Who would have thought that the tour will come to an end so fast? Last night we had the most emotional closing gig one can imagine! 19 shows in 17 towns in 2 countries, 28 different songs performed live by 7 most amazing and most energetic musicians accompanied by sing-along crowds! That was one hell of a tour!
We always thought that the tour should end in Sweden, even if the first last gig was announced to happen in Norway. Fortunately, after a while the band decided to do a real last show in Sweden, at the place where it all began, in Halmstad. This way GT played 3 concerts in their hometown of which the first two sold out in no time and the last also attracted 10000 people and became a very special one.
Changes vs. the first 2 Halmstad concerts already began with the support act. Chris Kläfford got sick, so he had to cancel his performance and the other Halmstad support act, who we already saw twice in Halmstad and once in Gothenburg, Christof Jeppsson took over and played for 30 minutes before Gyllene Tider. His warming up the crowd was great!
The weather was not on our side on the premiere gig in Halmstad, then the next day we had a concert in the sun. Yesterday the weather forecast said rain all day and for 2 weeks from then on, but except for the heavy showers during the day and pouring rain at the time when the gates were opening at 6 pm and some short raining moments until the concert started, we had a great night. One couldn’t ask for more, to be able to focus totally on what’s happening on stage and not caring about any ponchos or whatever.
The band had a live soundcheck at 5 pm. We could hear (and see) them rehearsing Vill ha ett svar! and Marie i växeln. We saw Niklas Strömstedt at Hotel Tylösand before, so we thought he might be a guest artist for the night. Then at the soundcheck we could be sure about it, because he joined the guys on rehearsing Marie i växeln. When we heard what songs they rehearsed, we applauded and cheered them. Micke Syd thanked for it shouting into his mic. Haha. The security team set up some more fences to hide the view to the stage from the outside, so then we all had to leave and get back to the line at the entrance.
The gang hit the stage at 9 pm, as usual, to the intro tune of the Pink Panther Theme. Front row fans were holding up ”SISTA DANSEN SISTA CHANSEN” letter by letter at the very beginning. Micke Syd recognized it and showed thumbs up. The others were probably more occupied with the starting of the show.
Those who saw all 3 shows in Halmstad got 3 different setlists. The last setlist was different to all other sets too, which is too cool. To have a special setlist for the last show. Instead of Skicka ett vykort, älskling they opened with Vill ha ett svar! At last! We expected this song to be played since we first heard them rehearsing it in Linköping. And there you go! It rocked big time! Another addition was Marie i växeln. We could already hear this song live on the GT40 tour, but not in this arrangement. Niklas Strömstedt joined the guys and girls on stage for this song and the audience went wild. It was an incredibly energetic performance! After the song Per said Niklas wrote the text to it and they did this song together in 1912. Haha. We got 24 songs last night and this means that both encores consisted of 3 songs, so Billy was also performed and they didn’t skip Tylö Sun either. The set had a great flow and the crowd didn’t stop cheering the band and sing along to all songs. It was a loud experience.
Per talked to the crowd after Juni, juli, augusti and said it’s the last show on tour and it’s sad, but lovely at the same time. The crowd couldn’t stop shouting ”ojojoj ojojojoj ojojojojojojojoj” before Per started talking before Vandrar i ett sommarregn. It was amazing. The band loved it too.
I will miss the intro talking of Micke Syd before Låt denna trumslagarpojke sjunga! so much. He should really come up with a stand up show in the future. Haha. He talked lovely about his wife, Helena and the song itself. And for one last time, he could put on his shiny jacket and sing.
There was a shocking moment at the concert. We were used to be worried about Marie during the Roxette concerts that she wouldn’t fall over, but we never had this with Per. Now we could almost get a heart attack when he fell over during En sten vid en sjö i en skog. I’m not sure there was anything on the stage that caused it, because the crew always pays so much attention to make everything nice on stage, even the small staples they usually pull out of the stage’s surface to make sure no such thing can happen. So I would say it was rather either the adrenalin or Per being exhausted after an incredibly busy last week with almost no days off. 7 gigs in 9 days, hey! Rock ’n’ roll! Fortunately, he could get up in a few seconds and go on in his Duracell bunny style during the whole remaining show. Superhero! Haha. His guitar just had to be switched to another one. I guess it got tuned out because of the falling.
Some minutes later there was a funnier moment. It was when he was licking a guitar pick to make it stick more to the finger, but he already started singing with the pick in his mouth. Too cool!
Before När alla vännerna gått hem Per thanked the crew, Live Nation, the management and the fans for their support over the past 40 years. During his talking, fans were holding up ”TACK” signs (it was the idea of long-time fan, Tina Engmann and Basia Konarzewska helped her with the physical prints to be handed out to fans with instructions when to hold up the signs). The whole band loved it. Since my tour mate, Sandra Knope and me attended all 19 concerts on tour, we wanted to make a special sign for them, so we held up our own TACK signs during the last song. The fun thing was that when we were preparing it at Hotel Tylösand, Micke Syd was coming to us, so we had to hide it and we laughed and he laughed. But once he saw all the TACK signs held up by all fans at the concert, he couldn’t hold back his tears. He brought some drumsticks to the front to hand it out to fans in the front. It was so nice of him and made many people very happy to get such a goodbye present at the last show. Micke asked one fan to hand over a TACK sign to him and he held it up on stage.
Actually, everyone got quite emotional during the last song, of course. Many fans were crying after the show, realizing the fact that this was the very last time they could see their favourite band live.
After the show, the band had a closing party at Hotel Tylösand and since it’s a tradition that fans go to Leif’s when there is any concert in Halmstad, we also went there to have a party and say goodbye to each other. The band members arrived one after another and were stopped by the fans for a small talk or a photo. Micke Syd was the coolest among them. He was walking around Leif’s quite often, went to all the groups of fans and had some talk with them. He is one most lovely person. This morning, when we had breakfast at the hotel, he came to us to say hi and while he was talking to us, a woman took pictures of him from the table next to us. When we said goobye, he stepped to the woman and asked her if she filmed him. The woman was a bit distracted and then shocked by Micke Syd’s suggestion to take a selfie together. Haha. After Micke left, the woman was crying of happiness. Amazing!
It was an incredibly professional, wonderful tour. Enjoyed every second of it. Det är över nu and it couldn’t have had a most beautiful ending. Hats off to all on and off stage! It stays a memory for life in everyone’s heart I’m sure.
Setlist
- Vill ha ett svar!
- Juni, juli, augusti
- Det hjärta som brinner
- (Hon vill ha) Puls
- Flickorna på TV2
- Vandrar i ett sommarregn
- (Dansar inte lika bra som) Sjömän
- Det kändes inte som maj
- Marie i växeln (with Niklas Strömstedt as guest artist)
- Flickan i en Cole Porter-sång
- Tuffa tider
BAND PRESENTATION
- Låt denna trumslagarpojke sjunga!
- Kung av sand
- En sten vid en sjö i en skog
- Ljudet av ett annat hjärta
- Ska vi älska, så ska vi älska till Buddy Holly
- (Kom så ska vi) Leva livet
- Tylö Sun
Encore 1
- Billy
- Det är över nu
- Gå & fiska!
Encore 2
- När vi två blir en
- Sommartider
- När alla vännerna gått hem
All pics in the article are taken by Patrícia Peres.
HELLO WE MUST BE GOING! Oj vilket emotionellt fyrverkeri det blev på Brottet i Halmstad igår. Över 10.000 pers kom o spenderade några timmar i Gyllene Tiders varma småstadsbubbla. Underbart.
Det blev en annorlunda konsert. Lite nya låtar dök upp och Nicholas von Strömstedt hjälpte oss med “Marie i växeln” (som han o jag skrev texten ihop till 1979!). Och bandet börjar låta riktigt bra nu!!!!! Tight och självklart. Lite sådär “på tå” som ett ungt popband ska göra, hahaha!
Vi skulle vilja tacka alla er som kommit och hjälpt oss att göra den här turne’n till den i särklass coolaste och bästa GT-turne’n i historien. Ni är helt fantastiska som står där längst fram och bara öser ur er energi, kärlek och spontanitet. Om ni någon gång tror att “det spelar ingen roll”… så har ni fel!!! Det betyder otroligt mycket för oss! Obetalbart.
Life goes on, GT tar Blå Buss #3 tillbaka till sitt pojkrum med en termos och småkakor tätt intill. Kanske hälsar vi på Henry i hans tvåa på Nyhem, vem vet? Han behöver verkligen en cookie!
Det har sannerligen varit en härlig gyllene resa med en sprakande start för 40 år sedan och ett ännu härligare avslut. Musiken finns kvar, vi också. Och ni med! See you around!
The Look was a great starter in the arena, however, it’s always difficult to animate a Swedish crowd. They weren’t too loud and they left their boogie shoes at home. Business as usual. Anyway, we had much fun in the front.
Before STT, Mr. G said he always had the dream of going to Nashville and record with those fantastic local musicians there. Per said they play a song which the crowd surely knows in Swedish, but now they play it in English. When Malin-My started playing the violin on this one, the crowd realized what song Per was talking about and the reactions were ”aaaw!” and loud applause. Småstadsprat is still often played on Swedish radios.
Then came the band presentation and Per said he has a wonderful band. He introduced everyone one by one and when he finished Chris said: ”Who is the man in the middle? Vocals, guitar and many many good songs: Per Gessle!” The crowd cheered him.