Per Gessle Unplugged Tour – #11 – 25th April 2022 – Jönköping

The original date of the Jönköping gig would have been 14th December last year, but for known reasons, it was postponed until last night. The venue greeted us with a PG Unplugged sign already at the entrance of the concert hall building. Inside, at several places, there were monitors showing a pic of Per and Helena from an earlier unplugged concert.

When PG & Co. entered the stage, Per talked to the crowd and said they are happy to be in Jönköping and that they are glad the audience chose them instead of the hockey match that was played in the arena next to the concert hall. After playing the Nashville songs, PG asked the crowd if everything was fine and if they wanted to know the scores from the match. Half of the audience shouted yes, half shouted no. Haha. Christoffer asked what teams are playing and Per replied „HV against PV” – he said he has no clue. The crowd was laughing. Per told he was at one hockey match in his life in the 70’s or 80’s. It was Halmstad Hockey Club’s match and they lost, actually against HV (the Jönköping team). The crowd gave it an applause. Later Per asked the crowd again if they wanted to know the scores, then the audience shouted no. PG said 1-1. Haha.

The band sounded great and the crowd was clapping along several songs, even singing along. The jokes and anecdotes also worked very well on this audience, they laughed a lot and applauded the guys and girl loudly.

Per had some issues with his throat, but it turned out it was because of too much smoke on stage. Once he went off stage and asked the tech guys to make it less, because it was irritating his throat. He asked for more warm ginger tea as well. Keep your throat safe, Mr. G!

Ljudet av ett annat hjärta, Tuffa tider, It Must Have Been Love, Vilket håll du än går and Sommartider were the highlight songs in Jönköping.

Before the first encore, the crowd didn’t stop clapping until Per and the gang came back on stage. Per said they would play a little more and someone in the crowd shouted „one more hour!”, to which Per reacted „one more hour? Would be a pleasure, but I have to go home to watch the hockey on YouTube or somewhere.” Haha. They started playing Födelsedag.

After the first encore, everyone stood up and cheered the band and they didn’t sit down and didn’t stop clapping until the gang was back again soon. Everyone sat down for Vid hennes sida, but Sommartider became a standing song of course. And even if När alla vännerna gått hem became seated, the audience was up on their feet again before Per, Helena, Clarence, Magnus and Christoffer took a bow.

The match ended at the same time as the concert, so it was quite tough to get out of the parking area, but who cares. It was a wonderful evening!

P.S.: For those, who are interested, HV71 (local team) played against Björklöven (from Umeå) and Björklöven won 3-1. Oops. Nevermind. Those who chose the concert won a lot!

Next stop is Kalmar on 26th April!

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 on Facebook:

Thanks Jönköping for a splendid Monday evening. We had a blast, could go on forever!! Soooo many people in spite of the hockey game going on around the corner. See you all soon again. Lots of love from PG + band!

And on Twitter:

Thanks for a splendid Monday evening, folks. Amazing to sell out this place in spite of the hockeygame going on around the corner. Loved every minute of this. See y’all soon again!

Being blown away song by song by Marie in Jönköping

MF_Jokke_Ett_hus_vid_havetIt was a special concert from RoxetteBlog’s point of view, since 4 of the 5 RoxetteBloggers were there in Jönköping tonight. The standard review you will find if you scroll down on our website, but why I’m writing a separate review is because almost a month passed since the tour started, but my time has come only today. For me it was a very special show, because it was my first ever Marie solo concert. And it was just a perfectly fantastic first experience for me. Marie was in a very good mood, smiling all the time, even joking many times and doing funny facial expressions. One must love this woman!

 

When she entered the stage we could already see she was barefoot again. So we could be kind of sure about the outcome, that it was going to be a fab show. Sitting in the front row  made you feel very close to her, actually, it felt like being on a private concert.

 

 

Så stilla så långsamt sounds awesome in this arrangement live. I saw some videos already on YouTube and already thought it sounded great, but hearing it live was amazing. Marie and Christoffer are magical in this.

Then came Kom vila hos mig. I was among the ones who from the very beginning questioned this tour being seated. Then I thought OK, maybe I’ve just never attended any concerts like this in the past and just don’t know how it is when you’re actually there. NOW I can tell it IS very hard to be sitting. At this song I felt like standing up, but as everyone was still sitting, I didn’t dare to. Too bad. This song just rocks too much. Both on the album and live.

Jokke_setlistIf you ask me, it was still hard sitting during Bara för en dag. I’m always amazed how Marie can sing this song live because of the fast parts. I can’t even read out those words so fast after one another. She rulez!

Det regnar igen, just like any other song from Marie’s best album, Den ständiga resan, is very much her. How she is feeling the song makes you have goosebumps.

Sista sommarens vals is also very much Marie. Of course, it’s the only song she wrote for her latest album, Nu! What I was missing in this song was a closer connection between Marie and Micke. Yes, sometimes I felt Micke was sitting too much in the back for that. And it’s of course not a complaint and I know it can’t always be the way it was in Tack för musiken show last December. Micke is fantastic on the piano.

I always liked Ber bara en gång, but it was just after I saw a video from this tour on YouTube when I started loving it. Should I mention it was hard sitting during this one, too…?

Sparvöga was again an awesome live experience. You can see how much Marie loves this song. All her facial expressions are showing it.

Then came some real funny moments in Ett hus vid havet. This is the song which is performed by Marie and Jokke. Jokke is standing next to her, also singing some part of the song. He has a great voice! From the videos it might not be evident for everyone, but he DOES have a pleasant voice. The funny moments: Marie messed up the lyrics, but was just smiling at it, mixing up boats and seagulls. She was looking at Jokke’s mouth to see what he was singing, but she just wanted to sing ”Och göra som jag vill” (= And do what I want to do). Who cares? Marie, you CAN do whatever you want to do! We were laughing so much at her reactions during this song.

Marie_JönköpingEtt bord i solen was one of the most touching songs. She said before she started singing that she wrote it when she got cancer. It made me remember how grateful we all have to be that she is still here, giving so much to us with her singing.

The next most touching song was Så skimrande var aldrig havet. I’ve never been a big fan of this song, but my Gosh… Marie’s performance left me breathless. Also her facial expressions during the song were undescribable. This song is just so much hers.

At some point, Marie said she is performing new and old songs during the concert, but mainly old ones. It was funny how she expressed herself. Ännu doftar kärlek is definitely one of the oldest, but also one of the best songs.

Then came Så länge det lyser mittemot. I don’t even have to mention it was hard sitting during this song, too…. So we stood up towards the end. Unfortuntaly, from row 4 no one else felt like this, but at least we had a party in the front and Marie and the band liked it.

I’m not sure anymore about before which song Marie wanted to go on with the next song, but everyone else was late, so she was laughing and said: ”OK, nästa” (= OK, the next one). The audience was also laughing out loud. Maybe it was before Om du såg mig nu.

And what we’ve been all waiting for, the real party came at Efter stormen. First we stood up in the front rows, then everyone else in the audience stood up. We’ve been dancing, jumping, singing along. At last!!! It felt incredibly good!

Again came a slower song, Den sjunde vågen. We had some more funny moments, which I also have on video. Check it out by clicking on the embedded video in the article. I started recording it from the lovely sound Marie made while taking a breath (we were smiling at it) and you can also see it wasn’t BoJo who helped Marie going off the stage tonight, but Micke N-S. It was such a funny part. After Miss Effe went off the stage, the guys went crazy with the guitars. They could have their rocking moments. Both Christoffer and Jokke could let their guitars bleed. Surjo might not be the craziest guitarist on Earth. To me he seems to be a calm and quiet person, but he is also doing a fantastic job back with his bass. Pelle is great on the drums, we could get used to it during the Roxette tours. There is a plexi glass in front of his drumset since Malmö concert and this probably provides an even better sound. The sound was fab.

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0TkjyZleW24

Marie didn’t let us wait so long and she came back to the stage after about 2 minutes. It was just a very short break. We felt she really wanted to be on stage again. And oh yes! The first extra song is Mellan sommar och höst, my all time favourite MF song. It rocked big time and the whole audience was standing again. Front rows were even dancing & jumping again. Woohoo!

Then came Den bästa dagen and when Marie messed up the lyrics, the audience helped her singing out loud and she thanked it while she was smiling. It is always so heart-warming when the audience helps her like this. Those who already attended some other concerts during the tour, said it was the first time during this tour when the audience helped like this.

Why do all good things come to an end? The last song was of course Tro. Yet another song which is very much Marie. Towards the end of the song we held up some letters so she could read the word: VINNARE (= winner). She is! And we are also winners to have her! Thank you so much for all what you are giving to us, Marie!

After the concert fans were heading to the hotel where we thought Marie was staying and when Marie and Micke came we had a small chat with them. They said it was a great show and thanked to us for that. They also said it was hot in the theatre, but we said they could only thank it to themselves.

Then came the rest of the band, Chris, Pelle, Jokke and Surjo. Chris said from the stage the beginning of the concert seemed to be so-so, but the energy was rising and rising. When I said there is not so much space for Chris and Jokke to play the guitar like what we are used to how Chris plays it on a Roxette tour or Jokke in his own band, they said it’s fine like this. And it IS fine like this. The focus is now completely on Marie and we love it. But we also love the band. They sound great together!

God! I’m sooo grateful I still have 4 concerts to go! Tomorrow Göteborg!!!

 

Marie’s tour: Jönköping, 14th March #8

Setlist (no changes)

1. Så stilla så långsamt [1992 – DSR]
2. Kom vila hos mig [2013 – Nu!]
3. Bara för en dag [1987 – ES]
4. Det regnar igen [1992 – DSR]
5. Sista sommarens vals [2013 – Nu!]
6. Ber bara en gång [1996 – IETSV]
7. Sparvöga [1989 off the Swedish drama TV series]
8. Ett hus vid havet [1985 – DSV]
9. Ett bord i solen [2007 – TFT]
10. Så skimrande var aldrig havet [1990 off Taube compilation album]
11. Ännu doftar kärlek [1984 – HV]
12. Så länge det lyser mittemot [1992 – DSR]
13. Om du såg mig nu [1987 – ES]
14. Efter stormen [1987 – ES]
15. Den sjunde vågen [1985 – DSV]

16. Mellan sommar och höst [1992 – DSR]
17. Den bästa dagen [1985 – DSV]
18. Tro [1996 – IETSV]

Articles
Patrícia’s review
Smålands Posten about meet & greet

Videos

Sista sommarens vals
Sparvöga
Ännu doftar kärlek