Mid May it was announced that Gyllene Tider would be one of the performers at an event organized by OBOS, Norwegian housing construction group. The association organized the event at the roof of the Opera in Oslo for the fourth time this year and all revenues go to child and youth care. The venue seemed to be an exciting one and I soon decided that this concert can’t be missed. I was not alone. Tickets got sold out in only a couple of days and that meant 8500 people would be there to see GT.
Gyllene Tider was not the only band for the night. 3 other acts were to perform before them: Ina Wroldsen, Timbuktu & Damn! and The September When.
I remember when we met Per on our way from Trondheim to Fredrikstad, we talked about the fact that we would also attend the gig in Oslo after the GT40 tour was over. He said that actually, they would play 2 shows in Oslo. Haha. Too bad that we couldn’t be there at the first one, because it was a closed corporate gig. OBOS celebrated their 90th anniversary and for that reason they invited their employees and partners to celebrate it at Telenor Arena in Oslo the day before the Opera roof event. GT hit the stage after A-ha and Timbuktu, at 23:00 CET and played for an hour. What I loved is that during all other acts (even during A-ha) the audience were still sitting at their gala tables, having dinner in between the acts, but once Gyllene Tider appeared, they rushed to the front and stood there during the show. Cool! They performed: 1. Skicka ett vykort, älskling; 2. Juni, juli, augusti; 3. Flickorna på TV2; 4. Kung av sand; 5. Ljudet av ett annat hjärta; 6. När vi två blir en; 7. Sommartider; 8. När alla vännerna gått hem.(Maybe more songs too, but they are not confirmed.) After seeing the set, I was very curious how it would be the next day.
18th August was to be a cloudy, rainy day and even if the sun was out during half of the day, unfortunately, when it was time to get to the Opera, huge, grey clouds started gathering. Thousands of people were entering the area at the same time at 4 pm and everyone tried to find a place with a good view. We aimed for the front, as close to the stage as possible. Oh well… The closest possible was appr. 20 m far from it, with water between us and the stage. Haha. We were prepared for that as we already checked some previous events’ photos, but seeing it in person… Hm. Anyway. We still thought it would be a fun night.
The event started at 5 pm and all 3 acts before GT performed for 1 hour and then there was a 30-minute-long setting up for each upcoming artist. The artists were getting to the stage through a little bridge and so we saw Per and Co. walking through some minutes after 9 pm. They were to perform between 9.30 and 11 pm.
The rain was on and off, so we put our ponchos on and off. During the band that played before GT, the weather got quite OK, so we prayed it stayed like that, but… we weren’t lucky. Once the Pink Panther Theme was on, it started raining and it was one hell of a rain. We held up a banner during the opening song: ”SISTA DANSEN! VI ÄLSKAR ER!”, but I’m not sure anyone saw that from the stage being it dark, far and raining. Haha. Whatever… we tried. 😉 The raining stopped after some songs, but after 1-2 songs without rain it started pouring again. Then in the 3rd third of the show there was no rain anymore.
Compared to the tour, everything was different. Not just the venue, but the stage set, the setlist, part of the stage clothes. It wasn’t the same feeling as during the concerts on tour, but it felt nice being there anyway. To have an extra performance from the 5 Golden Guys and the 2 Golden Ladies and hear some songs live again. For a real last time.
The difference in the stage set was that there were no screens in the background. I mean those 5 panels were missing, so there was no projection during the songs. There were screens on the 2 sides of the stage, but that was for the crowd to be able to see the happenings from far far away, from the most distant spot of the roof of the Opera. The lights were surely not tested properly for GT, because during the whole show it was only Per who was lit correctly, but Micke Syd, Göran, Dea and Malin-My stayed hidden in the dark. Also Anders and MP didn’t get too much light. It was better to follow the screens on the sides than the stage. Somehow the camera recordings looked much better, with more light.
The guys and girls performed 17 songs altogether. One of the biggest regrets was that they skipped Det kändes inte som maj and things weren’t the same without Tuffa tider and Micke Syd’s stand-up part, as well as his singing of Låt denna trumslagarpojke sjunga! Missed it badly. The band presentation came after Flickan i en Cole Porter-sång and this time after Per introduced all members, Micke Syd stayed behind his drums and introduced Per from there. There was one encore and Per didn’t change his clothes to the white set. Det är över nu wasn’t played, but all other encore songs from the usual 21-song tour setlist were.
The best working songs on the Norwegian crowd were again När vi två blir en and Sommartider. The audience (joining the other 2 Norwegian crowds on tour) was not the loudest when it came to singing along, but they were cheering, shouting and clapping heavily. Some groups were even dancing. For the jumping, the roof of the Opera is not the most leg-friendly place, because of the sloping surface. No need to go to the gym for a while after you were jumping on that roof. I won’t. Haha. The acoustics of the place was great by the way. The water must have helped it too.
The concert ended with När alla vännerna gått hem. Micke Syd took a black towel with him and put that on the edge of the stage to sit on it, not to get wet. Per thanked the crowd for coming and said it was fantastic to play for them. I prepared another banner for fun which said: ”U CAN DO IT, PER! THROW YOUR PICK! :)” Referring to the big distance between the front row and the stage and having water in between. We held it up at the end when they were taking a bow, because usually after the bow Per throws his remaining picks from the mic stand to the crowd. Last night he didn’t do that. During the concert he threw some picks while playing, as if they could reach the other side, but the closest flying pick still landed at least 3 metres too far from the front row, in the water. The picks stayed on the surface for a short while, but then they sank. Hopefully, there won’t be plastic pollution headlines with the belly content of seals or cormorans. Just kidding of course, but if any fan feels like diving for 4-5 picks, they are still there in the Inner Oslofjord. Haha.
All in all, it was a real fun happening in Oslo and it was nice to see Per, Micke, MP, Göran, Anders, Malin-My and Dea again for one last time. We’ll miss them!
Setlist
- Skicka ett vykort, älskling
- Juni, juli, augusti
- Det hjärta som brinner
- (Hon vill ha) Puls
- Flickorna på TV2
- Vandrar i ett sommarregn
- (Dansar inte lika bra som) Sjömän
- Flickan i en Cole Porter-sång
BAND PRESENTATION
- 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
Encore
- Gå & fiska!
- När vi två blir en
- Sommartider
- När alla vännerna gått hem
All pics in the article are taken by Patrícia Peres.
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!
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.