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
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.