Roxette at SnowpenAir – a Swiss Roxer’s diary

You could already read and hear about those 3 hardcore Swiss Roxers – Cathérine, Karin and Jörg – who were lucky enough to enjoy Roxette’s soundcheck on 5^th April and be part of a once-in-a-lifetime ROXperience last weekend. If you don’t know who they are, watch the soundcheck video (“HDYD soundcheck. Snowpenair….”) Per shared on Roxette Official, Facebook on 7^th April. They are the ones who are jumping the most in the “crowd”. 😉

One of the 3 lucky fans – Cathérine Frei – has written her “diary”, which I thought is worth being shared with you to make it possible being part of the happenings via her stories. Here it comes. (Beware, it’s hardcore! 😉 )

ALMOST UNREAL – A Roxette fairy tale in the Swiss Alps

What a fantastic, out of this world weekend trip! Words can hardly describe the experiences and feelings we had during those two days. One thing is for sure: Moments of such happiness make the world go round in everybody’s lives. For those among you who like Roxette fan stories, I have tried to sum up the vastness of all my impressions of those two days in early April 2013.

Day 1: Train ride and rehearsal

“Luck” is the first word that comes into my mind when I think of the experiences of the day prior to the concert. Extreme luck made one of the most awesome moments in my life as a diehard Roxette fan possible. Why had my two friends Karin and Jörg and me decided to stay in Grindelwald? I have no idea, it was more or less a random, and a very LUCKY decision to stay there and not in one of the other surrounding villages. We travelled there quite early, a plan of which I actually was not too fond of, but LUCKILY Jörg wanted to do that. If we had ridden up later, the opportunity would have gone. When we arrived there, LUCKILY Karin checked Facebook on her iPhone and saw Per’s post about their sound-check plans. So we quickly ran to the train station in order to hurry up to Kleine Scheidegg! LUCKILY, the whole gang was there, waiting for the next train. So, we experienced a train-joyride with Roxette. Up at the mountain, we placed ourselves just outside of the railway station, where you have the overview of the venue and the stage. We observed how the gang slipped down to the stage, which looked funny but stylish. Put ‘em on, put the big boots on? Forget it! Except Christoffer, they were all wearing light summer shoes. As an exception, I am merciful and defend Per with his own words: They are from the South of Sweden, they are not used to this. Check the respective video on Roxette Official if you want to hear this perfect excuse from the man himself.

They started rehearsing with Dressed For Success, and we were singing, jumping and clapping up there, at the mentioned place. Surprisingly, the festival ground was accessible, but decent as we are (supposed to be), we did not dare to go down, closer to the stage. We feared maybe they would feel disturbed by us. A bit later, a few skiers and two other spectators were sliding down and stopped a few meters in front of the stage. Bojo was around and tolerated it, therefore we had the impression it was alright to go down. Nothing could stop us anymore and we literally jumped down that snowy ground, while we were singing and shouting. We all must have looked extremely silly. The three of us celebrated Roxette’s sound-check, which was actually an entire rehearsal, just a few meters away from the stage, jumping, dancing, singing, going crazy. It was unbelievable. And it was reassuring to see Bojo’s grin in his face when he watched us, so we knew that what we did was fine for them. As they rehearsed for almost an hour with actually no real breaks in between the songs, it almost felt like a small concert without a crowd but with tons of space for jumping and dancing in the snow. I thought I was dreaming, it felt like everything was surreal. Here are three funny or interesting details of this rehearsal:

« Per once said “thank you”, but we could not figure out if it was out of sheer routine or if it was directed to us. I assume the first mentioned is the case 😉

« Before Perfect Day, Marie said: “This is a test (for) Perfect Day”. It sounded a bit as if she wanted to say that she’s not fully convinced that it will work out fine. With no reason – she sang it like a goddess.

« The rehearsal ended quite abruptly with the transition between How Do You Do and Dangerous, of which we were not so sure if it worked properly or not. Maybe that was the official rehearsal version 😉

Later, we took the Roxette-Express back to Grindelwald again. On that evening, we were completely over the moon and floating through space.

Day 2: Concert

We could not act any different than taking the first train up to Kleine Scheidegg, arriving at 8.00 am, what enabled us to capture the pole position at the ground entrance. Of course it was cold, but we were not freezing, so it was much more pleasant than expected. At the time of entrance, also known as the heart-attack moment, we fortunately managed to run down the snowy ground to the stage fast enough to position ourselves exactly where we wanted, “front-row middle-left”. I am very pleased to say that I also enjoyed two of the other acts, which played before Roxette. Hanery Amman, a Swiss rock and blues singer / songwriter / piano-player veteran, was really entertaining and his music was spreading good mood and a warm, lively atmosphere. One Republic was strong as well, I liked their performance, they seem to be versatile and talented musicians.

Then it was time for our darlings to hit the stage! I stop narrating in the chronological style at this point of my text, since everything that would follow now would be a repetition of hundreds of other Roxette concert stories. I guess my writing skills are not sophisticated enough for inventing new ways to describe the enthusiasm that every diehard fan knows very well. Therefore, let me just stress one thing in particular: It was more than obvious that Marie, Per and the whole band were extremely excited to play together again. Sheer joy, fun and happiness were visible in all their faces throughout the entire gig. Per was smiling and radiating like the sun. Same with Marie, her smile was breath-taking. After Perfect Day, she was very moved, fighting with tears. The atmosphere on stage led to a great magic between the band and the audience, so that also the less dedicated fans and other visitors were evidently simply captivated. As far as I could judge it from the front-row, the main part of the audience sang along very loudly and fervently. It was noticeable that Marie, Per and the band absolutely loved this moment, on that stage, at that snowy gig, here in beautiful but foggy Switzerland. But it is clear: There is only one sun in our solar system, and this sun had to be Roxette in this moment.

Cathérine Frei, Zurich, April 8^th, 2013