Archive for July, 2009

Evgeny’s story from Jurmala!

The following story is written by Evgeny who joined the Roxette performance at the New Wave Festival on tuesday. Read about his adventure in Latvia:

I don’t know, how long my story will be… Time will show.
Everything has started this spring when I with my Bulgarian friend Emil considered a trip to Jurmala. But we considered so long that the cheapest tickets were sold out. And the date was closer and closer, and there were a few tickets day after day. And a couple of weeks back they were sold out too.
But one day, purely casual (though casual is not casual at all) I entered a Website seeking for tickets again, and luckily there were tickets of 20 Latvian Lats (25 Euros). Then I didn’t think for far too long. I had to get my ticket in Riga in the Congress Hall. As a result, I had only bus tickets from Moscow to Riga and back.
On Tuesday morning, on July, 28th, I arrived on the Riga bus station without any adventures at all. Went to an exchanger, therefrom to the Congress Hall. At last I had my ticket to the show.
I had a little walk across Old Riga on foot and then I went to the railway station. I went to Jurmala by electric train. In half an hour I arrived in the Dzintari railway station. I thought that Roxette had already arrived to Latvia and had already checked in the hotel. But I didn’t find them in the hotel. There was only Soso Pavliashvili, a quite famous Russo-Georgian singer.
Then I went to my hostel in the centre of Jurmala where I slept and after that I ironed my evening suit. I went to Dzintari concert hall back to look at celebrities on the red path. I came in time. After 5 minutes C&C, Jonas and Pelle arrived in a van there. I had only time to cry out their names and greetings in Swedish. Someone noticed me. Then there appeared cars with Gessle and Dimberg, and then with Marie and Mikael. There was a big distance between me and they and therefore there was no possibility to greet them.
Then I went to buy a red rose which I wanted to present to Marie personally. The question was – how to do it?
Having come back I met Vlad – a fan of roxette from Latvia and a friend of mine. We went to watch how roxette rehearse their songs. It was not clear, whether Per sang live or it was pre-recorded. After some minutes the gates were open. I said goodbye to Vlad. At the beginning I stood near the left camera. But when securities asked the visitors to leave to another place, I started to search for a vacant seat in a VIP-hall. I found it precisely in the 8th row, near to that place where I stood. My impudence was unlimited at that time, and I went thru the VIP-guests, making my way to the treasured seat.
At last I saw Alla Pugacheva, a huge Russian star. But from all our Russian singers I really liked the performance by Lev Valeryanovich Leshchenko. Such a fantastic performance! He is a real gifted performer!
Of course I often found myself being bored while the whole hall clapped to and praised the Russian music stars. I was absolutely impudent that night. Smiley
And then at last roxette assemblers ran out on stage. Then Christoffer, Clarence, Jonas and Pelle appeared. Presenters announced that there will appear the idols of millions of fans. I cried: ROXEEEEEEEEEEEEETTE!!!!!! All VIP-guests jumped up from their seats. Wink Then Per and Marie walked on stage. Silence. I cried again: Marie, I love you!!! It was visible and audible, that the whole hall started to laugh. I was very happy to see Marie and Per together again!
Roxette started with The Look. I cried out: She’s got the look! Smiley
Marie tried to rock the audience that night and Per stamped his leg in his manner. It was very funny. The people here and there stood up and sang along.
Then the darkness fell and the first accords of Listen to your heart started to spread around the concert hall. In my opinion, it was the best song in their performance that night. In the end Marie made a new pose. I had a sense that Marie would burst into tears. Very powerful!
The third song was It must have been love. On the screen there was Igor Nikolaev, another Russian famous male singer who started to tick his step in the song. And the last song was Joyride. At the very end of this song I pulled out my fading rose from a pack and started to make my way towards the steps leading the stage. Roxette finished the song, the securities did not pay the slightest attention to me. I confidently went towards Marie. Shares of seconds I stood near to her while she thanked the audience for their applause. And then I told Marie that the rose was from me personally and that I loved Marie very much. I was on the seventh sky… Marie embraced me, and I kissed her on her cheek.
Then I heard Gessle saying: Hej man! I did not expect at all  that he would pay any attention to me. We shook hands. And in the end I shook hands with Christoffer. The night of handshakes, the kiss and embraces.
When the concert ended, I went to the side stage. But it was clear that Roxette had already left to the after-party and unfortunally I had no invitation.
Nevertheless I arranged a small after-party to myself – I bought a bottle of Fanta, added some ice into the glass and went to a bar where there was an “online” broadcast by Latvian TV channel LNT. They, by the way, showed all 4 songs.
Next day I spent in Jurmala. I took a stroll on this small town. And then I went to the beach. I bathed in the Gulf of Riga. Had burnt there completely. Smiley
So this is how my two days in Jurmala passed. Simply great they passed!


Tylösand Hotel’s 41 million SEK profit.

Even now Per Gessle and Björn Nordstrand, owners of Tylösand Hotel, cannot complain about theirs profits – Hallandposten informs.

According to Dagens Industri the hotel’s last year’s turnover was over 162 million SEK, while net profit landed on 41 million. Because of the recession and fewer bookings, comparing to 2007 profits decreased by 10 from 51 million SEK.

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On the backstage – photos.

Follow this link Vipi.lv to find several photos of Marie Fredriksson and her husband Mikael Bolyos on the backstage on New Wave Festival in Jurmala, Latvia on July 28.

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On the red carpet (updated)

Here are some photos from the red carpet in front of the concert hall in Jurmala: Mango.lv & intelligent.lv

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Another two videos from Jurmala

Another two new videos from New Wave can be found on RoxRoom site or direct links. It’ s Listen To Your Heart and The Look. Enjoy.

Pelle Alsing in Jurmala.

Picture can be found here: intelligent.lv

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Roxette at New Wave Festival – photos (updated)

Here you can find pictures from the Festival: TVNET, LETA, NovoNews, Delfi foto & Vipi.lv.

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Yahoo, Reuters & Expressen on New Wave Festival

Yahoo in its entertaiment section used four Reuters’ photos of Roxette from New Wave Festival 2009 taken by Ints Kalnin from Latvian Entertaiment photo agency. One more photography from yesterday’s opening night was found on Reuters website.

One of these pictures was used in Expressen’s article about Roxette’s comeback, but in a little different edit.

Source: UOL Musica

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Roxette’s soundcheck.

zaharenkov posted on Twitter one photo of Roxette’s soundcheck yesterday.

Roxette's soundcheck on New Wave Festival 2009.

Source: Twitpic

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First video from Jurmala is up

The first video of Roxette’s performance at the New Wave Festival in Jurmala is online. The quality is rather poor but still good enough to tell that both Marie and Per obviously had some fun together! When Marie arrived in Riga she told the TV crews that she wants to “have fun”. You can see that HERE, fast forward to minute 27. According to several websites they played four songs – Listen to your heart, It must have been love, The Look and Joyride and it seems that at least Joyride was either live or recently new recorded as it sounded different to the album version from 1991.

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Roxette arriving in Latvia

Check out the first pictures of Roxette arriving at the airport of Riga, Latvia: TVNET gallery

Source: Christa at RTR forums

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TV5, LNT & Rossiya to broadcast the opening night

Rossiya and LTN TV-stations logos. Three TV-stations are going to broadcast the opening night of New Wave Festival from Jurmala in Latvia.

- Latvian TV5: New Wave Festival blog: 17.50-18.00 (+02.00 GMT), Red carpet: 18.00-18.30 (+02.00 GMT), Concert: 18.45-21.50 (+02.00 GMT)
- Latvian LNT: 20.35-23.50 (+02.00 GMT)
- Russian Rossiya: 22.00-01.15 (+03.00 GMT)

(Updated) You can try to watch TV5 in these two online streams: 1 or 2. No idea if it’s going to work tomorrow, though.

Updated on July 28: Russain music station MY3 is going to broadcast 30-minutes report from Jurmala at 20.30 local time (+03.00 GMT) every day from today till August 2.

Thanks to Evgeny (Ivanych) & Christa @ R2R. Special thanks for useful links to stuey121 from TDR board.

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New Wave Festival day.

11.00-17.30: Participants and artists’ rehearsals at “Dzintari” Concert Hall.

15.30: New Wave Festival press conferance before the opening night show at Jurmala Spa Hotel (ca. 30 minutes)

15.00: Participants and artists will ride in vintage automobiles through Turaydas street in the car parade.

17.00: Preview show.

18.45: The opening night.

22.00: VIP After Party at Jurmala Spa Hotel.

Source: Li.ru

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Roxette in Latvia

New Wave Festival
The Daily Roxette got hold of Per just before leaving for Latvia and the New Wave festival where Roxette will perform “for real” for the first time in 8 years tomorrow. Per says they are bringing C&C – Christoffer and Clarence on bass and keyboards respectively, Pelle Alsing on drums and Jonas Isacsson on guitar. Per has super-charged his Gretsch this time.

It seems Roxette will play the same five songs as on the Night of the Proms; “Wish I Could Fly,” “The Look,” “Joyride,” “It Must Have Been Love” and “Listen to Your Heart.”

Source: TDR

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Room Service Tour 2001

Room Service Tour 2001.

Live in Munich, Germany on September 28, 2001 at Olympiahalle (9,592 spectators)

Live in Stuttgart, Germany on October 1, 2001 at Schleyerhalle (6,529 spectators)
Sweepi: I have something from Stuttgart 2001, but then it’s only those 3 tracks (the intro + “Crush On You” + “Dressed For Success”) which were broadcast on German TV and made available by RoxBytes.

Live in Oberhausen, Germany on October 2, 2001 at Arena (4,975 spectators)
Part 2
Source: previously available from RoxBytes

Live In Kiel, Germany on October 5, 2001 at Ostseehalle (3,895 spectators)

Live in Leipzig, Germany on October 6, 2001 at Messehalle (8,367 spectators)

Live in Prague, Czech Republic on October 9, 2001 at Paegas Arena (6,252 spectators)

Live in Brussels, Belgium on October 22, 2001 at Forest National (8,503 spectators)
Sweepi: It was originally broadcasted by Belgian radio, 7 tracks plus 2 interviews by Marie in Belgium.

Live in Barcelona, Spain on October 24, 2001 at Palau San Jordi (7,262 spectators) EXCELLENT QUALITY (soundboard)
Part 2

Live in Dortmund, Germany on October 28, 2001 at Westfalenhalle (5,646 spectators)

Live in Frankfurt, Germany on October 30, 2001 at Festhalle (6,296 spectators)

Live in Vienna, Austria on November 2, 2001 at Stadthalle (4,728 spectators)

Live in Moscow, Russia on November 7, 2001 at Olimpiiski (12,900 spectators)
Part 2

Live in Stockholm, Sweden on November 16, 2001 at Globen (14.289 spectators)

Live in Gothenburg, Sweden on November 17, 2001 at Scandinavium (10,690 spectators)

If you have more concerts from that tour, please upload them on SendSpace or Rapidshare and share with us!

Thanks to Roxmarie, sweepi, bianca, Raëlian, @ R2R.

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