Well then there now… The Last Gyllene Tider Concert in Halmstad Forever… Makes you ache, makes you think. Is it…? Will it be…? I think it will. That saddens me, but like the old saying goes, quit while you’re ahead, right? Swedish Radio P4 Halland interviewed me the day before asking the same question, is it over now? Yes, if you ask me this was the last time Halmstad ever saw the Golden Five. I could see it in their eyes on stage. They looked sad, melancholic, distraught even. They hid it well, they are professionals of course. But so am I, I would say I’m qualified to read these emotions. I’ve been by their side, thru thick and thin for 38 years. Yes I missed the first two, I was only 10 so I’m forgiven.

Ljusdal 1981

Ljusdal 1982

I have seen every tour from 1981. I saw them in Ljusdal 1981 (did you know that Parkliv was supposed to be shot in Ljusdal?) and again on the tour premiere in Ljusdal 1982. 1984 I went to Avesta to a tiny Folkets hus and saw them there. We were what, 250 people there? That was the first time they were more than 5, they were 8 actually. Janne Bark on guitars and Marie Fredriksson and Ulrika Uhlin on backup vocals. They killed at WaWaco in Halmstad! Then they split up… My life was over. I guess, I don’t remember! But then in 1995 they came back. That wasn’t a tour and Halmstad was far from here so I didn’t dare driving down on a whim so I missed Stora Torg. That however sparked something and that created Återtåget 1996, which I followed intensely, I also started the website Gyllene Tider.com together with a friend. Then they went into hibernation again and came back for the 25^th in 2004. Fun times! And you all know that they also ventured out in 2013, becoming one of the biggest tours in Europe that year. Second biggest, if I remember correctly, and that was only because some French dude gave two huge free concerts in Paris. Or something to that effect…

Many emotions ran through my head this night. I was extremely happy to be able to see the boys, to me they’re almost friends after all these years, one last time on their home turf. I was also very sad to realize, this is it. Sure, Per will come back, he always does, but it won’t be the same. Like I said to P4 – the sum of these 5 guys surpass 5 widely. I would call it When the five of us become 10! And who would have thought that now, 40 years later (40 years??) they’re still at it, and they are at it better than ever? There’s a time for everything, Anders said in 1985. He was right.

Now there’s time again. Because of that I urge to go and see this tour. Don’t think “Ah, they will be back… I’ll go next time.” There are tickets left here and there. Ullevi in Gothenburg will be the last Gyllene concert in Sweden, ever. See it! Rumor has it there are 40,000 tickets sold to date, that means you still can get in. Do it. It’s worth it. They play mainly hits, but a few hidden gems appear, such as “Chrissie, hur mår du?” and “Vandrar i ett sommarregn.” And who knows what else will show up. I doubt the set list is locked yet. I wouldn’t hate “Gyllene Tider för rock ‘n’ roll” of course. Or Anders’ favorite song of all times “Demon Emptiness.”

Halmstad 2 was miles apart from the opening night. Better weather, of course, and a better band. Why is that? Most likely the nerves and again, the weather. I read in Aftonbladet that they cut the opening night short due to the members freezing their a**es off on stage. That I find very believable. What doesn’t make sense in that though, is that this concert was the exact same length, in sunny weather… Yes they changed “Sommarregn” for “Chrissie” but no more additions. And in Malmö yesterday they removed “Vanliga saker.” Back to the concert in Halmstad. MP looked like a million bucks smiling almost constantly. Fritte was again cool as a cucumber, while Anders looked sharper than ever in his suit. As always, Per started out as the man in black, later changing into the man in white. And also Mr. Syd was the man in black tonight. They all looked happy, and why not? 11,000 people loved them unconditionally!

Syd’s number with the little drummer boy is extra pleasing, with him asking Per to turn on Syd 2.0, the drum machine, then dressed up in a sparkly coat. Per sits there on the drum podium strumming his ukulele. Priceless, he’s a great performer our man Syd.

Funny how they today almost look like a Swedish dance band (look it up), when they tried so hard to be punk rockers in the beginning. Punk rockers with nice haircuts due to Mamma Syd’s hairdressing skills! By the way, Micke had a perm done during the Moderna Tider tour, it went fairly bad, so that’s why he started wearing a watch cap during the gigs.

The backup girls this time are Malin-My Wall and Dea Norberg. They sing backup vocals and Malin-My also plays the fiddle and the accordion. Gyllene uses backup girls much like Tom Petty did when he did his final tour. A homage of some sort maybe?

Gyllene Tider usually has nice stage designs, this tour is no different, I touched it in the other article. Very nice, huge, screens behind the boys, showing things in the lyrics mostly, but also audience images. And as normal, there are video screens to the left and right which show the band to the major part of the audience. To top it off they have a truly cool Gyllene Tider logo on top of the stage!

Kai-Uwe was at the concert together with me. It was nice to meet up! We had problems with our photopasses so there aren’t that many photos from this concert. What we have is from our phones.