashville. Elizabeth also worked together with Helena Josefsson and Christoffer Lundquist at AGM a month ago. Elizabeth says: “Just wrapped up tracking drums for Per Gessle! It’s an honor to play for a songwriter I listened to on the radio since before I can remember. So grateful to keep growing and learning. Thank you!”
We had to wait a year to be able to relive the sommartider of our lives, but now here it is! Gyllene Tider’s Dags att tänka på konserten was released on 23rd July. I would say it was worth the waiting. Even if it’s ”just” a DVD (I mean no Blu-ray around – who knows why…), the quality is great and what we can see on the DVD is simply fantastic. It contains a complete concert (24 songs, 1 hour 36 minutes), a documentary (1 hour 6 minutes) and 3 videos. Photos on the cover and in the DVD booklet are by Anders Roos. He’s the photographer who took those amazing shots for the Alla tiders Gyllene Tider book, which was written during the tour.
Concert
The stage scenes are from Skövde, but the crowd scenes are mixed from 2 concerts. Besides Skövde, some crowd cuts are from Eskilstuna, so if you were there at the last 2 concerts of the tour, there is a high chance you will see yourself.
What I felt when watching the concert was that I was there in Sweden again, on a summer night, being part of a loud crowd, seeing 5 energy bombs on stage. And it left a constant smile on my face during the whole show. Judging by what I saw, Skövde concert must have been one of the Top5 most energetic gigs. From the 2nd song the crowd was more reactive and I must say it’s amazing to see everyone doing the coreography Micke Syd shows during Min tjej och jag. When you are in the crowd in the front you can’t see such things and it must feel so great to see this reaction from your crowd when you are on stage.
Another fantastic thing to see is young and old (let’s say from 15 to 70) singing along to old and new GT songs. It’s unbelievable what music, THIS music can do to people.Too cool!
Camera angles are great, too. Grumpy Productions did a fab job. You might remember the posts (1; 2) on Gyllene Tider’s Facebook page about the camera techniques they used in Skövde. Looking good!
I left it for last, but it’s definitely one of the most important points: T.H.E. S.O.U.N.D. I.S. P.U.R.E. A.W.E.S.O.M.E.N.E.S.S.! Hats off to Christoffer Lundquist who did the mixing! So now we are in need of a live CD! Anyway, wasn’t it the case that we get one? Hm.
Documentary – Gyllene Tider sommaren 2013
It’s the same that was broadcast on TV4 last December. A fantastic one! You can read my review of it if you click HERE. Love to have it on DVD.
One more thing I must add is that towards the end of the concert part I felt the same I felt at the end of each gig last summer: I don’t want this come to an end! But the good thing with the DVD is that you can play it as many times as you wish. This one is definitely something I’ll play several times in my life.
If you haven’t bought / ordered your copy yet, do yourself a favour and get yourself this DVD. If you attended any of the concerts, the reason why is to relive those magic moments. If you couldn’t attend any of the shows, you’ll have the chance to jump and sing along in front of your TV now. Here are the links from where you can order the DVD: Bengans, Ginza, CDON.
Judith’s review
Today it was finally the day for concert that many were waiting for, expecting it to be a blast! And what to say, the concert was more than super! Marie was welcomed by a very very loud crowd and she had to wait a bit to start singing the first song. After that she was all smiles! The shouting and the smiles remained the whole concert.
After an amazing concert in Linköping I didn’t think this could be topped, but wow! The band did an amazing job, I’ve never seen Surjo move around so much before, Chris, watch out! 😉
Jokke was all smiles all the time, as were all of us in the audience. Jokke also delivered an incredible solo in Den sjunde vågen, which also felt longer than usual. It was simply great to see the band and Marie have so much fun with us, or the other way around.
The most touching song was probably the last one, Tro. It was the last concert for many fans and I could see many of us hugging and singing along. It felt as if the song had suddenly become a hymn for love and friendship. Not to forget to mention that fans had arranged to bring roses to give to Marie at the end. Everybody had one rose, at the end of Tro all of them were brought to the front and put on the stage. Micke collected them all and took them backstage for Marie.
There were also some familiar faces in the audience. Lasse Lindbom, Anders Herrlin, Mats MP Persson, Jonas Åkerlund and, last but not least, Per and Åsa, just to mention a few. Per posted on Facebook that they celebrated the 25th anniversary of The Look reaching #1 in USA at the after-show party.
Patrícia’s review
Åsa & Per at Cirkus – sorry for the bad quality pic… Check out Roxette Rosario’s pic, too 😉
As you could already read here and there, Marie’s gig in Stockholm was marvellous with many famous people in the crowd. Oh yes, with Per among them! Woohoo! We’ve been expecting him to appear at this concert, but we couldn’t be sure he would really come until we saw Åsa, Per and Jonas Åkerlund arriving together 1-2 minutes before 19:30. They found their places in the 10th row, on the left side, close to the exit. After many Roxers realized Per was there, we started clapping and he and Åsa waved to us smiling. After some minutes we repeated it. It was awesome to see him in the crowd, sitting among us. Besides them, there were many other familiar faces and now I’m not talking only about the hardcore fans. Mats MP Persson (who was sitting in front of Per), Anders Herrlin, Clarence Öfwerman, Dea Norberg (she even posted a pic on her Instagram), Marie Dimberg, Lasse Lindbom were there in the audience, just to name some of them, but there were many other famous Swedish people in the crowd. Also Oscar, Marie’s son was there, sitting in the 6th row, together with his grandma, Micke’s mum.
One could have thought that this crowd would make Marie and the band nervous, but no! They were in TOP shape and rocked Cirkus! The sound was perfect and Marie’s voice simply blown us away. She was smiling a lot and the audience was clapping so much that some songs had to wait to be started. I think there was no concert where they could start Så stilla så långsamt so late, waiting for the audience to be silent. Marie enjoyed it so much, you could see it on her face. She was shining!
I must admit that the audience was very good at clapping, they could even follow the rhythm Surjo and Micke showed by clapping themselves, but if you ask about how many of them stood up… Hm. We, the international fans (Argentina, Austria, Brazil, Bulgaria, Czecz Republic, Germany, Hungary, Lithuania, Poland, Romania, Russia, Switzerland, The Netherlands, USA etc.) were sitting at different places in the crowd, owing to the not so funny mechanism the tickets went on sale in October. Some got tickets in rows in the middle, some in the front, some in the back, others on the balcony. We thought it was a great chance to animate the Swedish part of the crowd even more, since we could do a little of this ”job” in every corner of Cirkus.
We stood up already at Kom vila hos mig and we expected the Cirkus crowd being at least as cool as Göteborg audience was and following us, but not really. Unfortunately, there were a lot of people in the middle and on the left of the first 4-5 rows who were not willing to stand up, so people in the back could have thought it was still better to be sitting. We thought, OK, maybe at the next fast song they would realize how they should act when seeing how Marie loves this reaction and they see the security guys didn’t make us sitting.
Oh yes, talking about security guys – who were not present at any other shows so far – Atli, from Show Security Sweden was there too. You surely remember him and his team from the Gyllene Tider tour. I greeted him after the concert and he said the show was great, he liked it a lot.
Back to the concert: Så länge det lyser mittemot made us stand up and dance again. Then there were some more in the crowd who followed us, but the left side was still sitting, only clapping. Efter stormen was our next party song. It rocked big time again! There were Swedes sitting in front of me and it was such a good feeling to see them deciding: ”OK, maybe now we could really stand up” and they did so. C’mon, people! There is nothing wrong with it… Live it!
Den sjunde vågen was fabulous this time again and I always have a big smile on my face when I see Marie’s reaction to the fact she has to go off stage. It’s different every time, but always so lovely. After she left the stage, the guys went crazy. Christoffer even throw away his hat. Hat was grabbed up by Jokke when they also left the stage. I have to mention that I think Jokke was the best on this concert from the 5 I’ve seen. He’s a great guitarist! We couldn’t stop clapping and being loud to have Marie back on stage and some minutes later she appeared again for the extra songs. We didn’t sit down and Mellan sommar och höst was again the song that made even more people stand up. Even Per stood up towards the end of it. Hats off, Mr. G! We’re very proud of you! 😉 Then came Den bästa dagen and many of us had the feeling it was really the best day of our lives. Such a fantastic concert it was! And it hadn’t ended yet. During Tro we stood up again and there were roses in our hands. We’ve been holding them up and waving them during the whole song. Thank you very much for the great idea, Christina Tholander and Nina Wolfframm and also thanx a lot to Heartland Anne, who organized roses for many fans and even a heart-shaped bunch of red roses for Marie. When the song ended, we’ve been forwarding the roses to the front and Micke was collecting them, while Marie got one bunch of red roses from a fan, handed over by Micke N-S and Chris collected the heart-shaped bunch. It looked fab and Marie was so happy to get the flowers. Awesomeness! (You can see it here, in the video I embedded and on these 3 Instagram pics: 1, 2, 3.) Per was leaving his seat before Tro ended, but Åsa stayed until the end of the song.
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6TaE7m1E1Vc
After the concert, there was a celebration of the 25th anniversary of The Look’s becoming No. 1. on the Billboard. The celebration took place in a separated area of the restaurant at Cirkus. Everyone looked very happy and enjoyed their time there. Per’s comment on tonight’s show:
TUESDAY EVENING UPDATE: Had a blast at Marie’s gig at Cirkus in Stockholm. Wonderful concert and Miss Effe + band in top shape. Great to see so many Roxers making a lotta noise. Afterwards some press + celebration with old friends. As you probably know by now….The Look No 1 in the US goes 25! Thanx Warner/EMI for being great hosts! Cheers, P.
We’re glad you enjoyed it! We had a blast, too! Unfortunately, this was my last concert on this tour. I’m very sad about it, but I’m grateful that I could be a part of it and enjoy every second of 5 absolutely fabulous and exceptional concerts. Tack så väldigt mycket Marie & the band! By the way, can you believe that only 4 shows left from this magical tour? Impossible. We need a next tour soon!
Setlist (no changes)
1. Så stilla så långsamt [1992 – DSR]
2. Kom vila hos mig [2013 – Nu!]
3. Bara för en dag [1987 – ES]
4. Det regnar igen [1992 – DSR]
5. Sista sommarens vals [2013 – Nu!]
6. Ber bara en gång [1996 – IETSV]
7. Sparvöga [1989 off the Swedish drama TV series]
8. Ett hus vid havet [1985 – DSV]
9. Ett bord i solen [2007 – TFT]
10. Så skimrande var aldrig havet [1990 off Taube compilation album]
11. Ännu doftar kärlek [1984 – HV]
12. Så länge det lyser mittemot [1992 – DSR]
13. Om du såg mig nu [1987 – ES]
14. Efter stormen [1987 – ES]
15. Den sjunde vågen [1985 – DSV]
16. Mellan sommar och höst [1992 – DSR]
17. Den bästa dagen [1985 – DSV]
18. Tro [1996 – IETSV]
As we already informed you about it earlier, Tara Moshizi and Tove Meyer – who are also Roxers –did a documentary on Look Sharp!’s 25th anniversary for Swedish Radio. This great docu ”Look Sharp 25 år – Så tog Roxette över världen” (= Look Sharp! 25 – This is how Roxette took over the world) was broadcasted today, but interviews with Clarence and Anders were done in September, with Per in October and with Marie and Ms Dimberg in November.
Actually, most of the stories we already heard during all these years, but it was still really nice to listen to all of them again. In the documentary they are talking about the times before Look Sharp!, the breakthrough, the success of The Look and other singles off the album.
Per explains he was already a pop star in Gyllene Tider before Roxette was established and Marie had a great solo career and worked closely together with Lasse Lindbom. When they asked Marie about how she remembers Per from those times, she said he was an unbelievably nice person and easy to work with, they had fun together and had a big dream.
Clarence thought Marie was a great singer, but he wasn’t really fond of Per’s style. Anders told he didn’t like Neverending Love, he thought it was ridiculous. How he is humming it in the docu is priceless (check it out at 11:19).
One could have thought that this crowd would make Marie and the band nervous, but no! They were in TOP shape and rocked Cirkus! The sound was perfect and Marie’s voice simply blown us away. She was smiling a lot and the audience was clapping so much that some songs had to wait to be started. I think there was no concert where they could start Så stilla så långsamt so late, waiting for the audience to be silent. Marie enjoyed it so much, you could see it on her face. She was shining!
As we already informed you about it earlier, Tara Moshizi and Tove Meyer – who are also Roxers –did a