Five weeks and 19 gigs later, hundreds of thousands happy concert goers, a band that just won’t quit… what’s left to say? The concert at Brottet, the third on this tour and the last one forever (in Sweden) if everything goes according to plan, was a blast. 10,000 people saw the band pour their hearts out. Fritte and Syd looked really sad, MP looked as happy as he has the whole tour, while Per and Anders looked like their normal, confident selves. In a sense it would be better if they started the tour this week, since during these 19 gigs they have gotten So.Much.Tighter. than at the start. And that’s not to say they weren’t tight back then either! What an ensemble! Funny detail: it had been raining cats and dogs all day in Halmstad, but just in time for the concert, it stopped. That old MP magic worked again… The opening act Chris Kläfford was sick so he had to cancel his part of the ending. Christof Jeppsson then stepped in and took over, as he did the opening night. He did a very solid, albeit still nervous, performance.

Gyllene performed basically the same set list as always, but went out on a limb and opened the gig with “Vill ha ett svar!” the Tom Petty cover from the Swing & Sweet EP in 1981. Of course that was totally unexpected and very appreciated. The song was an explosion. Of course it being Gyllene Tider, they didn’t just add that song, they switched out “Vykort” instead. Can’t have the concert too long!

The concert went on with few surprises. More about the no surprises in the interview with Per which will come along shortly. Long time friend Niklas Strömstedt stepped on stage and helped out on “Marie i växeln” which made the audience go even wilder. The song in itself isn’t great, but it always works out very nicely live. Niklas wrote the lyrics together with Per “in 1912.” The song itself was released in 1980-’81 so there was a slight hiccup with EMI I guess. But in this case they didn’t remove “Det kändes inte som maj” due to the adding of “Marie.” So there’s that!

The second surprise of the show wasn’t as nice. Per took what looked like a nasty tumble and disappeared in “En sten.” He came back up immediately, and went to get another guitar as presumably the black Gibson ES-335 got damaged, or out of tune. 

Micke Syd did his last performance as the singing drummer boy with flair. He talked a lot, but he’s allowed as he actually is quite funny. This last time he admitted that he had stolen the sequined jacket from someone I forget the name of at “Diggiloo.”

After the first encore the boys (men?) came back on stage for the final encore. They didn’t look happy, knowing that this was it. They did however perform “När vi två blir en” and “Sommartider” as if their lives depended on it! Fritte looked really sad while playing “När vi två blir en.” And when the songs were over, and only one song was left Per thanked the crew, the audience and everyone else he could think of, the fans held up notes saying TACK on (thank you in Swedish). That made the whole band flabbergasted. Even Per, the no-nonsense, hardened artist as he is looked sincerely touched. It was an amazing sight and an amazing moment. Anyway, they performed the last song ever, and both Syd and Fritte cried, as well as big parts of the audience.

Thank you Anders, Göran, Mats, Micke & Per, it’s over now. You done good lads, you done good…

The Final set list

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)
Flickan i en Cole Porter-sång
Tuffa tider

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

Billy
Det är över nu
Gå & fiska!

När vi två blir en
Sommartider
När alla vännerna gått hem