Stockholm

Per Gessle performed at the fundraising concert for Ukraine

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Per Gessle performed at the fundraising concert in solidarity with Ukraine at Avicii Arena, Stockholm tonight. The almost 3-hour-long Hela Sverige skramlar show started at 20:00 CET and could be watched live not only on spot, but thanks to the organizers, also on SVT and other online channels (TV4 Play, Aftonbladet, Expressen). Swedish Radio also broadcast the event. The show will be available online for two months to watch on SVT, HERE.

The evening was filled with unique performances of some of Sweden’s foremost artists (Per Gessle, Eva Dahlgren, Peter Jöback, Wilmer X among many others) who showed up for free. Ticket revenues go in full to six different organizations in their work to curb the humanitarian crisis and promote human rights and democracy (International Red Cross, Proliska, UN Women Sweden, Fight for Right, Civil Rights Defenders and The Media Initiative for Human Rights).

As Per said earlier in a press release:

What is happening in Ukraine is undemocratic, indefensible and inconceivable. Difficult, if not impossible, to understand. You would think that no one in our modern times would have to experience such situation. I played a lot both in Russia and in Ukraine and the people of both countries are absolutely amazing. I have unforgettable memories from there that I saved deep in my heart. How could this happen?

Björn Ulvaeus from ABBA opened the event with a wonderful speech about peace and freedom.

Emma Molin and Fredrik Skavlan were the program leaders and after 4 performers they announced that 16 million SEK had been collected until then. While they talked, you could see Per and the band in the background, the crew changing the set for them. Mr. G entered the stage together with Helena Josefsson, Clarence Öfwerman, Magnus Börjeson and Ola Gustafsson to perform the 5th song at the gala. Listen To Your Heart sounded beautiful in that full arena!

All other artists also gave their best at the event. Even performers from Ukraine took the stage. Don’t miss Maria Sur singing Survivor (Destiny’s Child). So powerful!

Thank you, Per & Co. and all appearing on and providing support off stage, as well as everyone using Swish and any other ways to support Ukraine! At the end of the show it was announced that more than 60 million SEK was collected. [Update on 4th April: Contributions continued to come in on Sunday and the total collected is currently 75.805.615 SEK.]

Stills are from the gala video.

Per Gessle at the fundraising concert for Ukraine

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A fundraising concert in solidarity with Ukraine is organized in Avicii Arena, Stockholm on Saturday 2nd April at 20:00 CET. The evening will be filled with unique performances of some of Sweden’s foremost artists who show up for free and the ticket proceeds go to six different organizations in their work to curb the humanitarian crisis and promote human rights and democracy. Ticket revenues go in full to International Red Cross, Proliska, UN Women Sweden, Fight for Right, Civil Rights Defenders and The Media Initiative for Human Rights.

Per Gessle is one of the participating artists, but also Eva Dahlgren, Peter Jöback, Wilmer X will be there, just to mention a few big names.

From the press release:

The country’s booking company gathers to arrange a fundraising concert with Sweden’s artist elite. This time in solidarity with Ukraine and with three major thematic themes in focus; humanitarian crisis, human rights and democracy.

Humanitarian Crisis:

More than one million people are on the run and many of them are children. At the same time, even more people are stuck in cities and towns in Ukraine and are affected or risk being affected by the war, either directly by military force or indirectly by famine and disease. We must help people in need.

Human Rights:

There are few things more incompatible with human value and life as war. We receive a lot of information about serious violations of human rights and violations of international law in the ongoing conflict, from indiscriminate shelling of civilian areas to denial of basic needs such as food, sleep and healthcare. We must fight for human rights.

Democracy:

Democracy in Ukraine is under direct attack, while we are seeing increased repression in Russia and Belarus. The small space left for free independent media and civil society in Russia has been brutally shut down. Since the outbreak of war, we have seen the great popular opposition to the war and how the brave voices that stand up to the Putin regime and call for peace are being systematically silenced. We must stand up for democracy and freedom in Ukraine, Belarus and Russia.

Per Gessle says in today’s press release:

What is happening in Ukraine is undemocratic, indefensible and inconceivable. Difficult, if not impossible, to understand. You would think that no one in our modern times would have to experience such situation. I played a lot both in Russia and in Ukraine and the people of both countries are absolutely amazing. I have unforgettable memories from there that I saved deep in my heart. How could this happen?

Tickets for the event are available HERE.

Thank you, Per, for supporting Ukraine!

The almost 3-hour-long concert can be watched worldwide live online HERE and it will be available at the link for a month.

Per Gessle Unplugged Tour – #4 – 19th November 2021 – Stockholm

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It was 2 weeks ago the last time I saw PG & Co. live and I missed them so much! This unplugged tour is just really amazing! It seems that this „leg” of the tour is going to be the most filled with international fans. Stockholm and Gothenburg are easier to be reached from abroad and so last night there were fans from Poland, Germany, Brasil, Portugal, Finland, Hungary, Argentina, Spain, the Netherlands, the UK and I know the US will also represent itself at one of the upcoming gigs. Very nice to see so many trying everything to be able to get there at the shows despite the known difficulties of travelling these days.

We could see Jonas Isacsson in the crowd, as well as Mats Olsson. It was also the first show on this tour where Show Security Sweden appeared and did their job. Some of you might remember our most favourite security supervisor, Atli who was also there last night. It was lovely to see him again. He told they work together with this venue and this was the first concert since the remodeling and rebuilding of Filadelfia Convention Center.

The concert started at appr. 19:45. The audience was already impatient at 19:30 and started clapping to have the band on stage as soon as possible.

The only change in the setlist vs. Gävle was that Födelsedag got back on the setlist and Vandrar i ett sommarregn wasn’t played this time. That means the setlist was the same as in Norrköping.

There were several funny interactions among the band members and I highlight one of them. Before Min plats PG asked Magnus if it’s difficult to play the double bass. Magnus said it’s very difficult and Per’s reaction was that one can notice it. Everyone laughed. Then Mr. G had a little trouble with the capo again, he first fixed it on the guitar in the wrong place, so Christoffer asked him if it’s difficult to play the acoustic guitar. Haha. At a later song, Per tried to fix the capo again and started telling an anecdote, but he realized he can’t do two things at once and shared this realization with the audience too. He either talks or he fixes the capo. Haha.

After Min plats, Per asked Micke N-S if he could get a guitar which is better tuned than the one he just used, so MNS came up on stage immediately and gave PG another acoustic guitar.

Ljudet av ett annat hjärta is top top top at every gig! Probably this gives the crowd the biggest surprise during the shows, how beautiful it is in this acoustic arrangement and so it always gets a long long long cheering and neverending applause from the audience.

The most popular songs during the night were the GT hits from the reactions I heard, but I must admit I was very positively surprised by the Stockholm audience. My experience with seated Stockholm shows so far was that people like to sit still and the biggest effort they do is their clapping – rather after the performers finished a song. Last night it was very different to all seated Stockholm concerts I attended in the past. Here the crowd was singing along, clapping along during the whole concert and enjoying themselves to the full. Loved to see that!

Before the first encore, the crowd was very loud and never stopped clapping. After the first encore they gave a standing ovation and also stayed very loud. When Per and the band came back on stage, PG asked the audience to sit down. He checked his papers what else to play and of course, the first song in the second encore was Vid hennes sida. Then it was Sommartider’s turn and PG and Magnus stood up and Mr. G told us we are welcome to stand up too. Everyone was right up on their feet! Per laughed at Chris that he couldn’t stand up, because of the instrument on his lap.

Helena kept her outfit she was wearing in Gävle and the silver angel was singing beautifully, as usual. She got very loud, well-deserved applauses from the audience.

The sound was different in Stockholm compared to concert hall gigs. Must be because of the acoustics of the spacious convention center, but both Per and the band were in top shape and their performance, as well as the active crowd made this show the second best for me on this tour so far.

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 show on his social media platforms:

Amazing show tonight in Stockholm. Wow, speechless! ?? /P.

Amazing gig in Stockholm last night. Thanx everyone! Unbelievable! /PG

Thx! Tack för en helt fantastisk kväll i Stockholm. Underbar publik, generös, högljudd och fredagsglad!! Vi hade hur kul som helst uppe på scenen. Ikväll blir det nya tag i Uppsala. Syns om en stund. /PG

Gyllene Tider – GT40 – Stockholm – 27th July 2019 – #11

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Gyllene Tider’s Stockholm gig was originally planned to be held in Sjöhistoriska, but the ticket sales went so well that Live Nation realized the guys need a much bigger venue. So Stockholms Stadion was booked and 25512 people attended the show last night. 25512! Amazing! Just an interesting fun fact: GT played Stockholm the last time exactly 6 years ago, the same day (27th July), but then we could see them in Tele2 Arena.

There was a live sound check at 4 pm, but only Det hjärta som brinner, Puls and Vandrar i ett sommarregn were rehearsed. At that time we were waiting outside the venue and it was very hot, but fortunately, there was still shadow where we lined up. Our favourite Security Supervisor, Atli from Show Security Sweden told us we would have to be waiting outside a bit more, because inside the venue the sun was shining to all places, so it was safer to wait a bit more in the shadow. How nice! After we entered, we saw that indeed the front of stage area and one side of the seated area was in direct sunlight, but the situation got better in an hour or so. The security team took care of us during the whole event and provided water to everyone who needed to drink.

Since the venue was bigger, the stage was bigger too. Actually, the part where the band members’ fix places are was the same size, just the sides were longer. I was already wondering if Per would have enough time to run back to his mic once he walks down the whole distance to the left or to the right. Haha.

After Friday’s Dalhalla concert I didn’t expect Stockholm to be an even more energetic and powerful show, but it did happen. I think the huge audience and venue motivated the band even more and they added their 120% energy into last night. Per was in top top top shape both physically and vocally. He was awesome! MP enjoyed his being on stage like a real rock star. Micke Syd was rocking his drums and his stand up talking before his 3-minute limelight appearance was much fun. Anders came more often to the front and that we like! Good to see him being more and more into the GT40 tour. Farfisa Göran would deserve even more highlight on stage. He is now also dancing behind the Farfisa. Give him 2 more gigs and he will be acting as much of a rock star as MP already does. The girls, Dea and Malin-My are just amazing. Their backing vocals and dance choreographies and constant wide smiles on their faces! Malin-My’s multi-instrumentalist talent is also something to be highlighted.

The setlist was now 23 songs long again, which means they played Det kändes inte som maj, Tylö Sun got back too and Billy as well. Happy-happy! Mostly about the length. Some songs could be changing again from concert to concert, but it still might come next week. Or not. Haha. We’ll see.

After Det kändes inte som maj Per mentioned this is how a Saturday night looks in Stockholm, the world’s most beautiful city. Then he introduced Flickan i en Cole Porter-sång as a song from the 80’s and he informed he changes his plectrum now. He usually doesn’t state it.

The audience was just fantastic. Loud, clapping along, singing along, shouting. Great vibes all around! So sorry Dalhalla, but Stockholm just entered the top gigs charts at No. 2 for me!

Åsa filmed a lot again from different spots during the concert and Anders Roos found some extra high spots to take pictures from. Will be interesting to see those shots if we’ll have the chance one day.

Now some days off and on Wednesday we see GT again in Karlstad!

P.S.: Love seeing Aftonbladet‘s and Expressen‘s reviews. They both gave 4/5 for last nite’s show. Isn’t it cool?

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:

Stadion, Stockholm! Oh yea! Vilken kväll, va? Grymt väder, fantastisk publik och ett band som börjar hitta rätt sakta men säkert. Tack alla 25000+ som kom och hälsade på och förgyllde våra liv för alltid!!!! Här kommer Sommartider. Fler vids på väg. LOVE! /GT

Per Gessle’s Roxette – Stockholm, Sweden – 5th November 2018 – #15

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Last night it was the second Swedish show on the Per Gessle’s Roxette tour. In Stockholm there are usually several famous people attending concerts and yesterday many of them came to see Per & Co. Just to mention a few: Jonas Åkerlund, Peter Jöback, Micke Syd, Anders Herrlin, Lasse Lindbom, Victoria, Crown Princess of Sweden and Prince Daniel. Of course, there were family and friends in the audience too. Gabriel and Åsa were also sitting some rows behind us. It was strange to see Mrs. Gessle sitting (and not going around the venue filming or being backstage), but she stayed at her seat until the 2nd encore. Then she went backstage.

It was the only gig out of 5 in Sweden that was planned to be seated originally. So… you know, the question mark was there if we could stand up. First of all… we are in Sweden. Regarding the seated crowds during the Marie tour we could experience that it’s hard to make them stand up, no matter if the artist him-/herself asks them to stand up. The other thing was the security team. We were afraid they would tell us to sit back. It doesn’t hurt to try, so once PG and the gang appeared on stage and they started playing The Look, the hardcore fans, mainly in the front row, but also some of them on the sides and in the middle stood up. Fortunately, in the front row we could stand one step down in front of our seats, so we were almost the same high this way as if we were sitting. The security team was great! They never asked us to sit back. The rest of the crowd? Oh-oh… Yeah, it’s Sweden. I won’t ever understand them… They all remained seated. During the whole show. Some people thought the concert ended before the first encore, so they were leaving, but the rest of the audience wanted the guys and girls back on stage, so they didn’t keep silent and of course, the gang came up on stage again for the first encore. At least for Joyride most of the crowd stood up at last and then waited for the second encore standing and remained standing during the second encore as well. Happiness! It would have been cool to see Jonas Åkerlund and Peter Jöback standing too, but they didn’t feel the boogie in their shoes. Whatever. We who dared to stand up had a blast and were thankful that we could be standing and jumping and dancing at least during the uptempo songs. We sat back during the ballads. Someone in the crowd in the back shouted a loud ”Tack!” once we sat down. Oh… Message to him: next time you can stand up too! 😉

Anyway, Mr. G and the band were in top shape. The Look was a blast! Really… how can you remain seated during that song?! Everyone on stage was happy to see the familiar faces who were standing. After the song Per asked the crowd ”Sitter ni bra?” (Do you feel good? / Do you sit well?) The audience shouted ”ja!” (yes), but I just had to shout ”nej!” to sit… Haha. Then Per said it’s the first time he plays at Waterfront (the venue) and told the audience he has been writing songs for more than 40 years. He got a huge applause for that. He asked the crowd to sing along if they know the lyrics.

Then came MATAH and there was a little PG mess-up in the lyrics. ”I try not to analyse” became ”Didn’t she blow my mind?”, but other than that the performance was fabulous and Helena also got cheered at the end.

Before CBB Mr. G told the crowd about travelling to Capri in 1993 to record an album and eating the world’s most expensive pizzas there. It was a 6-week-long renewal. Christoffer said he was at primary school then.

Then the gang was about to speed it up a bit. Per asked again ”Sitter ni bra?” There was a mix of ja and nej and then Christoffer asked ”Står ni bra?” (Do you feel good? / Do you stand well?) The hardcores got up on their feet for DFS of course and we remained dancing during SGNO as well. Just like in Halmstad, Chris played a little Ljudet av ett annat hjärta intro before SGNO. It was cool. Both songs kicked ass and as usual, the ending of SGNO with the drum solo a la Andreas rocked big time.

                

Before SMT Per said what a fantastic evening it is and he remembers another fantastic evening, or better said a fantastic day in the spring of 1990. He woke up in the morning and found a note on his piano: ”Hej, din tok, jag älskar dig” (Hello, you fool, I love you). It was left there by his girlfriend who he had to marry after such a note. Haha. He wrote Joyride and then he ate lunch, sausage and mashed potatos. And then he wrote another song, why not.

After SMT, Helena, Malin-My, Chris, Ola and Per got prepared for IGYC. You could hear in the mic Helena saying ”ja!” after Per was looking at her asking if she was ready to start. It was a lovely performance of the song.

Before STT Mr. G talked about his dream to record in Nashville and that he did that in 2016 and Chris and Helena joined him there. Chris said he went to high school then. Per told the crowd they would play a song in English which they probably already heard in Swedish. Then came Malin-My’s beautiful violin intro to STT. Despite the fact that it’s now Christoffer’s turn having a soar throat, how he was singing the duet with Per was fabulous.

For Swedish hillbilly IHAPIMH Clarence, Magnus and Andreas came back on stage and during the intro the crowd was clapping loud and we all had a party in our seats.

Before IMHBL Per said he gave 79 (! the most so far… haha) songs to the band to rehearse. Magnus said it was 82 songs, because they added the whole Grape Rock song catalogue. Haha. Mr. G said there was one song he wasn’t sure about to play, but it turned out to be 1 of Magnus’s fave songs besides Bada naken på Sergels torg and Hej hej Monika. So they started playing IMHBL and found the most silent crowd. Usually, there is a loud sing-along to this one when Per let’s the audience sing a short part, but only a few felt like singing last night. Gosh… If not standing up, at least they could sing along. Oj. Never mind! We had OppNox and TBL to get up from our seats (still only the hardcores) and have a blast to those 2 uptempo hits and the crowd was loud at clapping at least. Haha, Helena made a great hairdo for herself during ”for a week I was in love with your hairdo”. Loved it!

We stayed in the ’90s for one more song. Before FLAF Per asked Magnus about the ’90s. Magnus said he just got a note that the ’90s Spice Girls reunite next summer. He said Posh Spice won’t be in the group, but Scary Spice, Baby Spice, Sporty Spice and… (he couldn’t remember Ginger Spice) and Per said ”Magnus Spice!” as the 4th member. Haha. The sing-along to FLAF didn’t happen in Stockholm. Only a few of us were singing out loud. But the clapping was loud, so Stockholm Swedes enjoy themselves more on the inside most probably.

Before DMS Per set his guitar and while doing that he said ”Technical stuff…!” as one of his strengths. Then Chris was setting his guitar and said the same in the mic. DMS was fantastic again last night!

Then Per introduced his amazing band and everyone got a huge applause. After each band member got introduced there was a little pause and Per got his guitar from Micke N-S, then Magnus asked ”And who is that in the middle? Who is that in the middle?” Chris said ”Oh, vocals, guitar, technical stuff and very many very good songs, Per Gessle!” The crowd cheered and applauded him loudly.

Per said in the mic ”Let’s see if you recognize this one!” and started the teaser intro to HDYD. After IMHBL and FLAF we knew we have to be veeery loud since the hardcores would be the only ones singing and we did our best during the teaser and sang out loud while the rest of the audience was ”only” clapping. Both HDYD and Dangerous were great party songs for those standing up. Then Per thanked for the evening and they went off stage.

The crowd was loud shouting and clapping to have them back and the gang did come back on stage after some minutes to play QOR first (watch the live video on our FB page) then Joyride. And yeees! Joyride was the ice melter song when most people finally decided to join the hardcores and stand up. Yay! Thank you! It was great to see.

After the gang came back for the second encore, Per said they can’t leave us empty-handed, so they played an ’80s song he wrote for a friend. Yes, LTYH, which was a great success last night and after the song Helena and Per hugged each other and Helena kissed Per on the cheek, so sweet. TSHTSG was a fab closing. Always a pleasure to hear this song live in this arrangement!

Note to Live Nation: on a next European tour put the Swedish shows to the beginning of the schedule, pretty please. 😉

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

PG after the concert:

STOCKHOLM. Yep, debut at the Waterfront for me. Great venue. Had a wonderful time with the greatest band on Earth. Thanks for stopping by, y’all.

Noticed a lot of familiar faces from all over the place attending the show. Appreciate that. You’re the best! And thank you Stockholm for having us and singing along! Always a treat! /P.

All pics in the article are taken by Patrícia Peres.