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.
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:
During the day, Lars Winnerbäck turned up in town, so we could sense there was a surprise guest appearance planned for the night. It became 100% sure when we heard Per and Lars rehearsing Småstadsprat and Honung och guld at the soundcheck in the afternoon (from 16:15). We were curious how they would rearrange the setlist if at all, now that Lars joined them for these 2 songs. These 2 songs they rehearsed for appr. 15 minutes and then came Min plats and a little Puls. Woohoo, so we were happy that the setlist might be longer, since Puls got back on it.
The SVT cameras for the show weren’t enough, Anders Roos was also there to take thousands of photos of this hometown show and of course, Åsa was also there filming a lot. This time she just couldn’t come to the front row, because the TV guys were moving there with the cameras too, so they would have bumped into each other. This way she was filming from the sides of the stage (and maybe from somewhere else in the crowd too? We will see when the vids are up on GessleHomeVids, YouTube).
Per’s concert kicked off some minutes after 21:00. To hear På promenad genom stan in Halmstad is a real pleasure, here it made even more sense to start the show with this song. It Must Have Been Love was a success and Helena got cheered loudly. Right after IMHBL came Småstadsprat, so there was the first change in the setlist. For the part which is sung by Lars Winnerbäck on the album, Lasse came up on stage and he was singing it. He got a loud applause from the crowd when he appeared. The song sounded beautiful. No other version sounds as wonderful as the one with the original duet, Per and Lars. What a delight! The crowd cheered the duo loudly during the song too and when they finished it as well and Mr. G told the audience it wasn’t bad. Per and Lasse hugged each other after the song ended. Then Per was talking about the rehearsals and that he tried to find songs which he didn’t play live before and he found there were 470 of such songs. He decided for a song off Gyllene Tider’s 1982 album, Puls. He said he knows Lars likes this song too and so they decided to sing it together. So they went on with Honung och guld. Lasse’s favourite album from GT is Puls and HOG is his favourite song off it. It sounded great in this duet version. After they ended the song, Per and Lasse hugged each other again and Lars went off stage. Per told the crowd it’s hard to top now. I have recorded the whole Lars Winnerbäck guest appearance in Halmstad (not the best quality video because of the smoke and lights, but still you might enjoy it). 😉 Watch it 
For the second encore, Andreas went real wild on the Sommartider drum intro. This caught the audience too. Was cool to watch it on the big screens too!
What was very lovely to see in Malmö is that some hardcore fans, not only from Sweden, brought their kids to the gig to show them what it’s all about. Now that there is no age limit, it was a great chance to bring the whole family together and enjoy the concert this way. Kids were also in the front and they even caught guitar picks from Per. Haha. They got enthusiastic. I’m sure it wasn’t their last PG concert.
Sadly, probably because of reading those comments, 
Before the gig started, during the support acts’ performance, Åsa, Chris, Clarence, Helena and their families as well as Magnus’ family went up to the side windows of the castle and we waved to them, they waved back. Andreas also went up and probably took pictures from there. Later Victoria (Sweden’s crown princess) and her husband, Daniel also appeared in the window and enjoyed the show from there. Victoria rulez! 
Regarding the sing-alongs, I think also the acoustics of the place helped a lot to make them sound beautiful, because during a lot of songs I heard a loud sing-along, but when I looked back, I couldn’t see too many mouthes moving. Anyway, the crowd was best at clapping that’s for sure. Or better said there were several active groups in the audience, the first 3 rows, of course and then in the middle a bigger group and on the sides some more. Those who were sitting in the back didn’t get up from their seats. Not even during Sommartider…. Hej hej… Yeah, we know, it’s mostly the Swedes and they are not the ones who like to stand up, no matter what. But at least they were clapping hard.
