Hotel Tylösand

Interview with Åsa Gessle in Tylösand Magazine

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Joakim S Ormsmarck visited Åsa Gessle at Hotel Tylösand for an interview in the reborn Tylösand Magazine. Katja Cherkasova styled Åsa and Anders Sällström took some amazing photos of her.

Åsa loves black, but it should be soft and always with the guest and the heart in focus. Inspiration is drawn from hotels around the world, but also from the grass outside in the sand dunes and a striped Italian stone that was used to lay the foundation for the latest project.

July 1995. Two months earlier, Roxette’s second world tour had ended with two concerts at the Olympic Stadium in Moscow. The news hit like a bombshell, the unexpected duo Per Gessle and businessman Björn Nordstrand are buying Hotel Tylösand and they both emphasize that the reasons are both emotional and business oriented. Now the hotel is to be lifted to new levels and the one who immediately takes the challenge regarding colour, shape and ambience is Åsa Gessle.

Åsa and Joakim have settled down at Titus Tapas with a view of Solgården.

I have always loved hotels and we have stayed in so many different ones around the world, both privately and on tours. You learn a lot about what you want in a hotel room and what is good. Often it’s the small details and simple things that make the difference. When we bought the hotel, it felt like we were getting to enter that world and being able to start creating these ambiences.

It all began with the green apples. The apples and the toilet rolls in Strandhuset, but Joakim starts with the fruit, because it has become something of a green thread through the thirty years that have passed since the first ones landed in a bowl on the reception desk.

We loved a hotel in Miami Beach called Delano and I was hooked, because in every room they had a small stand on the wall with a green apple with the sign “an apple a day keeps the doctor away”. Even though this was a real party hotel, they had thought of this little detail.

Hotel Tylösand in 1995 was, however, quite a long way from an exclusive beach hotel à la Miami. Åsa talks with an undertone of laughter about stuffed birds, artificial plants and pink carpets with fish patterns. From the ceiling in the restaurant hung heavy burgundy curtains which, when taken down, turned out to have collected a lot of dust over the years. But the old stuff went out and the new was introduced step by step.

Joakim asks about those toilet rolls and Åsa smiles.

It’s one of the strongest memories from when we took over. This was the old strip along the beach and when you entered the toilet in the rooms, there was a mirror straight in and on a little shelf underneath they had lined up extra toilet paper rolls. So what you saw was yourself and the toilet paper. We bought holders and put them next to the toilets instead and then it was solved.

This whole thing about creating ambiences and working with interior design has always been a part of Åsa Gessle’s life. From dollhouses as a child at home in Trelleborg, to when she was 13 years old, she went around the shops in town and asked if she could do their shop windows, which she did and gave it her all. But Joakim comes back to the mid ’90s.

The first major project after we had removed all the stuffed birds, and cleaned endlessly as I remember it, was to take care of the hotel rooms. Architect Johnny Andersson and I started sketching and that was the first time I realized that my preferences didn’t always match everyone else’s, haha.

I like black, but our CEO at the time was clear that we have so many business people as guests so it has to be blue. And I hate blue. The compromise was cherry with a blue bedspread and I realized that I didn’t know the industry the way he did and the guests always come first.

With a smile, Åsa notes that the blackness was gradually incorporated so that blue would be appreciated more by the guests than black, she has never found any evidence for this. Blackness has become her signature in design and it permeates all aspects, it has even become so that the concept of Åsa black is now available as a color in the local paint store.

Joakim is curious what sets this blackness apart from all other blackness. Åsa shows and lifts a pillow against the black wall.

There is a little brown in it to make the black warm.

And of course the difference is visible now that we know about it.

If you just look at this sofa, you probably won’t see it, but it becomes softer to the eye and I feel like we ground ourselves through the black. Then we can contrast with a tulip, a pillow or a green apple. And sometimes we play around with some natural colours, but the black is always there as a base.

Today, Åsa sees herself as a Creative Director for the hotel and is involved in everything related to the interior design, new construction and renovations. Here she works closely with architects, cabinetmakers and craftsmen. A way of working that has existed since the Gessle family designed and built their own villa.

Our first project was Per’s and my rental apartment on Torsgatan in Halmstad. The house was to be renovated and we were given the opportunity to merge two apartments, design and choose materials the way we wanted it.

Then when we were going to build our house we were recommended to contact Abelardo Gonzalez and we did. We visited him and the house was not our style, but on the other hand his architecture was very exciting. He did things differently and he has such an openness in his way of thinking. So he drew and we adjusted. We worked very closely throughout the whole process and I have learned so much from him.

One lesson that stuck is that everything can be built. Even though others said it was impossible, Abelardo Gonzalez didn’t listen and he built, an attitude that fits well with Åsa Gessle’s determination and conviction. Like the blackness, for example. Today, Åsa herself draws much of what is being built at Hotel Tylösand. As long as it is not structural construction, it is her drawings that are used.

We do as much as we can ourselves, then it will be the way we want it. When it comes to water and sewage, electricity and such, we bring in external help. The same thing as when I design a bar, I know how it should look but then everything has to work for the people who work there with machines and all the functions. Then I work together with, for example, Kay Linghoff, who I have worked with a lot over the years.

To Joakim’s question regarding how much time Åsa spends at the hotel, she replies:

I’m here a lot. It’s been a little less now when we are on tour, but otherwise I feel like I’m here almost all the time. I want to make sure the ambiences are as they should be. In a hotel, things have a tendency to move around all the time, and then I have to carry the chairs back, fix the cushions and stuff like that, haha.

This particular laugh recurs often during the conversation. It’s clear that Åsa is truly passionate about the hotel and the experience, and that she finds it just as much fun today as it was thirty years ago when the green apples first appeared.

Everything is in the details and often there are details that you don’t see as a guest, but you experience them anyway. Like cleaning, you don’t think about it when it works, but if you have ever stayed in a hotel where it didn’t work, you know it’s noticeable right away.

Joakim asks Åsa about the cushions.

We have a karate chop that needs to be done, so that the pillow gets its fold. Then the zipper should always be downwards, and I have to struggle with that a bit. But like I said, it’s all in the details.

One of the hotel’s major projects in recent years is the completely new SPA department, which was inaugurated last year. Both floors have received a major facelift and Åsa says that one of the goals was to connect the interior with the sea, which is so close, but still on the other side of the large glass areas.

I think many SPAs are a bit boring, our spa should be like the rest of the hotel. A little cozier and a little more Asian, a social SPA where everyone can enjoy themselves.

Åsa tells of a dinner just after the inauguration. She was sitting with Per and eating when a family came up to thank them for the experience. Or rather, the children wanted to thank them.

They were lyrical and described it as them never being able to go to a SPA before and now it was like being at a nightclub with music, a cinema in the pool and so on. It was something different from the bathhouses they had visited before.

When she started planning the new SPA:

It started with me finding an Italian black and white striped stone that really laid the foundation for everything. Materials are important in a SPA, like the Kolmården marble that has its motion in the pattern and meets the grass outside on the sand dunes.

Above the pool, the lighting forms a heart. A heart that Åsa originally wanted to have at the bottom of the pool, but which was not possible for technical reasons. It is now reflected in the water surface instead, creating a completely new effect.

The heart is in a lot of my designs, I guess no one has been able to escape that. It probably reflects me quite a bit, but also the feeling we want it to have here at the hotel. It should be warm, cozy and absolutely not stiff and boring. The heart has to be in there.

Thirty years have passed since that July in 1995. The projects have succeeded one after the other, and perhaps a feeling of satiety could have set in now that everything is finished. But that thought doesn’t seem to have even crossed Åsa’s mind or any of her colleagues’ minds.

It can always be developed and I always have ideas that stretch a number of years into the future.

Åsa concludes and points across Solgården towards the SPA building.

There I would like to build a sun deck with only glass sections around it. I have seen exactly one like that at a hotel in Sao Paulo. It is really cool, so we must have it here in Tylösand too. People will love it!

All interview text is written by Joakim S Ormsmarck for Tylösand Magazine in Swedish. Here it is a translation by RoxBlog.

Thanks a lot for helping out with the physical copy of the magazine, Chrissie Röhrs!

Interview with Åsa and Per Gessle about Hotel Tylösand in Hallandsposten

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Jan-Owe Wikström from Hallandsposten interviewed Åsa and Per Gessle about Hotel Tylösand. The hotel was originally built by court photographer Johan Hallberg as Restaurant Tylösand in 1915 for 13,000 SEK. Until 1929 it could only be accessed by boat. Today it is one of Halmstad’s strongest brands and tourist magnets, but also – the hotel in the hearts of Per and Åsa Gessle.

The hotel has come a long way until it has transformed into an exclusive spa hotel.

Per notes that there is nothing worse than a hotel where you are greeted by an empty entrance or a deserted reception. He explains:

We want a wow feeling when you enter Hotel Tylösand. You can directly see the car hall, fantastic works of art and sculptures. And we’re going to build a bar in the reception where you can hang out a bit. Sometimes there will be a pianist, so that you automatically end up in a lively environment when you check in.
Because it’s just like with everything else, album sleeves, intros to songs – the first impression is the most important.

Åsa agrees:

The reception is important, the first contact. No matter how shabby hotels are, the reception almost always looks reasonably nice. We also have a nice reception, but it has been there for many years, so it’s time to rebuild, so that it blends in with the new “Front House”.

Åsa – spider in the web

The Front House is a new part of the hotel, with large brown-glazed terraces, the Ronnie Peterson conference room and the car hall with Per’s exclusive Ferrari collection. The rooms in Strandhuset and in Stora huset, the reconstruction of Solgården, Bettan’s Bar, Leif’s Bar & Grill and the new The Spa, but also details such as the small unique room signs, the wrought iron fence around the hotel, the color of the staff’s different clothes, the porcelain in the restaurants and of course – the green apples. Everything bears, in one way or another, Åsa Gessle’s signature. She says humbly:

I don’t think many people know what I do apart from the lamps I have designed. After all, I’m here on an almost daily basis and see things that are good and things that can and need to be improved.
I guess I’m a bit of a spider in the web, as far as aesthetics are concerned. Then when it comes to the actual design of, for example, a room, the architectural firm is responsible for the shell and I for the details, the choice of materials and the colors.

But despite all that, Åsa has no official title at the hotel.

No, not as far as I know. I’ll probably have to ask Jonas.

She laughs, referring to the new CEO Jonas Karlén, who a while ago replaced the long-standing CEO Elisabeth Haglund, who has now in turn replaced Björn Nordstrand as chairman of the board.

To have a significant role alongside Per is extra important for Åsa.

When you live next to a famous person, like Per, you easily become just his wife. But for me it goes without saying to have my own identity. It’s fundamental in my life. I started working more when our son Gabriel was ten years old and I felt that I could be away more than before. And Gabbe – who is just as motivated as his father – once said: “Mum, I don’t want to be known for being my father’s son, but I want to be known for having done something myself”. That’s exactly how I feel too.

At the same time, Per has become more actively involved in the hotel in recent years.

Yes, Åsa has always been involved, but in the last ten years I have taken up more and more space, had more and more ideas and opinions. We have had a strong and common line that our hotel should not only be a place where you sleep and eat, but also a place where you can be creative, socialize and have new experiences.
What makes Hotel Tylösand so special is the diversity. We have a huge art and photo gallery. We have a Spa with skin and hair care, various treatments, laser technology and a Spa shop. We have 230 rooms and suites, we have four restaurants, 32 conference rooms with room for up to 750 people at the same time. Then there is Solgården, the amphitheater, all the DJs and the Roxette and Gyllene Tider museum. Plus Northern Europe’s coolest car hall is now located in the hotel.

Jan-Owe asks if it’s only Northern Europe’s coolest car hall.

Okay then. The only one in the world I know. I think a hotel in Las Vegas had a Ferrari store once upon a time, but that hotel is torn down now.

Took over the run-down Reso hotel in 1995

But it wasn’t like that in 1995 when pop star Per Gessle and businessman Björn Nordstrand took over Hotel Tylösand. It was a run-down Reso hotel with simple rooms, a restaurant and Tylöhus that reeked of the old ’80s.

Åsa says:

We had travelled around the world and stayed in many nice hotels and seen many fun interior details. But when we took over the hotel… the old house was rotten. The rooms were spartan with small, small bathrooms with a small mirror and a shelf underneath with toilet paper rolls on them.
So the first thing I did was fix and place the toilet rolls where they belong, a little further down. And to introduce green apples in the hotel. Philipe Starck and his hotel had apples and in their receptions it was written “An apple a day keeps the doctor away”. I liked that. At first, people didn’t think I was smart. But I got through it. It’s only for Christmas that I give in, but then the apples have to be dark red, haha.

Hotel Tylösand 2023 and Hotel Tylösand 1995 have not much more in common than the name.

Åsa remembers:

No, we have added a lot during these 27 years. But we have also removed a lot. All the artificial plants that collected so much dust. And the entrance in lime green and pink, with tiles that looked more like a bathhouse entrance.
At Tylöhus there were mirrors on the ceiling. And the restaurant had pink carpet with seagulls in burgundy and burgundy velvet curtains. It was horrible.
But now we have a line, a common thread in all activities at the hotel and I think it creates a sense of calmness for the guest when there is completeness.

Craftsmanship in the blood

Jan-Owe doesn’t think that Åsa is a trained designer and has attended a lot of great courses.

No, no, I’m just like my husband is in music, self-taught. And we both take help when we need it. It is important to find the right people to collaborate with, preferably personalities who inspire and think a little differently. It is of course also important that the employees understand your vision, so that we pull in the same direction.
And there, Abelardo (Gonzalez), the architect who designed our house, has been a great inspiration and teacher. I rejected eleven kitchen suggestions from him when we built the villa before we agreed. He likes cold materials while I like warm, but eventually, there was a tension where he taught me to keep my eyes open and that nothing is impossible.

Although with a mother who was a seamstress, a great-grandfather who was a slipper maker and a grandfather who was a blacksmith, Åsa already had craftsmanship, creativity and a sense of color and form in her blood.

Well, I was always tinkering around my bed at home, making sure it was nice. After all, we were four children and we grew up with a single mother in very simple conditions, so if you wanted something, you had to be creative and fix it yourself, learn to do well with small tools.

Åsa, who eventually got to display a few stores in Trelleborg, has also brought that thinking to the hotel.

Creating environments doesn’t really have to cost a lot of money. I’m not a geek for branded furniture, but the important thing is that it should feel right. Then if I go to Myrorna and shop, it has no significance. It’s all about the feeling.

Åsa glances at one of the large Monstera plants and smiles:

SEK 299 at Blomsterlandet. So I took the shuttle service there.
In this environment, you also can’t have too expensive things, because they get broken, they are used a lot. There is a huge amount of wear and tear everywhere in a hotel. This is why function is important. And we buy large quantities.
I also don’t like to throw things away, so we reuse what we can.

Sketches by hand

There are also lots of Ferrari details on the shelf inside the Ronnie Peterson Lounge.

Åsa says:

Apart from three books, everything is taken from our private collection. And we had the coasters for the conference table in the hotel’s hiding places. They were unused for some reason, but now they fulfill a function. Super stylish as well.

In the new part of the hotel, The Front House, there are several large sun terraces inspired by the Whitby Hotel in New York, the car hall and the Ronnie Peterson Lounge conference room are Åsa’s latest creations.

I wanted the Ronnie Lounge to be “masculine” and “with a motor feel”, but still with a lot of warmth. Stone is quite cold and cars are tough, so it automatically becomes masculine. And the big screen was really important. When you come from outside and look in, I think it’s beautiful and important that you see movement. Cars and life are always in motion.

The giant conference table inside the Ronnie Peterson Lounge is one of the things that Åsa has designed by hand.

Unlike the rest of the family, I don’t like computers but still sketch with pen and paper. I love to draw and then have it built. A bit like Per. He sits and tinkles on something and then, out of it, comes an idea that eventually becomes a finished text or song. For me, it’s the same when I sketch. I have everything in my head. I can see it in front of me, but cannot present it technically, like a construction drawing. Then it’s important to surround yourself with sensitive people who understand me, such as Östra’s Carpentry here in Halmstad when it comes to fine carpentry.

Inside and outside must meet

The large glass partitions also allow visitors outside to see in and those inside to see out.

It is important that the inside and the outside are connected and become a unit. The greenery outside plays a big role, how everything looks outside the hotel. Here we have boxwood, grass and ivy – not so much flowers, but more evergreen.
When I made a display apartment for HFAB (Halmstad’s real estate company) in 2007, that was also one of the basic ideas. And the person who eventually bought the apartment ended up keeping everything as it was presented. Including all furnishings. Then I felt that I had succeeded.

The end wall inside the Ronnie Peterson room is adorned with huge black and white photos from Peterson’s Formula 1 era. And the walls in the hall are made of granite.

I want a basic tone based on earth and nature and instead add the colors in the details. I basically have a rather sacral taste and am convinced that calm colors make people calm. And stone is very soothing. I designed the statues and the bench from scratch where visitors can sit and relax and look at the cars through the windows. It’s fantastic. A bit like in a museum.

The car hall top secret

Åsa reveals the fact that it would become a car hall was well hidden for a long time:

Yes, it was top secret. We designed it as a conference room, because even the builders wouldn’t know about it from the beginning. We didn’t want it to leak out.
Then it became a long process. I started building a fitting room in November 2019, which was ready in January 2020. But when we were about to put the shovel in the ground, the pandemic came and shut down Sweden in March 2020.

The inauguration of the new hotel part happened this spring, where there are now also guided tours of the car hall held by Dick Jönsson Wigroth, well-known in the motor business.

Per says:

I have known him for many years. When his name came up I thought I hope, hope, hope he wants to do that. Dick is both an aesthete and a technician and is cut and ready for the job.
And I have spoken to a lot of staff in connection with us building the new Front House. Both Åsa and I want it to feel special to work at the hotel and when many people said that they were proud to be part of this fantastic new building, then of course I’m proud that they are proud!

Today, Hotel Tylösand has 120 employees, which during the summer will multiply to over 400.

Per points out:

We are basically full over summer until August. December is also a party month when we serve over 9,000 Christmas dinners. But it’s not like that in January, February or in October or November. It is during those months that we have to be extra creative and invent things so that, above all, companies will come here. We want to keep our staff even when it’s not peak season.

Pay attention to the details

Even though Per, with the support of co-owner Björn Nordstrand, together with the CEO and the board is responsible for the big brushstrokes, he also, just like Åsa, pays attention to the details.

Yes, every time I’m at Hotel Tylösand I do some check-ups, I won’t say where. But I can, for example, go into a toilet and check that the toilet lid is attached, that there are towels and that it is generally fresh. If there is something crazy, I report it immediately and then it will be fixed right away.
Because it’s important that it’s clean and tidy everywhere. It’s invaluable that the staff learn how we think and that everyone helps to ensure that the guest has a maximum experience. If you pass a pillow that has been sucked down, you lift it up and puff at it. Not everyone sees that because not everyone cares. But exactly that is the key to people saying “I’ve never been to a hotel like that in Sweden!”. We hear that often.
Therefore, it’s also important to get involved for the entire Tylösand area, that it is neat on the beach, safe and inviting, that there are good rescue routes if something were to happen. Everything has to work, because the more we invest, the more people come here.

New projects underway

More to come. In December, the pool project will start when that part will be renovated.

Åsa says:

Then I would like to build a sun roof on top of the spa with a staircase up the side. But also extend the roof over Bettans so you can sit and enjoy and have a drink or coffee. In that case it would be called Bettan’s roof.
So I constantly have new projects and wishes. Then you can see if you get through with them. The board is tough, haha…

To own a hotel of 23,000 square meters is an ongoing process. Or as Per himself puts it:

It’s a bit like washing windows on a skyscraper. You will never be finished. Because when one thing is done, it’s always time for the next.

Photo of Åsa and Per by Linus Kamstedt Lindholm.

Gyllene Tider club gig at Leif’s Lounge

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It’s been a while since the last time there was a pre-premiere gig at Leif’s Lounge in Hotel Tylösand. Actually, the last Gyllene Tider „secret gig” happened in 2013. So it was high time to do it again.

The number of tickets for this special show was very limited and sold out in no time. The queueing for some hardcore fans started early in the morning and when the hotel staff realized there were already some of them, they started playing a Roxette – Per Gessle – Marie Fredriksson – Gyllene Tider playlist via Leif’s Lounge’s speakers and also brought some coffee and sandwiches. Very kind of them!

The hours of waiting went by and at 19:00 the doors opened. After entering the venue we could see the mics, the instruments, all set for the guys and girls. The girls, yes, because Dea Norberg and Malin-My Wall, just like in 2019, joined LEIFSALLSTARSBAND. The technicians had prepared everything for a night to remember and Anders Roos had already set up his cameras on stage. Micke Syd got plexiglass in front of his drum set. Good for the sound, bad for the view, but in this small area it was probably really necessary.

It was quite warm inside Leif’s, at least in the front and it got even hotter until the gig started at 21:15. During the gig? Haha. We were melting on and off stage! It got extremely hot and sweaty. The guys used towels between the songs to get rid of the sweat.

Before the gang came up on stage, the audience started screaming and clapping several times. Once the boys and girls hit the stage, the crowd got even louder. Per brought a sheet of paper with him and put it next to his drinks. It probably contained the connecting texts between the songs.

The Fab Five started the set with Puls. Micke Syd had to set his drums ready for this and it took a couple of seconds, so Per asked the audience if we know Micke Syd. Haha. Then Micke asked everyone to count in with him, 1-2, 1-2-3-4 and they started playing Puls.

After the song Per greeted the crowd and said that the last time they had a gig here was 10 years ago and he had the feeling that it was exactly the same people in the audience. He asked „were you here then?”, the crowd shouted „yeees!”. Per replied „I thought so”. Haha. He said they launch a new album, Hux Flux tomorrow (Friday) and go on a tour next week. He added that they planned to play some old songs they rehearsed during the past weeks and also some new songs. The first new song they performed was Gyllene Tider igen and it rocked big time! It should be the opening song on tour. It’s a fab opening track on the album and would have been an obvious first single if it weren’t Chans.

PG said when they started the band they played a lot of covers, like Mott the Hoople, Pugh Rogefeldt and ABBA, for example, but there was an artist they always liked, Tom Petty. So they played Vill ha ett svar!

Then came a hit that can’t be missed on a GT setlist, Juni, juli, augusti. The crowd was singing along the whole song. It was a great feeling! Det hjärta som brinner also made the crowd sing along. After that Per mentioned that they wanted to play a tribute to their favourite Dutch band. He asked which band it could be. Maybe Focus? Anders said Golden Earring. PG said he has another suggestion, Ekseption. He saw them at Folketspark in Halmstad in 1973. Micke’s suggestion was George Baker Selection and he started singing „una paloma blanca”. Then Per said there is another band they all liked and it’s Shocking Blue. They had a big hit called Venus. PG asked MP to play a little Venus. MP started and Micke Syd joined in with the drums while Per started dancing to it. Then he suddenly said „thanks, thanks” to stop the guys. Mr. G said they got hooked on a song, Send Me a Postcard. So they played Skicka ett vykort, älskling.

Right after that came another new song, Gammal kärlek rostar aldrig. It sounded absolutely fab and we hope it stays on the tour setlist as well. After the song Per joked that even those couldn’t hear this one before, who use The Pirate Bay. Then someone shouted they should play Dina bruna ögons skull and Micke Syd shouted back „you wish”. Haha. Mr. G said that backstage they talked about what is everyone’s favourite GT song in the gang and they all agreed it’s Flickorna på TV2. It still sounds too cool! The audience started clapping very loudly and screamed „hey, hey, hey, hey”. Per said they are very kind.

PG went on talking and asked the crowd if we heard that there is a GT movie coming, a sci-fi. Haha. He said the actors are somewhere in the crowd. The audience was cheering. Then Per said they also had a movie in 1981, a little box office hit, Parkliv! Ljudet av ett annat hjärta was released as a single to that film. It’s a forever favourite. After PG played it on his acoustic tour in a totally stripped down arrangement, it was just fantastic to hear it live again from GT.

With almost no break between the two songs, came Leva livet next. Another huge hit!

For Tylö Sun, Micke Syd got rid of his glasses. He was so sweaty, his whole face too that the glasses probably just slipped off and it disturbed him. The song was another fan favourite.

The guys and girls left the stage after that, but didn’t keep us waiting so long until they got back while the audience screamed and was clapping. Per thanked the crowd for being so kind and Micke Syd came to the front (with his glasses back on) to say hi to the crowd. The audience cheered him. Then Per introduced the fanatastic people around him on stage. He started the brand presentation with Dea and Malin-My. Then came MP and Göran. When Per introduced Anders he said he has the honour to be standing next to Sweden’s most handsome guy 1982, who is still a titbit. Anders was laughing. Per introduced Micke behind the drums and Micke introduced Per as the one who parked at least 12 cars wrongly at the entrance of the hotel. Haha.

Arabiska nätter we can’t hear live very often. It was played at the 2013 club gig and the guys thought to surprise us wit it again.

Gå & fiska! was the next hit and the audience adored it too.

Before the last song, Per thought it would be great to show us who the actors are in the upcoming GT movie, so he called the five guys up on stage. What an amazing surprise! There came 5 young boys who looked very fitting for the roles. They stayed on stage for the closing song, Sommartider. They already looked like a tight gang. Haha, they had a blast on stage and even took selfies up there. Fredrik Etoall also attended the gig and came to the front to take photos of these moments when the 5 GT actors were introduced.

With this the gig ended. Per thanked the audience for coming and said goodbye with a „see you next week and have a nice weekend”.

I have to mention that after many years without new guitar picks, there is a new collection. 9 Per plectrums and 4 MP picks. PG gave several guitar picks to fans in the crowd from hand to hand during the show, but once in a while he also threw them a bit further.

Looking very much forward to the tour to see this energetic, powerful pop band on stage again!

Setlist

  1. (Hon vill ha) Puls
  2. Gyllene Tider igen
  3. Vill ha ett svar!
  4. Juni, juli, augusti
  5. Det hjärta som brinner
  6. Skicka ett vykort, älskling
  7. Gammal kärlek rostar aldrig
  8. Flickorna på TV2
  9. Ljudet av ett annat hjärta
  10. (Kom så ska vi) Leva livet
  11. Tylö Sun

Encore

Band presentation

  1. Arabiska nätter
  2. Gå & fiska!
  3. Sommartider

All photos in the article by Patrícia Peres.

Part of Per Gessle’s unique collection of Ferraris to go on display at Hotel Tylösand

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On Monday, 1st May, The Front House opens at Hotel Tylösand, Halmstad, Sweden. The new hotel building is a real gem with 39 new rooms designed by Åsa Gessle, an exhibition hall with Per and Åsa Gessle’s unique collection of Ferrari cars and the top-equipped Ronnie Peterson conference room.

It is the architect firm Fredblad in Halmstad that has designed The Front House, whose whitewashed five-storey facade becomes a natural extension of the existing hotel building. All rooms and the conference room have been designed by Åsa Gessle with MTA Bygg & Anläggning as main contractor.

WARM BEACH COLORS

The 39 new double rooms in The Front House are in the warm and gentle colours you can see out among Tylösand’s beach, sand and dunes during the summer months.

GESSLE’S FERRARI COLLECTION

On the ground floor of The Front House, unique experiences are offered to anyone with the slightest interest in exclusive cars. Here there will be a permanent exhibition with parts of Per and Åsa Gessle’s unique car collection, in most cases Ferrari cars that are produced in extremely limited numbers.

Per says:

My interest in cars started when I was little and saw the pictures of John Lennon’s psychedelic painted Rolls-Royce. Talk about inspiration – you wanted one like that. But right then I had to settle for collecting Corgi Toys cars and building the Scalextric car track with my big brother Bengt.

It was the Ferrari Dino that got me sold on Ferrari cars. Tony Curtis drove a red Dino in “The Persuaders” and on the inner sleeve of George Harrison’s “Living In The Material World” album you see all the musicians having a picnic in his garden and in the background there is a brown Dino. It was something to fantasize about for a teenager in Vilshärad.

RONNIE PETERSON LOUNGE

The 60 square meter conference room in The Front House has been named the Ronnie Peterson Lounge and is decorated as a tribute to the legendary Swedish racing star. The venue is technically top-equipped and intended for groups of up to 20 people.

Hotel Tylösand CEO Elisabeth Haglund says:

Hotel Tylösand has long been one of Sweden’s most booked conference hotels and The Front House reinforces our offer in a very inspiring way. It gives us further opportunities to continue developing and offer our guests an even more distinctive and rewarding stay with us.

Press release in Swedish HERE.

Per Gessle Unplugged – Hotel Tylösand – #10 – 3rd August 2021

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We have reached the final destination. Per Gessle Unplugged – Hotel Tylösand – final gig. The weather was nice all day: a bit windy, but sunny. Before the entrance there was a 5-10-minute-long heavy shower, which was followed by a beautiful rainbow above the hotel. From then on, it was sunny again.

The mood was great on and off stage again. The crowd was rather clapping along, but towards the end, the sing-along got stronger too. I think at this show Tycker om när du tar på mej, It Must Have Been Love and Sommartider were the best songs.

After the band presentation, Per told it’s the last gig they play at Hotel Tylösand and thanked to the hotel staff, as well as General Manager Elisabeth Haglund (who by the way always personally greeted the arriving guests in Solgården before each gig) and Food & Beverage Manager Jonas Karlén. He thanked to the band and the crew, as well as BoJo and Åsa who was responsible for the stage design. He thanked MP for the sound. He of course thanked the crowd too. Then he switched to English and said he knows there are so many people coming to the shows from abroad. He greeted the international fans: „Hello everyone! Thank you!” and got a loud cheering from the audience.

After Min hälsning the gang went off stage, but the crowd wanted them back and so in a couple of minutes they popped up on stage again for the first encore.

After När alla vännerna gått hem the band got flowers as a thank you for this unplugged series. We held up some TACK signs at this point. They were printed on leopard background, because we hoped for PG to appear in his leopard shirt again, but this time it was only his shoes with the leopard design. Anyway, when the crowd got the TACK signs before the gig, they were happy to cooperate in this little flashmob. Actually, the plan was to hold these paper sheets up after the very last song, but after we saw the flowers, we thought that would be the right time, so giving a green light to all behind us, we held them up. Both Per and the band appreciated it. Then they decided not to go off stage, they stayed there, put the flowers down to the stage floor and chairs and played the second encore.

The anecdotes and stories were much fun at the show, but there was another fun thing that topped it all at the last gig. After Per introduced Honung och guld with the Tom Petty story and they started playing it, suddenly the sound and the lights went off. There must have been some problems with the electricity, maybe a cable was pulled out of a plug by accident or a wrong button was hit, but Per certainly didn’t realize it – because of the in-ear system –, since he was still singing the song. Some of us were singing along, but since Honung och guld is not the strongest sing-along song, the crowd wasn’t too loud. Actually, from the band Christoffer seemed to realize it first that something was not OK. Then I could see Per reading the prompter, Micke N-S probably wrote a message that there is no sound. Haha. Then they stopped playing and Per spoke into the mic while smiling, but we couldn’t hear what he was saying. The crowd was cheering and clapping, Per sipped into his ginger tea and we all waited for a solution. Per was laughing and they were joking with Chris. Then some bulbs started shining again, but the band was still in darkness. Christoffer started playing Ljudet av ett annat hjärta and the crowd joined in with the lalalalalala melody. It was awesome! Then some more lights came back, then the sound too and they started playing Honung och guld again. After a while, all lights came back. When they finished the song, they got a veeery long applause and cheering from the audience. Per laughed and asked if we want more. The cheering went on until Per showed thumbs up and they played Om du bara vill as the closing song.

Is that possible that this 10-gig-long journey has just ended??? Time flies indeed when you are having fun… Approximately 2 months ago we had no expectations for any live music events at all, then Per suddenly announced in a video message that he would play at Hotel Tylösand this summer. It would have been 4 concerts, but they were sold out so fast that became 8 and then 10. Due to the pandemic, it was unfortunately very chaotic for fans outside Sweden to plan travelling and quite impossible for all fans outside the EU. Thankfully, the regulations partly changed from July 1st for EU citizens, but still it was quite difficult to organize everything on this short notice. Anyway, many international fans popped up at the shows to represent the hardcore fan base. It was great to meet again. Next time hopefully all will have the chance to travel and see Per & Co. play live, because that is really one of the best things in life and I consider myself very fortunate that I had the chance to attend several gigs on this tour, which wasn’t really a tour. Why do all good things come to an end?

Setlist

1. Kung av sand
2. På promenad genom stan
3. Flickan i en Cole Porter-sång
4. Småstadsprat
5. Tycker om när du tar på mej
6. Det hjärta som brinner
7. Tuffa tider
8. Juni, juli, augusti
9. Pappa
10. It Must Have Been Love
11. Ömhet

Band introduction

12. Här kommer alla känslorna
13. Min hälsning

Encore 1
14. Vandrar i ett sommarregn
15. Listen To Your Heart (dedicated to Marie Fredriksson & Pelle Alsing)
16. Sommartider
17. När alla vännerna gått hem

Encore 2
18. Vid hennes sida
19. Honung och guld
20. Om du bara vill

Photos in the article are taken by Patrícia Peres.

Per after the concert:

Wow!!! What a trip this has been! TEN UNPLUGGED GIGS under the belt. Such a blessing to be part of this! Thanks everyone once more for joining the acoustic joyride at Hotel Tylösand. I’m so happy to recieve so much love + positive feedback from soooo many people. It’s crazy. And it’s such a treat to be able to perform songs I don’t “normally” do, songs that matter to me, tiny lighthouses in my journey as a songwriter and artist. More to come, folks. That’s a promise! Cheers, P.