Tele2 Arena

Short but intense Roxette gig at Tele2 Arena

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Out of the blue there came a post from Per on Roxette’s Facebook page tonight:

FRIDAY UPDATE: Greetings an hour before gig #63 on the XXX tour. We’ve found ourselves at the Tele2Arena in jolly Stockholm playing for the Tele2 company and their customers, guests and friends. Look forward to this, folks. The train keeps a-rollin’. Vids coming up! /P.

We’d been looking forward to something still this year, but this time it was hard to find out what Per meant with his comment in September:

Yep, could be the last Rox concert this year. Might pop up something else as well. Will let you know, folks! /P.

So now we know it was about another corporate gig. And by that, being a corporate show, it can’t get a number. Just like the Warsaw gig didn’t get a number, because that one was also a kind of a private gig. Once tickets are not on official sale and a concert is a closed event, it just can’t be part of a tour. Not of the XXX tour for sure. We already had a number discussion with Mr. G when we didn’t count the cancelled show in Mainz. Then we gave in (because of the T-shirts… 🙂 ), but now we won’t. We can’t. 😉 We go on counting again from the first gig in South Africa. #62 is going to be Johannesburg if there is no other official tour date before that show.

So the band performed at Tele2 Arena in Stockholm. Gyllene Tider played there in 2013 as the first musical act. Hopefully, the sound of the arena has improved during the past 2 years. Capacity of the venue is 30,000 for all-seater football events and 45,000 for concerts. Madonna did a show there some days ago for 40,557. We don’t have any confirmations on how many attended the Tele2 party.

One of the interesting things at this short Rox gig was that Dea is doing the Julgalan shows around Sweden and the premiere was exactly tonight. This way she couldn’t be on stage with Roxette, but there has to be a back-up vocalist and yes, Helena was happy to come back and join the gang for this bonanza.

It probably wasn’t worth bringing the XXX tour stage set to Tele2 for this short happening, so curtains were used as background design and the technicians played with the lights to make it look more interesting for the crowd.

Roxette went on stage after 11 pm and performed 7 songs.

Setlist

1. Sleeping In My Car
2. Dressed For Success
3. Dangerous
4. How Do You Do!
5. Joyride (intro: Gyllene Tider – Ljudet av ett annat hjärta)
6. Listen To Your Heart
7. The Look

 

Per after the show:

Short but sweet gig at Tele2 tonight. 7 songs. Great crowd, Helena did a fab comeback. Vids tomorrow, folks! /P.

Looking forward to those videos!

 

Photos and videos:

Instapics: 1; 2; 3; 4; 5; 6; 7; 8; 9; 10; 11; 12; 13;

Instavids: SIMC; DFS; LTYH; TL;

 

 

Gyllene Tider ROCKED Tele2 Arena – front row report

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This is how I summarized Gyllene Tider’s Ullevi concert about 2 weeks ago: P-U-R-E A-W-E-S-O-M-E-N-E-S-S!  Multiply it by at least 5 and you get to know how Stockholm gig was! I doubted that Ullevi can be topped, but these 5 guys made it! Incredible energy from the very first second of the show till the very end that made everyone sweat on and off stage. It was the best concert I’ve seen during the tour, no question. Per was bouncing around all the time with a smile from ear to ear, MP was also smiling during the whole gig and did a great show, DJ Fritzon was in supertop shape, Anders was simply fantastic and Micke Syd’s acting with the crowd and the cameras was just awesome. There were more cameras this time, so most probably there is much more material from this show than from any other. Fingers crossed for a decent DVD.

 

Per_Gessle_Stockholm_20130727

© Patrícia Peres

 

Tele2 Arena in Stockholm is a new venue. Actually, it’s not completely ready yet, but Gyllene Tider’s gig was the first musical event organized in it. It was planned to be an open air concert, but the roof was closed. Maybe because of the short, but heavy rain in the afternoon. It was quite strange – Sommartider in an arena with a closed roof…, huh? Anyway, the 5 energy bombs on stage rocked it big time.

Sound of the arena surely needs to be improved, though, as the echo was frustrating. It was good when the crowd was singing along, but a bit annoying when Per was singing. Fortunately, there was less echo in the front. 1/3 of the arena was closed and the stage was set up on the shorter side of the venue. Approximately 23000 fans attended the show.

As Per said in the TDR interview, Marie didn’t appear on stage this time and there was no other surprise either. But who needs any surprises when you get to attend a gig like this??? Amazing!

 

 Setlist

1. Det blir aldrig som man tänkt sej
2. Juni, juli, augusti
3. Det hjärta som brinner
4. På jakt efter liv
5. (Dansar inte lika bra som) Sjöman
6. Man blir yr
7. Marie i växeln
8. Min tjej och jag
9. Flickan i en Cole Porter-sång
10. Tuffa tider (för en drömmare)
11. Kung av sand
12. Flickorna på TV2
13. (Hon vill ha) Puls
14. Ljudet av ett annat hjärta
15. Ska vi älska, så ska vi älska till Buddy Holly
16. (Kom så ska vi) Leva livet
17. Tylö sun

Extra 1:

18. Billy
19. Det är över nu
20. När vi två blir en
21. Gå & fiska!

Extra 2:

22. Sommartider
23. Dags att tänka på refrängen
24. När alla vännerna gått hem

 

I can’t believe that this is my last report of the concerts I was attending. I had a fantastic Swedish summer and 7 unforgettable gigs. Det är över nu for me, but the rest of the tour will surely be filled with a lot of energy. I wish all of you who are still on tour to enjoy it to the full. The Fab Five deserve all attention, sing-along, clapping, shouting, jumping and waving and even more!

As this was my last concert, I’d like to highlight again the great job the security team is doing at each gig during this tour. Hats off to Show Security Sweden! Go to other countries and show them how to do it! Thanx for all your support so far and during the rest of the tour.