The Gyllene Tider Experience – Halmstad pop-up exhibition

On 25th June, a completely unique pop-up exhibition opens at Klammerdammsgatan 4 in Halmstad city. The Gyllene Tider Experience is more than an exhibition. It is an experience that creates emotions. It’s retro and it’s contemporary at the same time.

This exhibition has really engaged the members of the band. All five have opened their hearts and searched their stashes for memorabilia and gadgets that create a picture of Gyllene Tider’s dreams when they started their careers. In one corner you will find the rehearsal room set up as it once looked, taken from the film Sommartider. In another part, you can sing along to Gyllene Tider’s songs. Maybe you also want to share your dreams. You can do that here.

The pop-up exhibition is about Gyllene Tider’s first year, with a connection to the upcoming movie Sommartider, which will premiere in Sweden’s cinemas on 17th July. As Micke Syd usually says, “we are merchants of joy”. And that’s exactly how it is. Per Gessle’s song Här kommer alla känslorna på en och samma gång will probably be familiar to many visitors. Because music is life, at all stages. And Gyllene Tider has been with us all the way – for a long, long time.

Gyllene Tider brings happiness and pride

Per Gessle says:

Halmstad is and has always been the place in our hearts. When I was contacted that a pop-up exhibition was in the works, connected to the upcoming “Sommartider” film and the fantastic audio guides that were recently launched, it felt obvious to open the archives and treasure chests. We in the band, as well as those who work with the exhibition, have had many memories revived, which feels enormously fun. I think many visitors will be happy with this exhibition.

Stefan Pålsson (S), chairman of the municipal board in Halmstad says:

Since the band’s start, Gyllene Tider has meant a great deal to Halmstad. In their tracks, with all the songs depicting the city, history has been written and created an infinite pride in all of us who live here. Their music has always brought visitors to our fine city and with the exhibition we look forward to even more tourists and that Halmstad residents will also go to Klammerdammsgatan 4 to walk along the Gyllene Tider memorial trail.

The Gyllene Tider Experience opens on 25th June and can be visited until 31st August. Halmstad Tourist Center is in the same premises and there you can buy tickets to the exhibition. Tickets are also available at ticketmaster.se.

Opening hours

Tuesday–Friday 10.00–18.00
Saturday 10.00–16.00
Sunday 12.00–16.00

Mondays – closed

 

 

 

Photos by Destination Halmstad

Gyllene Tider city guides in Halmstad

Destination Halmstad released 2 new Halmstad guides related to Gyllene Tider and each of them includes 11 videos.

Discover places featured in song lyrics, places that have meant a lot to the band, and places where musical magic has been created. Through film clips, audio stories, Per’s memorial notes, letters from fans and song lyrics, you get a deep dive into Gyllene Tider’s history. Also Roxette, Marie Fredriksson and other musicians that Gyllene Tider encountered or have a connection with appear in the guide.

If you want to hear more stories from and about Gyllene Tider, visit HalmstadStories.se. For each film clip, there is also an audio narration and text with more in-depth information. The guide will also be translated into English shortly. The guides are produced by Sweetspot Studio and photographer Anders Roos.

Gyllene roadtrip – video playlist HERE

1 – En kavalkad av konserter på Brottet
2 – Prins Bertils stig – en resa
3 – Tylösand och Tylösun
4 – Champinjoner i Frammarp
5 – Studio Tits&Ass 1.0
6 – Trum-petaren som byggde seniorboende
7 – Repen och Börjes café i Harplinge
8 – Bio Reflex – Gyllene Tiders första konsert
9 – Åled – tur och retur på moped
10 – Studio CMP och första skivan
11 – En vacker dag ska vi spela där i Folkparken

Gyllene promenad genom stan – video playlist HERE

1 – Pers lägenhet på Torsgatan
2 – Studion Tits & Ass 2.0
3 – Roxette bildas på konditori Regnbågen
4 – Succén på Stora torg
5 – Tuppen på S:t Nikolai kyrka
6 – Slottet i Sveriges Liverpool
7 – Jag väntar vid Picasso
8 – Nissan å, livslinje och tidslinje
9 – Tony på Kays radio och TV
10 – Vi passerade Norre Port
11 – Örjans vall och Gyllene Tiders sista spelning någonsin

Stills are from the videos in the above mentioned playlists.

He is Halmstad! – Per Gessle is awarded the cultural prize of Halmstad municipality

Halmstad municipality’s cultural prize 2023 goes to Per Gessle. This was decided by the cultural committee at its meeting on 30th November. A grateful Per Gessle says that he is especially happy to have inspired others to create music.

Halmstad Municipality’s cultural prize has been awarded since 1967. This year the prize sum is SEK 30,000 and 55 cultural actors were nominated by the public.

This time, the cultural committee chose to praise a super-famous songwriter and artist who has been of enormous importance to the municipality for more than half a century and is still relevant.

Per Gessle says:

Many thanks for this great prize. It has been a long journey for me in the wonderful world of music. In the ’60s in front of the gramophone. In the ’70s in front of the microphone and in the rehearsal studio. Then it got rolling. Extra lovely if I and all my collaborators have succeeded in inspiring and engaging other people to fantasize, create and be creative. Nice. Thank you so much.

The cultural committee’s justification:

Per Gessle is the recipient of the Cultural Prize 2023. The Culture Committee considers this musician to be equal to Halmstad. He started his career by entertaining and playing at nursing homes and hospitals in the municipality and has since contributed to making Halmstad a music metropolis. We don’t think there is anyone in the municipality or in the country who can’t hum at least one of Per Gessle’s songs. He is a cultural personality who created an incredible song catalogue, and lyrics that have the ability to evoke all emotions at once.

Per Gessle is one of Sweden’s most successful artists and songwriters. He started writing songs as a child, breaking through with Gyllene Tider from 1978 and continued the successes with the duo Roxette, formed in 1986.

At the moment, among other things, he is involved with a newly written book about Gyllene Tider, a film about the same band with a premiere in the summer of 2024, and a newly written musical based on Roxette’s songs that will be staged at Malmö Opera with a premiere in the fall of 2024.

Per Gessle has always been loyal to his home municipality and he has received a number of awards. Among other things, he became an honorary citizen of Halmstad Municipality in 2007.

Facts regarding Halmstad municipality’s cultural award:

  • The prize sum this year is SEK 30,000.
  • This year, 55 different cultural actors were nominated by the public.
  • The prize is awarded in December each year to a person, group or organization that is recognized for particularly valuable contributions in the field of culture. The prize winner must be active in the municipality of Halmstad or, through their activities, have or had a close connection to the municipality.
  • The culture award is one of three different awards and scholarships awarded by the cultural committee in Halmstad municipality.

Photo by Anders Roos

Gyllene Tider – Hux Flux – Halmstad – 8th July 2023 – #2

Last night the Golden Guys tried to top their Halmstad premiere with another Halmstad gig and my Gosh… they succeeded! If Halmstad 1 was amazing, Halmstad 2 was pure awesomeness! Premiere concerts tend to be fantastic, but there is the tension of that being the first show and then for the second gig, the tension is gone, they are all more relaxed and this makes the show even more enjoyable on and off stage.

As far as I know, Halmstad 2 wasn’t sold out, but it did feel that there were more people in the crowd than at the first gig, which was announced as sold-out. The Saturday crowd was even more active than the Friday audience. Loud sing-alongs all through!

Regarding the setlist, in a small group we were discussing if there would be any changes for the 2nd Halmstad show, since a tiny part of the crowd was the same as for the 1st show. Our guess was that the guys would change Chrissie, hur mår du? to Vandrar i ett sommarregn. We should play the lottery. Haha.

Support act Uno Svenningsson started his session at 8 pm. It was a great half an hour!

The GT show started with the cartoon on the LED wall, again at 21:15. This time we had the chance to watch it from beginning to start. Better this way. It’s a cool little cartoon!

As mentioned above, there was only one change in the setlist, so Gyllene Tider igen stayed as the show opener. They rocked it and the audience loved it!

This time Per left that white Hux Flux jacket behind, he appeared in the black Hux Flux outfit. Göran changed shirt vs. the premiere and Micke Syd also had a different T-shirt on and a denim jacket.

PG said hi to the audience and welcomed us at GT’s 8th summer tour and their 5th comeback tour. He asked if we had a good day, maybe at the beach. PG said they had a fantastic premiere the day before, but they try to top it. They opened the big jukebox with a lot of hits everyone knows.

Juni, juli, augusti was the first real sing-along song and the clapping along stayed for Det hjärta som brinner as well.

Per said they wanted to play a tribute to their favourite Dutch band. When they grew up, all music came from the US and England, but they managed to find a Dutch band they liked. Focus was not their cup of tea. For Ekseption Per showed thumbs down, but he said Anders liked them. Anders said they were damn good. Micke Syd joined in „two against one, we won”. Per: „says the one who came up with the George Baker Selection”. Micke Syd started playing and singing „una paloma blanca”. The crowd was clapping along. Then PG said there is another band they all liked and it’s Shocking Blue. He asked if the crowd remembers them. The answer was a louder „no” from the audience. Haha. Per continued that they had a mega hit called Venus. MP started to play it. This wasn’t the song Mr. G meant though. He translated Send Me A Postcard and it became Skicka ett vykort, älskling.

Fortunately, Gammal kärlek rostar aldrig from the new album stayed in the set. Amazing song!

Before Flickorna på TV2 came, Per said there was a time before Internet and Netflix, when there were only two TV channels and that went very far for a 19-year-old from Furet.

The black & blue checkered guitar was brought to Per. He said he bought a 12-string Rickenbacker in the ’80s. George Harrison in The Beatles had one like that and Roger McGuinn in The Byrds and Tom Petty. A similar one that MP holds in his hands now. He wrote a song on that one and it’s Vandrar i ett sommarregn.

It was time for more uptempo songs again. Puls and En sten vid en sjö i en skog were next.

Per picked up his mug of ginger tea and said this is his secret brew. No one knows what it is, even he doesn’t know. It’s Micke who prepares it for him before the shows. Micke Syd said he calls it „the surprise of the evening”.

Before they played Flickan i en Cole Porter-sång, PG told the story that when he moved away from home, he ended up in a tenement on Torsgatan in the beginning of the ’80s. It was at the time when he started hanging out a lot with Marie. Here the audience was cheering for Marie for long seconds. Mr. G said he played this song to Marie and she thought it was terribly cheesy.

The ukulele is the world’s most interesting instrument, Per said before Tuffa tider. He added that it’s an instrument Micke Syd takes with himself into the bathtub to cheer up his family. That’s what he read in Hemmets Journal. While Micke Syd came to the front, he nodded and started singing When I’m Cleaning Windows [an ukulele song].

Then came the best band presentation. Each and every artist on stage got a long long long cheering from the audience. It was so lovely. Introducing MP, Per said he is Harplinge’s one and only real car mechanic. Göran is the youngest and Anders needs no introduction. Micke Syd enjoyed the cheering for him so much, he asked the audience to give it more and he thought most of them were from Harplinge. His parents were also there at the show. PG and Micke hi fived and Micke introduced Per as the guy who swam 2500 metres last night, because he promised he would if it was a good premiere. Micke Syd said Per also promised if he wears this colorful T-shirt he was wearing and plays nice, he can drive one of Per’s old Ferraris next week. Haha. PG just laughed.

Micke Syd said it’s a completely different world in the front of stage. He came forward to sing Min tjej och jag. He said he is lucky that the audience knows which song it is. He said the day before they had a bride and groom and he dedicated the song to them, but today it’s even better. He said he has been very blessed in his life. He had a fantastic first girlfriend, she is here and he has a fantastic wife, who is also here. So today he dedicates this song to them. He invited Dea and Malin-My to the front and started animating the crowd. Everyone was waving their hands in the air the way Micke showed them. Much fun it was! Impossible to top, Per said.

Kung av sand was the next song they played and then came Ljudet av ett annat hjärta, a song they released as a single to Parkliv!, the 1981 GT movie directed by Lasse Hallström. They got no Oscar for that, haha.

The uptempo session started with Ska vi älska, så ska vi älska till Buddy Holly and then came the medley of (Kom så ska vi) Leva livet / (Dansar inte lika bra som) Sjömän / Tylö Sun. Still a bit strange to call it a medley when almost the complete songs are played, but that’s the way it is. The transition into Sjömän is a bit dreamy, I first thought at the premiere gig that something went wrong with the sound, but suddenly realized Leva livet turned into another song. Haha.

The gang went off stage and just like at the premiere gig, the audience started singing Sommartider, clapping and screaming. The band came back and they played Billy. When the song ended, Micke Syd started playing Det är över nu without a break and Göran joined in immediately, but suddenly they realized it was too early, so they stopped. Haha. Per said this is how they do it in Halmstad. Micke said: in Harplinge. Everyone was laughing. Per asked the audience if they were ready for Det är över nu. Of course, we were!

Before they went off stage again, they played Gå & fiska!

Coming back for the second encore, Per asked the crowd if they wanted more. Yes! They played När vi två blir en and then came the Sommartider party.

Before playing the last song, Per thanked the audience for coming. He said he hopes everyone will have a fantastic summer. Here one of the mics got too close to the speaker, so we got a weird sound. Per’s reaction to that was fun. He also said if we read it anywhere that they said they quit, we shouldn’t believe it. The crowd was cheering.

När alla vännerna gått hem closed the concert with Micke Syd and Dea in the front.

I forgot to mention in my previous review that Per was of course throwing lots of guitar picks during the gig and Micke threw some drumsticks at the end of the show. Same thing happened at the second concert. Good luck with catching them at the upcoming shows!

Next stop is Helsingborg on Monday.

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. Billy
18. Det är över nu
19. Gå & fiska!

Encore 2

20. När vi två blir en
21. Sommartider
22. När alla vännerna gått hem

 

 

 

 

 

 

All photos in the article by Patrícia Peres

PG after the show:

Thanx for yet another amazing evening in Halmstad!!! We’re blessed playing for crowds like you tonight!!!! Stay safe and sound everyone!

Gyllene Tider – Hux Flux – Halmstad – 7th July 2023 – #1

Never say never. In 2019, Gyllene Tider went on their farewell tour. BUT… already in the interviews on their live DVD the same year you could sense that it just couldn’t be over. If there is one thing the pandemic was good for, it’s that the guys changed their minds, especially Micke Syd, and decided to do yet another comeback. I think no one is against it. Haha. They can come back as many times as they want to.

For the sold-out premiere, the weather was amazing. The sun was shining all day and despite the forecast a day before, there was no rain at all.

The guys did a soundcheck in the afternoon, so we could hear a couple of songs and could be sure those would be on the setlist.

There were many fans waiting for the doors to open at 18:00. Fans from quite some countries besides Sweden: Australia, Argentina, Brazil, Germany, Poland, Spain, Hungary, the UK, Switzerland, etc. Once we got in, we could check out the merchandise. A lot of people started queueing for T-shirts and stuff.

The support act on this tour is Uno Svenningsson. Great choice! Swedes know him very well, he has songs they could sing and dance along to. One of the songs on his setlist was Bara få höra din röst, the one that he wrote together with Per. This time it wasn’t performed as a duet (with PG), Uno sang it alone.

After Uno and his band left the stage, their instruments were brought off stage as well and the crew finished preparing the set for GT. While Uno was performing, he had his own backdrop and when it was removed, we could see there was a huge LED wall in the background. What the LED wall had as a design turned out right at 21:15.

The whole show started with a cool intro, where the guys appeared as cartoon characters – what we could already see in an earlier teaser –, driving that car from the tour poster. They appeared on the screen one by one and while Göran was on, the band walked up on stage. Then it was Per’s character’s turn on the screen, but then the real Per also appeared on stage and so we couldn’t finish watching the little cartoon. It was probably planned like this, but I think it would be nice if we could watch it until the end and the band would come up on stage at that point.

Just like in 2019, Dea Norberg and Malin-My Wall joined the Golden Guys for the tour. When all seven of them were there in front of us, I had the thought in my mind that hey, these guys don’t look like they are not sixty anymore. They were all shining, full of energy and enthusiasm, happy to be on stage again. We need no more farewell tours! Haha.

Since it was an obvious show opener, I wasn’t too surprised that the first song they played was Gyllene Tider igen. I still think that this should have been their lead single from the album. An amazing hit that got us into GT uptempo mood immediately.

Per was wearing a very cool, white Hux Flux jacket, but already after the first song he took it off and gave it to Micke N-S. PG welcomed the audience at GT’s 8th summer tour and their 5th comeback tour. He said they are super happy to begin the tour on home turf in Halmstad and it’s nice to see so many people. Many well-known faces as well.

Juni, juli, augusti was the second on the setlist and it was followed by Det hjärta som brinner. Both songs sounded fab and the crowd loved them.

Per mentioned that they wanted to play a tribute to their favourite Dutch band. When they grew up, all music came from the US and England, but they found a band in the Netherlands. He asked which band it could be and he said someone was shouting Focus. Ekseption was another band. PG said he saw them at Folketspark in Halmstad in 1973. It wasn’t his cup of tea. Per told Anders that he knows he liked Golden Earring. Micke Syd once shocked the band by coming to the rehearsal with a George Baker Selection record. Micke Syd asked for cheering from behind the drums. Haha. The guys started singing „una paloma blanca”. Then Per said there is another band they all liked and it’s Shocking Blue. They had a mega hit called Venus. MP started to play a little Venus, Micke Syd joined in with the drums and Per was dancing a bit. Then he said there was another song, he translated it and it became the first track on their first LP. Skicka ett vykort, älskling.

Gammal kärlek rostar aldrig, a song from the new album was next. Amazing on the album and awesome to hear it live. Such a powerful song and performance!

Introducing the next song, Per said there was a time before Internet and Netflix, when there were only two TV channels. Everyone knew which song was coming. Flickorna på TV2 is still such a hit!

We had been wondering for which songs the checkered guitars would be used. Now it turned out. Chrissie, hur mår du? is a song that MP and Per wrote in their rehearsal studio in 1980.

The guys got back to the faster songs and they played Puls and En sten vid en sjö i en skog.

The black and blue checkered guitar was brought back for Per for Flickan i en Cole Porter-sång, which he wrote when he moved to Torsgatan in Halmstad. It was at the time when he was hanging out a lot with Marie and he showed this track to her too.

When we saw the ukulele, we knew it’s Tuffa tider’s turn. Micke Syd came to the front for that and Göran as well, to play the melodika a bit.

Per said the crowd is amazing. He picked up his ginger tea mug and said he is drinking some of this secret stuff. He said everyone is wondering what’s in the mug, he is wondering too. Haha.

Here came the band presentation. First Per introduced the ladies, Dea and Malin-My. He said they joined the rehearsals on the 5th day, when the boys already slept in. Then the girls brought everything to life again. PG introduced MP and Göran, then Anders and last, but not least, the band’s own Greta Thunberg, Micke Syd. Haha. Then Micke introduced Per and said that in a weak moment PG promised to swim 1000 meters in the pool if the first gig would be a good one. Haha.

Per got the black and red checkered guitar and Micke Syd asked the audience if it’s OK for him to spend 3 more minutes in the front. He got a lot of questions on social media if he would sing on tour. So they thought they go ahead with this 1981 song, Min tjej och jag. Dea and Malin-My came to the front to sing with Micke. Micke said he is so old he needs two girls. Haha. He dedicated this song to a couple who got engaged yesterday. When he finished the song he said he goes back to his seat. When Per came back to his mic, he said it’s hard to top Micke.

Kung av sand was next, so we could see Mr. G playing the harmonica again.

PG said a GT movie is coming, but in 1981 they already made a movie, Parkliv! He said it’s available on a satellite channel, because it’s so cheap. Ljudet av ett annat hjärta was released as a single to that film and Per wote it on the tour bus. They rehearsed it at some soundchecks and then released it.

Ska vi älska, så ska vi älska till Buddy Holly came right after and it didn’t get any slower when a medley of 3 songs came: (Kom så ska vi) Leva livet / (Dansar inte lika bra som) Sjömän / Tylö Sun. It was a medley, but almost the complete songs were played and the transition from one song into the other was very fast.

Here they all went off stage and the audience started singing Sommartider. We were clapping and screaming. The band came back after a short while. Per changed his outfit to complete white and Anders got rid of his cool red jacket. The first song in the first encore was Billy. Then it got uptempo again with Det är över nu and Gå & fiska!

The guys and girls went off stage and Per was still carrying his guitar. Micke N-S rushed after him and PG gave him the guitar back.

Of course, they all came back for a second encore. Per said it’s an amazing night and thanked the audience. He said premieres are always special and this one is quite good. The audience cheered and agreed.

They played När vi två blir en and then Sommartider. Both songs sounded awesome!

Before playing the goodbye hit, Per thanked the audience once again and said it was an absolutely wonderful night. He added he hopes everyone will have a fantastic summer and that we see each other again soon. Haha. We were joking that tomorrow is quite soon. He also said if we read it somewhere that they quit, we shouldn’t trust the media. Haha.

Micke Syd came to the front again and sat down on the edge of the stage on the left side, while Dea came to the front and sat down on stage in front of Anders. They performed a touching version of När alla vännerna gått hem.

At the end of the show they all took a bow together and waved goodbye, then left the stage.

It was simply amazing to see them live again! It was a perfect night with a tight band full of energy. Everyone was in top shape already at the first show. It was a completely different feeling than in 2019. Maybe back then there was this stress on them by announcing it as the last tour. Now they don’t need to prove anything, just enjoy being on stage and see all the happy faces in the crowd. Everyone is happy and it will stay like this for this whole summer.

Next stop is Halmstad, a second show at Brottet.

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. Chrissie, hur mår du?
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. Billy
18. Det är över nu
19. Gå & fiska!

Encore 2

20. När vi två blir en
21. Sommartider
22. När alla vännerna gått hem

All photos in the article by Patrícia Peres

PG after the show:

Yeehaa! What a night! Opening show of the mighty Hux Flux tour and, my God, this one blew our minds! Thanx a million for singing along and making this 7-piece combo feel so proud and totally speechless. Love + positive energy everywhere. New dice tomorrow. Hard to beat this one but we’ll have a go! Cheers, P&Co