Gyllene Tider – Hux Flux – Kalmar – 21st July 2023 – #9

Kalmar! Last night’s show became one of the Top3 gigs so far on this tour. Fab mood on stage, loud sing-along crowd. What else could you ask for? Billy? Yes! He is back too!

It’s always nice to have a fun security team at the concerts. The security guys in Kalmar certainly belong to that group. Dancing and singing along, enjoying life while working. Love that! It’s also lovely to see Åsa still enjoying all GT songs and dancing along while filming what’s happening on stage.

There must be something new in the process of fixing Per’s in-ear system, because last night he had some problems with it again. From the first song you could see it was uncomfortable for him how it was fixed on his back. New tape? New cable? Or just a new person fixing it? Whatever. Change back to the procedure you used until 2 gigs before, haha.

The ginger tea mix Micke Syd prepared for PG last night tasted like lakrits according to Mr. G. Haha.

When Per started talking about the „tribute to their favourite Dutch band” and he said we might be wondering what that band could be, some in the front row spoiled the fun with shouting „Shocking Blue”. Per ignored it, but Micke Syd said „there are some who saw more than one show on this tour”. Haha. Per also laughed and he went on according to his usual script mentioning Focus and Ekseption. He said he saw Ekseption in 1973, but it wasn’t his thing. He said Anders was 12 and he saw them too, from the front row. Anders corrected him by saying he wasn’t there, because he was on a curfew, sorry. Micke Syd’s George Baker Selection moment ended up in a loud „ojojoj ojojojoj” after a little „una paloma blanca”. Sounded cool! Micke Syd appreciated it with a „boom shaka laka”. Haha. Then Per said they got hooked on a band called Shocking Blue, the ones in the front were right, he pointed at them, so his translation of Send Me A Postcard got played.

Before Flickan i en Cole Porter-sång, Micke N-S brought the checkered blue and black acoustic guitar on stage, but Per walked off stage to the left side and asked technician Peter Fredriksson from the crew to do something with his in-ear system. Peter tried his best, but later we could see nothing had changed. When Per came back after a few seconds, the audience cheered him and he told us he had problems with the cables on his back. Micke N-S was sitting in front of the drums until then. He hopped up when Per got back on stage, but since he started to talk, Micke sat back. Then PG waved to him that he could bring the guitar.

Before Tuffa tider, Per said the ukulele is the world’s sexiest instrument and if in winter you are on Costa del Sol, you can see Micke Syd playing ukulele there. He is playing Gyllene Tider hits and Freestyle and Lili & Susie songs. Micke Syd laughed and said Här kommer alla känslorna works damn good in Marbella.

During the band presentation, after saying that Anders is the band’s best soccer player and Micke Syd is their wonderful drummer, Per thought he would have enough time to go off stage again to have the in-ear system cables fixed. He seemed to forget that Micke would introduce him too. Peter was trying to fix the problem again. Micke Syd went on with introducing PG, the best saved for last. „The one who plays ukulele, who is interested in driving cars and cars in general, the one who took a break again…, where is he? The magical Per Håkan Gessle!” PG rushed back on stage. Micke Syd said Per already had 2 pit stops on this gig, which is a new record that deserves a big applause. He got the tires changed, the oil level checked and the in-ear system taped. Haha.

Before Min tjej och jag, Micke said that at the rehearsals they tried the trick with Göran, that he was jumping on Micke Syd’s back how they did that in the Parkliv movie, but it doesn’t work anymore. Haha.

When the band went off stage before both encores, the audience was clapping and screaming loudly. This time, as I mentioned at the beginning, Billy found his way back to the setlist and was performed as the first song in the first encore. Welcome back! Please, stay forever!

Before the second encore, the crowd started singing Sommartider, of course. When the gang came back on stage, Per said they thought they would skip this song. „We play this one instead!” När vi två blir en got a loud cheering from the audience and an even bigger party came when finally Sommartider was on.

PG thanked the crowd for a fab evening, wished everyone a fantastic summer and said he hopes we meet again and everyone takes care of each other.

Next stop is Ronneby on Saturday.

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

Per after the show:

Kalmar tjoho! Tack för en fantastisk fredagskväll. Grymt kul att få spela o sjunga för er. Tack för allt tjo o tjim och positiv energi. Svårt att sova efter det här!!! Syns igen.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Next stop is Örebro on Saturday, 30th April!

Setlist

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

Band introduction

14. Här kommer alla känslorna
15. Min hälsning

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

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

Photos in the article are taken by Patrícia Peres.

Per after the gig on Facebook:

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

And on Instagram:

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

An on Twitter:

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

Gyllene Tider – GT40 – Kalmar – 5th August 2019 – #15

Kalmar was one of the 2 gigs that had been delayed due to Per’s sickness at the end of July. According to the articles published after the delay was announced, there were almost 15000 people who bought ticket for the Kalmar gig. The original date was a Saturday, the new date became a Monday, so I was wondering if this causes any changes in the number of attendants. It didn’t feel like it, but I don’t yet know the exact number of people in the audience. I just know that there were fans who had tickets for the delayed gigs, but sadly had to skip the new dates, because they didn’t fit in their schedule anymore. (Update on 7th August: 10100 people were in the crowd. So it did matter for those who had tickets for the original date.)

After Ullevi, the cool black and yellow GT logo flags were used in Kalmar too, at the entrance. They are so nice! It would be something cool to include in the merchandise, since many of the fans wanted to bring them home already from Ullevi, but by the time the concert ended, the flags were taken off …  Maybe next time.

After we entered the venue I saw there were mics on the 2 sides of the stage and there were many cameras set to record, so we could be sure they were to film this concert too. And when it’s filmed, it should contain the same setlist as Gothenburg, so that mixing the materials is easier. The setlist stayed the same as in Göteborg. May I ask to film all concerts from now on? Then we would have the 23-songs-long setlist again and again. Tack!

The energy level was high in Kalmar, both on and off stage. The band was very tight, the sound was fab, the crowd was loud. The security people also sang along and danced. Awesome night it was! I must say Kalmar was one of the best shows on tour. Now it’s hard to rank, but I would say it’s among the Top5-Top6 gigs. So, just another concert that was worth to be recorded.

Per didn’t refer much to the fact that it was a delayed gig. He just said thanks for waiting for them when he first talked to the crowd after Juni, juli, augusti.

I remember in Eskilstuna there were a lot of mosquitoes. Well, in Kalmar there were even more! Once PG even mentioned he has a mosquito in his tee. I didn’t know that mosquitoes like ginger. Haha. Another funny moment was when Per sprayed himself with mosquito repellent during Låt denna trumslagarpojke sjunga! Before the song started, while Micke Syd had his intro talking, Per fixed his hair in the ”mirror” of the ukulele’s backside. Micke N-S must have polished it properly if it was so shiny. Haha.

Anyway, on the original Kalmar date (20th July) Micke Syd and his wife, Helena celebrated their 14th wedding anniversary. Too bad the concert was delayed, because I’m quite sure we would have experienced something special before or during or after Låt denna trumslagarpojke sjunga! Still there are a few things that made it special. First of all, Micke Syd learned the lyrics. He didn’t even really look at the text in front of his feet. Well done! Another one was that when Micke asked the audience to smack their fingers to the rythm and swing along, everyone in the crowd agreed. It looked wonderful!

The setlist didn’t change, but the backdrop changed a bit. The guys and girls found a very fitting spot for the red background on which the Golden Guys’ portrait drawings appear. It was projected now before the 2nd encore and it looked so cool! No Chrissie, hur mår du?, but at least this backdrop is saved and showed again.

At the end of the concert Per threw his remaining guitar picks to the crowd and he was so much into it last night, that he even threw MP’s remaining picks that were still there on his mic stand.

No day off, next stop is Ronneby! I haven’t mentioned the crew in my GT40 articles yet, but now I just have to. They tear the stage down so fast and then build it up some hours later in another city. Ronneby is not far from Kalmar, but still. There were other cities with many kilometres between them and the crew still managed to be on time with all. So hats off to them!

Setlist

  1. Skicka ett vykort, älskling
  2. Juni, juli, augusti
  3. Det hjärta som brinner
  4. (Hon vill ha) Puls
  5. Flickorna på TV2
  6. Vandrar i ett sommarregn
  7. (Dansar inte lika bra som) Sjömän
  8. Det kändes inte som maj
  9. Flickan i en Cole Porter-sång
  10. Tuffa tider

BAND PRESENTATION

  1. Låt denna trumslagarpojke sjunga!
  2. Kung av sand
  3. En sten vid en sjö i en skog
  4. Ljudet av ett annat hjärta
  5. Ska vi älska, så ska vi älska till Buddy Holly
  6. (Kom så ska vi) Leva livet
  7. Tylö Sun

Encore 1

  1. Billy
  2. Det är över nu
  3. Gå & fiska!

Encore 2

  1. När vi två blir en
  2. Sommartider
  3. När alla vännerna gått hem

All pics in the article are taken by Patrícia Peres.

GT after the show:

KALMAR! Badabam! Måndagsspelningar kan vara rätt trötta och lätt avslagna MEN INTE SÅ I KALMAR igår kväll! Vilken fantastisk publik! Vilken respons! Bandet kändes grymt tight och bra, perfekta tempon och summa summarum = ett av det bästa giggen så här långt in i GT40-turne’n.
Mygg? Javisst. De smakar yummy. Hade en hel familj i min tekopp.
Tack Kalmar för att ni väntade på oss, vi var ju tvungna att ställa in för någon vecka sedan. Nu bär vi med oss ett minne för livet. /The Golden Boys + Gals

Roxette XXX Tour – Kalmar, Sweden (Fredriksskans) – July 18 – #54

The Swedish tour leg with 5 shows started tonight in Kalmar, where Roxette had never played before. Many posters welcomed us in town everywhere we walked, either the poster of the Kalmar show or the one with all the Swedish dates on it. All 5 concerts are open air gigs, so we prayed for good weather for the start. It worked so-so, because during the waiting time we had some heavy summer showers, but all in all the temperature was fine and the sun came out to shine on us in the afternoon.

You know you are in Sweden when the first thing organized at the entrance is the toilet. Haha. It may sound stupid, but no other country can tell they have a security team thinking about those who are waiting all day in front of the venue. And you know you are in Sweden when Show Security Sweden is in charge, with good old Atli as the head of the team. They are really the world’s best security team! Helpful, patient and kind all the time. Not only the supervisors, but the whole bunch of people they are working together with at the venues. Thanks for all your support, guys!

Swedish shows got a bit different vs. earlier years because of Live Nation’s Early Entrance ticket policy. Actually, today there were approximately 30 people showing up with an early entrance ticket, but most of them just wanted to have a calm walk inside and find a place at the bar, on the grass or at the very side of the venue, more in the middle, not in the front. They first had to register, appr. 1 hour before the inlet and they got their merch stuff which was a tour programme signed by Marie and Per and a Roxette XXX tour bag. Then they were let in 15 minutes before all those with normal tickets. Even if there were hundreds of people waiting for getting let in, everything was calm and no one was really nervous about the entrance. It feels good when after all the inlet mess in other countries you get to experience this.

Eskobar hit the stage a bit later than 19:30 and it was very nice to hear them in their homeland. For me the best they were in Vienna so far, but their tonight’s show comes very close after that. You could feel they were comfortable playing at home, however Daniel, the singer of the band enjoyed the German-speaking countries so much that he used the expression ”ein bisschen” several times.

After they went off the stage, the crew was setting it up for Roxette. While looking around and checking the seats where guests had their places, we spotted Crown Princess Victoria with her husband Daniel and Prince Carl Philip with his wife Sofia, who are on holiday in Öland now. They were sitting in the last row, which was at the highest place. They disappeared for some minutes during the break and as you could see on Eskobar’s Facebook page, they visited them in background. Victoria is a Roxer, so surely, they met Roxette backstage, too.

It’s summer, but Swedish summers are unpredictable, so it was a good option to install a heater for Marie on the stage. BoJo tested it himself to see it was working properly. After all guitars and other instruments were tested, the mics were set to the proper height and Åsa set the iPhone to video mode, it was time for Roxette to come up stage. One of the characteristics of Swedish summer is that the sun goes down quite late, so it was still daylight when they started the show. The intro didn’t have the same adrenalin kick effect on the crowd this way, but still it was very energetic how the band hit the stage.

Being at home, both Marie and Per talked in Swedish. The talks in between the songs were more or less the same as the English version, but one huge difference was that Marie talked much more than usual. She felt very comfortable and it was easy for her to talk. We all loved it so much!

The crowd did well on the sing along parts, but it wasn’t the most enthusiastic audience of all. There were however Roxers from several countries (Argentina, Chile, Brazil, Spain, Poland, Finland, Germany, Hungary, Switzerland, Austria, Denmark, Greece, etc.) who made more noise and moves. I tend to believe Swedish crowds are really this reserved most of the time. Or maybe tonight it was because they thought the royal family members were watching them and taking notes of who behaves how. By the way, they showed how to party, during The Look. HERE you can watch Svenska Nyheter’s video about it.

Crush On You was very cool this time again, however, the effect of stopping after ”no Elvis in the leather / I want you now or never” was a bit strange with the sun still being up on the sky. Nevertheless, the crowd reaction sounded the same as in any other country where it was complete darkness at this point.

During The Heart Shaped Sea, in the era of smartphones with flashlight app, someone lit a real sparkler, but as it’s quite dangerous in the middle of the audience, Atli had to take it away.

After THSS Marie and Dea were preparing for Watercolours In The Rain / Paint and Marie started talking. That was the funniest of all. HERE you can watch it in a video. She said (in Swedish):

Now we’re going to play a really really old song. It means so much to me. Micke… ah … no, he’s my husband… it was a little mistake, but Per wrote the lyrics and I wrote the music and I’m so proud of it.

One must love her! It was such a cute little mistake!

I must mention Marie’s talking during another song, too. During Dressed For Success, when it comes to the crowd clapping choreography, she usually shouts into the mic: ”C’mon and clap your hands, everybody!” When she got to this point tonight, she wanted to shout it again in English, but before she did that, she realized she was in Sweden and shouldn’t talk in English, so she just started laughing instead. Then she made the crowd clap along.

After the balloon song, Roxette went off the stage and the audience didn’t want to stop shouting ”En gång till! En gång till!” to have them back on stage. They didn’t let us wait for long and came back with the usual 2 extra songs.

It was a nice first gig in Sweden during the XXX tour with 14612 people in the crowd. Hopefully, the next 4 shows will get the crowd into party mood and it won’t be ”only” the band on fire.

Per’s badabam after the show:

KALMAR UPDATE: Oh yea, the Swedish tour has finally started. Almost 15000 showed up tonite at Fredriksskans and sang along. And no rain in sight. Thank you!!! The band was sooo tight, have to love that!!!! Badabam from P.

Next stop should be Borgholm tomorrow (and for many of us Roxers it will be a sightseeing stop at least), but the next gig is in Halmstad on 22nd July. Can’t wait!

 

Articles and photos

Göteborgs-Posten
24kalmar.se video report from the queueing
24kalmar.se during the concert
24kalmar.se about the concert
barometern.se about the stage
Expressen
TV4
svenskdam.se
vaxjonytt.se review, photos
FotoRoddan blog article; FB album of photos

Videos

Roxette hitting the stage
It Must Have Been Love
Royal crowd members having fun
Most boring audience ever?

Setlist

Roxette_in_Kalmar
Pic by Patrícia Peres

Sleeping In My Car
The Big L.
Stars
Spending My Time
Crash! Boom! Bang!
Crush On You
She’s Got Nothing On (But The Radio)
The Heart Shaped Sea
Watercolours In The Rain / Paint
Fading Like A Flower
How Do You Do!
It Must Have Been Love
Dressed For Success
Dangerous
Joyride (intro: Här kommer Pippi Långstrump)

Extra
Listen To Your Heart
The Look

 

Roxette may set a new attendance record in Kalmar

Roxette’s first concert in Sweden this year is on 18th July in Kalmar and according to the organizer’s, Nöjet Konsert’s forecast, the gig might be sold out soon. As Östra Småland informs, the attendance record at Fredriksskans stadium was set on 4th September 1949, when 15243 people were there to see a football match between Kalmar FF and Malmö FF.

Gyllene Tider played at the same stadium in 2013 and they almost hit the record with 14946 people in the audience. The organizers expect Roxette to attract around 15000 people, so this way Roxette would hit the number of attendee’s of the GT show.

Talking about Kalmar being soon sold out and seeing that there are 3 gigs of other Swedish artists on the list of Borgholm concerts this summer, but the day after Roxette’s Kalmar show is still free at Borgholm Castle, can’t help dreaming about an extra show being added to the already impressive list of European tour stops. In case you haven’t voted yet, you can still do it in THIS article from last December. Just for fun. 😉 Dream on!

If you don’t have your ticket for the Kalmar concert yet, HERE you can buy it.

roxette_kalmar