Tour

We have reached the final destination. Per Gessle Unplugged – Hotel Tylösand – final gig. The weather was nice all day: a bit windy, but sunny. Before the entrance there was a 5-10-minute-long heavy shower, which was followed by a beautiful rainbow above the hotel. From then on, it was sunny again.

The mood was great on and off stage again. The crowd was rather clapping along, but towards the end, the sing-along got stronger too. I think at this show Tycker om när du tar på mej, It Must Have Been Love and Sommartider were the best songs.

After the band presentation, Per told it’s the last gig they play at Hotel Tylösand and thanked to the hotel staff, as well as General Manager Elisabeth Haglund (who by the way always personally greeted the arriving guests in Solgården before each gig) and Food & Beverage Manager Jonas Karlén. He thanked to the band and the crew, as well as BoJo and Åsa who was responsible for the stage design. He thanked MP for the sound. He of course thanked the crowd too. Then he switched to English and said he knows there are so many people coming to the shows from abroad. He greeted the international fans: „Hello everyone! Thank you!” and got a loud cheering from the audience.

After Min hälsning the gang went off stage, but the crowd wanted them back and so in a couple of minutes they popped up on stage again for the first encore.

After När alla vännerna gått hem the band got flowers as a thank you for this unplugged series. We held up some TACK signs at this point. They were printed on leopard background, because we hoped for PG to appear in his leopard shirt again, but this time it was only his shoes with the leopard design. Anyway, when the crowd got the TACK signs before the gig, they were happy to cooperate in this little flashmob. Actually, the plan was to hold these paper sheets up after the very last song, but after we saw the flowers, we thought that would be the right time, so giving a green light to all behind us, we held them up. Both Per and the band appreciated it. Then they decided not to go off stage, they stayed there, put the flowers down to the stage floor and chairs and played the second encore.

The anecdotes and stories were much fun at the show, but there was another fun thing that topped it all at the last gig. After Per introduced Honung och guld with the Tom Petty story and they started playing it, suddenly the sound and the lights went off. There must have been some problems with the electricity, maybe a cable was pulled out of a plug by accident or a wrong button was hit, but Per certainly didn’t realize it – because of the in-ear system –, since he was still singing the song. Some of us were singing along, but since Honung och guld is not the strongest sing-along song, the crowd wasn’t too loud. Actually, from the band Christoffer seemed to realize it first that something was not OK. Then I could see Per reading the prompter, Micke N-S probably wrote a message that there is no sound. Haha. Then they stopped playing and Per spoke into the mic while smiling, but we couldn’t hear what he was saying. The crowd was cheering and clapping, Per sipped into his ginger tea and we all waited for a solution. Per was laughing and they were joking with Chris. Then some bulbs started shining again, but the band was still in darkness. Christoffer started playing Ljudet av ett annat hjärta and the crowd joined in with the lalalalalala melody. It was awesome! Then some more lights came back, then the sound too and they started playing Honung och guld again. After a while, all lights came back. When they finished the song, they got a veeery long applause and cheering from the audience. Per laughed and asked if we want more. The cheering went on until Per showed thumbs up and they played Om du bara vill as the closing song.

Is that possible that this 10-gig-long journey has just ended??? Time flies indeed when you are having fun… Approximately 2 months ago we had no expectations for any live music events at all, then Per suddenly announced in a video message that he would play at Hotel Tylösand this summer. It would have been 4 concerts, but they were sold out so fast that became 8 and then 10. Due to the pandemic, it was unfortunately very chaotic for fans outside Sweden to plan travelling and quite impossible for all fans outside the EU. Thankfully, the regulations partly changed from July 1st for EU citizens, but still it was quite difficult to organize everything on this short notice. Anyway, many international fans popped up at the shows to represent the hardcore fan base. It was great to meet again. Next time hopefully all will have the chance to travel and see Per & Co. play live, because that is really one of the best things in life and I consider myself very fortunate that I had the chance to attend several gigs on this tour, which wasn’t really a tour. Why do all good things come to an end?

Setlist

1. Kung av sand
2. På promenad genom stan
3. Flickan i en Cole Porter-sång
4. Småstadsprat
5. Tycker om när du tar på mej
6. Det hjärta som brinner
7. Tuffa tider
8. Juni, juli, augusti
9. Pappa
10. It Must Have Been Love
11. Ömhet

Band introduction

12. Här kommer alla känslorna
13. Min hälsning

Encore 1
14. Vandrar i ett sommarregn
15. Listen To Your Heart (dedicated to Marie Fredriksson & Pelle Alsing)
16. Sommartider
17. När alla vännerna gått hem

Encore 2
18. Vid hennes sida
19. Honung och guld
20. Om du bara vill

Photos in the article are taken by Patrícia Peres.

Per after the concert:

Wow!!! What a trip this has been! TEN UNPLUGGED GIGS under the belt. Such a blessing to be part of this! Thanks everyone once more for joining the acoustic joyride at Hotel Tylösand. I’m so happy to recieve so much love + positive feedback from soooo many people. It’s crazy. And it’s such a treat to be able to perform songs I don’t “normally” do, songs that matter to me, tiny lighthouses in my journey as a songwriter and artist. More to come, folks. That’s a promise! Cheers, P.

In the morning we woke up to heavy rain, but fortunately, already in the late morning the sun seemed to be stronger than the bad weather. Later both BoJo and Åsa were cleaning the stage and the decoration set from water. It was a little windy, but compared to the previous show it was nothing, so despite the cold temperature, it was perfect concert weather.

We met Per before the gig and asked if they added any new songs to the setlist. He said it didn’t change and we also asked him not to cut any songs. He told they plan to play the whole set this time. In the beginning they were supposed to play 45 minutes at the shows, but now it’s 1 hour 45 minutes. He thought when you do a format like this, it gets boring after 45 minutes. We tried to convince him that it’s absolutely not the case, but he said he is confused. Haha.

Jonas Åkerlund and his wife, Bea were also among the guests last night and Marie Dimberg attended the gig this time again.

After switching on the lights on stage with Åsa, BoJo shared the safety info before the concert started and the funny thing was that a not too thirsty guy shouted after the instructions that he had only one question: where BoJo had his tattoo done. Oh my…

The band entered the stage at 20:50 and they seemed to be in a very good mood. Their performance was amazing and the crowd was also in the mood to sing along, so many songs had quite loud reactions. Besides the of-course-always-very-loud Sommartider, Här kommer alla känslorna was also a strong crowd-pleaser.

The stories between the songs got some tiny little new elements. E.g. when Per asked Chris to talk about Gubbens hus, Christoffer told it’s like a palace building with 70 rooms – Per’s facial expression said it all and everyone was laughing – Chris went on: there are animals around the house, e.g. leopards (Per was wearing the leopard shirt last night), but the fauna is rich also inside the house. Once there was a mouse looking out of Clarence’s cosmetic bag. Then he added the story of showing Per around for the first time and meeting a mouse then too. After this anecdote, a woman was walking in front of the stage and put a piece of paper with a message on stage. Per was looking at what was happening, but the paper was put in front of Helena. She picked it up, read it, but left it on the stage floor. We’ll never get know what was written on it. Haha.

During Tycker om när du tar på mej, when Helena stood up and started singing, some seagulls also felt like joining in. Actually, the melody of their „singing” quite fitted this part of the song.

Before Det hjärta som brinner now Per asked Christoffer to start counting in, not to make the mess they did at the previous 2 gigs.

Chris interrupted Per when before Pappa he was talking about his father and grandfather who were plumbers and the times he spent in Frösakull. Chris said not many know that Gyllene Tider’s probably most beloved songs, När vi två blir en was first written as När vi två blir en rörläggare (= When the two of us become a plumber). Per laughed, everyone laughed. Chris said ”now you know”. Mr. G said he was completely lost, the last thing he remembered he told was Doktorsvägen. He was distracted, but then he could finish the story he wanted to tell, related to the song. It was funny.

When Micke N-S brought a new mug for Per, Chris asked what’s in there. Per told it’s ginger tea and asked Chris if he wants to taste it. Christoffer said yes, but Per said ”you won’t”. Mr. G was fighting with a capo at this point and he mentioned it’s never him who is doing that when he is on tour, but now it’s a low budget thing. He succeded with putting the capo on before IMHBL.

Before Ömhet, when Per was talking about how he started working with Helena, he told the story of having 3 singers auditioned by Christoffer and when he heard the first singer, he didn’t want to hear the other two, the first one was just perfect. Chris joked that the other two were Agnetha and Frida (from ABBA).

When Min hälsning came on the setlist, Per said they thought to finish with this song despite the fact that it’s only Monday. Last night’s crowd also didn’t want the concert to end at that point. He added that he wrote this song for Gyllene Tider’s very first LP (1979), but they never recorded it, because it’s probably too nice and GT was a tough band already in 1979. Rock hard guys, Harplinge gangsters. Everyone laughed.

When the band went off stage, the crowd didn’t stop clapping for a couple of minutes and so the gang of course came back on stage to play more.

When they came back for the second encore, a girl also put a paper on stage. Per picked it up, read the message on it and thanked for it. This message will also remain a secret forever.

The setlist got back to its 20-song length, it was the same as at gigs #4, #6 and #7.

Setlist

1. Kung av sand
2. På promenad genom stan
3. Flickan i en Cole Porter-sång
4. Småstadsprat
5. Tycker om när du tar på mej
6. Det hjärta som brinner
7. Tuffa tider
8. Juni, juli, augusti
9. Pappa
10. It Must Have Been Love
11. Ömhet

Band introduction

12. Här kommer alla känslorna
13. Min hälsning

Encore 1
14. Vandrar i ett sommarregn
15. Listen To Your Heart (dedicated to Marie Fredriksson & Pelle Alsing)
16. Sommartider
17. När alla vännerna gått hem

Encore 2
18. Vid hennes sida
19. Honung och guld
20. Om du bara vill

Photos in the article are taken by Patrícia Peres.

Per after the concert:

Yep, nailed it. Super crowd + weather + ambitious band. Fab evening. Thanx everyone!

On his Facebook:

AMAZING last night!! Thanx everyone for singing along + making gig #9 stay with us in our hearts forever. Tonight we’ll wrap things up. It has been such a treat to do these unplugged shows with the fab band + crew + all of you guys. Have to do it again for sure. Some day not too far away. Cheers, P.

The weather forecast for yesterday looked horrible, but we still kept our fingers crossed that it changes for the night. It changed, but unfortunately, not to the extent we would have been happy with. During the day it was raining cats and dogs several times, but the sun was out too for shorter periods. One thing was constant though, the extremely heavy wind. We were checking on the stage by walking around the hotel, to see if it was already set up, but it was quite late vs. other days when we could see the set was finally on. Until then we were afraid the concert could be cancelled or delayed because of the weather.

We could see that the front line – Per’s, Helena’s and Christoffer’s place – was moved towards the back of the stage and Christoffer’s and Clarence’s instruments were covered with foil not to get wet. We could enter the picnic area exactly when the heaviest rain was falling. We got ponchos in the picnic bag this time again, and now we had to use them. Everyone had a poncho or raincoat on.

The merch stand was put next to the bar for the tees not to get wet. The wind was blowing so hard that the side „curtains” on stage were moving all the time. Flying. Åsa and BoJo checked the stage set and together with the crew they were fixing some elements, so the wind can’t move them and the crew also cleaned the stage from water.

BoJo tested the mic if those on the terrace could hear him. They definitely couldn’t hear him, because all the windows of Leif’s were closed and so no one reacted. Both Åsa and BoJo arranged a solution, so that those who had the terrace ticket could also hear and not only see the concert from their places. The windows got open after a while, before the concert started.

There was a drunken gang sitting at a table in Solgården. They were loud, but they were rather singing GT and PG songs. Kind of 2-3 lines from several songs. While BoJo was sharing the safety info, they were not paying attention and were loud during his speech too, so BoJo told them he will be their nightmare if they don’t listen to him. They seemed to understand, but then went on being loud, so after the speech, BoJo went off stage and went directly to the gang and told them to behave. After that there was no issue with the guys.

The band entered the stage before 20:45. I’d been already wondering what Per would be wearing, because the leopard or the black shirt seemed to be too much of summer shirts for the weather conditions. In the pictures you can see he changed his outfit.

The band felt cold, just like the audience, but it wouldn’t have been possible to wipe off the smile from anyone’s face on and off stage. The mood was great despite the windy and rainy attempt of making it worse. The crowd was singing along a lot, however, the sound of the ponchos blown by the wind and the heavy wind’s own sound made it difficult to hear the crowd reactions, as well as the little jokes in between the songs, but the songs sounded superb.

It happened again that Per started counting in for the start of Det hjärta som brinner, but then stopped and asked Chris to start counting and Christoffer did so.

Här kommer alla känslorna was a real highlight last night, besides the GT songs.

When the guys and girl came back on stage for the encore, Chris showed he was shivering with cold – oh well: no shoes, no socks, haha – and Per had some trouble with the curtain on the side when he was climbing the stairs. Fortunately, he could manage it and we could cheer him too for coming back to play more.

I first thought they would play Honung och guld as the first song of the encore, because the Tom Petty story was told by Per only before that song during past shows. This time it was the intro talk to Vandrar i ett sommarregn.

Vid hennes sida, Honung och guld and Om du bara vill were not played. It made us disappointed, but of course, safety is first. When we saw Åsa entering the stage to switch all the bulbs off, we could already be sure that there would be no second encore. After the show we bumped into Chris and he told it was BoJo who made the decision to end the gig after the first encore, because the tent was „flying” and moving too much. We could see that. The Hotel Tylösand banner that covers the stage’s bottom was already flying before the encore. However, maybe it would have survived 3 more songs.

Regarding the stage lights, this time the 4 big lights in the back were not switched on and it was very eye-friendly for those who were sitting in the front. The band was still very much visible even without that.

Setlist

1. Kung av sand
2. På promenad genom stan
3. Flickan i en Cole Porter-sång
4. Småstadsprat
5. Tycker om när du tar på mej
6. Det hjärta som brinner
7. Tuffa tider
8. Juni, juli, augusti
9. Pappa
10. It Must Have Been Love
11. Ömhet

Band introduction

12. Här kommer alla känslorna
13. Min hälsning

Encore
14. Vandrar i ett sommarregn
15. Listen To Your Heart (dedicated to Marie Fredriksson & Pelle Alsing)
16. Sommartider
17. När alla vännerna gått hem

Photos in the article are taken by Patrícia Peres.

Per after the gig: