Marie’s tour: Västerås, 12th April #17

Yesterday Marie and the band rocked Västerås big time!

The first row was again mostly full of fans, but there were some also in the other rows, which probably helped to keep the mood happy and loud throughout the whole concert. Of course, the band was awesome and Marie was in a very good mood, so all this were the perfect ingredients that made the Swedes want to join the party. And they did already on song #2. After a few shows where we had to wait until towards the end to see some action, I was pretty surprised and felt so happy for the girl and boys on stage. They seemed to be happy with the response as well because they were all smiles, proud smiles.

Of course, Efter stormen was the song where really everybody (not only the fans) stood up and clapped and sang along, but you could see that in many other songs as well. Even the people at the balcony were standing and having fun, and Marie saw that and waved to them with a big smile. At some places we have seen skeptic or a bit angry faces when we stood up to some songs, but yesterday the audience seemed to like that. Like the 70-something ladies in the first row who had a blast; or the 4-6 Swedes that were sitting in row 2 who first looked shocked when we stood up but at the end thanked us in the first row for spreading the fun; or the two mid 50 ladies in the first row who were faster standing up than some of us!

The craziest rockiest song was Mellan sommar och höst. The audience was already standing up when Marie walked out to the stage again and everybody went wild with the amazing guitars and Marie’s rocky voice.

This concert was also the last one for many fans and Marie and band knew it, so they gave special attention to the ones on first row. Specially during Tro when everybody hugged and moved to the rythm of the song and many of us were all tears she gave those looks of hers to many of us. At the end, she also made sad faces to some of the fans she knew were saying goodbye to the tour yesterday night. It was not possible to  hold back the tears, it is actually also not possible as I am writing this now. It has been so special… the love tour 🙂

Some fans had prepared flowers and a card for Marie to thank her for the great tour. Many fans had signed it and Anne gave it to Chris at the end of the show. The fans who waited for Marie after the concert explained that Micke had thanked them for coming to the concerts and said that fans turned the tour to something completely different and special and he added that the reviews were all very good because of that.

By the way, Clarence was in the audience yesterday night.

So now it’s just 2 concerts left: Luleå and Umeå. Those who are going to the last shows will surely give our best and party until the end!

Setlist (no changes)

1. Så stilla så långsamt [1992 – DSR]
2. Kom vila hos mig [2013 – Nu!]
3. Bara för en dag [1987 – ES]
4. Det regnar igen [1992 – DSR]
5. Sista sommarens vals [2013 – Nu!]
6. Ber bara en gång [1996 – IETSV]
7. Sparvöga [1989 off the Swedish drama TV series]
8. Ett hus vid havet [1985 – DSV]
9. Ett bord i solen [2007 – TFT]
10. Så skimrande var aldrig havet [1990 off Taube compilation album]
11. Ännu doftar kärlek [1984 – HV]
12. Så länge det lyser mittemot [1992 – DSR]
13. Om du såg mig nu [1987 – ES]
14. Efter stormen [1987 – ES]
15. Den sjunde vågen [1985 – DSV]

16. Mellan sommar och höst [1992 – DSR]
17. Den bästa dagen [1985 – DSV]
18. Tro [1996 – IETSV]

Articles

VLT

Marie interviews before Gävle and Västerås concerts

Gefle Dagblad (GD) & Vestmanlands Läns Tidning (VLT) did e-mail interviews with Marie before the concerts in Gävle and Västerås.

GD.seStefan Andersson from GD asked Marie about the tour and Marie said it’s been better than she ever dared to hope for. The special memory she will take with herself from the tour is the audience’s immense response. To the question which her most beloved song is now she replied “Sista sommarens vals”. The reporter asked her if she would perform “Sparvöga” och “Ännu doftar kärlek” if the audience would be crying out for them. She said they don’t even have to cry out for these songs.

GD asked Marie about how it is working so closely with Micke. Miss Effe said:

“Wonderful! We’ve been working together for so long now, both in the studio and live. He’s an awesome musician and songwriter.”

Regarding her plans for summer she informed she’ll go on vacation and have a rest. Recovery after the tour.

To the question when we will see Roxette again she replied soon, she hopes. Also mentions that her favourite song from The Look era is Dangerous, because it’s so great to perform it live.

She also said that it’s an honor that they are among the first ones in The Swedish Music Hall of Fame.

Regarding Gävle, she remembered Roxette performed there in Folkets Park, in 1987 and it was great one for them.

 

 

vlt.seSylvia Kadri from VLT asked Marie about how tough the tour is and if there are any tricks to get into shape before the concerts. Marie said they play mostly during the weekends so she recovers herself during the week. Walking, sleeping and eating well. And she gets an enormous energy from the band and the audience.

To the question how cancer changed her life Marie replied she takes everything easy and tries to avoid any kind of stress. She is grateful that she lives and feels joy in so many things that she previously took for granted. She said as an artist she changed like it takes longer time to write music, but her voice has matured and gotten a different depth. To the question what she is doing to keep herself healthy she replied she takes it easy. Eating, sleeping and spending time with family and friends are very important.

The reporter asked her what is inspiring her nowadays. Marie said the nature. She loves sitting in her garden and listening to the birds this time of the year.

Regarding what music she is listening to she said Joni Mitchell remains important in her life and Jimi Hendrix is always with her. Rufus Wainright is a new inspiration for Marie.

She didn’t want to talk about her big dream projects, but the future is more about resting than hectic tour life. Now she is looking very much forward to summer.

 

Marie’s tour: Gävle, 11th April #16

Marie played the 16th concert of this tour in Gävle tonight. I started to realise during the concert that it’s only 3 concerts left after this one, so I kept telling myself ‘only three times left to enjoy this song’ or this moment… this is going to be a hard after-tour blues!!

The concert was… you guessed it! Amazing!

The front row was fully taken by fans. I could change our 5th/6th rows we had gotten via Ticnet for 1st row tickets a few hours before the concert thanks to very nice staff at the concert hall. Sometimes one just has to ask! It turned out some other fans had asked as well to switch seats because we were all sitting there (it would have looked quite weird if nobody would have sat there, weird ticketing system…).

So it was the first row mainly who stood up as always. This time, though, I didn’t have the feeling that the audience wasn’t into it but the other way around. They reacted to what Marie said and joked about and also when they heard the first tunes of songs like Sparvöga, Ännu doftar kärlek or Tro.
And they did partly stand up at Efter stormen and rocked along at Mellan sommar och höst. The version of this song played tonight was probably one of the rockiest of the whole tour!!
Amazing guitars tonight, by the way. I think even Marie thought Chris and Jokke were superb tonight judging by her reaction and face.
Micke changed the intro of Tro a little bit and it’s simply beautiful.
And Marie left us all with our mouth open with Så skimrande… wow!! I am always amazed by her powerful voice!

One if the anecdotes tonight: Pelle had started to play the drums for Om du såg mig nu when somebody (Chris, Micke?) shouted for him to hold on. Marie was to speak! She introduced the song as the one which is dedicates to her dad.
She sang this song with a lot of feeling. She always does of course, but I felt tonight was extra deep and special.

Some fans had paper hearts that they held up during Tro. Marie also got flowers from some fans.

Tomorrow: Västerås!

Setlist (no changes)

1. Så stilla så långsamt [1992 – DSR]
2. Kom vila hos mig [2013 – Nu!]
3. Bara för en dag [1987 – ES]
4. Det regnar igen [1992 – DSR]
5. Sista sommarens vals [2013 – Nu!]
6. Ber bara en gång [1996 – IETSV]
7. Sparvöga [1989 off the Swedish drama TV series]
8. Ett hus vid havet [1985 – DSV]
9. Ett bord i solen [2007 – TFT]
10. Så skimrande var aldrig havet [1990 off Taube compilation album]
11. Ännu doftar kärlek [1984 – HV]
12. Så länge det lyser mittemot [1992 – DSR]
13. Om du såg mig nu [1987 – ES]
14. Efter stormen [1987 – ES]
15. Den sjunde vågen [1985 – DSV]

16. Mellan sommar och höst [1992 – DSR]
17. Den bästa dagen [1985 – DSV]
18. Tro [1996 – IETSV]

Articles
GD.se
Arbetarbladet.se (Note to the reporter: just so that you know, Rox fans are very well aware that this is a Marie SOLO tour and don’t expect to hear any Roxette during the concerts. We are there to see Marie live with her Swedish master pieces)

Gyllene Tider’s energetic company gig

Yesterday (better said today) at about 0:45 am CET, out of the blue there was a post on Roxette Official written by Per that Gyllene Tider gave a 1-hour-long concert at Berns in Stockholm. My first thought was: WTF? I’ve just come home from there and now they are playing in the city? Then I realized it must have been a company gig. And it was. GT’s first ever. The association they played for is Dagligvaruleverantörers Förbund (DLF). The firm held its annual meeting at Berns and they also celebrated their 45th anniversary. They mentioned on their Facebook page GT was a world-class entertainment and those were truly golden times yesterday (“Det var verkligen Gyllene Tider igår.”). Lately we can be sure it is worth working at a huge Swedish company or association. Earlier Roxette on an Oriflame meeting and now this.

 

 

Per himself shared the setlist on Roxette Official (still nothing on GT’s FB site, however, there are surely many GT fans who are not reading the posts by Roxette):

1. Juni, juli, augusti
2. Det hjärta som brinner
3. Puls
4. (Dansar inte lika bra som) Sjöman
5. Marie i växeln
6. Ljudet av ett annat hjärta
7. Ska vi älska, så ska vi älska till Buddy Holly
8. (Kom så ska vi) Leva livet
9. Tylö Sun

Extra:
10. Gå & fiska!
11. När alla vännerna gått hem

”Extra extra due to the extremely loud noise from the very generous crowd”:
12. Sommartider

 

We could only see some photos on Instagram from this event, but thank God someone shot a video, too and shared it on YouTube. You can see how energetic (Kom så ska vi) Leva livet was. Wow! They played only half of the amount of songs they played on tour, they didn’t have any rehearsals, only a quick sound check before the show, but the guys performed just like in a fully packed arena last summer. As Per says, these songs are in their DNA. True. They need a tour again!!! We need it, too!

 

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rphC_MH1ZMA

 

Thanks to Miss Dimberg, there is also a photo and a video (part of Puls) posted by Per on Roxette Official. DLF associates, I hope you know and appreciate how lucky you are!

 

Special vinyl of ‘The Look’ to celebrate USA #1 25th anniversary

per marie 25Warner Music Sweden revealed in a press release sent out yesterday night one of the surprises Per was talking about on FB that would happen on Record Store Day.

‘The Look’ will be released again on a special limited edition 7″ vinyl on April 26th. The vinyl will be red and few copies of the single will be available (number not known yet).

The reason for this special release?  ‘The Look’ reached number 1 in USA on April 8th, 1989. That is, 25 years ago!

Per and Marie celebrated this occasion yesterday night after Marie’s show in Stockholm and even got a cake for that.

But stay tuned, one more surprise seems to be on the way in this day.

per marie 25 - 2 per marie 25 - 3

Pictures by Karin Törnblom