When Kent made their long-awaited return, they did so with a rarity from 1995: The song "Stenbrott" from their debut album, which was released almost to the day 30 years ago.
The group continued with more songs from the 1990s in quick succession without any small talk before Joakim Berg finally took the stage and thanked the audience for their love.
I don't think you understand how incredibly grateful we are that you're here. I love you. We haven't received this much love in almost ten years, he said, and was met with even more love.
Pearls and Ghosts
But the cheers turned to brief boos after the next sentence:
This is a highly temporary resurrection. We're all too old to mess around with this for several years to come.
The concert began with a ghost on the big screen before the music started, and the big screen played a major role in the scenery, where short film clips, including one featuring actress Vera Vitali, were shown while the band's beloved songs got the audience dancing.
Not least when the Tiktok-viral "Pärlor" was played to the great joy of all younger fans.
After about an hour, the band members Joakim Berg, Sami Sirviö, Markus Mustonen, and Martin Sköld left the stage – for a costume change, it turned out when they returned, shining and glittering from head to toe, unlike their earlier darker clothes.
Sing-along and Confetti
The hit songs continued to roll out, including "Musik non stop", "Kärleken väntar", and "La belle epoque" before Joakim Berg returned with a new thank you to the audience and the final song before the encores, "Förlåtelsen".
When the band retook the stage, the energy in the arena reached a new level, and during the final songs, no one was sitting down. After nearly 40,000 people sang along to "Sverige", Kent rounded off their comeback evening with "Mannen i den vita hatten (16 år senare)".
There were no closing words from Joakim Berg after the final song. The persistent cheering, after white confetti rained down over the audience, spoke for itself.
The evening's concert was the first of six during the week's comeback, which takes place at the same venue where the farewell took place over eight years ago.
Stenbrott
Ingenting någonsin
En timme en minut
Om du var här
Kevlarsjäl
Hjärta
Socker
Romeo återvänder ensam
Pärlor
Var är vi nu?
Utan dina andetag
Musik non stop
Kärleken väntar
Ingenting
Dom andra
Jag ser dig
Innan allting tar slut
Den döda vinkeln
La belle epoque
Förlåtelsen
Encore:
Sverige
999
747
Mannen i den vita hatten (16 år senare)
Kent will perform six shows at 3 Arena, March 21-23 and 25-27.
Kent consists of Joakim Berg, Sami Sirviö, Markus Mustonen, and Martin Sköld. The band has released twelve studio albums since their debut in 1995. All except the first topped the Swedish sales chart.
Their most played songs on Spotify are: 1) "Utan dina andetag", 2) "Pärlor", 3) "Dom andra", 4) "Sverige", 5) "La belle epoque".
