World Tour 2011: Cape Town, South Africa – May 8 #19

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Roxette is now in South Africa, where the band will play 7 concerts until the 17th of May. It was the 19th concert on the tour.

(C) Ingrid Sinclair and Celeste Saville

Setlist

01. Dressed for Success
02. Sleeping In My Car
03. The Big L.
04. Wish I Could Fly
05. Only When I Dream
06. She’s Got Nothing On (But the Radio)
07. Perfect Day
08. Things Will Never Be the Same
09. It Must Have Been Love
10. Opportunity Nox
11. 7twenty7
12. Fading Like a Flower (Every Time You Leave)
13. Stars
14. How Do You Do!
15. Dangerous
Band presentation
16. Joyride (no traditional tune)

17. Watercolours in the Rain
18. Spending my Time
19. The Look

20. Way Out
21. Listen to Your Heart
22. Church of Your Heart

Photos

Heidi’s Flickr, Vittorio D’Amico, Capetown.travel, Michael Ashley Currin, Msn.com

Videos

Misc

– Christoffer asked which song to play before “Joyride” on his Facebook page for the very first time during this tour. It was the second gig on this tour – beside Minsk on March 12, where Christoffer did not play any traditional song as there was no time for rehearsals.

– Roxette was a trending topic (TT) on Twitter yesterday while they were playing in Cape Town!

– 7,000 people attended the gig

Reviews

Iol.co.za

IT IS easy to see why organisers of Roxette’s South African leg of their Charm School world tour had to add an extra gig to their Cape Town schedule. The Swedish popsters had fans rocking to a number of their old hits and a smattering of new material.

The first concert took place yesterday in Cape Town, Grand West Arena, and Heidi van Rensburg has sent us a report of the show. Have a nice read!

My fascination with Roxette started when I was 12 years old back in 1989. When I received a ticket for their C!B!B! show in Cape Town for February 1995 I was ecstatic! With South Africa that became a democratic country as recently as 1994, we had no international bands come to our shores before, but Roxette had the determination and courage to visit here. And what a show it was!! I could not believe that they were actually performing live on stage in front of me.

Unforgettable and priceless….I remember Marie asking the crowd in the stadium of about 30 000 people to sing Happy birthday to Per as it was his birthday on that day. After that show I promised myself that if I ever had the opportunity to see Roxette live again, I would grab it with both hands!!

When Per announced the world tour dates on 2 November 2010, I had to read twice to realise that they would include South Africa in the tour. I was beside myself and bought my ticket within the first 5 minutes of release. With the tour dates growing my amount of concert tickets also grew. I ended up with tickets for 4 out of the 7 shows in South Africa. My opportunity finally came in 2011 to see my favourite all time band live again.

Here is a snapshot of my concert experience.

8 May 2011: Roxette live in Cape Town.

Excitement was in the air. Sound check alone through locked closed doors sounded amazing. Per and Marie with the Roxette band played to a sold out show of 7000 tonight. All the classic Roxette songs were played like at the other shows so far, with “Stars” replacing “Silver Blue” as in South America.

The 3 new songs “Way out”, “She’s got nothing on” and “Only when I dream” were performed and sounded really fantastic live. The same energy as on the album is somehow also carried through to the live concert. With a front row spot I really were treated a professional pop/rock concert. The almost two hours flew by way too quickly. Ms Fredriksson’s performance was exceptional. I refuse to post a live clip of the concert as no live clip will ever do justice to Roxette live on stage.

A Swedish camera team were recording some of the songs (and I don’t know how confidential this is) and we were told that they are making a Roxette Comeback documentary and they are planning on recording one of the upcoming live shows later in the year for a live DVD release.

My evening just got better when two of my girlfriends and I had the opportunity to meet the whole band as well as Per and Marie after the show just as they were about to depart back to their hotel. Totally unexpected and by chance this happened. It was great to meet these legendary superstars in person.

One thing is for sure: the band is in top form and are really fit. I as a 30 something struggled to keep up at their pace! I really applaud Marie for doing this after so many years away from the world stage. It must have been such a daunting challenge to make this comeback. And what a comeback!

Per Gessle has this amazing gift to write really great music and together with Marie they just create and deliver something called “Roxette-ism addiction”. I’ve been an addict for 22 years and I can’t seem to kick this habit. Per and Marie, I hope you are thinking about the follow up to “Charm School” because this Joyride is far from over!

Ok, one day to rest and then back for concert no 2 in Cape Town!

31 thoughts on “World Tour 2011: Cape Town, South Africa – May 8 #19”

  1. Thanks Heidi : ) Loved reading the part about a Roxette comeback documentary & live DVD!! Would LOVE that!! Gosh I hope they filmed some stuff professionally in South America while they were there.

  2. Well, that was kind of predictible that if they decide to do a DVD from this tour, it should be recorded in a place that:

    1) has a strong fan base
    2) people are wild (don’t know if SAfricans have the same attitude as SAmericans; and yes, no more Sweden for a while, people are really bored there with Rox
    3) has more than 1 or 2 shows – Cape Town and Sun City are perfect locations, though I would rather see Buenos Aires show to be honest 🙂

    They have recordings for few of the shows as in BA or Montevideo there were screens on the concerts. So these recording can be used in a documentary, but not as a DVD (two or three cameras are not enough).

    Happy to have initial confirmation that they are doing something in this case. They did not record a video for STM, but well, it just shows where the music business has the biggest potential these days – in concerts and live recordings.

  4. I think I was misunderstood slightly. The live dvd is not shot in South Africa despite our …..lack of attitude. It is also not shot in South America. It will be recorded in the near future. South Africans might not go as crazy as the South Americans but we certainly do have respect for Roxette and would not dare overwhelm them by singing so loud that they have to stop causing Marie to lose her place in the song etc. All in all a great wonderful experience. Some pics of last night: http://www.flickr.com/photos/heidi-capetown/5701284483/in/photostream

    • Heidi, I think you misunderstood my words. I was just asking about SAfricans being wild or not – not that it was a statement that there is “lack of attitude”. SAmericans are just special with their energy and devotion – just asking if SAfricans are similar or not 🙂

      Thanks for claryfining with this DVD. So… maybe it will be live from Germany? Berlin 12/6?

      • What was the traditional song that Chris played before Joyride?

        Update: now I know that Chris did not play anything before Joyride. It’s the second time on this tour – the first one was with the Minsk concert.

  5. Thanks for the report. Heidi is right about the live clip will ever do justice to Roxette live on stage. I was so shocked when I saw them a month ago (can’t believe time files that fast), that they’re more than Rock band than the pop band. They just sounds amazing, more than I expected, but I still don’t mind checking those fan vids on YouTube 🙂

  7. Thanks for your report, Heidi! I hope the comeback docu gets an international release in English. DVD shooting in Berlin would be cool! With the Zitadelle location as a beautiful backdrop reminiscent of the Borgholm castle. But there are many beautiful spots in the tour plan. I guess open-air is preferred over a hall for filming..?

  8. In my opinion is easier to get better sound and pictures in the halls, but well, pictures always are better with open-air shots.

    • Thanks Heidi. Do you know where to look for clips from the concert? Do you use You Tube or some other websites to upload clips?

  12. @Tomasz we also normally use youtube, but I also see nothing. I did not record anything last night as I was way too busy enjoying myself at the concert 🙂
    I will try my best to get some clips tomorrow evening and send you the link once uploaded.
    Some fans might still upload later….everyone is back at work today so I guess they are preoccupied.

  13. @Tomasz there is also a rumour going around that the video for Way out will be recorded live. Not sure if this is going to be during the SA leg of the tour.

    • Well, that was my guess few weeks ago, so now when you say that you heard people talking about it – it’s just another reason not to post comments here as Per reads everything hahaha 🙂

  16. I also thought that a live recording would be a great idea for the Way out video: shows real energy (no actors) and it is surely cheaper, since they have to do the show anyway:)

    • But do Roxette have to think in cheaper/expensive categories? They don’t have to have Jonas A. on every video, there are many great directors who would work for more reasonable price 😉 Anyway, it’s up to them to decide what suits them better.

  17. Hmm, I guess many people thought/think that a Way Out live recording would be the easiest choice for a new video. That was my guess, too. And it has nothing to do with thinking in cheaper/expensive categories. It’s just the easiest way. I guess they are not really interested in making video-shoots inbetween the concerts which is understandable. And why should they if they have such an option. And by the way, I’m pretty sure it would become a far better video than SGNO, just by showing how great Roxette are, playing live! I’d love to have a video like Run to you. Gessle video material mixed with live material. C’mon!! 😀

  18. Very nice story Heidi! Thanks for sharing! I can understand you perfectly because many of us lived a nice experience like you, when you meet your favorite artists, those you were following since you were young, that’s priceless

  19. It seems Heidi tends to misunderstand the others quite easily. First, being enthusiast has nothing to do with being disrespectful, they’re different things. I’ve been to 3 concerts (Montevideo and both Buenos Aires gigs) and I can say people supported/cheered them in a way I’ve never seen before. The Per/Marie/band’s feedback was 100% possitive, and I didn’t see them uncomfortable.

    Regarding Marie losing her place in the song… It was her who invited the audience to sing “Spending my Time”, and when the audience stopped singing, she just didn’t know how to follow. She looked at Per, looking for help. It was then when the people sang the rest of the chorus, so the band could start playing. As simple as that, it was not the people’s fault. We all know she forgets the lyrics sometimes.

    By the way, the concert is the right place/time to show all your enthusiasm. That’s a more sane than booking a room at the same hotel, or chasing them all over the world in order to get your 100th autograph/photo, like some people do.

    • Not to sound negative because this is a very happy positive time for us, but I don’t appreciate that you say I misunderstand others quite easily. I don’t see why we are going off topic with this now so I will refrain from getting into anything negative here. I simply refuse to.
      If you can’t add something positive rather keep it to yourself thanks 🙂

      • Well, it was you who wanted to draw a comparison between South Africans and South Americans, which sounded quite derogative. I’ve been at the concerts and you can be sure the attitude of the people was respectful from beginning to end. Bye.

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