Andreas Dahlbäck

Per Gessle – En vacker kväll in Uppsala, Sweden – 18th August 2017 – #18

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After a few days off, getting closer to the end of the tour, Per Gessle and his band performed in Uppsala. It started as a rainy day, but fortunately, from afternoon it was all good and it stayed fine during the concert too.

Before the support acts came up on stage, we saw Mr. G leaving the backstage area with BoJo. First we thought they just walk around in the botanic garden, discussing stuff, but later when we saw other band members and support acts leaving to the same way, we realized the bathroom area was at a different place than the wardrobes, so they all had to walk a bit. And seeing PG walking back to the backstage area with a toothbrush in his hand, accompanied by BoJo was priceless. Lovely!

We also saw Niklas Strömstedt being there at the gig again. (He saw Per in Stockholm too.) Then while Strandels were performing, Micke Syd appeared on the side and came to the front row. We could sense there was another surprise in the making. Also, at 19:34 on Facebook Micke Syd shared a pic on which he and Per appear in PG’s wardrobe backstage.

Per was again like a Duracell bunny on stage, bouncing around, stomping full of energy and the band were also on a high. Everyone! Ola was jumping more than ever, Andreas went psychedelic on the drums, Chris went wild all the time, Malin-My rocked the violin, Helena was jumping around a lot and singing like an angel on the ballads, Clarence kicked ass behind the keyboards and Magnus was bouncing over more to the left side of the stage, having party with Ola and Chris. The whole show was very energetic, everyone was in top top top shape. Not only on stage, but also off stage. The crowd (8542 people) was loud and partying hard and jumping the most during Ljudet av ett annat hjärta, but also joined a bit the waving choreography for På promenad genom stan and was singing along loudly to almost all of the songs. Småstadsprat was a loud sing-along at the end of the show. I would say at least 70% of the audience let their voice heard.

The first surprise came with Honung och guld when Per told the audience he thought he would ask a little help from Good Harvest, so they joined Per on stage. The girls already rehearsed the song in Linköping and it sounded beautiful in Uppsala. HERE you can watch my video recording of it.

During Flickan i en Cole Porter-sång, while Åsa was filming Per, Mr. G was looking straight into the cam and was dancing a bit. Hopefully, it will make it into the GessleHomeVids collection on YouTube. It was quite cool!

During The Look, Per lost his voice a bit and let the crowd sing one line or so. It was fun and he was smiling at it.

 

For the second surprise, namely MICKE SYD, we had to wait until the 2nd encore, which since Linköping comes too fast after the gang goes off stage after the first encore. They don’t let the audience wait more than a minute, Andreas comes back and starts his psychedelic intro to Sommartider. This time Per invited Micke Syd on stage and Micke came up with his tambourine. The crowd was cheering him and he shaped a heart with his hands. Lovely! He was bouncing around the stage, singing in the mics of Chris and Magnus and getting close to Andreas as well. He definitely had an adrenalin rush, it was visible. We loved it! Haha. When it was the crowd sing-along part, first Per went to the left side, Micke Syd to the right, then vice versa and they animated the audience from both sides. After they finished the song, they hugged each other and Micke Syd went off the stage. The tambourine fell out of his hand and he was too cool kicking it away. HERE you can watch my video recording of the whole song. The first and last time I recorded Sommartider in its complete, that’s for sure. Next time I rather jump along! Haha.

This gig was also photographed by Anders Roos. Let’s hope we see tons of action pictures from this show, because it was full of such moments.

Per after the concert:

UPPSALA HEJ HEJ. Grymt gig igår i den sagolika Botaniska Trädgården. Mycket folk, drygt 8500, och underbar stämning för att uttrycka det milt. Vi är ett välsignat band som får all den här responsen och kärleken från publiken varje kväll. Inget att ta för givet. Jag hoppas att vi ger åtminstone en bråkdel tillbaka. Och herregud, visst var Good Harvest magnifika i Honung & guld och plipp-plupp så dök Micke Syd upp! Och var hör han hemma om inte med en gaffatejpad tamburin pumpandes åttondelar i Sommartider. En vacker kväll. /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. Min plats
7. It Must Have Been Love
8. Honung och guld (together with Good Harvest)
9. Kung av sand
10. Här kommer alla känslorna (på en och samma gång) / Flickan i en Cole Porter-sång
11. Ljudet av ett annat hjärta
12. Spegelboll
13. Gå & fiska!
Band presentation
14. The Look (with När vi två blir en as intro)

Encore:
15. Varmt igen (with Queen of Rain as intro)
16. Tycker om när du tar på mej
17. Joyride

Encore 2:
18. Sommartider (together with Micke Syd)
19. Småstadsprat

Videos:

Juni, juli, augusti
Honung och guld
Spegelboll
Joyride
Sommartider: 1; 2;

Articles, pictures:

Uppsala Nya Tidning
24uppsala.se
Uppsala Nyheter

 

Per Gessle – En vacker kväll in Linköping, Sweden – 12th August 2017 – #17

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After Mr. G’s hometown show, the band and the master himself, as well as Lars Winnerbäck were ready to take a ride to Lasse’s hometown for the next gig. The whole gang was ready, just the tour bus wasn’t. It broke down before they could leave Hotel Tylösand, but fortunately, a replacement bus arrived very fast and took the team to Linköping.

It was incredibly cold in Linköping, but Swedes didn’t really mind. Many of them still arrived with their picnic baskets and chairs and started having a picnic already outside the venue.

This time the support act order was Good Harvest first and then Strandels played. I prefer it like this. Good Harvest play rather ballads, while Strandels can warm up the crowd with their uptempo songs and in that cold cold town we really needed it.

Per & Co entered the stage some minutes after 9 pm and you could hear the crowd was very hungry to see and hear them. They were already loud before the gang showed up. The band started the concert with På promenad genom stan and the first let’s say 10 rows of the crowd, besides a lovely sha-la-la-la sing-along, were even following the choreography Helena tries with every audience, just waving with one arm up in the air.

The band was even more on fire than in Halmstad. It could be because there was now no stress with the recording cameras all around. At least Per told us this when we met him the day after the show. He said they were more relaxed in Linköping.

When Lars Winnerbäck joined the band on stage for Småstadsprat, the crowd went real wild. They were so happy to see their local hero. The crowd was singing along and cheered Lasse after they ended the song. Per and Lars hugged each other and Per let the crowd show their happiness for a longer time. Then he started talking, but the crowd went on with ”Lasse! Lasse! Lasse!”, so Per stopped talking and told the crowd yeah, come on, more of this. It was much fun! Lars thanked the crowd and then PG could go on with his presentation of the next song, which was again Honung och guld. Per said he tried to find songs he hadn’t played live before and he found appr. 450. The crowd laughed and Per said he thought he would play them all tonight. The crowd was cheering him for that. This time I was standing closer to Lasse and I could see him miming even to that part of the song which Per was singing. The whole song sounded wonderful in Linköping as well and after they finished it, Mr. G and Lasse hugged each other again, the crowd was shouting and clapping and Per asked for more applause for Lasse. Then he went off stage. This section I recorded again, HERE you can watch it! 😉

   

After Kung av sand (loud sing-along to this during the whole song) and Här kommer alla känslorna it was time to dance and jump a bit to the next 3 songs, the usual crowd pleasers. During Gå & fiska! it started raining a bit, but it was still OK not to use the ponchos and it stayed like that. Mr. G was bouncing around so energetically that after this section ended, before the band presentation, he had to catch some air. He said he is not 55 anymore. Haha. During his stand-up comedy part, Mister Magnus came up with the idea to share Per’s profile on that dating site where he found the band members. He said Per is called Oscar E. there and his profile pic is with a dog, a black collie. Magnus asked us to look for Oscar E. on Tinder. Haha. For Andreas and his black gloves Per showed thumbs up with both hands twice, it was funny. Then Chris went on with his psychedelic intro to The Look and when he finished the intro part, he asked the crowd (with his hand) to cheer more. It doesn’t happen too often that he asks for something like this, but it worked well, the crowd got even louder.

The crowd wanted the band back on stage before the encore. Some shouted they wanted to hear Billy, some other shouted Sommartider. The first encore was 1 song less vs. Halmstad. In Linköping they didn’t play (Hon vill ha) Puls. Varmt igen and Tycker om när du tar på mej both sounded beautiful. Always so unbelievable how clearly Helena can sing out all those high notes.

For the second encore the crowd didn’t have to wait too much. Maybe only 1 minute passed after the whole band went off stage after the first encore and Andreas came back to go ahead with his amazing drum intro to Sommartider. The crowd loved it and at the end of the intro Andreas was kidding and showed his exhausted face for fun. Then Per and the rest of the band came up on stage and Per asked the crowd if they were ready. Yeah! He said he couldn’t hear it, so he asked again and the crowd replied even louder. They were so ready for Sommartider!

The last song was Min plats, just like in Halmstad. But still it wasn’t the same, since in Linköping Lasse joined PG for this song too. It was a real surprise also for all those who were there in Halmstad. We didn’t expect Lars to come back on stage. It was cool he came back again, but one could sense they didn’t rehearse this song too many times or not at all, because Lasse was late with joining in the song. Per was already looking at him that he should join in. And another thing is that this song is definitely not written for Lasse’s voice. Sounded a bit strange from him. Anyway, it was great to see him again at end of the gig and he stayed there for the bow and went off stage together with all the others.

It was a fantastic evening! On my list it was the 3rd best show (after Göteborg and Östersund), but it’s in the Top5 also for those who saw PG & Co in Töreboda and Fredrikstad.

Just to keep track of it, I mention that Anders Roos was there at this show too and took tons of pics. Åsa was there too and she filmed a lot, now also in the front row.

Per after the show:

LINKÖPING YEEHAA!
Wow, vi hade hur kul som helst. Ett synnerligen avslappnat band och en fullständigt underbar publik. Vi är lyckligt lottade som får känna den här kärleken vid varje spelning! Och när Lasse W dök upp så föll alla bitarna verkligen på plats. En av sommarens bästa gig if u ask us! Tack alla som kom och skrålade en stund! Syns igen! /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. Småstadsprat (duet with Lars Winnerbäck)
8. Honung och guld (duet with Lars Winnerbäck)
9. Kung av sand
10. Här kommer alla känslorna (på en och samma gång) / Flickan i en Cole Porter-sång
11. Ljudet av ett annat hjärta
12. Spegelboll
13. Gå & fiska!
Band presentation
14. The Look (with När vi två blir en as intro)

Encore:
15. Varmt igen (with Queen of Rain as intro)
16. Tycker om när du tar på mej
17. Joyride

Encore 2:
18. Sommartider
19. Min plats (duet with Lars Winnerbäck)

Videos:

På promenad genom stan & Vilket håll du än går
Småstadsprat & Honung och guld
Småstadsprat
Honung och guld
Kung av sand
Gå & fiska!
Varmt igen
Tycker om när du tar på mej
Joyride

Articles, pictures:

Corren.se

 

Per Gessle – En vacker kväll in Halmstad, Sweden – 11th August 2017 – #16

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Per Gessle’s tour finally reached the point when he performed in his hometown, Halmstad. We had been looking very much forward to this show, because concerts in home ground are always so special. This time it was even more special when we got to know that SVT was to record the whole concert. They prepared all cameras at different points of the venue, Simstadion Brottet and we could also see that there were huge screens on the 2 sides of the stage.

Fans came from several countries again: Argentina, Australia, Austria, Finland, Germany, Hungary, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Russia, Sweden, Ukraine, USA.

During the day, Lars Winnerbäck turned up in town, so we could sense there was a surprise guest appearance planned for the night. It became 100% sure when we heard Per and Lars rehearsing Småstadsprat and Honung och guld at the soundcheck in the afternoon (from 16:15). We were curious how they would rearrange the setlist if at all, now that Lars joined them for these 2 songs. These 2 songs they rehearsed for appr. 15 minutes and then came Min plats and a little Puls. Woohoo, so we were happy that the setlist might be longer, since Puls got back on it.

Helena arrived at 16:50 and she went in to the venue at the main entrance, so she was walking next to the whole bunch of fans waiting for being let in. We all applauded and cheered her loudly and she was happy about it. Such a lovely lady!

Mats MP Persson arrived to the venue at around 17:45. He was on the guestlist of course and came all the way by bike to enjoy the show. Many fans spotted him and jumped on him to take pictures together. He seemed to be a bit uncomfortable with it, but was posing for the pics anyway. Nice guy.

The SVT cameras for the show weren’t enough, Anders Roos was also there to take thousands of photos of this hometown show and of course, Åsa was also there filming a lot. This time she just couldn’t come to the front row, because the TV guys were moving there with the cameras too, so they would have bumped into each other. This way she was filming from the sides of the stage (and maybe from somewhere else in the crowd too? We will see when the vids are up on GessleHomeVids, YouTube).

First it was time for the performance of the support acts, Strandles and Good Harvest. Strandels put the crowd in a bit of a party mood, then Good Harvest calmed us down a bit. In between the support acts and before PG’s show we could enjoy the view of the huge crowd (11000 people!) on the side screens. The cameraman was very funny. He spotted some people and left the camera shooting them until they realized they were on the screen. The crowd was laughing at the reaction of those up on the screens. It added a lot to the mood of the audience. There should be such screens and cameramen at all venues.

Per’s concert kicked off some minutes after 21:00. To hear På promenad genom stan in Halmstad is a real pleasure, here it made even more sense to start the show with this song. It Must Have Been Love was a success and Helena got cheered loudly. Right after IMHBL came Småstadsprat, so there was the first change in the setlist. For the part which is sung by Lars Winnerbäck on the album, Lasse came up on stage and he was singing it. He got a loud applause from the crowd when he appeared. The song sounded beautiful. No other version sounds as wonderful as the one with the original duet, Per and Lars. What a delight! The crowd cheered the duo loudly during the song too and when they finished it as well and Mr. G told the audience it wasn’t bad. Per and Lasse hugged each other after the song ended. Then Per was talking about the rehearsals and that he tried to find songs which he didn’t play live before and he found there were 470 of such songs. He decided for a song off Gyllene Tider’s 1982 album, Puls. He said he knows Lars likes this song too and so they decided to sing it together. So they went on with Honung och guld. Lasse’s favourite album from GT is Puls and HOG is his favourite song off it. It sounded great in this duet version. After they ended the song, Per and Lasse hugged each other again and Lars went off stage. Per told the crowd it’s hard to top now. I have recorded the whole Lars Winnerbäck guest appearance in Halmstad (not the best quality video because of the smoke and lights, but still you might enjoy it). 😉 Watch it HERE!

 

Ljudet av ett annat hjärta and Gå & fiska! were the songs that made the crowd party the most. I actually expected a more active crowd in Halmstad, but they seemed to be a bit lazy during most of the songs. Of course, the first 5 rows and some smaller groups in the middle and in the back were more in jumping and dancing mood, but the rest of the crowd mostly was clapping and singing along.

After the party session there came the band presentation and Magnus there told the crowd a secret, that after the show there is an after party at Per’s place. He even mentioned a fake address and told the crowd to tell the guards they are with Magnus, so they can join the party. Haha. Mister Magnus also mentioned that Andreas had just turned 50 (which is still unbelievable, as he doesn’t look more than 40 – even Per was kidding him with it), so it’s time to celebrate. When it was Christoffer’s turn to play the intro to The Look and he was rocking to the right side of the stage, Magnus gave bunny ears to him. It looked funny!

Varmt igen and Tycker om när du tar på mej turned out to be wonderful this time too. Helena was singing her heart out and the audience appreciated it. In the first encore there was a change too, they put (Hon vill ha) Puls before Joyride. It was cool to hear Puls again. During Joyride some balloons were let into the air by front row fans.

For the second encore, Andreas went real wild on the Sommartider drum intro. This caught the audience too. Was cool to watch it on the big screens too!

The ending was new too. The closing song was Min plats. Before they started playing it, the crowd shouted ”Gessle! Gessle! Gessle!”. Per smiled, but other than that he didn’t really react on it, just talked a bit and started with the song.

At the very end, after the bow, before going off stage, Per tried to throw picks from the mic stand to the crowd, but most of them landed on the stage still, so he gave up. Not the first time. Haha.

The whole band was very energetic and gave their very best for this show. Also the guest appearance of Lars was very cool and from what we saw on the screens, the recordings will be fab. Looking very much forward to seeing it on TV and maybe it’s a good idea to release it on DVD just before Xmas. Hint, hint!

After the show many fans went to Hotel Tylösand. Not for an after party, rather to say thank you to the band for the show. When we arrived, we bumped into Jonas Åkerlund in the lobby. Then a fan from Norway approached to us. He found it fun that we are a younger generation and a fan of Per. Even if we became a fan of PG only 6-8 years after him. He is a fan since 1983 and so he missed the older songs of Per, the first 2 solo albums. Well, maybe next time, on a future tour we hear some songs off those albums too. Or maybe not. Haha.

Andreas, Malin-My, Chris, Clarence and Magnus arrived to the hotel and we thanked them for the gig and chatted with them for a while. They were all very nice and also kindly posed for pictures. Helena and Ola got to the hotel already before any fans arrived and Per decided to enter the hotel from a back entrance, so we couldn’t meet them. But still it was a very nice time with all the band members we could meet.

Lars Winnerbäck also spent the night at Hotel Tylösand and while we had a further nice night at Leif’s Lounge, we saw him having a chat with his friends there.

All in all, it was a cool evening and night in Halmstad, with PG and the band on fire, with a nice surprise guest on stage and some great crowd reactions. Now please, hurry up and share the recordings with us asap, SVT! And we want it on DVD too!

Per after the show:

Oj! Oj! Vilket fantastiskt gig det blev i Halmstad! Perfekt kväll, hur mycket folk som helst (11000? 12000?), grymt band och dessutom Linköpings stolthet Lasse Winnerbäck på besök. Tack alla som var med och sjöng och dansade och gjorde detta till en superb kväll att minnas väldigt länge. Love! /P.
PS. Vi filmade allt, kommer att bli en härlig rulle!

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. Småstadsprat (duet with Lars Winnerbäck)
8. Honung och guld (duet with Lars Winnerbäck)
9. Kung av sand
10. Här kommer alla känslorna (på en och samma gång) / Flickan i en Cole Porter-sång
11. Ljudet av ett annat hjärta
12. Spegelboll
13. Gå & fiska!
Band presentation
14. The Look (with När vi två blir en as intro)

Encore:
15. Varmt igen (with Queen of Rain as intro)
16. Tycker om när du tar på mej
17. (Hon vill ha) Puls
18. Joyride

Encore 2:
19. Sommartider
20. Min plats

Videos:
Juni, juli, augusti
Första pris
It Must Have Been Love: 1; 2;
Småstadsprat & Honung och guld (complete surprise guest appearance)
Småstadsprat: 1; 2; 3;
Honung och guld: 1; 2;
Ljudet av ett annat hjärta & Spegelboll
Varmt igen: 1; 2;
Sommartider: 1; 2;
Min plats

Articles, pictures:
Hallandsposten: 1; 2; 3;
P4 Halland
SVT: PG interview before the concert

 

Per Gessle – En vacker kväll in Arvika, Sweden – 3rd August 2017 – #15

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After their Malmö gig, Per and the band travelled by the tour bus to Arvika for a festival show. We were lucky in Malmö, because on concert day it wasn’t raining, only a tiny bit during the night, but on 3rd August whole Sweden seemed to be treated badly by the weather gods. It was raining cats & dogs in the South and the North as well.

Arvika is appr. 600 km from Malmö, so only 2 hardcore fans decided to drive and attend the concert there. By the time they arrived, there were still only a handful of people waiting at the entrance to be let in.

At this festival the support acts, first Strandels then Good Harvest performed on the same stage as PG. During their performances people were rather standing in the back, under roofs and tents, but before Per & Co got on stage, the area in front got full despite the heavy rain.

It usually turns out that rainy gigs are much fun. That was the case in Arvika, too. Mr. G and the band were in top shape, smiling and jumping around all the time, no matter if it was their 3rd showday in a row and that the stage was a bit slippery because of the rain. They were full of energy. The crowd made noise and were singing along loudly to almost every song. To the uptempo songs they were even partying.

PG after the show:

GIG #15. ARVIKA HAMNFEST. Lång bussresa från Malmö via Halmstad till Arvika genom regn regn och ännu mera regn och det fortsatte att ösa ner hela kvällen. Men vad gjorde det? Grymt gig inför ett härligt galet Värmland som kunde varenda textrad!!! Glashalt på scen men alla överlevde. Tack alla 8000 som dök upp och trotsade de tunga molnen och tack BoJo för det stora paraplyet. Bandet är verkligen i toppform. Nu blir det paus i spelandet en vecka sen väntar Halmstad. Badabam! Love, P.

Pic by Riccardo Löffler

Thanx a lot for your cooperation, Andreas Kämpf & Riccardo Löffler!

Setlist

Pic by Andreas Dahlbäck. Småstadsprat

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. (Hon vill ha) Puls
7. It Must Have Been Love
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 Värmlandsvisa 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:

På promenad genom stan
It Must Have Been Love
Ljudet av ett annat hjärta: 1; 2;
Tycker om när du tar på mej: 1; 2;
Joyride: 1; 2;
Sommartider & Småstadsprat
Sommartider: 1; 2;

Articles, pictures:

Värmlands Folkblad: 1; 2;
Arvika Nyheter: 1; 2;

 

Per Gessle – En vacker kväll in Malmö, Sweden – 2nd August 2017 – #14

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Some fans who were there in Borgholm sat into their cars right after the show and drove to Malmö, some others stayed in Borgholm for the night and travelled to the next tour stop only the next day. For the 14th show, the queue was not as long as in Borgholm, but still a lot of hardcores showed up, due to Malmö being an easily accessible city for most.

The security team was the least prepared at Mölleplatsen. They literally started the preparations only 10 minutes before the gates opened. This means the supervisor showed the controlling people how the ticket looks and where they should stand. Also the dustbins got to the gates only 5 minutes before we all could enter and the scanners were given out to the controllers only 1 minute before 6 pm. No surprise the whole insläpp was a mess in the end. People who were queueing all day got let in after those people who arrived only half an hour before the gates opened and when you were queueing in the ”wrong” line inside, because that was for the guestlist (which wasn’t marked anywhere at all) they sent you back to the end of another queue. The most incompetent security team in Sweden ever. Not only at the entrance, also inside the venue. Whatever. This should be our biggest problem in life. 😉

                           

When we were already inside, I looked around and checked the merch stand. I was surprised, because I saw a tee with the tour dates on it and I remembered there was none. I went to the stand and asked the girl who worked there if it was new. She said she got them only that day. And that’s the only T-shirt with the dates on. A pity that it’s out only now, almost at the end of the tour. Next time it’s useful to print the dates on ALL tour tees already at the beginning. Real tour tees always have the dates on. But still, better late than never.

Strandels and Good Harvest were the support acts and they get more and more cheering from the audience day by day. And they like it. The more we hear their songs, the more we like them. Andreas Dahlbäck was very busy during GH’s performance. He filmed them with his phone from the left side of the stage and later he went to the other side with 2 of his drumskins and was writing something on them. So we were sure he would again throw them to the crowd at the end of the show. And he did. We would love to see what’s written on those drumskins, so in case you are the one who caught them, just send us a message with a pic on Facebook.

What was very lovely to see in Malmö is that some hardcore fans, not only from Sweden, brought their kids to the gig to show them what it’s all about. Now that there is no age limit, it was a great chance to bring the whole family together and enjoy the concert this way. Kids were also in the front and they even caught guitar picks from Per. Haha. They got enthusiastic. I’m sure it wasn’t their last PG concert.

The setlist was the very same as in Borgholm. We expected more songs or a bit of a change at least. Tittar på dej när du dansar maybe? Haha, I know I know… Well, PG and the band were in top shape. The crowd could have been more active. They were singing along, but not more than that – I mean from row 3-4 or so. They rocked out the most to Ljudet av ett annat hjärta. What is strange that in other places Spegelboll keeps up the jumping and dancing party mood of the audience, but not in Malmö. OK, the front row rocked to Spegelboll as well. Of course. We love those 3 party songs, Ljudet av ett annat hjärta, Spegelboll and Gå & fiska! coming after one another.

During Det hjärta som brinner Mr. G was rocking so hard that his mic turned down, but both technicians, Peter Fredriksson and Micke N-S were rushing to it from the 2 sides of the stage and set it back to normal. It was funny to see.

It Must Have Been Love sounded beautiful in both Per’s and Helena’s performance. Mr. G even posted a video of it on Roxette’s Facebook page:

Malmö last nite: Truly amazing version of IT MUST HAVE BEEN LOVE. You should have been there! Helena, Malin-My and this group of ppl knock me out every night!!! Probably the best band I’ve ever played with. Lots of love from P.

Besides some very nice comments, there were some related to Helena is not Marie and that Marie can’t be replaced, etc. That is not the case. Can’t be said enough times ”Roxette is Marie and Per”. This is what Per thinks too, so no need to worry about anything. And really no need to be rude with a most lovely person.

Sadly, probably because of reading those comments, Helena felt she had to justify herself and shared the video too:

Here is a clip from the other day ! The Malmö audience was wonderful, thank you. When I sing the song I think about Marie. Who sang the song before me. But now her health stops her from doing it. When I was 9 I got my first album of her and she has been a great inspiration to me, as a solo artist and a fantastic composer. “Sjunde vågen” is my favourite song of hers. And “Sparvöga”. I wish she could have sung this song of Per many more times. Now Per wanted to perform it and he asked me to help him out. Per is an incredible composer, constantly transforming. He’s a real artist to me. The least I can do is put all my prescence into the song, and sing it my own way. That is what Marie would have done.

So lovely words! What Helena does with IMHBL and how she makes it her own is exceptional. It makes no sense to compare one singer to another, Marie to Helena and vice versa. Marie is Marie and Helena is Helena. Helena is a unique Artist with a voice of an angel. The ovation she gets each night (not only after IMHBL, but several other songs – Första pris, Tycker om…, Varmt igen) is a great confirmation of what she is doing is just adorable and perfect. And she is not only an amazing artist, but also a wonderful person!

Per couldn’t help himself, he posted the song again some hours later:

Have to post this one again. So proud to be playing with these guys and dolls! /P.

You must love how he is handling such situations.

During Kung av sand it started raining, but fortunately, only for 2-3 songs. Åsa was there in Malmö, filmed a lot (watch the vids on YouTube, GessleHome Vids!) and when the rain came she also went backstage to get a poncho for herself and came back to the front to take vids of the party songs.

   

When Per presented the band with the dating site story and he mentioned Helena is from Skåne, the county where Malmö is situated as well, the crowd was cheering her even louder. Then he introduced Malin-My and said she is also almost from Skåne, she is from Holmsund. Up North. Magnus is the other band member from Skåne. Actually, from Malmö. So he also got a louder cheering. Per said without Magnus there is no breakfast. Mister Magnus said he knows Clarence can say something in real Malmö style. And he asked the audience to be silent and Clarence said something that sounded very strange and probably only the Swedes or at least those from Skåne could get what it meant. Then Per introduced Ola, almost from Skåne as well, from Luleå and then Mr. G presented the guy in black gloves, Andreas. After all this, Chris went on with his psychedelic När vi två blir en intro to The Look. Not only the intro, but the ending of The Look was psychedlic again and the way Helena is acting with the crowd during the song since some concerts ago, she just rulez!

Sommartider got a similar drum intro as in Borgholm. It was fantastic in Malmö too, Andreas went totally wild on this. Adrenaline on top!

Per after the show:

MALMÖ Wow! Vilken vacker kväll!! Grym och stor publik, taggat band, bara lite regn (rätt snyggt i Kung av sand!) och good vibes överallt. Tack för att ni kom förbi och sjöng och delade minnen med oss!!! Syns igen! /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. Min plats
7. It Must Have Been Love
8. Honung och guld
9. Kung av sand
10. Här kommer alla känslorna (på en och samma gång) / Flickan i en Cole Porter-sång
11. Ljudet av ett annat hjärta
12. Spegelboll
13. Gå & fiska!
Band presentation
14. The Look (with När vi två blir en as intro)

Encore:
15. Varmt igen (with Queen of Rain as intro)
16. Tycker om när du tar på mej
17. Joyride

Encore 2:
18. Sommartider
19. Småstadsprat

Videos:

På promenad genom stan
På promenad genom stan & Juni, juli, augusti
Vilket håll du än går
Honung och guld
The Look: 1; 2;
Tycker om när du tar på mej
Sommartider

Articles, pictures:

Sydsvenskan
Skånska Dagbladet
Pppress.se
Trelleborgs Allehanda (for subscribers only)
Annika Nilsson: 1; 2;