Per Gessle has recently done two interviews for Swedish papers – one for Expressen in early November and the second one for his hometown magazine Hallandposten by well-known Jan-Owe Wikstrom. As we cannot really translate the whole piece due to copyright issue, so we picked up only those parts that we found extremly (or less extremly) interesting.
We have 70 concert scheduled for the next year so far, so as we finish this tour we will have done over 150 concerts and be seen of more than 1.5 million people. But you cannot be sure as the tour is constantly growing.
Well, I’m going to celebrate Christmas in Halmstad. But before and after we will working in the studio to complete the new album.
The tour will continue in the same great pace until October 2012! Guess it is 50-60 more gigs after Perth. Though these are not official yet. Logistics should be resolved, hairdos should be done etcetera.
Last years have made me a little calmer and I do not take my work so seriously anymore. For example I have hardly any great ambition to top the lists anymore, which was obvious to me 20 years ago. I just want to follow my gut feeling and have fun. Furthermore, the music industry is not as magical and exciting as it was when we started.
Should I mention a specific country, so it is probably Germany. We’ve been playing 15-16 gigs there this year and there seems to be an almost inexhaustible love between Roxette and Germany. Amazing response everywhere. But of course, nothing beats playing in South America! It is always noisy – 500-600 crazy Rox fans who meets us at the airport, TV crews everywhere and police who are trying to control everything. Feels like we were in a The Monkees episode. Lovely.
Without our fans all this would not be possible. They stand outside hotels everywhere and they are absolutely wonderful. Flowers, gifts, photographs and poems are given with love. And exchanged for autographs and quick snapshots with their mobile phones. There is never a problem.
After the tour’s end in October 2012 we certainly take a break. I think Marie would like to make her own album and I’m always busy with a thousand things at once. It would be fun, however, to keep the band. This is the best band I’ve ever played in, I long to every show!