Malin My-Wall

Gyllene Tider – GT40 – Halmstad – 5th July 2019 – #2

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Last night Gyllene Tider played their 2nd Halmstad show on their GT40 tour and at the same time, it was the last ever concert in their hometown. While the first gig was defined by the rain, last nite we couldn’t complain about the weather. Sunshine, happiness! Per told the crowd that the first show was a little ”smygpremiär” (”secret gig”) for them.

Before GT entered the stage at 21:00, there were the same 2 support acts as on the first Halmstad night. When the Pink Panther theme started we already knew the time has come and soon the guys and girls appeared on stage. The crowd’s cheering was even louder than the day before and the whole mood stayed on a high from the audience’s side. Almost all songs were accompanied by loud sing-alongs and the clapping made much noise too.

All the guys and girls on stage were very energetic through the whole show. One could see they were over the premiere gig’s stress and more at ease. They could concentrate more on the fun part of the concert. We could see more smiles on their faces and more interactions between the band members. The lyrics to the new songs have to be practiced a bit more though, but since the biggest part of the audience has to learn it too, it was no issue.

In the setlist there was only 1 difference vs. the first Halmstad show. The guys changed Vandrar i ett sommarregn to Chrissie, hur mår du? It was a very good choice. I think this latter one worked much better. Now I start wondering if they change that one song on each gig. Would be cool!

Åsa was there at both concerts so far and recorded a lot. Hopefully, we will get to see some videos on Gyllene Tider’s social media sites soon. Anders Roos was taking photos also at both shows so far and probably will be there at most of the concerts.

There is not much time to take a rest. Next stop is Malmö without a day off!

Setlist

  1. Skicka ett vykort, älskling
  2. Juni, juli, augusti
  3. Vanliga saker
  4. Det hjärta som brinner
  5. Chrissie, hur mår du?
  6. Flickorna på TV2
  7. (Dansar inte lika bra som) Sjömän
  8. Det kändes inte som maj
  9. Flickan i en Cole Porter-sång
  10. Tuffa tider

BAND PRESENTATION

  1. Låt denna trumslagarpojke sjunga!
  2. Kung av sand
  3. En sten vid en sjö i en skog
  4. Ljudet av ett annat hjärta
  5. Ska vi älska, så ska vi älska till Buddy Holly
  6. (Kom så ska vi) Leva livet
  7. Tylö Sun

Encore 1

  1. Skrot och korn
  2. Det är över nu
  3. Gå & fiska!

Encore 2

  1. När vi två blir en
  2. Sommartider
  3. När alla vännerna gått hem

 

All pics in the article are taken by Patrícia Peres.

 

Gyllene Tider after the show:

GT40 – GIG #2 BROTTET, HALMSTAD! Yep, så här fint väder kan det vara i Halmstad! Vi böjer våra nackar. Mot publiken också. Grym positiv energi strålade från er alla, tack för en helt underbar upplevelse. Detta var ju det sista GT-gigget någonsin i vår hemstad och det kändes verkligen som ett farväl med flaggan i topp. En oförglömlig afton vi kommer att bära med oss för alltid. Nu sticker vi till Skåne och kollar läget där ikväll. Häng med! /P&Co

Gyllene Tider – GT40 – Halmstad – 4th July 2019 – #1

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Gyllene Tider started their GT40 farewell tour yesterday in Halmstad. Still hard to believe that this is their very last tour, but well… there are 18 more gigs to enjoy their playing live. If you don’t have a ticket for any of their shows yet, do yourself a favour and get one! Try to find a concert that is not sold out yet and go see them live!

Weather God in Halmstad seemed not to be on our side. It was raining all day, sometimes only showers, sometimes heavy rain. No sun at all. I was thinking of past gigs in the rain and as I remembered, all of them turned out fab, so there was nothing to be afraid of.

The guys had their soundcheck in the afternoon and we heard they were rehearsing Vandrar i ett sommarregn among other songs. How stylish. Haha. The gates opened at 6 pm and a few hundred people were let in. The rest of the audience arrived continuously a bit later. When we entered we could see the stage. It looked wonderful! The old Gyllene Tider logo above the stage (that appeared in different colours during the gig), GT40 written on the backdrop screens and on the side screens. From this, one could think the backdrop would show different designs during the night and yes, the whole projection was of premium quality and each song got its own backdrop. Beautiful!

The crew was constantly wiping off the stage, because even if there was a roof above it, the rain didn’t let it stay dry.

There were 2 support acts: Christof Jeppsson, a Halmstad troubadour who was on stage from 19:30 and then Chris Kläfford, known mostly from Swedish Idol. He entered the stage some minutes after 20:00. Both acts played for appr. 30 minutes.

We all couldn’t wait anymore for Gyllene Tider to come up on stage and guess what! It stopped raining 10 minutes before the show! But it’s Sweden and we thought it wouldn’t last until the end of the concert, so it came back after an hour, at Kung av sand. But no one really cared. The gig was so amazing! And sold out! Appr. 11000 people went to see GT on the first Halmstad night on this tour.

The intro was the theme song from Pink Panther. First we didn’t realize it would be the intro, but the guys suddenly appeared on stage and the crowd was cheering them loudly. Their stage clothes looked fab on them, I immediately saw that Per’s black nails are back too and hey, it wasn’t only the 5 guys performing this time, but 2 ladies joined them for doing backing vocals (and more): Malin-My Wall and Dea Norberg. We know them well from previous Roxette and Per Gessle tours. Everyone on stage looked excited and maybe a bit nervous. It was a premiere gig after all. But they shouldn’t have been worried about anything, all turned out to be fantastic!

Setlist

  1. Skicka ett vykort, älskling
  2. Juni, juli, augusti
  3. Vanliga saker
  4. Det hjärta som brinner
  5. Vandrar i ett sommarregn
  6. Flickorna på TV2
  7. (Dansar inte lika bra som) Sjömän
  8. Det kändes inte som maj
  9. Flickan i en Cole Porter-sång
  10. Tuffa tider

BAND PRESENTATION

  1. Låt denna trumslagarpojke sjunga!
  2. Kung av sand
  3. En sten vid en sjö i en skog
  4. Ljudet av ett annat hjärta
  5. Ska vi älska, så ska vi älska till Buddy Holly
  6. (Kom så ska vi) Leva livet
  7. Tylö Sun

Encore 1

  1. Skrot och korn
  2. Det är över nu
  3. Gå & fiska!

Encore 2

  1. När vi två blir en
  2. Sommartider
  3. När alla vännerna gått hem

It was a good choice to start with uptempo songs. Per first talked to the crowd after Juni, juli, augusti. He greeted the crowd, welcomed us on GT’s 40th anniversary tour and said it ’s nice to see so many people here despite the wonderful Swedish weather. He mentioned they are happy to start the tour at home in Halmstad and the audience was happy about it too. He asked us to sing along and dance if we can, but it might be tight for that. Haha. Then came Vanliga saker from the new album and it sounded cool live too. Det hjärta som brinner was quite obvious that it would appear on the setlist being one of the guys’ favourites. Then it slowed down a bit with Vandrar i ett sommarregn which is from the album Puls and GT never played it live before. Before they played this song, Per was kidding Anders with his 80’s title, Sweden’s most good-looking guy. A story that never gets old.

Flickorna på TV2 is still on of Gyllene Tider’s biggest hit, no matter what year we are in and what the lyrics contain. It was great to hear the song live again. Per also said it’s still fun to play. Another hit (Dansar inte lika bra som) Sjömän came after that, a real party song. Then the (for me) most GT-ish song from the new album, Det kändes inte som maj was played. Another uptempo gem that made the crowd clap along heavily.

Flickan i en Cole Porter-sång was introduced by Per as a song that is about dreaming and was curious if we recognized it. We did, of course! Sing along guaranteed! Dubi dubi dam da!

Per’s beautiful colorful ukulele was brought to the stage and he said when he was listening to Led Zeppelin and Deep Purple in his room when he was a kid, he never thought one day he would be performing on an ukulele in front of 11000 people. It was Tuffa tider’s turn and after Micke Syd changed is shoes, he also came to the front. Göran also came and played melodika in the front next to Micke Syd.

Per first introduced the new members of the band and greeted Dea and Malin-My. Then one after another introduced the guys in GT. Halmstad’s own boogie king, MP and the pride of Oskartsröm, Göran. Referring to Sweden’s most good-looking guy, Per said, you know who it is on bass, Anders Herrlin! Micke Syd was sitting in front of his drum set and stood up when Per introduced him, last but least. Haha. They high-fived each other and then Micke introduced Per as the best from Simlångsdalen, Per Håkan Gessle. Then Micke Syd said now it would be him standing in the limelight and Per sat in front of Micke’s drum set, still holding the ukulele in his hands. Micke Syd told we probably think he would sing Min tjej och jag, but he wouldn’t do that again. He said we all grew up and Per anyway wrote a new song for him. He asked the crowd to hold up their hands if they could sing along. Many held up their hands, Per did that too. Haha. Micke Syd switched on the pre-recorded drumming on this song, put on a shiny jacket and he stayed in the front to sing Låt denna trumslagarpojke sjunga! Per was playing the ukulele during the song, the girls supported Micke too and it sounded cool! At the end of it Micke Syd sat next to Per and then Per jumped up and played the last chord on the ukulele in front of his mic and said it’s hard to top what Micke Syd did now.

Kung av sand brought the rain back, but it really didn’t matter. We enjoyed the concert regardless, hearing such a beautiful ballad. Then came 5 good old uptempo songs one after another, real party again. It wasn’t a medley, actually, to my surprise, there was no medley at all during the whole show. We got complete songs only, which is a plus! There was no pause between these 5 songs, only a guitar change before Ska vi älska, så ska vi älska till Buddy Holly.

After Tylö Sun, Per thanked the crowd and they all went off stage. But the concert didn’t end here of course. The crowd wanted them back and after a few minutes, giving the chance for Per to change clothes they came back and played their first encore of 3 songs, starting with Skrot och korn from the new album. Per thanked for the crowd for staying there despite the weather, he said we are fantastic. Skrot och korn was a cool addition to the setlist too. It was nice to hear a fourth song from the new album. Then 2 uptempo hits from the 90’s and they went off stage again.

Many of us wondered if the second encore would contain Billy or Puls and if the guys finish the set with Sommartider, but the last 3 songs started with När vi två blir en, another must-play-live GT hit. The guys and girls then performed Sommartider with crowd sing along, but it wasn’t the last song. They kept När alla vännerna gått hem to say goodbye to all. Before the last song the girls went off stage. Per told the crowd they are wonderful and thanked for coming. Micke Syd came to the front, only Göran stayed in the back, at his Farfisa. At the end of the show both Micke Syd and Per thanked the crowd again, Per told to take care of each other. The girls came back, Göran came to the front and they took a bow and waved goodbye. The girls went off again and the Golden Guys stayed there for some more time to take a bow again and off they went.

Gosh! It was such an amazing tour start! I liked everything about it. The setlist (maybe adding at least 1 song from DATPR would have been nice though), the stage, the stage clothes, the energy of these guys being almost or over 60, but still rocking big time, the addition of the girls who were partying throught the whole concert. Is it tonight yet??? Let’s see how the second Halmstad show will be. The sun is out, just saying! 😉

All pics in the article are taken by Patrícia Peres.

 

Per & Co. after the gig:

Lägesrapport 5 juli 2019. Oj, klockan är redan 3 på eftermiddagen. Dags för nytt kaffe. Solen lyser! Det gjorde den minsann inte igår. Tack alla som pallade med höstrusket på Brottet i Halmstad och gjorde vår premiärspelning till en enda lång fanfar! Vilken underbar publik vi har!!!! Ofattbart bra!!! Svårjobbat rent tekniskt för oss såklart, många instrument stämde ur sig blixtsnabbt i fukten, golvet ute mot publiken var glashalt men vad gjorde det när man bara såg glada miner överallt. Nya tag ikväll. Vilken turne’ det här kommer att bli!!!! Love from the GT camp via P.

 

Per Gessle’s Roxette – Göteborg, Sweden – 16th November 2018 – #20

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It’s over when it’s over. What can I do about it? Cherish this past tour forever. Unbelievable, but another tour has come to an end. Last night Per and his wonderful band performed in Gothenburg. The concert was held in Scandinavium, a big arena. This show had the most people in the audience during the tour. When I last time talked to BoJo some days ago he said they sold appr. 5000 tickets, but the number could be higher by the time we reached the date.

Inside the venue we could hear Roxette songs at the food & drinks area, then entering the arena we could see screens on both sides and of course, cameras as well. They were installed for the screens only, but who knows if the recording (if it was recorded) can be used for any possible future release. What surely will be used is the photos taken by Anders Roos who installed tons of cameras all around the stage again.

Nano started at 19:30 and thanked for the gigs where he could be the support act. He also thanked the job of the crew. The crew then was setting up for Per Gessle. One could see the technicians enjoyed preparing for the last gig, to make sure there is a perfect ending of the tour. They are the best!

Per & Co. entered the stage at 20:30 and rocked big time with the opener The Look. After TL, Per told the crowd it’s always, always fun to be in Göteborg. I have to agree with him. I only remember fab shows in this city. PG said it wasn’t so long ago when he played in Gothenburg. It was last year. He asked if we were there. He got a loud yes as a reply from the audience. Christoffer and Magnus also said into the mic they were there. Haha. Then Mr. G said it’s bizarre that he has been writing songs for more than 40 years. The most songs he wrote for Roxette, so he thought to dive deep into that catalogue and play a few favourites, but he also sneaked in some of his solo songs to be on the safe side. The crowd was cheering for him and he asked them to sing along.

MATAH sounded amazing in the arena and as I could get used to it during the tour, I heard the audience’s loud cheering for Helena. Well-deserved! Then Per talked about Capri 1993, that Roxette went there to record for 6 weeks. They had their families and friends there, as well as tons of journalists. They ate the world’s most expensive pizzas there and drank a lot of wine, but in the end it became a quite OK album. Per said he thought they would play one of the songs off that album and they performed CBB. After finishing the song, Helena and Per hifived each other, just like in Oslo the night before. The crowd was cheering for them. Per said, the title came from Elvis Presley’s Jailhouse Rock. He said ”you didn’t know it, huh?”. He got a mix of ”no” and ”yes” from the audience, but the ”yes”-es sounded louder, so he said ”oh yes, you knew it”. Haha.

The photographers could stay in the pit for the first 3 songs, as usual. So by the time PG & Co speeded the tempo up again, they had to go. DFS kicked ass and then SGNO too. As much as I like the ballads on this tour, I just can’t get enough of the uptempo songs. The intro to SGNO was Ljudet av ett annat hjärta a la Chris. The audience was awesome at clapping along. This time when Christoffer’s hat fell off his head, Per picked it up and put it back on Christoffer’s head. It stayed on his head only until he jumped down from the little podium on which Andreas crashes his drum. The ending of the song was as amazing as always, with Chris and Andreas going wild. Per praised Andreas’s drumming after SGNO.

Mr. G said what a fantastic evening it is. The last time he had a fantastic evening, or better said a good day was in 1990. He said he woke up and found a note on his piano saying ”Hej, din tok, jag älskar dig” (Hello, you fool, I love you). It was left there by his then girlfriend, now wife, since he had to marry Åsa after such a cute note. After writing Joyride in the morning, it was still only 11 am, so PG had a little break and after lunch he wrote another song, SMT. Per was talking so much about Joyride that he even picked a white medium plectrum off his mic stand. The thing is that he plays the acoustic guitar (for SMT) with a thin red pick. We were wondering when he would change it. He was probably also distracted a bit by the fact that his power chord finger started bleeding again. Not as much as in Linköping, but it was visible. So one could get hold of some bloody picks this time again. 😉 While Chris and Malin-My were playing the intro in the front and Per was standing in the back, he might have realized he had the wrong pick in hand, but still hadn’t changed it. He was looking at his finger rather. Then Helena started singing and when Per came to the front, he was playing the guitar with the medium pick, then when he went towards the back of the stage, he threw the white medium pick away, towards his ginger tea-holding trolley and picked a thin red plectrum off his guitar, licked it to have it stuck to the finger (however, the blood would have done it, haha) and played on. Helena was singing beautifully, for which she got a huge applause from the audience again.

IGYC, the duet of Per and Helena was wonderful with Chris, Malin-My and Ola playing in the background. Per talked about his Nashville adventures and that they would play a song in English that the crowd surely knows in Swedish already. STT was beautiful and here and now I say it again that it MUST BE RELEASED on a live album!

With Swedish hillbilly IHAPIMH I went live on our Facebook page. PG said it’s the only song he wrote for flutes, so that’s why there are 2 flute girls on stage. He said they are outstanding. And he is so right!

Then came the intro talk to IMHBL. Per said he sent the band 96(!) songs to rehearse for the tour. Magnus said they learned to play 102! They overdelivered. Haha. Per said it’s fake info. He said he was thinking about skipping one song, because there are so many others, but then came Magnus and actually, he has only 3 favourite songs. One of them is ”Livet är en fest” from Nationalteatern, the other is ”Happy Nation” from Ace of Base and the third one is what they are going to play right now. Magnus said to the crowd ”thank me later!” Haha. The crowd loved IMHBL. It would have been a big mistake not to include it in the setlist.

OppNox and TBL, the always ass-kicking section in the set! It was a blast last night too! The crowd was clapping along loud and they were shouting too. Then Per asked the audience if they remember the ’90s. He got a loud yes as a reply. He also asked Magnus. Magnus said he was born in 1991, so he rather remembers 1997, 1998 and 1999, then the ’90s was over, so he can’t remember more. Haha. They then played FLAF from the Joyride album. It’s fantastic how much this song has changed in Helena’s performance since the very first show of the tour. She’s such a talented artist and singer! To make any song her own. Hats off!

DMS is always a highlight at each show. What Christoffer is doing during this song is amazing. Every time! He is second to none! This is usually one of the songs when a possible DVD comes to my mind. MUST BE RELEASED! 😉

Per started the band presentation with saying he has a wonderful band with him and it’s now their second tour together. The crowd gave each band member a huge applause. After PG finished his part, Magnus and Chris said into the mic, but who is that in the middle who is always introducing only 7 people out of 8 on stage. Chris said: ”Song, guitar, … technical features … and especially many many very very good songs, Per Håkan Gessle!” At the technical features part Per was showing with his hands ”so-so” and the crowd was laughing. Haha.

Then Mr. G said ”let’s see if you recognize this one!” and he started the teaser to HDYD. How I love this! The crowd was not too loud in singing along, but most of us in the front were singing quite loud, so Per let us sing for quite long on the last gig. He was satisfied, we were satisfied. And then we could party to his version. Haha. The party went on during Dangerous. And oh no, is it really coming to an end? Now only the 2 encores left. Impossible how fast time flies!

The crowd was loud, clapping and shouting, so Per and the band came back on stage, PG thanked the crowd and said what a fantastic evening it is. They performed QOR, one of Per’s favourite Roxette songs and of course Helena was cheered after the song. Then it was time for a little Joyride. How Chris and Per were teasing each other in the intro part was again much fun! During the song both Chris and Ola got on their knees and were playing their guitars like that. It was so cool! Helena sat on the edge of the stage in front of us and animated the crowd from there. She’s so good at that (too)! She had a tambourine in her hands and rocked using it. At the end of the song she put it on her head, like a crown. Looked so great! Haha. Then off they went.

PG & THE Band came back for the 2nd encore. Per thanked once again and he put his hand on his heart to emphasize how he wanted to absorb all the love they got from the crowd. Then he said: ”A Friday night in Göteborg! That would be a good song title actually.” Haha. They played LTYH after this and it sounded wonderful. The crowd’s sing-along was the loudest at this song. Great! Before they played the very last song, Per said it’s a special night, because this is the last concert on the European tour. He thanked the band and also the crew for their fantastic job, he thanked Live Nation that made the tour possible and also thanked the people that came to the shows and he mentioned those separately who came to several shows. Then he switched to English and said: ”Thank you very much, you know who you are! Thank you!” And he showed thumbs up and looked at those fans in the front row. He is so amazing! Ojojoj! The bittersweet goodbye was getting closer. TSHTSG, the closing song that probably became everyone’s favourite earworm during the tour in this new arrangement. Another MUST BE RELEASED (on CD and DVD) song! Just saying! 😉 Since I somehow wanted to thank Per and the band for the whole tour right there at the last concert, being fortunate enough to have seen 15 shows out of 20, I prepared signs in English and in Swedish saying: ”Thanx for a wonderful tour!” & ”Tack för en underbar turné!”, both having 2 red hearts added in the bottom. I was there at the gig with 2 of my friends (Sandra, who saw 16 shows on this tour and Tomasz, also from RoxBlog) and we decided to hold up these signs when the greatest earworm part starts in TSHTSG, namely the ”tütütütürütü” part, sung by Helena and Malin-My. So we held up the signs then and kept them up in the air until the end of the song. I loved seeing the smiles on their faces. They showed thumbs up and thanked, even Per thanked. Before the bows, Jakob (Christoffer’s technician) came up on stage and brought a big bunch of red roses and gave it to Per. Per thanked it and put it on the stage while they were taking the bows. Jakob stayed there with the gang and he also took a bow. Happy band, happy crowd, perfect night! The band was waving to the crowd and went off stage, Per threw some more plecs from his mic stand and then picked up the flowers and waved goobye. Off he went. The crew was fast dismantling the stage. While they were doing their job, we held up our thank you signs for them too. They laughed.

After the concert we were lucky to meet the band and Per and BoJo, so we could thank them for the tour in person too. They also loved the whole journey. When I told Per how I loved the whole thing, he said ”Yeah, it was good!” I said ”Good? It was perfect!” Haha. I love how after more than 40 years of successful songwriting and performing he still can’t really handle compliments. That humble smile on his face was a PERfect ending for me of this tour. THANK YOU ALL!

Now fingers crossed for a fat tour photo book full of beautiful pictures, a live CD and a DVD! AND an announcment of any PG-related tour in the not too far future! GT40, anyone? 😉

Setlist:

1. The Look
2. Milk And Toast And Honey
3. Crash! Boom! Bang!
4. Dressed For Success
5. She’s Got Nothing On (But The Radio)
6. Spending My Time
7. I’m Glad You Called
8. Small Town Talk
9. I Have A Party In My Head
10. It Must Have Been Love
11. Opportunity Nox
12. The Big L.
13. Fading Like A Flower
14. Doesn’t Make Sense
Band presentation
15. How Do You Do! (in a medley with No. 16)
16. Dangerous

Encore
17. Queen Of Rain
18. Joyride

Encore 2
19. Listen To Your Heart
20. The Sweet Hello, The Sad Goodbye

Per after the show:

EUROPE BYE BYE. Yep, this tour ended tonight in style with a most magnificent concert at Scandinavium in Gothenburg. If you were there I’m pretty certain you had a good time. We certainly did!!!!

I have to pinch my arm all the time convincing myself this awesome band actually is playing my songs. My Gosh, they’re so good, I’m not worthy! I’ll cherish this tour forever!!

Thanx also to the adorable crew who’ve been with me working on so many different projects over the years. You’re the best! Couldn’t have made it without you!

And…last but not least… thanks to all of you who supported PER GESSLE’S ROXETTE + this tour from Day One + came onboard to give your love + support (+ voices) to make it happen. Big bold promise: new adventures ahead!!!! No rest for the wicked! Keep it up! Lots of love from P.

All pics in the article are taken by Patrícia Peres.

 

Per Gessle’s Roxette – Oslo, Norway – 15th November 2018 – #19

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We reached the second to last show on this tour so fast. Unbelievable! In Oslo we found the longest queue waiting for the doors to be opened at the venue. One line was waiting for the balcony seats, another line for the standing area. Both lines were really long. The doors opened a bit after 7 pm and you could see most people were heading either to the balcony or to the bars, so we could easily reach the front row downstairs, in front of the stage.

Sentrum Scene is a cosy venue. It was full already at 8 pm, even if the concert started only at 8.30 pm, without a support act. And what a concert it was! Who would have thought that this would be the gig that beats all the shows before?! Norway! You showed how to do it! Awesome sing-along crowd and a most fabulous band headed by PG in toptoptop shape!

The Look was a blast already! Not only Per and the band were rocking on stage, but the audience also rocked big time. Loud sing-along, clapping, shouting. One could feel it would be an awesome show. After TL, Per told the crowd it’s so nice to see so many people and that it was quite long ago, the last time he played in Oslo, he can’t even remember. He asked if anyone remembers and someone shouted 1995. Could be. During his talking, the crowd was cheering him all the time. Amazing!

MATAH was beautiful and the audience was not afraid to cheer Helena and applaud her. Then Per started talking about Capri 1993, but while he was doing that, he started fighting with the plaster on his power chord finger. It looked quite healed, but certainly, the plaster must have been irritating, so it had to go. After he could get it off, he threw it towards Magnus, who picked it up from the stage, walked to Per and threw it on him. It was much fun! Then Mr. G mentioned the 6-week-long recording in Capri and they performed CBB. One must love it when the whole crowd sings along. And so loud! When they finished the song, Helena and Per hifived each other and people in the crowd were clapping and shouting. Per said, if anyone wonders, the title came from Elvis Presley’s Jailhouse Rock.

After the photographers left the pit, Åsa came and she was filming a lot from the pit, from the sides of the stage, she filmed both what was happening on stage and also the crowd a lot. Then it was time to party, which with this crowd was even better. DFS was the next song and then came SGNO. The whole audience was clapping loud and Chris played In The Hall Of The Mountain King as the intro to the song. The ladies and gents did an ass-kicking performance and the audience was very much a part of it. This is the song where most of the times something extra happens during the gig. This time the supercool extra was that Christoffer’s hat fell off stage towards the end of the song, but Åsa caught it and gave it to Per. Per put it back on Christoffer’s head, but when Chris went to the back, to Andreas, he put it on Per’s head. Haha. Mr. G kept the hat on his head until Chris and Andreas finished the song in their most rocking style. Then Per put the hat on Christoffer’s head while he was still on his knees. Then Per ”styled” his own hairdo a bit with a huge smile on his face. That smile was actually there during whole night.

              

PG then talked about his good day in 1990. Åsa was there sitting in front of him, filming it. He said he woke up one day and found a cute note on his piano saying ”Hej, din tok, jag älskar dig” (Hello, you fool, I love you). He had to marry his girlfriend after seeing this note. It was lovely to see Mrs. Gessle’s reactions, how she was smiling when Per talked about her. After writing Joyride in the morning, PG had a lunch break, ate Swedish meatballs and mashed potatoes and then he wrote another song, SMT. It was also wonderful and Helena got a huge applause from the audience.

IGYC sounded beautiful, just like STT. Before the latter one Per talked about Nashville. The crowd enjoyed both songs so much, they clapped loud and cheered the musicians up on stage. Per showed thumbs up to them after STT.

Swedish hillbilly IHAPIMH was much fun to hear again. Then Per said he suggested  84 songs to the band to rehearse. Magnus said it was 92. Per said Magnus has 3 favourite songs, I think he mentioned 2 from Norwegian artists/bands and then IMHBL, which he didn’t want to play on tour. The crowd was singing along during the whole song and they were very loud.

OppNox and TBL kicked ass! Then Mr. G asked Magnus about the ’90s. Magnus said it’s hard to remember the first half of the ’90s, because he was born in 1991, but he remembers the second half. He remembers something regarding Per and him and Paul Waktaar and Magne Furuholmen from 1998. Per couldn’t remember anything. And they went on with FLAF, which also became a loud sing-along session.

Then it was DMS’s turn. Fabulousness again! And you could see Christoffer’s shirt might not survive the last gig of the tour, since it’s more and more torn.

The band presentation let the crowd cheer and applaud every band member. Per said they are wonderful people, almost all of them. Haha. After Mr. G finished the introduction, Chris said they are 8 on the stage, but Per introduced only 7 of them, so he went on: ”Song, guitar and especially many many very good songs, Per Gessle!” Then came the teaser to HDYD. We were singing, but Per took over quite early. Anyways, both HDYD and Dangerous were ass-kicking too. It was hard to see the whole gang leaving the stage after that.

The crowd was so loud stomping, shouting, clapping that PG & Co didn’t have any other choice than to come back on stage a few minutes later. Helena was singing QOR perfectly and Joyride was much fun not only to sing-along, but also to see what’s going on on stage. Duracell bunnies all around! Helena sat on the edge of the stage in front of us and was animating the crowd all the time.

The gang came back for a 2nd encore after a very short break. Micke N-S brought Per his guitar and Mr. G was teasing him with getting further and further to the other side of the stage to make MNS walk more before he took the guitar from him. Haha. Per thanked the crowd for the fantastic evening. Then it was LTYH and TSHTSG. Magnus was swinging a lot during these songs, but also the whole band seemed to enjoy themselves very much.

If I have to mention one thing I didn’t like, I say the lights. The spotlight was many times on someone else vs. the one who was singing. Otherwise the whole gig was TOP! I was thinking hard about my priority list regarding the concerts I saw on this tour. I had Hamburg on top of my list so far, but last night it changed. Oslo is the winner! Let’s see what happens in Göteborg!

Setlist:

1. The Look
2. Milk And Toast And Honey
3. Crash! Boom! Bang!
4. Dressed For Success
5. She’s Got Nothing On (But The Radio)
6. Spending My Time
7. I’m Glad You Called
8. Small Town Talk
9. I Have A Party In My Head
10. It Must Have Been Love
11. Opportunity Nox
12. The Big L.
13. Fading Like A Flower
14. Doesn’t Make Sense
Band presentation
15. How Do You Do! (in a medley with No. 16)
16. Dangerous

Encore
17. Queen Of Rain
18. Joyride

Encore 2
19. Listen To Your Heart
20. The Sweet Hello, The Sad Goodbye

Per after the gig:

OSLO ALRITE! Yea, amazing gig tonight. Thanx a million to all you wonderful people in the audience. So loud, so proud!! Really beautiful! Could be the best gig so far on this European Tour??? Maybe? Crazy tight band, very relaxed and yet really really powerful. Have to love this! Norway, a treat to be here! See y’all next time. Love from P&Co.

All pics in the article are taken by Patrícia Peres.

 

Per Gessle’s Roxette – Helsinki, Finland – 12th November 2018 – #18

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The Helsinki gig last night was actually a delayed concert. The Per Gessle’s Roxette tour would have reached Finland already on the 3rd November, in Espoo, but the date had been rescheduled 2 months before, end of August and the venue had also changed to the culture house in Helsinki. You could exchange your tickets for the rescheduled date. I remember I was very disappointed, because I had already booked everything (flights, accommodation /non-refundable, why not… 2 month before the date nothing can go wrong…/) just 2 or 3 days before the announcement was published. It was my decision to book everything the way I did, so no one to blame for it. Then I thought, oh whatever, I could still add the new date (12th November, Helsinki) to the list of shows I could attend, a bit more losing on other flights I had also already booked for the Swedish shows after the original Finland date and the Oslo-Göteborg leg of the tour, it would still be worth booking. Then a long long long long long ”discussion” with Ticketmaster started regarding exchanging the tickets. First of all, when you don’t live in Finland, it’s very difficult to reach them. No direct phone number, no direct e-mail address. So you turn to social media, send them a message on Facebook and get an automatic reply including a phone number. Winning! Then you call them, but the number doesn’t work. You try to contact them on social media again, but all the time you just get the automatic message with the same content. Then for the xth time when you write, they get back to you and ask ”How did you hear about this? Did you receive a message of the reschedule? Did you have any instructions? There is no information in the event info.” Facepalm. THEY sent out the e-mail about the change with almost no information on how to exchange the tickets and they don’t know anything about it. Awesome. Some more messages exchanged and we finally get to the point. They realize that the date had indeed been rescheduled so they suggest me to reach the nearest outlet. Hello! I live in Hungary, bought my ticket online, the nearest outlet is hundreds of kilometers away from me. Any other suggestion in the 21st century? Oh yes, you finally get an e-mail address to which you have to send your order number and they exchange the ticket. Great! All discussed regarding the seat I had for Metro Arena in Espoo. That was the very first ticket I managed to buy right at the very first minute the ticket sales started. Front row middle. They assure that I can get the same seat in the new venue. Fab! Then I send the e-mail with my order number. Days pass, no reply… I get back to them on Facebook. Any news? Yes, I should receive my new ticket shortly. Great. I get an e-mail one day later with the new ticket. In the 4th row. Aha. Back to them on Facebook telling them there might be a misunderstanding, they promised to exchange the ticket for the same front row middle seat as I had for the original venue. And that shouldn’t be a problem, given the new venue is even wider than the originally planned arena. Sorry for the inconvenience they say and send new ticket 1 more day later. To the very side of the front row. I know, I know… First world problems, but once you agree on something I hate it when they don’t keep their word and think you’re stupid or something. I tell them it’s still not the same ticket. They say that’s the best they can offer. I then realize Helsinki doesn’t want to cooperate with me and tell them I would rather ask for a refund then. I thought then they might change the ticket to the one we agreed on, but no, they said OK, they send my money back. Oh cool. See the best lesson on how to lose a customer. You would think it happened only to me, but no. Once the event was rescheduled, they didn’t show the seatmap on the website, you could only see the ”best available ticket” option which was 3rd row. Those who live in Finland and went to an outlet to exchange their tickets they said that the first 2 rows in the middle were greyed out. So Ticketmaster simply kept those tickets reserved for who knows whatever reason. Similar issue we had in Stockholm regarding the seatmap. No seatmap available, only best available ticket option and since the very first minute the tickets went on sale in March many fans were checking the website daily, even several times daily to see when they would release the front row tickets in the middle section. It happened only a few days before the concert. Who understands that? Anyways, I’m just a marketeer, not a sales person, but I would certainly change the customer care system and some other things in the business model at Ticketmaster.

Sorry for the long intro. Longer than what I’ll be able to write about the show itself. 😉 The doors opened for the concert in Helsinki at 7 pm and the gig started at 8 pm. There was no change in the setlist, so the gang entered the stage and started to play The Look. The crowd left their boogie shoes at home, they all remained seated. Actually, 2 girls stood up, but the security team then asked them to sit down. Still, one could feel the audience had much fun listening to Roxette’s evergreens and Per’s solo gems. They were clapping very loud and singing along too. You could clearly hear them doing so during IMHBL. This is also a way one can enjoy a gig and still show a high level of enthusiasm. It was only during Joyride when slowly but surely everyone stood up and from then on they didn’t sit back and waited for PG & Co to get back on stage for the 2nd encore. Yaaay!

The stage was very low and it was also very close to the front row, you could reach the band members who by the way were in top shape. Lots of smiles and interactions among the ladies and gents on stage. Åsa joined Per for the Finland trip and she also recorded some parts of the gig. DFS is already online on GessleHomeVids. Hope to see some more footage. Evgeny recorded TSHTSG.

Now only 2 shows left! Get your tickets if you haven’t seen this wonderful gang on tour yet! 😉

Setlist:

1. The Look
2. Milk And Toast And Honey
3. Crash! Boom! Bang!
4. Dressed For Success
5. She’s Got Nothing On (But The Radio)
6. Spending My Time
7. I’m Glad You Called
8. Small Town Talk
9. I Have A Party In My Head
10. It Must Have Been Love
11. Opportunity Nox
12. The Big L.
13. Fading Like A Flower
14. Doesn’t Make Sense
Band presentation
15. How Do You Do! (in a medley with No. 16)
16. Dangerous

Encore
17. Queen Of Rain
18. Joyride

Encore 2
19. Listen To Your Heart
20. The Sweet Hello, The Sad Goodbye

Per after the concert:

HELSINKI. Yes, this band is still groovin’ better and better for every gig!!! Thanx everyone for showing up this cold and rainy Monday night. You certainly brought a lot of sunshine!!! No blood on stage this time (hahaha) + got a couple of days off before Oslo on Thursday so my finger will surely mend. See y’all there!!!! Cheers, P.