A hot, sunny day in Gothenburg, a beautiful park, some most enthusiastic Per Gessle fans and a tight band were all together to create a fantastic 8th concert night. You could feel there was something in the air in the city when already during the technicians’ soundcheck there was a guy who was dancing(?) to each and every sound Micke N-S and Jakob created on the drums and on the guitars. It was a very entertaining half an hour or so. Later there was no soundcheck for the band, so we could be kind of sure there was no new song planned to be played that night.
Lots of fans (even from Brazil!) were waiting outside the park which closed at 3 pm because of the concert and the gates opened again at 6 pm. This time we had to try if our running shoes were still working fine, since both entrances opened at the same time. Still all hardcores could find a decent spot in front of the stage.
Göteborg is usually different to any other Swedish cities and towns when it comes to concerts. People there know how to party and what the concerts are about. No picnic, no 15 meters’ distance left between the front row and the 2nd row until the support acts start playing. They are gathering in the front right after being let in. And it always feels good and promising.
Per had the same support acts with him as in Grebbestad. Alex Shield and Charla K started playing at 19:30. Now Alex was not that nervous anymore as on Friday, even talked more to the crowd. There was a little low sound problem with his guitar, but even that he took easier than in Grebbestad, just by mentioning he got a bit unfocused by this. I don’t have to mention that he sounded fab again. Charla K was also acting more, now taking off the mic from the stand and moving around a bit. She sang wonderfully again. Strandels came at 21:10 and Tova, the singer made the audience cheer for Gessle several times. She is also more and more talkative to the audience.
The stage and instruments were getting ready for Per & Co’s performance and while the technicians were busy with all this, Anders Roos set his many cameras at several places. Mr. G and the band hit the stage some minutes after 21:00. The crowd was already cheering for them several times before 9 pm.
The opening song was Min plats and it got a huge applause from the audience. Per talked to the crowd and said it’s always wonderful to play in Gothenburg. It’s almost home ground for him. He also said it’s the first time for him to play in Trädgårdsföreningen. Well, this is not really true, because in 1996 he played there twice with Gyllene Tider. Återtåget Live! was recorded at that very place. But being a hardcore live artist, one can forgive him for not remembering each and every place he played at. Haha.
The next song was På promenad genom stan and Göteborg let its voice heard. Heavy sing along on this one and dancing even in the back.
The first Gyllene Tider section with Juni, juli, augusti made the crowd clap & sing along heavily and they were even jumping along.
This time I streamed Segla på ett moln / Första pris live on our Facebook page. You can watch the video HERE.
While keeping the ”new” song /(Hon vill ha) Puls / they added to the setlist the day before (it rocked in Göteborg too!), Tittar på dej när du dansar got back and we enjoyed it so much! This song should really stay on the setlist forever. I know… I can’t mention it enough times. 😉
The crowd loved It Must Have Been Love and of course were singing along loudly. Kung av sand was also a loud hit.
Before Honung och guld, which Per wrote in the spring of 1982, Mr. G mentioned he was looking for songs he had never played live before and found like 500. Haha.
Här kommer alla känslorna (på en och samma gång) / Flickan i en Cole Porter-sång was such a blast that while grooving around in the front part of the stage, Per stumbled over his monitor. Thank God he could keep his balance and bounce on, so he didn’t fall off the stage or anything serious happened. We don’t want to see Dave Grohl’s throne on PG’s stage, right? 😉 Micke N-S recognized very quickly that something was wrong and he rushed to the monitor to set it back to its place.
The great vibes didn’t end here. Starting with Ljudet av ett annat hjärta it was onehelluva party section until Per and the band went off stage before the first encore. Spegelboll rocked big time again and the crowd didn’t stop jumping and singing along during Gå & fiska! either. The band presentation was much fun this time too and after Chris psychedelic När vi två blir en intro, The Look made the crowd go wild.
Göteborg people shouted, whistled and were clapping loudly to have the gang back on stage. The first encore with PG appearing in white was magical as usual. Varmt igen and Tycker om när du tar på mej sounded extrawonderful on Saturday. DFS was skipped, just like on Friday and the band went on with Joyride which put the crowd in party mood again. So much that until the second encore they didn’t really get silent. Then bang! Andreas came and sat behind his drums. Started the intro to Sommartider. We all loved it! PG asked the band if they were ready for more, if the guys and girls for ready for more and if Göteborg was ready for more. The crowd just went wild for this.
The set ended with Småstadsprat and the audience cheered the band while they were saying goodbye.
This was definitely one of the concerts that you didn’t want to come to an end. If I said in Grebbestad Per & Co gave 120%, in Göteborg they gave 150% at least, but not only them. The audience too! Everyone was all smiles on and off stage during the whole concert. All fans (even those who attended Töreboda) thought that Göteborg was the best gig so far. The band thought so too.
We could see a lot of PG-Chris, Ola-Chris, Ola-Chris-PG, Ola-PG, PG-Magnus, PG-Malin-My, PG-Helena, Malin-My-Magnus, Malin-My-Clarence, Helena-Malin-My, Malin-My-Chris, Andreas-Ola, Chris-Ola-Andreas, Magnus-Chris-Ola, Chris-Magnus, PG-Magnus-Chris actions on stage. One just couldn’t decide which squaremeter to watch to enjoy the visual experience of the gang’s fabulous playing together. One of my favourite actions is when Ola gets close to Per during Det hjärta som brinner and they play their guitars back to back. PG was throwing a lot of guitar picks on Saturday and by checking each other’s caught picks, we realized that there is now a Space Station 12 plec he plays. A black one with white little stars and the SS12 logo on it. Lookin’ good! /Update on 25th July: as Per says: “TO CLARIFY THINGS: There are NO OFFICIAL Space Station 12 guitarpicks made whatsoever. If you see one it’s an unofficial one. /P.” Weird thing… Now where those picks were flying from then? Hm. Anyways, good to know they are not part of the official set./
Per had so much boogie in his shoes that he was often back to his mic late when he had to sing. It was so funny and cool at the same time. He was swaying his hips all the time, doing his left leg stomping as well. Among his black outfits, the most sexy is the one he was wearing in Gothenburg. The shirt with silver stars and the trousers with silver stripes. Looks so hot! Oh and Helena! 1 or 2 concerts earlier I realized she wears no shoes on stage. She is rocking around barefoot! Too cool she is!
All in all, Göteborg never disappoints! I can’t really remember any concerts in Gothenburg that didn’t work. This city rulez! If there is any recording planned for this tour, it should have happened on Saturday. But still, let’s keep our fingers crossed that at least one of the shows will be recorded and released for our pleasure later.
PG after the show:
Mindblowing gig in Gothenburg. Wish you all were there!!!
All photos in the article are taken by Patrícia Peres.
Setlist
1. Min plats
2. På promenad genom stan
3. Vilket håll du än går
4. Juni, juli, augusti
5. Det hjärta som brinner
6. Segla på ett moln / Första pris
7. Tittar på dej när du dansar
8. (Hon vill ha) Puls
9. It Must Have Been Love
10. Honung och guld
11. Kung av sand
12. Här kommer alla känslorna (på en och samma gång) / Flickan i en Cole Porter-sång
13. Ljudet av ett annat hjärta
14. Spegelboll
15. Gå & fiska!
Band presentation
16. The Look (with När vi två blir en as intro)
Encore:
17. Varmt igen (with Queen of Rain as intro)
18. Tycker om när du tar på mej
19. Joyride
Encore 2:
20. Sommartider
21. Småstadsprat
Videos:
Min plats
Segla på ett moln / Första pris: 1; 2;
It Must Have Been Love
Ljudet av ett annat hjärta
Gå & fiska!
Varmt igen
Tycker om när du tar på mej
Sommartider & Småstadsprat
Articles, pictures:
Göteborgs-Posten
Rockfoto
The festival crowd seemed to be in great party mood already before Per & Co came up on stage, so it was predictable they would be a loud audience for the main act too. Loud? It’s not even the right word to describe them. Ass-kicking crowd for an ass-kicking band. People cheering during the whole show, singing along all the time and clapping, whistling, dancing, jumping, whatever you can imagine.
It wasn’t clear at first sight whether it was only one pick and Mr. G showed the 2 sides of it or it was 2 different picks, but soon it turned out they got back to the roots, making it more limited, so it’s only one pick with the South African flag on one side and GESSLE ON THE ROXXX on the other side. Looking good! Haute couture, as the master says.