Regarding promotion, I think Piteå was the most well-prepared for Per Gessle’s concert. Coming from the direction of Umeå, we already saw little boards on the highway that there would be a PG gig in Piteå. Also Pite Havsbad was very active on their Facebook page informing the guests about every detail. They expected Per to beat the audience record (appr. 12000) since on concert day they sold 1 ticket / minute, but in the end there were 8000 people in the crowd.
By arriving to our hotel, at the reception there were people asking the receptionist about the concert. It was funny that the woman there said mostly older people would go and see PG. Haha. Well, not really…
At the venue there was no queueing, you arrived and you were just let in after you got a nice paper wristband. Hardcore fans (Argentina, Bulgaria, Germany, Hungary, the Netherlands, the UK) could get to the front row very easily this way. As the stage was on the seaside, we could go and have a look at the beach. It was a very nice setting. While walking on the beach, Andreas Dahlbäck came to us and we had a little chat with him. He is a very nice guy, very down-to-earth. Among other things he mentioned that Per asked him to find out something different as the intro to Sommartider. So we expected something new from him at the show.
There was no support act in Piteå and the gig started earlier than at any other place. The crowd was singing När vi två blir en and Sommartider before the band came up on stage. It was fun. PG & Co entered the stage at 20:30. I streamed the start of the show (På promenad genom stan) live on our Facebook page. Watch it HERE!
When Per first talked to the audience before Juni, juli, augusti, he mentioned that he played in Piteå in August 1981. 36 years ago, wow.
As Ola Gustafsson was born in Luleå, very close to Piteå, the crowd was cheering him loudly, mainly when Per introduced him during the band presentation. Malin-My Wall is from Holmsund, also not too far from Piteå, so the crowd was cheering Malin-My loudly as well. Per liked it so much that he repeated Holmsund several times, then even Magnus joined in mentioning Holmsund and the crowd was still cheering.
I actually expected a much louder audience during the songs, because it’s said that the more North you go in Sweden, the louder the crowds are, but there were rather smaller groups here and there in the audience who let their voice heard. However, Småstadsprat had a united sing-along. It was lovely.
There were some people in the middle who couldn’t behave well, so the security guys had to step up on the fence in front of us, ruining 2-3 songs this way, because we couldn’t see the stage from them…
This was the first concert where Per used THIS guitar for Ljudet av ett annat hjärta, Spegelboll and Gå & fiska!
The Look sing along was a bit messed up, too funny. Per was singing the nananananas being a bit late, so the crowd couldn’t join in how they should. Helena made a little correction, so we went on with the right nananananas.
Andreas did a new intro to Sommartider indeed. We already loved the one he played earlier, but this new one rocked big time! Such a fab drummer he is! During the concert he threw one of his drum sticks to the front of the stage. Sandra Knospe could get it via a security guy, then she showed it to Andreas in between 2 songs to thank it. It was broken. Then at the end of the show, after the band took a bow and said goodbye, Andreas rushed to his drumset and grabbed one more drum stick to give it to Sandra from hand to hand. It was so cool!
Chris seemed to be fine after his bleeding Joyride fun in Östersund. He had a plaster on his hand.
18 songs on the setlist is almost festival length…, but we enjoyed the show regardless.
GIG #12! Pite Havsbad! Oh yea! What a place. one of the most beautiful settings I’ve ever played! So many lovely people. 8000? 9000? 10000? I dunno. They all sounded like a united nation!!! Last time I played Piteå ws in August 1981!!! Amazing. And, oh yes, we got a drum solo from mr Dahlbäck! Where will this surrealistic pillow end???? /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. It Must Have Been Love
7. Honung och guld
8. Kung av sand
9. Här kommer alla känslorna (på en och samma gång) / Flickan i en Cole Porter-sång
10. Ljudet av ett annat hjärta
11. Spegelboll
12. Gå & fiska!
Band presentation
13. The Look (with När vi två blir en as intro)
Encore:
14. Varmt igen (with Queen of Rain as intro)
15. Tycker om när du tar på mej
16. Joyride
Encore 2:
17. Sommartider
18. Småstadsprat
Videos:
Honung och guld
The Look
Varmt igen
Articles, pictures:
NSD
Pite Press
Pitea-Tidningen: 1; 2;
Pite Havsbad
We arrived in the afternoon and realized that not too many hardcore fans chose to take part in the festival. I could count them on one hand. While changing our tickets to wristbands we could hear the technicians’ soundcheck and there was no band soundcheck that day.
The crowd consisted of very young people, but they knew the lyrics and were singing along loudly to almost all songs. During Tycker om när du tar på mej, when Helena was singing, the crowd started singing parts that Helena didn’t sing. It sounded absolutely awesome! The most dancing, jumping and clapping along was to Sommartider and The Look, but yeah, Joyride as well. Actually, the audience was open to any songs and they loved each of them unconditionally. Even the security guys were dancing with each other! So lovely! People were cheering Per loudly: ”Gessle! Gessle! Gessle!” And also before the encore there was ”En gång till!” and ”Oh-oh-oh-oh-oh” as well. Loved it! So even if we had the shortest setlist that night, it was a fantastic gig!
So, the shortest setlist. It could have been 18 songs even, but Puls (which would have worked very well with the Östersund crowd) and Småstadsprat were cut off. They were there on the original setlist though… Actually, Pet Shop Boys came after Per & Co, but only at 00:30 and even if they had a lot of technical stuff to apply on stage, our gang would have had the time to play at least 2 more songs. Btw, the crowd stayed loud during Pet Shop Boys as well. They were really a fab one! I wish such crowds for each gig!
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.
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.
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 set ended with Småstadsprat and the audience cheered the band while they were saying goodbye.
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…
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.
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 