Borgholm… 28 years and some days after the historical Listen To Your Heart video (and more) was filmed inside the ruins, we could be part of a magical event at the same place on 1st August.
The queueing started already the day before show day, some spent the night there in tents. More fans arrived in the morning and during the day on Tuesday. We knew that this would be the gig that attracts the most hardcore fans from around the world and so it was. People came from Argentina, Australia, Austria, Brazil, Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Denmark, Germany, Hungary, Pakistan, Poland, Russia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, the Netherlands, the UK, Uruguay. At least these are the countries of which I know about.
The security team was very cooperative and so there was no issue at the entrance. It went very smoothly and everyone could get to the spot he / she deserved to see the concert from, being it seats in the back or front row or the sides of the standing area.
The concert was held at the very same place as in the LTYH video. A real dream come true for all fans, except for the fact that it wasn’t a Roxette concert, but a Per Gessle show. But even that is so emotional. It was really an undescribable feeling to be there.
Before the gig started, during the support acts’ performance, Åsa, Chris, Clarence, Helena and their families as well as Magnus’ family went up to the side windows of the castle and we waved to them, they waved back. Andreas also went up and probably took pictures from there. Later Victoria (Sweden’s crown princess) and her husband, Daniel also appeared in the window and enjoyed the show from there. Victoria rulez! HERE you can watch her dancing to Mr. G’s melodies.
When Per first talked to the audience before Juni, juli, augusti, he mentioned that Roxette shot their video to Listen To Your Heart there and that the American crew thought the ruins were built just for the video. The crowd was laughing.
Min plats got back to the setlist on a new place and it sounded wonderful after Första pris. But this way there was no Tittar på dej när du dansar. We love seeing Malin-My playing not only the violin, but also the mandolin, so it would be great to have the song back on the setlist. Just saying. Anyway, Per thanked the crowd for the applause after Min plats. He said he is happy we liked it because that’s one of his favourite songs. Before Per started playing It Must Have Been Love, he had to drink a bit and when he got back to the mic he said he swallowed a mosquito. Haha. The sing-along to IMHBL turned out to be wonderful. After the song, Per said it was the night’s Dean Martin moment.
Regarding the sing-alongs, I think also the acoustics of the place helped a lot to make them sound beautiful, because during a lot of songs I heard a loud sing-along, but when I looked back, I couldn’t see too many mouthes moving. Anyway, the crowd was best at clapping that’s for sure. Or better said there were several active groups in the audience, the first 3 rows, of course and then in the middle a bigger group and on the sides some more. Those who were sitting in the back didn’t get up from their seats. Not even during Sommartider…. Hej hej… Yeah, we know, it’s mostly the Swedes and they are not the ones who like to stand up, no matter what. But at least they were clapping hard.
We had nice weather almost all day, but the rain couldn’t wait anymore, so it started falling during Spegelboll and from then on. We quickly put on our ponchos and didn’t pay too much attention to the rain. When you are at such a magical place, you just don’t care. Anything can happen.
Åsa was of course filming a lot again (check out the videos on YouTube, GessleHomeVids) and how she was looking at her husband, admiring him, aaah, so sweet! She was singing along, dancing a bit and you can see in her eyes that she is still so much in love with Mr. G. And that goes vice versa. What a fab couple they are!
The best band presentation so far was in Borgholm. All band members got a huge applause and cheering and as it was Per’s nameday, Magnus made the crowd sing and cheer Per too. Per was throwing kisses and said he became speechless he even forgot where to continue the band presentation. HERE you can watch it all. Just awesome!
After the brand presentation Chris played the intro to The Look and it was a bit disappointing that he didn’t play Listen To Your Heart, but När vi två blir en again. We were so expecting LTYH at this place. Anyways, the intro turned out to be psychedelic just like at any other show. Chris rox!
The drum intro to Sommartider was fantastic again. Andreas is doing a fab job and knows how to get the crowd into party mood.
The concert ended with Småstadsprat. Or at least from the band’s side. After they took a bow, before they went off stage, the front part of the crowd started singing Listen To Your Heart.
It was a concert to remember! A pity that Anders Roos wasn’t there, because he would have taken fantastic pictures of Mr. G and the band inside this most awesome venue.
BORGHOLM, ÖLAND! Oh yea, classic ground. This is the castle where we recorded the Listen To Your Heart-video (and Dangerous!) back in 89. Still magnificent and a joy to visit. And boy, did we have a fab time. Wonderful crowd + a splendid band on the loose = lots of unexpected silliness around every corner. Love that. Thanx everyone for showing up. One to remember! /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:
Min plats
It Must Have Been Love
Gå & fiska!
The Look
Articles, pictures:
Svensk dam
Barometern
Hänt
Ölandsbladet
Expressen
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.
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.
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!
Luckily it didn’t rain! We had been checking our weather apps the whole day and were happy to see the forecasts were wrong again.
It Must Have Been Love was one of the big woooows of the night. I started crying right from the beginning. What can I do? I just miss Marie so much and well. It just happens. On the other hand, it sounded so good and was happy to hear it live again. When Helena started to sing wooow!! She has a wonderful voice and she does a great job making the song hers. All in all a very nice sweet and emotional tribute to this jewel. Also incredible response from the audience.
After Tycker om när du tar på mej it was time for Joyride. My least favourite of the setlist. I wish they would have kept Dressed For Success instead of this! Or exchanged it with any other Rox song. Be it Dangerous or How Do You Do! or any of the other 500 songs by Per that he has never played live before…
Åsa was there at Skansen and 
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.
