TV

En akustisk konsert med Per Gessle – PG Unplugged concert film on SVT

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SVT broadcast a 1-hour-long cut of Per Gessle’s unplugged show recorded in Karlskrona on a beautiful Thursday evening, 5th May 2022. You can watch it HERE until 23rd Feb 2023 (rights valid for Sweden only, but works with VPN outside Sweden).

From 21 songs on the original setlist, 13 have been picked by Per to be in the TV cut. As he says, he didn’t want too many “obvious” ones. Only Swedish songs are there, 9 from Gyllene Tider, 4 PG solo, no Roxette. Marie is mentioned though in one of the stories and this way the O’boy joke – that was present during the whole tour – is also included. There is a nice balance between the songs and Per (and the band) talking in between. It reflects the real feeling of how the concerts were with all the fab hits in their acoustic arrangement, the anecdotes, the crowd reactions, the connection among gang members on stage. Wonderful people, excellent musicians all of them! At one point, when Per thanks MP for the amazing sound, the camera spots Mats – woohoo! – and Åsa is standing there behind him, so this way the stage set designer also shows up in the film. Well-deserved! The crew also pops up here and there, changing instruments or doing their stuff in their tech spots.

Right at the first moment, when the band and Per entered the stage I felt like I was sitting there in the front row again. This time in my living room, but the intimate atmosphere really comes through the TV screen as well. The complete recording is pure professionalism. The close-ups are just as awesome as the parts recorded from far behind to show the whole stage and the audience in front of it. The sound is fantastic too, both Per’s and Helena’s vocals are magical and Clarence, Christoffer and Magnus also sound fab on their instruments.

If you’ve been listening to the Helsingborg gig on streaming 24/7, now you can switch to the Karlskrona show and watch this amazing audiovisual delight all day and night. I’m extremely happy that Ljudet av ett annat hjärta is saved forever in this set.

Setlist in the TV cut

1. Kung av sand
2. Flickan i en Cole Porter-sång
3. Tycker om när du tar på mej
4. Det hjärta som brinner
5. Ljudet av ett annat hjärta
6. Varmt igen
7. Juni, juli, augusti
8. Min hälsning
9. Födelsedag
10. När vi två blir en
11. Vid hennes sida
12. Sommartider
13. När alla vännerna gått hem

Skipped songs from the original setlist: På promenad genom stan, Småstadsprat, Min plats, Tuffa tider, It Must Have Been Love, Vilket håll du än går, Här kommer alla känslorna, Listen To Your Heart.

It could be a full-length show, yes. It’s compact instead, but feels absolutely complete thanks to all the professional cuts and the flow of the songs Per has picked for this film.

Stills are from the video.

 

Per Gessle Unplugged Tour – #17 – 5th May 2022 – Karlskrona

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Karlskrona wouldn’t have happened, if the December dates of the tour weren’t postponed. This concert was added as a new date to the 2022 tour leg. And what a great idea was to add this one! Not only because it sold out fast, but because it was one of the best concerts so far.

The whole show was filmed by SVT and is said to be available on TV around Christmas time. PG & Co. were in fab shape and great mood. Totally cool for the filming! And the audience gave their best during the whole evening. They were clapping and singing along to most of the songs and it was lovely to hear their applause when a song started and they realized which one is that.

Make sure you don’t miss out on the time lapse video recorded by Anders Roos about building the stage HERE. It’s amazing to see how it’s all done and what professional work the crew and staff do to make everything work for the concerts.

Per stood up more times than he generally does during these unplugged concerts, e.g. during Flickan i en Cole Porter-sång he stood up checking on the crowd. The stories in between the songs were the same as usual, but there were a couple of improvised jokes. O’boy had its „promo” last night too and Per’s capo adventures also got back. I’m wondering how many of these talks will appear on TV in the end. Usually it’s a 1-hour-long program or maximum 1.5, but it would definitely be nice to see the whole thing. So if not the whole gig appears on SVT, we are always happy to have a DVD with the complete show. Just saying! Haha. Anyway, it’s unbelievable how many cameras, cables and other strange technical stuff are needed for such a recording. No wonder the end result is always so professional. Looking very much forward to it!

The encores were fantastic. The crowd stood up before the first encore and was cheering and clapping until the guys and girl came back on stage. Before the second encore everyone was again up on their feet. Vid hennes sida was a sitting song, but for Sommartider we immediately stood up. Big party song with a neverending applause after. Thanks, Magnus! For När alla vännerna gått hem everyone sat down, but the gig ended with a standing ovation, of course.

Next stop is Helsingborg on 6th May!

Setlist

1. Kung av sand
2. På promenad genom stan
3. Flickan i en Cole Porter-sång
4. Småstadsprat
5. Min plats
6. Tycker om när du tar på mej
7. Det hjärta som brinner
8. Ljudet av ett annat hjärta
9. Varmt igen
10. Tuffa tider
11. Juni, juli, augusti
12. It Must Have Been Love
13. Vilket håll du än går

Band introduction

14. Här kommer alla känslorna
15. Min hälsning

Encore 1
16. Födelsedag
17. Listen To Your Heart (dedicated to Marie Fredriksson & Pelle Alsing)
18. När vi två blir en

Encore 2
19. Vid hennes sida
20. Sommartider
21. När alla vännerna gått hem

Photos in the article are taken by Patrícia Peres.

Per after the gig:

Tack Karlskrona för en fantastisk torsdag. Vilken underbar publik ni är. Supertacksam att fått spela + sjunga för er här ikväll och känna denna härliga respons. Vi hade SvT med oss ikväll som bandade alltihop så med lite flyt så kan ni se o höra allt igen i jul nångång. Life’s good! Tack + syns igen. Badabam från PG.

Per Gessle and Uno Svenningsson on Efter fem

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Per and Uno were guests on Swedish TV4’s program, Efter fem today to talk about their new single. You can watch the video HERE.

After welcoming the guys, program leader Anna Brolin asks them how they are doing and both of them reply they are feeling very well. Anna also asks if they like each other. Uno replies „absolutely”, Per replies „sometimes”. Haha.

Per tells they started writing this song, Bara få höra din röst already in the summer of 2018. Uno came to Tylösand, they recorded a demo and they forgot about it, but last year Uno called Per to tell that it’s time for this song to become a single. Uno tells his son produced it, then all pieces fell into place and now they are here. Anna asks if the guys are nervous about the release. Both of them reply immediately that they are not. Here they show a little part of the video that will also be published tomorrow, 21st January.

Per says, as Uno said, the song has become so much better than it was, thanks to Uno’s son. Uno adds that it’s also fascinating how their voices fit so well together. PG agrees and says they both have strange voices. Anna asks if they knew it before that their voices fit and Uno tells he was singing on Per’s album in 2020 and already then he thought they sound good together. Per says they both have special voices and one can hear it when Uno sings and when Per sings. „Sometimes it’s good”, he adds. Haha.

The guys say it’s much fun to work together. It’s fun to be hanging out and talking about memories from the past. The first time they met they should have written a song, but they were talking about their memories instead. They talked about their careers, Per also about Roxette memories and how they met their old idols. Per says there is a lot to talk about, the music industry is fantastic, the little that is left of it.

Regarding how they met in Tylösand Per tells Uno and his wife called and they wanted to have dinner together. Per said OK, but Uno had to sing on one of his songs, Du kommer så nära (du blir alldeles suddig). That was the first duet they did together in 2020. And the dinner was good.

Anna asks what the guys are impressed by in each other. Uno says he has always loved Per’s voice and he is a fantastic songwriter. Per thanks Uno for being so kind. Mr. G tells when Uno sings he is phrasing in a totally different way than Per and he thinks about music in a different way vs. PG. You can learn from other artists and singers and wonder how they did this or what they thought about that. Also, Uno interprets a text in a totally different way and it’s exciting. Anna asks Uno if he can demonstrate how he is phrasing. Uno makes some „noise” and all three of them burst out into laughing. Per says „what a nice sound” and tells Uno maybe he should drink some water. Haha.

Anna asks if there are plans to play together live. Per tells they haven’t talked about it at all. It was just fun to do this stuff and they will see what it leads to. It’s always nice to meet and hang out, but they won’t tour with this. Uno says he is working on his album, so there will be more singles this year. Per says he came directly from the studio and there are a lot of things going on. He also hopes that he can continue his unplugged tour in April and May. Tickets are on sale from next Tuesday. It’s tough now for all musicians, artists and technicians. Everyone wants to start working again as soon as possible. Anna asks how to handle this situation during the pandemic. Uno says you can always write new songs.

Before saying goodbye, Uno shows a little more of his phrasing and Anna thanks for the example while they are all laughing.

Stills are from the interview.

Per Gessle in Lars Winnerbäck’s documentary

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I already posted about it in August 2017 that a documentary about Lars Winnerbäck was to be premiered in autumn 2017. Many years passed and I totally forgot about it, but now I had the chance to watch it on SVT. Why I write a little about it is because Per Gessle also appears and talks in Winnerbäck – Ett slags liv (Winnerbäck – A Kind of Life). The docu marks 20 years of Lasse’s career and it includes interviews and concert footage.

The whole film is worth watching, but now I will of course only highlight the interview parts with Per. HERE you can watch the docu, however, it’s available only in Sweden.

Before I get down to the summary I have to mention that Lars’ name for sure rings a bell to all PG fans also outside Sweden because of their duet, Småstadsprat released on Per’s En vacker natt album in 2017. Lars also joined Mr. G & Co. on stage during Per’s En vacker kväll tour in 2017 in two cities – Per’s hometown, Halmstad and Lasse’s hometown, Linköping. They performed Småstadsprat and Honung och guld together.

In the docu Lars tells Per that when he was young, his best friend had a summer house in Strömstad. They had a little guest cottage where they could be alone. They snuck down to the beach and listened to Gyllene Tider. Per thinks it’s fantastic.

Lasse tells he started writing songs when he was 8-9 years old and he was singing some kind of own melodies. Per asks him if he could play any instruments back then. Lars says he couldn’t, but he learned it. He started playing the guitar when he was 9 years old, so when he was 10 he could compose a little on his own. Per tells he started writing extremely bad poems when he was 12-13 years old, but everything changed when the punk era came in 1976. Then he was 17 and he was writing in Swedish, because he was bad at English. However, the first stuff he wrote was in English, but it was easier to express himself in Swedish. Lasse says he could only speak Swedish, so for him it was obvious to write in Swedish. He admits he is still very bad at English. Per asks him if he ever tried to write in English or tried to translate his songs into English. Lasse says he never felt he could. He thinks his „songs would be difficult to be translated, because they are really…” Per completes the sentence: „… long!” They laugh. Lasse says yes, they are really long and it would take much time.

Lars is curious if Per thinks about the audience when he is writing. Per tells he can’t really say that, but he knows that when it feels like a song has a strong chorus or there is a hook in the song which is attractive to him, then it will be attractive to the masses as well. Lars says he writes mostly for himself, but knowing that people will listen to it motivates him. Per tells it’s not like a diary you write for yourself, it shouldn’t stay there. You know that it will go out. PG also tells that the coolest thing is when people come and say that your song means something to them.

Lars wants to know if Per thinks fame is in the way of artistry. Per says the short answer is no. He thinks it’s part of the game. There is a romance in rock and pop that you get rid of. Per thinks it was damn fun to be a pop star, but that was not the main focus. Gyllene Tider’s breakthrough came very early. They did six gigs before they became No.1 in Sweden. Suddenly, there were 13-year-old girls in the audience and them five in GT didn’t understand a thing. Lars asks if it was fun or rather just tough. Per says it was fantastic, because a whole new world opened. Lasse says Per never had time to think about the breakthrough. For him it was the opposite. He can’t remember when he broke through and it was probably good for him that it went little by little. It’s just that the process was longer this way. For years Lars thought it was hard to enjoy and cope with the fact that people recognize him. He doesn’t think he would have made it if it happens faster. Per tells it became a bit more difficult when he got older and the whole thing spread to the family: siblings, mother, child. Everyone is involved in this celebrity circus. You have to deal with it. For Per it was never a problem. Lasse says he had incredible problems with it, which now seems to be stupid, because now he knows how to cope with it or ignore it. He thinks it makes you feel you are observed all the time. Per asks if it becomes a paranoia. Lasse says it does. PG tells he never felt like that. He says there is that element of always being judged and that you have to take the consequences of your actions. Lasse says that might still be a problem, always being judged. But earlier he also had problems with reviewers and reviews. It was tough. Per tells you have to learn that you can never win. If you dig into what everyone thinks of you, you will go crazy. Lasse says that’s what he did.

It’s interesting to see Per in this „role”. I mean there are two great musicians chatting, paying full attention to each other. Both of them broke through, but in very different ways. One was already writing songs when the other was born and the more experienced he is, he appears a bit like a mentor giving advice and hints on songwriting or how to deal with fame. Nice!

Stills are from the docu.

Gyllene Tider’s story becomes a film!

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Nordic drama production company Nevis Productions has secured a deal with Sweden’s great music treasure, Gyllene Tider to make a feature film and a TV-series based on the band’s incredible journey to success.

Per Gessle and Mats Persson formed Gyllene Tider with Micke Andersson, Anders Herrlin and Göran Fritzon in the late 70’s. After taking Sweden by storm, they broke up in 1984. Per Gessle then formed Roxette with Marie Fredriksson and became successful all around the world.

The feature film about Gyllene Tider is developed in full collaboration with the band and will be a warm feelgood story about friendship and growing up in the spotlight. The script is written by Pernilla Oljelund (Miss Friman’s War, Wallander, The Restaurant) and the shooting will start in 2022. Producers at Nevis are Anni Faurbye Fernandez, Moa Westeson and Cindy Hanson.

The film tells the story of Per, an ambitious outsider who dreams of pop stardom and finds a brotherhood through music with MP, Micke, Anders and Göran. They experience the highs and lows, but despite all setbacks, being ridiculed and rejected, the band works hard and purposefully – and breaks through with their power pop, their effective choruses and joyous and affectionate lyrics about life in a small town.

The movie is a story about dreaming big and achieving something even bigger. Success is not only accompanied by joy and happiness, but also pressure, conflicts and tragic events that challenge the band and force them to grow up in unexpected ways. In the end, it’s the friendship and music that lead forward. The gang not only survives, but also becomes bigger than ever.

After their breakup, Gyllene Tider reunions and tours have taken them to heights that no one, least of all themselves, could have imagined. When the band celebrated their 25th anniversary with their first new album in 20 years, the tour in 2004 became the largest in Scandinavia ever and the third largest in Europe. For over 40 years, GT has maintained its popularity and been loved by generation after generation, who have grown up with their songs. Gyllene Tider reunited several times, most recently in 2019. At that time, they celebrated their 40th anniversary as a band and also released a studio album, Samma skrot och korn.

Per Gessle says:

The story of the guys in Gyllene Tider could be the story of any young small town person. The shaky possibilities after finishing school, the uncertain prospects of the future. However, inspired by the new wave and power pop scene of the era, bonding in our tiny rehearsal shack, we found a very unusual way to grow up. The early and crazy Gyllene Tider years changed our lives forever. And it seems we might have changed some other people’s lives as well along the way. The lads and I are all excited to be part of this production.

Producer Moa Westeson adds:

We have long dreamed of dramatizing the exceptional, inspirational story behind legendary Swedish pop band Gyllene Tider and are excited to bring the audience along on this fun, uplifting whirlwind celebration of music, friendship and coming of age that captures the zeitgeist of a bygone era.

Nevis is an independent production company with offices in Copenhagen, Stockholm and London. Nevis Productions was founded in 2020 by Anni Faurbye Fernandez, Cindy Hanson and Moa Westeson and is backed by London based production company NEVISION. Their mission is to create high quality storytelling that appeals to both the local Nordic market and to a wider, global audience. With passion and dedication, they aim to entertain, inspire and move audiences with a variety of creatively ambitious TV dramas.

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