After 1 day off, the band travelled to Norway, actually almost to the end of the world, Trondheim. The weather forecast said it would be raining all day, so we got prepared for a poncho party, but fortunately, the forecast changed every hour and in the end, believe it or not, the rain started falling only half an hour after the gig ended. Yay!
When we got to the venue, no one was waiting in the line. That’s Norwegian style, we expected it to be like this. We went to drink something at a restaurant nearby and I asked the owner how big Gyllene Tider in Norway is, because I knew that Sommartider is a big hit in the country, but other than that I had no clue. I also know that the last time GT played live in Norway was in the beginning of the 80’s. The owner said they are very big, mainly their 80’s hits. Good! After 5 pm people started queueing and from the line we could see the band arriving at 17:45. The gates opened at 6 pm and we thought it would be the easiest entrance ever. Haha. It wasn’t. We started walking in, but then the security guys inside showed us a long long way uphill that we should go further there, because the closer way was for the VIP and fast track people only. Gosh… Then I realized that there was another entrance and people were let in through that too. That was a fun running race for some of us uphill then downhill. But we could still reach the best spots in the front.
This time there was a Norwegian support act, a band from Trondheim, The Kids. There are some similarities between them and GT. E.g. they were founded 40 years ago, they broke up, but had a comeback in 1996, there were 5 guys and 2 girls on stage etc. BUT… they were a bit surreal. The singer changed his stage outfit for each song, so once we could see him as an Indian, then as a cowboy, etc.There was one point when a ”nurse” – a guy in a weird mask came up on stage and tried to give an injection to all members of the band. Then I started thinking: ”what the hell is that I’m seeing…?” Oh well. At least they were entertaining. The singer anyway looked like a Steven Tyler wannabe. Some of his actions / moves on stage made me think, if only Per would do that or this, but… that will never happen. Haha. Oh and they played for an hour!
After they left the stage, the crew had 1 hour to remove The Kids’ instruments and stage elements and set up GT’s stuff. The stage was very small and there were no 5 screens in the background, but 1 bigger this time. I was wondering how the projection would look on that setting. They could manage it quite well. The GT40 sign with the star in the middle they projected as if there were 5 separate screens, but during the songs most of the projections were complete big pictures in the background, not divided into 5 parts. There were 2 screens on the sides as well, just like in other venues before, for showing those in the back what’s happening on stage and also showing the audience every now and then.
Per talked in Swedish of course. It’s still so cool that Norwegians and Swedes can understand each other’s languages so well that they can speak their own and the other will always know what they are talking about. After Juni, juli, augusti Mr. G greeted the crowd and told this is GT’s last verse, the tour is getting towards its end. He asked the people to sing along if they knew the lyrics.
The audience was loud, but not really a singing-along crowd. They shouted and cheered for the guys and girls and the songs. They were very good at that.
A certain songwriter wrote 2 complicated lines in Flickan i en Cole Porter-sång. It’s not the first time the Jumbo-taxi lines are either mixed or changed to some nanana singing. Last nite it was the latter and it was great to see that PG got over this so easily. Always lovely to experience such differences. Those 2 lines sounded cool this way too.
It was a bit cold and Per was constantly sipping from his ginger tea while on stage. I think he was even chewing on ginger. You know, some chew on guitar picks, some on ginger. But it was so strong he started coughing. And his voice slipped a bit on Tuffa tider. It felt that it was because of the cold. I do hope that he drinks enough ginger tea anyway, not that he gets a cold or influenza again at the end of the tour. Stay strong, Per and keep your voice safe! 2(+1) gigs to go! 😉
The band presentation was a bit different vs. all the gigs before. Micke Syd was so excited to be in the front in Trondheim that he forgot to introduce Per. Haha. But his intro talking to Låt denna trumslagarpojke sjunga! was fun and I was impressed by the fact that he didn’t have the lyrics sticked on the stage floor now, but he sang the song without any mistake. Norway do you good. Yeah! The finger smacking and swinging worked well on parts of the crowd. Looked good.
The lighting and projection timings were not on top last night. The band members remained dark quite some times and the projection for example for Puls was still on while it was already Flickorna på TV2 playing. It wasn’t disturbing though. Those who saw the show for the first time didn’t even realize there was anything ”wrong”.
The setlist was the 21-song version, but this time there was only 1 encore. After the gang came back on stage Per asked the audience if they wanted more, if they weren’t freezing, if there were no mosquitoes. The latest mosquito gigs remained memorable for him for sure. Haha.
It was all worth the travelling to this show on one hand because of seeing the differences vs. the other concerts on tour so far, on the other hand seeing that the band gets better and better at each show. They were so much in harmony with each other and their playing was top!
Åsa was there and filmed many songs, but she couldn’t get to the front too easily because there was only a tiny space between the stage and the front row.
One more gig in Norway, the second to last show on tour will happen in Fredrikstad today. Time flies when you’re having fun!
Setlist
1. Skicka ett vykort, älskling
2. Juni, juli, augusti
3. Det hjärta som brinner
4. (Hon vill ha) Puls
5. Flickorna på TV2
6. Vandrar i ett sommarregn
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
11. Låt denna trumslagarpojke sjunga!
12. Kung av sand
13. En sten vid en sjö i en skog
14. Ljudet av ett annat hjärta
15. Ska vi älska, så ska vi älska till Buddy Holly
16. (Kom så ska vi) Leva livet
Encore
17. Det är över nu
18. Gå & fiska!
19. När vi två blir en
20. Sommartider
21. När alla vännerna gått hem
All pics in the article are taken by Patrícia Peres.
TRONDHEIM. Hurra vad kul vi hade igår kväll i Sverresborg. Skönsjungande, högljudd och märkbart lycklig publik + supertajt band = Pent!
Gyllene Tider har inte spelat i Norge sen början av 80-talet och det är faktiskt helt fantastiskt att låtarna fortfarande lever kvar. Tack alla.
Ikväll blir det åka av i Fredriksstad. Be there or be square.
As we already informed you about it in an