linköping

Gyllene Tider – Hux Flux – Linköping – 14th July 2023 – #5

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Last night it was already the 5th show on tour. Gyllene Tider played a great gig in Linköping. The weather was great, the crowd was ready for fun and the band was prepared to give their full power. The stage set changed a bit, the HUX FLUX sign wasn’t on top of the stage, but HUX on the left, FLUX on the right.

Uno Svenningsson started at 20:00 and GT got on stage at 21:15. The setlist hasn’t changed.

When Per welcomed the crowd after Gyllene Tider igen, he said they had many fantastic concerts in Linköping over the years, but they try to top them tonight.

During the „tribute to their favourite Dutch band” talk Per said he saw Ekseption and Anders also saw them when he was 12, he was standing in the front row. It was not for Per and not for Anders either. Micke Syd had to remind the audience what the George Baker Selection was about. After animating the crowd, he started singing ojojoj to the rhythm of „una paloma blanca”, but the crowd, instead of joining in for una paloma blanca, went on with the ojojoj. Micke said he got carried away. Sounded cool! Per skipped Venus again, he just mentioned that it was a mega hit by Shocking Blue, but the song they all got hooked on was Send Me A Postcard and he translated it and it became Skicka ett vykort, älskling.

After Gammal kärlek rostar aldrig, PG picked up his ginger tea saying it’s a mix that Micke Syd prepares for him every night. Micke said the effect of it we will see soon. It’s a mix of some water from Vättern (lake close to Linköping) and some witch’s brew. Micke said it’s a kind of Kinder egg.

During the talk before Flickan i en Cole Porter-sång, Marie got a loud applause and cheering from the audience, when Per mentioned he started hanging out with her when he wrote this song.

When the world’s sexiest instrument, the ukulele was brought to Per, he said Micke Syd plays a similar one in parks in Marbella. Micke said he gets nachos for that.

The band presentation was fun again. Each band member got a loud cheering and applause. Per introduced Micke as the spine of the band. Micke said they have had so much fun at the start of this tour so they felt it was time they have a little club championship in track racing. Per is going to fix it, so they get to do some driving at Mantorp tomorrow before they go to the next show. Haha. Per said it will be fun.

Before Min tjej och jag, Micke Syd asked the audience if he could sing a song. The crowd said yeees. Micke said “what would I do if you said no? I wouldn’t have bothered, I would have been singing anyway”. Haha. Micke said he dedicates this song to someone every night and this time he dedicated it to his first crush. He was 7-10 years old and then there was this girl, Tina, when he visited his cousin who lives in Motala (not far from Linköping). He said his most recent crushes except his wife and cymbals are Dea and Malin-My. The girls came to the front and they joined Micke in singing the song.

Per said it’s impossible to top Micke, but they try. He just needed a guitar. He had to wait a bit until Micke N-S brought him the next one for Kung av sand.

When Per started to talk about Parkliv, we realized that many were screaming in the middle of the audience. This time not for joy, but someone needed help. The security team called the ambulance and they rushed in from the front, over the fence. Everyone on stage was concerned, so Per stopped talking and they all waited until the ambulance could take the one who was unconscious out. Micke Syd asked the crowd to give way to the ones who helped. Per also thanked and after they got the sign that they can continue, they went on with Ljudet av ett annat hjärta.

The gang went off stage after the medley. The audience was clapping and as usual, started singing a little Sommartider and screamed „en gång till”. The guys and girls came back a few minutes later and Per said it’s a pleasure to play for this crowd.

During Det är över nu, another unconcious guy had to be taken out from the crowd. The security team got him out in the front, over the fence. This was probably not visible from the stage, because the stage lights were on and it was in the middle of the song, so they didn’t stop playing. We hope that both people are feeling better now and all is fine.

When the gang came back for the second encore, Per said „what a great night! But it’s not over yet”. After Sommartider, Per thanked the audience for coming. He wished everyone a fantastic summer and said he hopes we meet again. „Take care of each other!”

När alla vännerna gått hem was the closing song. Malin-My on violin, Micke Syd and Dea in the front. This time it was different again, Dea was singing together with Per. After taking a bow, Per picked up his remaining plecs from the mic stand and threw them to the crowd, but there were no flying drumsticks. Maybe next time.

Next stop is Eskilstuna 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:

Ett magiskt gig i Linköping! Tack alla för good vibes och fantastisk allsång!!!

Per Gessle Unplugged Tour – #1 – 5th November 2021 – Linköping

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In summer, Per Gessle & Co. had 10 very successful, sold-out gigs at Hotel Tylösand and when the last show ended on 3rd August, we all hoped there would be more concerts of this format. We didn’t have to wait for too long until the announcement of an unplugged tour. On 30th August Per announced he would go on tour around Sweden in November-December, playing at concert halls and theatres to keep the intimate atmosphere. Tickets went on sale on 2nd September and they were selling like hot cakes. 3 extra gigs had to be added to the originally planned 12 shows, because several were sold out already the first 1-2 days. So altogether there will be 15 gigs this autumn.

The premiere happened in Linköping last night. And what a most awesome first show it was!

The concert was set to start at 19:30 and the entrance to open at 19:00. When we got to the venue it was nice to meet some familiar faces we already met in summer and of course at other Rox World-related shows.

First we checked out the merch stand. For this tour there are black T-shirts with 3 different designs, all 3 of them having the concert dates on the back. There is a tote bag and a poster with the tour dates as well. Earlier we could see Per posting different designs and white T-shirt too, but it’s only these 3 in the end that got produced.

When we entered the concert hall we could see the stage set which was very similar to the Hotel Tylösand set, but the stage here was bigger, so the decoration and the lights, the bulbs had to be adapted to this bigger space. It looked magical. Designed by Åsa Gessle of course.

While waiting for the concert to start, we could listen to a new mix tape. When the sound of it turned off, the lights on the audience went down and the band came up on stage at 19:45. They got a very loud applause and cheering. Per greeted the crowd and told „if you know the lyrics, sing along, it’s fun. If you don’t know the lyrics, it’s even more fun.” Haha.

The set started just like in Tylösand, with Kung av sand, På promenad genom stan and Flickan i en Cole Porter-sång. After this came a little surprise with Magnus standing up, picking the double bass – which until then I thought was part of the decoration. Småstadsprat was played like this and it sounded fab! Actually, hearing the first 4 songs and anecdotes I started thinking there wouldn’t be too many changes vs. summer, but then Mr. G asked Magnus if it was hard to play the double bass. Magnus said it was very hard and they laughed. Then PG said they would play another Nashville song. He didn’t start with the correct chord though and said „I have to find the right chord first”. Haha. He managed and the next one was Min plats, which is a new song on the unplugged setlist. It also turned out that it’s Christoffer’s double bass, however, Per thought it was his. Chris joked that it costs 2000 SEK per gig.

Tycker om när du tar på mej was next in the set and Helena got a very loud applause from the audience for her performance.

Then came a Gyllene Tider segment, with Det hjärta som brinner as the seventh song on the setlist. After DHSB, Helena, Magnus and Chris left the stage and only Per and Clarence stayed. Here came the biggest surprise and the absolute highlight of the show. PG told he wrote a song on the tour bus in 1981 during the GT tour. Back then they didn’t have time to rehearse, so they did that on their soundchecks, like how you can see it in Parkliv!, directed by Lasse Hallström. The guys performed Ljudet av ett annat hjärta. It has left me – not only me – absolutely breathless. The crowd appreciated this extremely beautiful version of the song with loud applause and cheering. Mr. G stood up after that, went to Clarence and they high-fived each other. They got even more cheering and the crowd didn’t want to stop showing their happiness. Helena, Magnus and Chris came back on stage and they were clapping their hands too.

Per took the capo off his guitar and provided us with another big surprise: Varmt igen! What can I say… Another highlight of the evening!

Micke N-S brought Per his ukulele and we all knew it’s Tuffa tider’s time. PG told he remembers he bought his first ukulele right after he saw a film about George Harrison. He bought it with Sven Lindström in Stockholm.

Fortunately, Juni, juli, augusti – which for me was the biggest highlight during summer, to hear it in an acoustic arrangement – was kept on the list.

It Must Have Been Love came next with the story of how it was refused by the German market while it was a success in Sweden and later how it became the soundtrack of Pretty Woman. The performance got a very loud crowd reaction, we loved it!

If you think there were no more new songs on the setlist, you’re wrong! Getting back to the Mazarin era, Vilket håll du än går popped up last night! The band introduction came after this song. When Per got to Clarence, he was joking that Mr. Öfwerman doesn’t have a mic in front of him, which is actually quite nice. They laughed.

Just like during the summer sets, Här kommer alla känslorna and Min hälsning followed the band intro and after MH, the gang went off stage. The audience was incredibly loud, didn’t stop clapping their hands and making noise with their feet on the concert hall floor. And so Per & Co. came back on stage after a while.

How to start the first encore? Why not adding a new track here too? They did! Födelsedag was an interesting choice of song and it sounded quite cool in this arrangement.

The gang remembered Marie Fredriksson and Pelle Alsing and dedicated Listen To Your Heart to them. It was also a big favourite of the audience.

Do you think adding more songs that haven’t been played on the unplugged gigs yet was over? Ha! No!!! Per introduced the next one by telling there are lyrics which you can only write when you are very young. He said he was thinking about Flickorna på TV2 for example. He laughed and the audience laughed as well. He said it wouldn’t be too politically correct in 2021, but it was fun in 1979, coming from a 20-year-old guy. There are other songs like this in his song catalogue. He started playing När vi två blir en and the crowd was singing along and didn’t want to stop applauding the band after the song. Per said it’s hard to top.

När alla vännerna gått hem was the last song in the first encore. The whole crowd stood up when the band took a bow and went off stage and they still waited for the gang to come back with some more songs. Of course they came back! You just had the feeling that you don’t want this night to end.

Vid hennes sida opened the second encore and don’t be afraid, Sommartider was there too with amazing crowd reactions.

Someone shouted Dangerous before the last song, but Per & Co. closed the gig with Om du bara vill. The audience gave a standing ovation, Per and the band had a wide smile on their faces. We all had. Such a fantastic premiere gig it was!

There were missing hits vs. the last summer set, e.g. Pappa, Ömhet, Vandrar i ett sommarregn and Honung och guld, but it was so worth to include these 6(!!!) additional songs. Let’s see how the setlist changes from gig to gig during the next 14 concerts!

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
19. När alla vännerna gått hem

Encore 2
20. Vid hennes sida
21. Sommartider
22. Om du bara vill

Photos in the article are taken by Patrícia Peres.

Per after the show:

Wow! Thx for an amazing nite in Linköping. Loved every second of it. I’m blessed having a crowd like this! Norrköping tomorrow. Can’t wait!

Wow! Tack så mycket för en helt makalös kväll i Linköping. Vilken fantastisk stämning, vi älskade varje sekund. Hoppas ni är inte hesa imorgon!!!! Syns i Norrköping om några timmar. Love, P.

 

Gyllene Tider – GT40 – Linköping – 13th July 2019 – #6

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After the best-so-far gig in Skövde, Gyllene Tider continued their farewell tour in Linköping without a day off. There was great open-air concert weather in town, so we couldn’t complain.

The guys and girls did a live soundcheck at appr. 16:30 and those who had been waiting outside the venue could be happy to hear 2 songs which were not yet present on the setlist. Setting high hopes for the evening setlist, they rehearsed Marie i växeln and Vill ha ett svar. Only one of the 2 songs made it to the setlist in the end and it wasn’t Vill ha ett svar. But if you remember, the first time Billy was on at the soundcheck, they didn’t play it until 1 gig later. So let’s see if Vill ha ett svar appears in Uppsala maybe. One of the changes in the setlist vs. Skövde was that the guys skipped Vandrar i ett sommarregn and played Chrissie, hur mår du? instead. Then after Sjömän they put Marie i växeln on the list, which means they skipped Det kändes inte som maj. Big mistake! I mean it was nice to hear Marie i växeln live again, but Det kändes inte som maj, would be a must to perform. Even if many people still don’t know it, since it’s from the last album, it somehow involved people with the clapping and put them into party mood. We definitely want that song back! Fortunately, they played Skrot och korn again, as the first song in the first encore. By the way, after Marie i växeln Per said they will now slow down a bit. He is not 59 anymore. Haha.

Crowds in Linköping are usually loud and those 12000 people being there last night didn’t disappoint. They were singing along almost each song and it sounded cool. There were several active groups in the audience: a part of them were clapping, another part of them were doing different choreographies with their hands up in the air. Some shouted ”Gessle! Gessle!” everytime Per talked between the songs. Also before both encores they were whistling, singing Sommartider, shouting ”en gång till!” and clapping. It was great!

On stage, the most energetic were Per, Dea and Malin-My. The rest of the gang were doing their magic to their own instruments. Micke Syd’s intro talk to Låt denna trumslagarpojke sjunga! is getting more and more fun by every gig and the crowds love his singing on this one. And now the lyrics don’t seem to cause any problem anymore.

There is one sing along part on each concert that somehow doesn’t want to work properly with the crowd and it’s in Det är över nu. No matter how loud audiences GT has, this part is always so silent and it shouldn’t be. I think the issue is that the guys expect people to sing along without Per starting that part. He is just miming and even if everyone knows this song, I think it’s just not enough. Per should start it just like in all the other sing-along hits on the setlist (e.g. Flickan i en Cole Porter-sång, När vi två blir en or Sommartider). Now it’s only the first few rows and some other in the crowd are doing their ”job”, but it would sound much better if the whole audience was singing it.

Anyway, it was yet another fab summer night at yet another sold-out GT show! By getting back to our hotel, there was an ”after party” with Gyllene Tider music mixed from all of their albums. Nice!

Next stop is Uppsala after a well-deserved day off.

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. Chrissie, hur mår du?
  7. (Dansar inte lika bra som) Sjömän
  8. Marie i växeln
  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. Skrot och korn
  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:

LINKÖPING TJOHOOOO! Tack för en fantastisk afton. Vilken underbar publik, hur många var ni? 13000???? Ingen aning men det kändes som att hela Östergötland var där. Grym allsång och underbara vibbar hela kvällen. Vi böjer våra nackar!!!! Testade “Marie i växeln” för första gången på turne’n och det var kul. Groovy baby. Ledigt idag. Uppsala imorgon. Syns då, folks!

Per Gessle’s Roxette – Linköping, Sweden – 10th November 2018 – #17

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Karlstad set the expectations higher, so I expected an at least as fun concert in Linköping as our Friday night was. Another town, another ice hockey arena, same cold. Here the show was also originally planned to be standing on the floor, seated on the sides, but at the same time as it happened with Karlstad, appr. a month ago the floor was changed to unnumbered seats. Those who arrived first could occupy their spots in the front row. There was a meet & greet for a few fans before the show and to our surprise, seats in the second row were reserved for the participants. I think this was the first time ever, when it happened that a meet & greet participant didn’t really have to worry about losing his/her good spot for the show because of the M&G. Great support from the management!

Just like in Karlstad, Roxette music was playing inside the arena in the restaurant area. These ice hockey arenas know how to attract their visitors!

Nano started at 19:30 and the audience cheered him and was clapping along his songs. I found it quite promising! And then from 20:30 the crowd did show they love having Per Gessle and his band in town! When the gig started with The Look, the front row people were up on their feet and that’s what most people on the floor did, stood up in front of their seats. In Linköping even less people sat down during the ballads vs. Karlstad. It was great to see Per’s and the band members’ faces when they saw the crowd standing. It added to their mood again.

After TL, Per told the crowd it’s always fun to play in Linköping. The last time he performed there was last summer. He asked the audience if they were there and the crowd was shouting yeees. Per said they were there too, actually all of them on stage. He said they would play Roxette songs, but he thought to include some of his solo songs too, because it’s fun to play songs that nobody knows. Haha.

After beautiful MATAH Helena got a long & loud applause. Then Per talked about Capri 1993. He said they recorded there for 6 weeks and had friends and journalists there. And friends and journalists. Haha. They were eating pizza and drinking bad wines. But in that chaos they could record a quite OK album. CBB was a success in Linköping too. The crowd burst into loud clapping and shouting at the end.

Before DFS Per asked the audience if we were sitting. The crowd shouted ”neeeej!” (nooo!). Then Mr. G pointed at the standing people on the floor and said ”you are standing”, then pointed at the sides and said ”you are sitting there”. If I saw it right, it was DFS when a little accident happened to Per’s index finger (or power chord finger, how he calls it, LOL) on his right hand. I could already see it on some of my pictures from Karlstad that the nail looked damaged, so probably it got even worse while crashing the guitar during DFS and it started bleeding. From that moment when Per realized something was wrong with the finger, he looked at it many times during the rest of the concert, but never asked for a plaster or anything else and he was playing all songs PERfectly, as if nothing had happened. Hats off!

SGNO must have been a difficult one to play with that bleeding finger, but Mr. G managed it. While the whole audience was clapping loud, Chris played Ljudet av ett annat hjärta as the intro to SGNO. Everyone on stage was animating the crowd and they succeeded. SGNO was one of the best party songs on Saturday.

After SGNO Per picked up a black towel with which he usually wipes his face. Now he was wiping his bloody finger. While he was talking about his good day in 1990, he was constantly checking his finger and wiping it with the towel. He said he woke up one day and found a cute note on his piano saying ”Hej, din tok, jag älskar dig” (Hello, you fool, I love you). He had to marry his girlfriend after this note. The crowd was cheering and clapping and Per said ”she is not here tonight”. Obviously, he wrote Joyride, then he had a lunch break and then he wrote another song. SMT, of course. During the song Per walked to the left side of the stage to the technician board. Maybe he did ask Jakob for a plaster, but he might have run out of it because of a certain heavy user, a.k.a. Christoffer. Haha. Just kidding. It was funny that after fans saw the bleeding finger, they were trying to catch the thrown picks even harder than usual, to have one in their collection with Per’s blood on it. How cool is that! Haha.

During IGYC the power chord finger could have a rest. The duet of Per and Helena was fantastically beautiful.

Before STT Per talked about his Nashville adventure and said they would play a song the audience might already know in Swedish, Småstadsprat. He said they sing it in English, but if the crowd knew the lyrics in Swedish, sing along in Swedish and let’s see how it sounds. Haha.

Halmstad hillbilly IHAPIMH was much fun to hear, the flute ladies did their best again. After the song Per mentioned it was on his album, Son of a Plumber from 200? (twothousandsomething), he can’t remember. Magnus pointed at someone in the crowd and told Per someone knows the date. Per said ah, one person heard about that album. Great! Haha. Then Mr. G said he suggested  88(!) songs to the band to rehearse. Magnus said 12 is the maximum, they told Per. Per said Magnus has 2 favourite artists Roxette and Lars Winnerbäck (his hometown is Linköping). The crowd was cheering when they heard LW’s name. PG said thanks to Magnus we could hear the next song, IMHBL. It was very much welcomed by the crowd, but they showed it rather via their cheering, not via singing along loud. Still fair enough.

OppNox and TBL were again ass-kicking. One can’t get enough of these 2 songs in a row! Then we stayed in the ’90s and before the gang performed FLAF Mr. G asked the audience if they remembered the ’90s. We replied yeees! Per asked Magnus about the ’90s. He said he himself was the ’90s. When it was the ’80s, he was already the ’90s.

When it was DMS’s turn, I went live on our Facebook page, so you can watch the epic performance of the song. Christoffer on a high. Pure awesomeness!

During the band presentation the crowd rewarded each and every band member with a loud applause and cheering. Wonderful! After Per finished the introduction, someone in the crowd shouted in Swedish: ”And the man in the middle?” Christoffer grabbed the mic and said ”song, guitar and especially many many very good songs, Per Gessle! From Harplinge… or Furet!” Haha. The teaser to HDYD worked with clapping, but only the front row fans started singing the song, so Per took the mic and he started to sing himself. Both HDYD and Dangerous kept us warm because of the jumping. One can’t get tired of these songs either.

The Linköping crowd wanted to have the gang back on stage again, so they didn’t stop shouting, whistling and clapping. PG and the band came back after 3-4 minutes and performed QOR and then Joyride. Joyride was definitely one of the highlights at the Linköping concert. Helena and Per were constantly animating the crowd and during the second half of the song Chris was down on his knees in front of us, playing the guitar. Per came to him and they were fooling around. Then Helena came there too and sat on the edge of the stage with her tambourine and then Chris sat next to Helena and they were singing and playing there. Pure Saturday night fever!

             

The crowd was very happy to have PG & Co back on stage again after a very short break before the second encore. Per said they thought to play a song from the ’80s, a song which he wrote to a good friend of his. LTYH it was, of course. After the wonderful TSHTSG it was very hard to let them go off stage. The crowd was still loud, clapping, cheering Per and the band.

What a most fantastic Saturday night! It could even top our Friday in Karlstad I would say! Who would have expected it?! Not me! I realized it only towards the end of the concert that Christoffer’s shirt got torn on the right side. He must have been rocking out to one of the uptempo songs when it happened. A real rock ’n’ roll guy! Haha.

Let’s hope Per’s power chord finger has enough time until the next gig to heal. Micke N-S must have had a hard time in Linköping, cleaning all the guitars and strings. Well, the strings, maybe he changed them anyway. Just more often this time. On the guitars to that part where you can see Per’s blood he stuck some black stage tape. I guess it’s easier to remove the tape than cleaning the blood off the guitar.

So, guys and girls, those who could catch a bloody Per pick in Linköping, keep it safe in your collection. It doesn’t happen too often that you can get hold of such a rare item! 😉

Setlist:

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

Encore
17. Queen Of Rain
18. Joyride

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

Mr. G after the gig:

LINKÖPING. Oh yea, another great gig. We’re on a roll right now, doing superb interpretations of the Rox songs and having lots of fun along the way. I’m sure you notice if you’re in the audience. The Linkoping crowd was awesome, thanks everyone for joining the party. Had a little problem with my power chord finger (check out that guitar…), it happens every year around gig #15…. Anyway, promise to be in good shape in Helsinki on Monday. Love to you all, thanks for being there! Love from P&Co.

All pics in the article are taken by Patrícia Peres.

 

Per Gessle – En vacker kväll in Linköping, Sweden – 12th August 2017 – #17

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After Mr. G’s hometown show, the band and the master himself, as well as Lars Winnerbäck were ready to take a ride to Lasse’s hometown for the next gig. The whole gang was ready, just the tour bus wasn’t. It broke down before they could leave Hotel Tylösand, but fortunately, a replacement bus arrived very fast and took the team to Linköping.

It was incredibly cold in Linköping, but Swedes didn’t really mind. Many of them still arrived with their picnic baskets and chairs and started having a picnic already outside the venue.

This time the support act order was Good Harvest first and then Strandels played. I prefer it like this. Good Harvest play rather ballads, while Strandels can warm up the crowd with their uptempo songs and in that cold cold town we really needed it.

Per & Co entered the stage some minutes after 9 pm and you could hear the crowd was very hungry to see and hear them. They were already loud before the gang showed up. The band started the concert with På promenad genom stan and the first let’s say 10 rows of the crowd, besides a lovely sha-la-la-la sing-along, were even following the choreography Helena tries with every audience, just waving with one arm up in the air.

The band was even more on fire than in Halmstad. It could be because there was now no stress with the recording cameras all around. At least Per told us this when we met him the day after the show. He said they were more relaxed in Linköping.

When Lars Winnerbäck joined the band on stage for Småstadsprat, the crowd went real wild. They were so happy to see their local hero. The crowd was singing along and cheered Lasse after they ended the song. Per and Lars hugged each other and Per let the crowd show their happiness for a longer time. Then he started talking, but the crowd went on with ”Lasse! Lasse! Lasse!”, so Per stopped talking and told the crowd yeah, come on, more of this. It was much fun! Lars thanked the crowd and then PG could go on with his presentation of the next song, which was again Honung och guld. Per said he tried to find songs he hadn’t played live before and he found appr. 450. The crowd laughed and Per said he thought he would play them all tonight. The crowd was cheering him for that. This time I was standing closer to Lasse and I could see him miming even to that part of the song which Per was singing. The whole song sounded wonderful in Linköping as well and after they finished it, Mr. G and Lasse hugged each other again, the crowd was shouting and clapping and Per asked for more applause for Lasse. Then he went off stage. This section I recorded again, HERE you can watch it! 😉

   

After Kung av sand (loud sing-along to this during the whole song) and Här kommer alla känslorna it was time to dance and jump a bit to the next 3 songs, the usual crowd pleasers. During Gå & fiska! it started raining a bit, but it was still OK not to use the ponchos and it stayed like that. Mr. G was bouncing around so energetically that after this section ended, before the band presentation, he had to catch some air. He said he is not 55 anymore. Haha. During his stand-up comedy part, Mister Magnus came up with the idea to share Per’s profile on that dating site where he found the band members. He said Per is called Oscar E. there and his profile pic is with a dog, a black collie. Magnus asked us to look for Oscar E. on Tinder. Haha. For Andreas and his black gloves Per showed thumbs up with both hands twice, it was funny. Then Chris went on with his psychedelic intro to The Look and when he finished the intro part, he asked the crowd (with his hand) to cheer more. It doesn’t happen too often that he asks for something like this, but it worked well, the crowd got even louder.

The crowd wanted the band back on stage before the encore. Some shouted they wanted to hear Billy, some other shouted Sommartider. The first encore was 1 song less vs. Halmstad. In Linköping they didn’t play (Hon vill ha) Puls. Varmt igen and Tycker om när du tar på mej both sounded beautiful. Always so unbelievable how clearly Helena can sing out all those high notes.

For the second encore the crowd didn’t have to wait too much. Maybe only 1 minute passed after the whole band went off stage after the first encore and Andreas came back to go ahead with his amazing drum intro to Sommartider. The crowd loved it and at the end of the intro Andreas was kidding and showed his exhausted face for fun. Then Per and the rest of the band came up on stage and Per asked the crowd if they were ready. Yeah! He said he couldn’t hear it, so he asked again and the crowd replied even louder. They were so ready for Sommartider!

The last song was Min plats, just like in Halmstad. But still it wasn’t the same, since in Linköping Lasse joined PG for this song too. It was a real surprise also for all those who were there in Halmstad. We didn’t expect Lars to come back on stage. It was cool he came back again, but one could sense they didn’t rehearse this song too many times or not at all, because Lasse was late with joining in the song. Per was already looking at him that he should join in. And another thing is that this song is definitely not written for Lasse’s voice. Sounded a bit strange from him. Anyway, it was great to see him again at end of the gig and he stayed there for the bow and went off stage together with all the others.

It was a fantastic evening! On my list it was the 3rd best show (after Göteborg and Östersund), but it’s in the Top5 also for those who saw PG & Co in Töreboda and Fredrikstad.

Just to keep track of it, I mention that Anders Roos was there at this show too and took tons of pics. Åsa was there too and she filmed a lot, now also in the front row.

Per after the show:

LINKÖPING YEEHAA!
Wow, vi hade hur kul som helst. Ett synnerligen avslappnat band och en fullständigt underbar publik. Vi är lyckligt lottade som får känna den här kärleken vid varje spelning! Och när Lasse W dök upp så föll alla bitarna verkligen på plats. En av sommarens bästa gig if u ask us! Tack alla som kom och skrålade en stund! Syns igen! /P.

All photos in the article are taken by Patrícia Peres.

Setlist

1. På promenad genom stan
2. Vilket håll du än går
3. Juni, juli, augusti
4. Det hjärta som brinner
5. Segla på ett moln / Första pris
6. It Must Have Been Love
7. Småstadsprat (duet with Lars Winnerbäck)
8. Honung och guld (duet with Lars Winnerbäck)
9. Kung av sand
10. Här kommer alla känslorna (på en och samma gång) / Flickan i en Cole Porter-sång
11. Ljudet av ett annat hjärta
12. Spegelboll
13. Gå & fiska!
Band presentation
14. The Look (with När vi två blir en as intro)

Encore:
15. Varmt igen (with Queen of Rain as intro)
16. Tycker om när du tar på mej
17. Joyride

Encore 2:
18. Sommartider
19. Min plats (duet with Lars Winnerbäck)

Videos:

På promenad genom stan & Vilket håll du än går
Småstadsprat & Honung och guld
Småstadsprat
Honung och guld
Kung av sand
Gå & fiska!
Varmt igen
Tycker om när du tar på mej
Joyride

Articles, pictures:

Corren.se