Andreas Dahlbäck

Per Gessle’s Roxette – Stockholm, Sweden – 5th November 2018 – #15

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Last night it was the second Swedish show on the Per Gessle’s Roxette tour. In Stockholm there are usually several famous people attending concerts and yesterday many of them came to see Per & Co. Just to mention a few: Jonas Åkerlund, Peter Jöback, Micke Syd, Anders Herrlin, Lasse Lindbom, Victoria, Crown Princess of Sweden and Prince Daniel. Of course, there were family and friends in the audience too. Gabriel and Åsa were also sitting some rows behind us. It was strange to see Mrs. Gessle sitting (and not going around the venue filming or being backstage), but she stayed at her seat until the 2nd encore. Then she went backstage.

It was the only gig out of 5 in Sweden that was planned to be seated originally. So… you know, the question mark was there if we could stand up. First of all… we are in Sweden. Regarding the seated crowds during the Marie tour we could experience that it’s hard to make them stand up, no matter if the artist him-/herself asks them to stand up. The other thing was the security team. We were afraid they would tell us to sit back. It doesn’t hurt to try, so once PG and the gang appeared on stage and they started playing The Look, the hardcore fans, mainly in the front row, but also some of them on the sides and in the middle stood up. Fortunately, in the front row we could stand one step down in front of our seats, so we were almost the same high this way as if we were sitting. The security team was great! They never asked us to sit back. The rest of the crowd? Oh-oh… Yeah, it’s Sweden. I won’t ever understand them… They all remained seated. During the whole show. Some people thought the concert ended before the first encore, so they were leaving, but the rest of the audience wanted the guys and girls back on stage, so they didn’t keep silent and of course, the gang came up on stage again for the first encore. At least for Joyride most of the crowd stood up at last and then waited for the second encore standing and remained standing during the second encore as well. Happiness! It would have been cool to see Jonas Åkerlund and Peter Jöback standing too, but they didn’t feel the boogie in their shoes. Whatever. We who dared to stand up had a blast and were thankful that we could be standing and jumping and dancing at least during the uptempo songs. We sat back during the ballads. Someone in the crowd in the back shouted a loud ”Tack!” once we sat down. Oh… Message to him: next time you can stand up too! 😉

Anyway, Mr. G and the band were in top shape. The Look was a blast! Really… how can you remain seated during that song?! Everyone on stage was happy to see the familiar faces who were standing. After the song Per asked the crowd ”Sitter ni bra?” (Do you feel good? / Do you sit well?) The audience shouted ”ja!” (yes), but I just had to shout ”nej!” to sit… Haha. Then Per said it’s the first time he plays at Waterfront (the venue) and told the audience he has been writing songs for more than 40 years. He got a huge applause for that. He asked the crowd to sing along if they know the lyrics.

Then came MATAH and there was a little PG mess-up in the lyrics. ”I try not to analyse” became ”Didn’t she blow my mind?”, but other than that the performance was fabulous and Helena also got cheered at the end.

Before CBB Mr. G told the crowd about travelling to Capri in 1993 to record an album and eating the world’s most expensive pizzas there. It was a 6-week-long renewal. Christoffer said he was at primary school then.

Then the gang was about to speed it up a bit. Per asked again ”Sitter ni bra?” There was a mix of ja and nej and then Christoffer asked ”Står ni bra?” (Do you feel good? / Do you stand well?) The hardcores got up on their feet for DFS of course and we remained dancing during SGNO as well. Just like in Halmstad, Chris played a little Ljudet av ett annat hjärta intro before SGNO. It was cool. Both songs kicked ass and as usual, the ending of SGNO with the drum solo a la Andreas rocked big time.

                

Before SMT Per said what a fantastic evening it is and he remembers another fantastic evening, or better said a fantastic day in the spring of 1990. He woke up in the morning and found a note on his piano: ”Hej, din tok, jag älskar dig” (Hello, you fool, I love you). It was left there by his girlfriend who he had to marry after such a note. Haha. He wrote Joyride and then he ate lunch, sausage and mashed potatos. And then he wrote another song, why not.

After SMT, Helena, Malin-My, Chris, Ola and Per got prepared for IGYC. You could hear in the mic Helena saying ”ja!” after Per was looking at her asking if she was ready to start. It was a lovely performance of the song.

Before STT Mr. G talked about his dream to record in Nashville and that he did that in 2016 and Chris and Helena joined him there. Chris said he went to high school then. Per told the crowd they would play a song in English which they probably already heard in Swedish. Then came Malin-My’s beautiful violin intro to STT. Despite the fact that it’s now Christoffer’s turn having a soar throat, how he was singing the duet with Per was fabulous.

For Swedish hillbilly IHAPIMH Clarence, Magnus and Andreas came back on stage and during the intro the crowd was clapping loud and we all had a party in our seats.

Before IMHBL Per said he gave 79 (! the most so far… haha) songs to the band to rehearse. Magnus said it was 82 songs, because they added the whole Grape Rock song catalogue. Haha. Mr. G said there was one song he wasn’t sure about to play, but it turned out to be 1 of Magnus’s fave songs besides Bada naken på Sergels torg and Hej hej Monika. So they started playing IMHBL and found the most silent crowd. Usually, there is a loud sing-along to this one when Per let’s the audience sing a short part, but only a few felt like singing last night. Gosh… If not standing up, at least they could sing along. Oj. Never mind! We had OppNox and TBL to get up from our seats (still only the hardcores) and have a blast to those 2 uptempo hits and the crowd was loud at clapping at least. Haha, Helena made a great hairdo for herself during ”for a week I was in love with your hairdo”. Loved it!

We stayed in the ’90s for one more song. Before FLAF Per asked Magnus about the ’90s. Magnus said he just got a note that the ’90s Spice Girls reunite next summer. He said Posh Spice won’t be in the group, but Scary Spice, Baby Spice, Sporty Spice and… (he couldn’t remember Ginger Spice) and Per said ”Magnus Spice!” as the 4th member. Haha. The sing-along to FLAF didn’t happen in Stockholm. Only a few of us were singing out loud. But the clapping was loud, so Stockholm Swedes enjoy themselves more on the inside most probably.

Before DMS Per set his guitar and while doing that he said ”Technical stuff…!” as one of his strengths. Then Chris was setting his guitar and said the same in the mic. DMS was fantastic again last night!

Then Per introduced his amazing band and everyone got a huge applause. After each band member got introduced there was a little pause and Per got his guitar from Micke N-S, then Magnus asked ”And who is that in the middle? Who is that in the middle?” Chris said ”Oh, vocals, guitar, technical stuff and very many very good songs, Per Gessle!” The crowd cheered and applauded him loudly.

Per said in the mic ”Let’s see if you recognize this one!” and started the teaser intro to HDYD. After IMHBL and FLAF we knew we have to be veeery loud since the hardcores would be the only ones singing and we did our best during the teaser and sang out loud while the rest of the audience was ”only” clapping. Both HDYD and Dangerous were great party songs for those standing up. Then Per thanked for the evening and they went off stage.

The crowd was loud shouting and clapping to have them back and the gang did come back on stage after some minutes to play QOR first (watch the live video on our FB page) then Joyride. And yeees! Joyride was the ice melter song when most people finally decided to join the hardcores and stand up. Yay! Thank you! It was great to see.

After the gang came back for the second encore, Per said they can’t leave us empty-handed, so they played an ’80s song he wrote for a friend. Yes, LTYH, which was a great success last night and after the song Helena and Per hugged each other and Helena kissed Per on the cheek, so sweet. TSHTSG was a fab closing. Always a pleasure to hear this song live in this arrangement!

Note to Live Nation: on a next European tour put the Swedish shows to the beginning of the schedule, pretty please. 😉

Setlist:

1. The Look
2. Milk And Toast And Honey
3. Crash! Boom! Bang!
4. Dressed For Success
5. She’s Got Nothing On (But The Radio)
6. Spending My Time
7. I’m Glad You Called
8. Small Town Talk
9. I Have A Party In My Head
10. It Must Have Been Love
11. Opportunity Nox
12. The Big L.
13. Fading Like A Flower
14. Doesn’t Make Sense
Band presentation
15. How Do You Do! (in a medley with No. 16)
16. Dangerous

Encore
17. Queen Of Rain
18. Joyride

Encore 2
19. Listen To Your Heart
20. The Sweet Hello, The Sad Goodbye

PG after the concert:

STOCKHOLM. Yep, debut at the Waterfront for me. Great venue. Had a wonderful time with the greatest band on Earth. Thanks for stopping by, y’all.

Noticed a lot of familiar faces from all over the place attending the show. Appreciate that. You’re the best! And thank you Stockholm for having us and singing along! Always a treat! /P.

All pics in the article are taken by Patrícia Peres.

 

 

Per Gessle’s Roxette – Moscow, Russia – 1st November 2018 – #14

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The second show in Russia happened in Moscow tonight. It was a standing-in-the-front, seated-in-the-back concert, so today the Russian had the chance to party hard and enjoy those 20 songs.

Setlist:

1. The Look
2. Milk And Toast And Honey
3. Crash! Boom! Bang!
4. Dressed For Success
5. She’s Got Nothing On (But The Radio)
6. Spending My Time
7. I’m Glad You Called
8. Small Town Talk
9. I Have A Party In My Head
10. It Must Have Been Love
11. Opportunity Nox
12. The Big L.
13. Fading Like A Flower
14. Doesn’t Make Sense
Band presentation
15. How Do You Do! (in a medley with No. 16)
16. Dangerous

Encore
17. Queen Of Rain
18. Joyride

Encore 2
19. Listen To Your Heart
20. The Sweet Hello, The Sad Goodbye

The Look was a very welcomed opener at Crocus City Hall, where Per played with Roxette almost exactly 4 years ago.

After MATAH Per said thanks to the crowd in Russian, spasiba, and then came a beautiful CBB.

The crowd was then Dressed For Success and before SGNO Chris played a little Kalinka intro for which the audience was very happy.

After SGNO Per said he had a good day in 1990 and he hasn’t had a good day ever since. No one was laughing, so he said it was a joke. Then people laughed. Haha. He told the crowd he woke up in the morning, found a note on his piano saying ”Hello, you fool, I love you”. It was left there by his girlfriend who is now his wife. He had to marry her because of that note. The audience cheered him and they shouted ”Åsa, Åsa Åsa”! How sweet! Per continued the story. He wrote Joyride and he was pleased with himself because it turned out pretty good. Then he had Swedish meatballs for lunch, he watched 3 or 4 Ingmar Bergman movies and then he wrote another song. They performed SMT.

Magnus’s fave song, IMHBL turned into a loud sing-along from the beginning till the end. OppNox and TBL were cool to party to. The front row was so close to the stage that Helena could touch the fans’ hands when she came to the front.

Before FLAF Per asked Magnus about the ’90s. Magnus started listing Russian girl names. Per asked him whether they were his girlfriends or his dogs. Magnus said he can’t remember that much, because he was born in 1991. Then came Helena’s powerful performance of FLAF.

HDYD and Dangerous were real party songs tonight. The teaser to HDYD worked fine with the crowd.

The band came back on stage for 2 encores. After QOR Helena thanked the crowd in Russian, spasiba.

Before TSHTSG Per asked the audience: ”One more before our train leaves?” Haha. He thanked the crowd for coming and having such a good time.

At the end of the show even Ola picked some plectrums from Per’s mic stand and threw them to the crowd.

PG after the gig:

MOSCOW. Yes, back at the Crocus City Hall and had a blast. Thanks everyone for showing up and making us feel very welcome indeed. Love to play here. Hope to come back very soon. Thanks all you Russian fans for your endless support and beautiful voices. Vids to come. Cheers from P.

 

 

Per Gessle’s Roxette – St. Petersburg, Russia – 30th October 2018 – #13

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Per Gessle & Co. play 2 shows in Russia before they head back to Sweden. The first show was St. Petersburg where the last time Roxette played was in 2014.

Setlist:

1. The Look
2. Milk And Toast And Honey
3. Crash! Boom! Bang!
4. Dressed For Success
5. She’s Got Nothing On (But The Radio)
6. Spending My Time
7. I’m Glad You Called
8. Small Town Talk
9. I Have A Party In My Head
10. It Must Have Been Love
11. Opportunity Nox
12. The Big L.
13. Fading Like A Flower
14. Doesn’t Make Sense
Band presentation
15. How Do You Do! (in a medley with No. 16)
16. Dangerous

Encore
17. Queen Of Rain
18. Joyride

Encore 2
19. Listen To Your Heart
20. The Sweet Hello, The Sad Goodbye

The venue was seated and unfortunately, it wasn’t allowed to stand up. Many fans tried to, but got told to sit down by the security team. It was a burden during all uptempo songs, already during the opener, The Look. The mood on stage was great anyway, Per smiled from ear to ear during the whole show, the gang was bouncing around on stage and the crowd was loud when it came to clapping along and cheering.

After the band presentation Chris asked pointing at Per ”who is he? Lead vocal, guitar and very many many many good songs: Per Gessle!” The crowd cheered, Per thanked and then Mr. G asked the audience if they want to sing a bit. People shouted ”yeaaah!” so Per started with the teaser to HDYD. The crowd was clapping hard and shouting, but they didn’t start to sing, so Per went on singing the song himself.

Joyride was very energetic and then for the 2nd encore no one could stop the audience. They all stood up and enjoyed the last 2 songs standing and were singing along loud to LTYH.

 

At the end of the show some flowers were handed over to Per, as well as a framed caricature drawing of Roxette created by a digital artist from Finland.

PG’s thoughts after the gig:

ST PETERSBURG! Yes, thank you very much for a splendid evening! Musically… one of the best gigs so far. This band is slowly coming together, it takes time to connect!!!! Tonight the band did a wonderful job in superb harmony with the crowd. Thanks for having us, thanks for singing along, thanks for all your support and flowers and gifts. Love to you all. I do love this town!!! Always did! Cheers, P.
PS. Moscow on Thursday! Yea!

 

More photos
Photographer Lukovnikov Andrey

 

Per Gessle’s Roxette – Halmstad, Sweden – 27th October 2018 – #12

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Per Gessle arrived home! The 12th gig on tour he played in his beloved hometown, Halmstad. That was the show held in the biggest venue, Halmstad Arena having the biggest crowd on tour so far. It was quite cold in jolly Halmstad, so the queueing was different vs. when there is a concert in the summer. The security team was nice, they let people inside the arena until they really had to arrange the entrance, so then everyone had to go outside again. Everyone was relaxed, we walked all the way to the stage when we were finally let in.

There was a big space left for the standing crowd in front of the stage and there were seats as well, in a usual arena setting. There were big screens on both sides of the stage and cameras set at several places. It seems they were only using them for the screens, not for recording the gig.

The support act, Nano played for appr. half an hour. He was one of the Melodifestivalen contestants and he has a nice voice.

Before the show started, we could see Åsa welcoming guests at the seats that were closest to the stage on both sides. Friends and family. We could spot some familiar faces, Mats MP Persson was among them.

PG & Co. didn’t prepare a different setlist for Halmstad, they performed the usual 20 songs, spicing them with a little Gyllene Tider here and there in the intros. The biggest difference vs. the other shows was that Per of course talked in Swedish in between the songs.

Setlist:

1. The Look
2. Milk And Toast And Honey
3. Crash! Boom! Bang!
4. Dressed For Success
5. She’s Got Nothing On (But The Radio)
6. Spending My Time
7. I’m Glad You Called
8. Small Town Talk
9. I Have A Party In My Head
10. It Must Have Been Love
11. Opportunity Nox
12. The Big L.
13. Fading Like A Flower
14. Doesn’t Make Sense
Band presentation
15. How Do You Do! (in a medley with No. 16)
16. Dangerous

Encore
17. Queen Of Rain
18. Joyride

Encore 2
19. Listen To Your Heart
20. The Sweet Hello, The Sad Goodbye

The Look was a great starter in the arena, however, it’s always difficult to animate a Swedish crowd. They weren’t too loud and they left their boogie shoes at home. Business as usual. Anyway, we had much fun in the front.

After The Look Per talked to the audience and told this is the first time he plays Halmstad Arena. He was there to watch table tennis and handball matches, but never performed there. He asked the crowd to sing along if they know the lyrics, because they love it. He asked Christoffer what he thinks and Chris said yeah, he often sings along.

After MATAH I went live on our Facebook page, so you could hear Per told the audience it’s a European tour and this is the first gig in Sweden. Then he talked about the 6-week-long recording adventure in Capri, the place of most expensive pizzas. They performed CBB then. After the song Mr. G mentioned that the title was inspired by Elvis Presley’s Jailhouse Rock.

Per asked: ”Are you sitting? I can’t really see it.” It was time to speed it up and play DFS. Then came SGNO with a short Ljudet av ett annat hjärta intro and with the fab drum solo at the end and Chris losing his hat. The crowd was… hm. As I said, no boogie shoes on their feet.

PG said the last time he had such a good day as today was in May 1990. He woke up in the morning, probably on Torsgatan in Halmstad, found a note on his piano: ”Hej, din tok, jag älskar dig” (Hello, you fool, I love you). It wasn’ left there by his mother, but his girlfriend, now wife. The day wasn’t over yet, he bought some meatballs at Regnbågen and had lunch. Then his good friend, MP came over and they wrote another song together which they play now. Per said MP is certainly sitting in the crowd now somewhere. So they performed SMT and then came IGYC. Per said he wrote it for the Party Crasher album, but it was released later on a Roxette album, he can’t remember on which, there are so many.

Before STT, Mr. G said he always had the dream of going to Nashville and record with those fantastic local musicians there. Per said they play a song which the crowd surely knows in Swedish, but now they play it in English. When Malin-My started playing the violin on this one, the crowd realized what song Per was talking about and the reactions were ”aaaw!” and loud applause. Småstadsprat is still often played on Swedish radios.

Then it was the turn of Swedish hillbilly music, IHAPIMH and then in the intro talk to IMHBL Per said he gave 72 songs to the band to rehearse and there was one he didn’t really want to play, but it turned out to be 1 of Magnus’s 3 fave songs. The other 2 are Mickey by Carola and Hej hej Monika. The audience was singing along to IMHBL, but even if the arena was huge and the acoustics could have been nice there, it wasn’t too loud.

OppNox + TBL, my fave party session was not as much of a party in Halmstad. It wasn’t the band’s fault though. The crowd was just too lazy.

Before FLAF, Per asked Magnus if he likes the ’90s. Magnus said he IS the ’90s. He was born in 1991. Haha. Per asked Magnus about his ’90s girlfriends too, but they didn’t talk too much about the topic. After FLAF Helena got a huge applause. She thanked in Swedish. Her family was also there in the crowd.

DMS sounded cool in the arena. Chris got back to the bleeding routine. Poor guy, his finger started bleeding again and had to get some plaster.

Then came the band presentation and Per said he has a wonderful band. He introduced everyone one by one and when he finished Chris said: ”Who is the man in the middle? Vocals, guitar and many many good songs: Per Gessle!” The crowd cheered him.

Then came HDYD and Per tried the teaser, but since the crowd didn’t start singing, he went on with his version. Dangerous was the last song before the gang went off stage.

The audience was shouting and clapping, but I would have liked to hear some more typical Swedish cheering from them. The band came back anyway and Per said they were only halfway into the set. We wished… Haha. They performed QOR and Joyride. In the intro to Joyride, Chris played a little När vi två blir en.

Before the 2nd encore, the audience was a bit louder and yes, they started singing Sommartider. Per came up on stage and showed thumbs up and danced a bit to the tunes. But of course, they didn’t perform Sommartider, but LTYH instead. Then TSHTSG closed the set and Per thanked for a fantastic evening.

Mr. G after the show:

HALMSTAD! Yeehaa. Thanks for doing our very first gig at the Halmstad Arena such a pleasure. Lots of familiar faces around. Nice!!!! We’ll be back. Russia next! /P.

All pics in the article are taken by Patrícia Peres.

 

Per Gessle’s Roxette – Utrecht, the Netherlands – 25th October 2018 – #11

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Now less shows left than how many we could already see on tour. The 11th gig happened in the Netherlands, at a cozy venue, Tivoli Vredenburg in Utrecht. Besides Dutch fans, there were fans mainly from Germany, but also from Australia and Argentina, as well as Hungary, Belgium and probably some other countries. Regarding the queueing, we can’t complain. We were let inside already in the morning, so we didn’t have to wait outside in the cold all day. We weren’t sure about the setup at the venue, if there were seats or a standing area. When we bought our tickets in March it was said to be standing in front of the stage and seated at the upper levels. It was confirmed also the day before the show at the ticket office. Then it suddenly changed into unnumbered seats down there in front of the stage. But it probably worked better this way. There was no mess, because here you could decide yourself where you want to sit. I mean everyone had the same general admission ticket and you could decide on place where you would want to sit.

The support act… oh well. It was Bottles of Love, they started at 19:45. Ehm, first it was even hard to recognize the language the singer used, then it turned out it was English, but with a very strong Dutch accent, so it was hard to understand what he was singing about. We missed Lee a lot. It would have been far much better to have him as a support act during the whole tour. Let’s see how the support will be in Sweden.

PG & Co. hit the stage at 20:45 and this is what they prepared for us:

Setlist:

1. The Look
2. Milk And Toast And Honey
3. Crash! Boom! Bang!
4. Dressed For Success
5. She’s Got Nothing On (But The Radio)
6. Spending My Time
7. I’m Glad You Called
8. Small Town Talk
9. I Have A Party In My Head
10. It Must Have Been Love
11. Opportunity Nox
12. The Big L.
13. Fading Like A Flower
14. Doesn’t Make Sense
Band presentation
15. How Do You Do! (in a medley with No. 16)
16. Dangerous

Encore
17. Queen Of Rain
18. Joyride

Encore 2
19. Listen To Your Heart
20. The Sweet Hello, The Sad Goodbye

The Look had its effect, everyone stood up immediately. However, mainly those remained standing during the whole show who were sitting in the front of stage area. One funny thing, when they take a break during The Look and pause for some seconds, now the whole gang point at each other. Who’s got the look? Haha.

After the first song Per talked to the audience and told this is the first time he is playing in U-track. Haha. At least this is how it sounded when he pronounced Utrecht. He asked the crowd to sing along if they know the lyrics.

MATAH sounded absolutely wonderful. After the song Per talked into the mic: ”Milk And Toast And Honey, make it sunny, in a chair.” Then talked about the most expensive pizzas and cheapest wines in Capri and they played CBB. Helena got cheered after the song.

Then came DFS to speed the tempo up a bit. Per asked: ”Are you sitting down? Standing up?” We shouted standing up, he said it’s a good move. Then came the cool live version of SGNO and Per asked Chris in the intro how he felt, Chris said he was happy. The drum solo at the end was outstanding as usual. Christoffer lost his hat again while rocking during the song, but went to pick it up while Per was talking about the next song.

After the first 5 songs we got to hear about Per’s good day in 1990. He woke up in the morning, found a note on his piano left there by his girlfriend: Hello, you fool, I love you. Per said he couldn’t resist but marry her. And it had to be a song, Joyride. He got a shout-in: well done! He showed thumbs up. He had lunch and ate Swedish meatballs, then he felt full. Watched 3 Ingmar Bergman movies on VHS and then he wrote the next song. SMT. Despite the soar throat, Helena sounded beautiful on this too. Actually, Per must have problems with his throat too, since he is drinking a lot of ginger tea during the concerts (already since the first gig), more than usual. And he must be chewing on some tiny bites of ginger in between the songs. At least I can’t imagine him chewing a gum, so it’s rather ginger. But who knows. The 2 soar-throated sounded fab on IGYC. Per said he wrote it for the Party Crasher album, but it wound up on an a Roxette album in the end.

Before STT, Mr. G said he went to record in Nashville and brought some friends along. Chris said into the mic ”I was there!”, then Helena also said ”I was there!”. I really can’t wait to have this live version mastered and released! Amazing!

The very typical Swedish hillbilly music, IHAPIMH turned out to be a unique one in Utrecht. Actually, the third verse became so beautiful, surreal that it was a blackout version. Per sang a little blablabla instead of the lyrics and it sounded too cool. First I thought he would remember the lyrics after the first line in the verse, but it stayed as it is. If anyone has a recording of it, please, share! It was really adorable! We love such ”surprises”! Per just smiled after he finished the song and said ”Thanx, I have a party in my head, all the time!” Haha. I hope it never ends, Mr. G! 😉

Here I went live on our Facebook page, so you could see how the intro talk to IMHBL went and you could also listen to the song and watch what’s happening on stage. This time it was 77 songs Per gave the band to rehearse. Magnus said: ”And we reherased 12. Per wasn’t very glad. So we rehearsed 112. And then he was glad again.” Per: ”Yes, I’m easy.” Magnus: ”Easy to please!” Per said there are a couple of songs that Magnus can’t really live without: Radar Love by Golden Earring, Venus by Shocking Blue and the next one they play, IMHBL. Beautiful live version. Magnus can be happy.

OppNox + TBL, the best part without a doubt! However, I was a bit disappointed that those who were sitting up in the seats were rather lame and stayed seated even during the party songs.

Before FLAF, Per asked Magnus about the ’90s and his ’90s girlfriends. Magnus said he’s happy it’s over with those many girlfriends. Helena got a huge applause after FLAF and she thanked the audience both in Dutch and in English.

While getting prepared for DMS, PG asked if we were having a good time. Yeees! Then something didn’t want to work with the capo and Per said: ”Me and technical stuff…” Magnus was kidding him and Per asked him if he saw his YouTube video on how to put a capo on the guitar. It’s 47 minutes. Haha. We are glad to see any tutorials on GessleHomeVids, feel free to share. The song anyway was fantastic in Utrecht too. Chris went wild at the end, but this time his hand fortunately wasn’t bleeding. However, he asked for a plaster, so his finger still must be aching.

During the band presentation Per said he has the greatest band. He introduced the members one by one and when he finished it he said that’s it. Then Chris said: ”You forgot someone. Vocals, guitar and many, many songs: Per Gessle!” The crowd cheered Per and he thanked kindly. He said he didn’t expect that, that Chris knows his name. Haha. Chris said: ”Surpri-i-ise!”

Then came HDYD and Per said now it’s the crowd’s turn to sing. The intro started and the audience started singing and didn’t want to stop. And just like in Cologne, Per let us sing until the very same line as at the previous show. Mr. G was dancing to our singing and was happy to hear we knew the lyrics. He said: ”Beautiful! Well, the rap section didn’t go that well… Sounds great, thank you very much! So join us on tour! Well, you do, some of you!” Haha. Love these spontaneous reactions. To both HDYD and Dangerous we could party hard and the band was on fire.

Then the gang went off stage and the audience wanted to have them back of course, so they came back and Per said: ”It’s been a great evening, thank you very much. Thanks for having us!” Then they played QOR first, then Joyride which became a little balloon party. Chris couldn’t handle the plaster on his finger anymore, so with the help of his mouth he took it off and threw it away. Some of the balloons ended up on stage while the audience were playing with them and either Per or Chris or Magnus kicked them and they got back above the audience. It was cool to see!

After Joyride the band said goobye, but the crowd didn’t get quiet. We wanted more and we got more in the 2nd encore. When Per was standing in front of his mic stand and got prepared to talk about LTYH a bit, someone shouted ”Hey Mr DJ!”. Per: ”Hey Mr DJ? That was song No. 78.” Haha. I really loved this spontaneity. And his sense of humor is top! So they played LTYH which was awesome and then Per asked the crowd if it’s always like this on Thursdays here. Then he said they do one more song, just for us, because they love us. So it was time for TSHTSG. Another song I’m looking very much forward to having mastered and released on a live CD.

At the end of the gig Per thanked the audience and from a fan he got a balloon on a stick. The balloon was an emoji, the heart-eyed one. He was laughing. Then before they took a bow, he gave it to Malin-My. Then the balloon fell off the stick, Mr. G played with it a bit, pushing it up into the air, then Andreas kicked it, but then Per felt sorry for it and grabbed it up from the stagefloor again and left the stage with that little fellow! Great idea it was from the girl who brought that balloon.

At the merch stand this time there were 2 drumheads, one with Utrecht’s skyline and another with the design of what’s on the T-shirts. Both drumheads were transparent. They put a used pair of drumstick on sale as well. What’s next…?

Here is Mr. G’s opinion about the gig:

UTRECHT, HOLLAND. Oh my God!!! In spite of sore throats and kinda weird acoustics the gig at the Tivoli in Utrecht became WUNDERBAR!!! Jeezus, what have we done to deserve a crowd like this? Amazing! Thanks for all your wonderful voices + keeping this band on its toes! We had the time of our lives tonite. Tomorrow we fly back home for a gig in jolly Halmstad before hitting Russia. But we’ll keep the Utrucht one alive forever! Cheers from Per & Co.

All pics in the article are taken by Patrícia Peres.