After 5 days off, 36 years after he played there for the first time, Per Gessle’s tour continued in Grebbestad on 21st July. We all were praying for good weather, because the weather forecast predicted there would be rain all day. Even Per asked us to bring the sun:
TORSDAG UPPDATERING: Har varit ledig (?) några dagar. Turne’n fortsätter med friska tag imorgon i Grebbestad. Kommer att bli grymt. Funderar på ett par nya låtar….. kanske “Oh yeah oh yeah (oh oh)” eller “Solens vän”…. Eller nåt. Syns snart, P.
THURSDAY UPDATE: Yes, dear you! The En vacker kväll-tour continues proudly tomorrow in Grebbestad. Bring the sun, we’ll bring Clarence. /P.
It was indeed raining heavily all day, but surprise surprise, by the time the support acts started playing, there was no rain at all. The security team was very nice anyway, they let us be waiting under a tent, so that we don’t get soaking wet.
Besides praying to the weather gods, we were also praying for PG talking seriously when he wrote he was thinking about a couple of new songs for the show. We of course were quite sure he wouldn’t play Oh Yeah Oh Yeah (Oh Oh), but Solens vän sounded promising. However, if we were him, we would still go for some more PG solo instead. Mr. G and the band arrived for soundcheck at 16:15. There was indeed a ”new” song to be rehearsed and it was (Hon vill ha) Puls. They played it 4-5 times and Per all the time asked the band to make it slower. He found it too fast how they were playing it. We already found the fast version too slow though. Haha. They also rehearsed Första pris and Min plats. And that was it… They finished at 17:00. So we were sure Puls would be included and we just hoped it wouldn’t replace any other song, but added to the set. Wishful thinking…
This time there were 2 support acts again, but it was the first time Alex Shield & Charla K (Space Station 12) joined in. Both of them sounded fab. You could feel that for Alex it’s not yet comfortable to play live, probably mainly for such a big audience. His hands were shaking and also his voice in the beginning, but how he is playing the guitar and how he sings out high and low sounds is amazing. He should gain more self confidence, because what he is doing is absolutely great (both regarding songwriting and playing and singing live). You have to start somewhere and I’m quite sure Alex will get the groove very fast. Charla K has an amazing voice and she was born to perform, that’s for sure. She handles the audience very easily. The 2 best sounding songs were Good Fight and Should’a Let Me Go performed by them. After them came Strandels and they were again very good at warming up the audience for Gessle.
PG & Co came up on stage shortly after 9 pm, the crowd was cheering them loudly. The opening song this time was På promenad genom stan. Even if they rehearsed Min plats at the soundcheck, they skipped it. Not that we have anything against starting the show with a well-known song. It works quite well. The audience starts singing along immediately and it sets the mood.
Regarding Puls, unfortunately, it wasn’t an addition. It replaced Tittar på dej när du dansar. Not just that… The setlist got even shorter by cutting it with Dressed For Success. Not good, not good. 19 songs were played in the end and it wasn’t even a festival show. Ojoj.
Regardless of how many songs were played, Per gave 120% on stage and the band as well. They were very energetic and work together better and better by every gig. I think I mentioned it already before and it’s still valid: the best party songs are Ljudet av ett annat hjärta and Spegelboll. Very powerful how they come after each other and the crowd can’t stop dancing and jumping.
This time I chose Tycker om när du tar på mej to stream live on our Facebook page. HERE you can watch the video. Sounds so beautiful you must hear it live in person!
Sommartider wasn’t played as the first song of the 2nd encore, but at the end of the first encore, right after Joyride, so the intro to it wasn’t so powerful in Grebbestad. BUT, the crowd loved it and didn’t want the band go off stage again.
Småstadsprat was very popular among the people in Grebbestad. The crowd was singing along loudly. Nice ending of the show, but still, when even Per himself mentions in the Hallandsposten interview that it’s unnecessary to bring the energy down again when you have already built it up. We agree! That’s why we would love to have an uptempo ending to the shows. Sommartider works perfectly as a last song and Småstadsprat would fit in somewhere else in the setlist.
Marie Dimberg was there at the show too. She was filming both the support acts and Per’s performance. Åsa was there too and she is getting even more professional at filming. She now used 2 iPhones at the same time. Haha. Videos are already available on GessleHomeVids.
Sponsor Vera & John used the big magenta balls again, but in Grebbestad the crowd somehow pushed it all the time towards the stage. Magnus kicked it once and the ball got back again and again. Once Micke N-S got fed up with it and grabbed it, then killed it. Actually, these balls are really heavy, much tougher than the Roxette beach balls we had in 2011-2012, so they are more dangerous as well, if they hit someone or something on stage.
Anders Roos was also there to take photos both at the soundcheck and during the concert.
6350 people decided to see PG in Grebbestad and with this, TanumStrand reached a record number of visitors. According to Per, the show was even sold out.
GREBBESTAD! Yeehaa! Fantastiskt gig inför ett utsålt Tanumstrand. Vi hade skitkul. Ni också, såg det ut som!!!! Videos imorgon på YouTube: GessleHomeVids – Godnatt! /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. (Hon vill ha) Puls
7. It Must Have Been Love
8. Honung och guld
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
18. Sommartider
Encore 2:
19. Småstadsprat
Videos:
Juni, juli, augusti
Segla på ett moln / Första pris
It Must Have Been Love
Varmt igen
Tycker om när du tar på mej
Articles, pictures: