May 2015 - Page 2 of 4

Roxette XXX Tour – Paris, France (Olympia) – May 26 – #33

May 31, 2015May 27, 2015 by Judith

rox olympia Roxette played in Paris last time in 1992. That is 23 years ago! That is definitely too many years, actually, if the records are right, Roxette only played twice in France/Paris, once in 1989 and the last time in 1992.

During the day I had been thinking about the show and what to expect. I was curious to see how the French audience would react for various reasons. Roxette having played here last time so many years ago, not really being present in the charts for a while. I had no clue how French audience is at concerts, would it be fun and sweaty like in Spain or more on the quiet side like in Sweden? And it was in a theatre, which meant seated. So lots of questions that were to be answered later that day.

Eskobar started at 8 pm and played the set that they’ve been playing during this tour. One could indeed feel that they have an audience in France, some people were singing along and a lot more were clapping. It was a great warm up, but somehow people still felt a bit quiet. Would it stay like that? Not really, that was about to change. As soon as the venue went dark and the Roxette-intro music started to sound, one could feel the excitement building up and when the first chords of “Sleeping in my Car” started to sound the audience went wild, people stood up immediately, some of those who were sitting in other rows even tried to get to the front, and people were singing very loud. The concert wasn’t going to be seated after all!

After just two songs, the whole place felt very hot, that was going to be a fun night! And everybody on stage was just crazy and happy. I don’t know what they expected from the sold out show. I was positively surprised by the response of the audience and I had the feeling Per and Marie and the band were too. The sound was awesome (even though Marie sounded very low, and it was not her fault neither the fact that people were singing very loud), that is the positive thing about small concert halls made to enjoy music. It reminded me in a way of the concert at the Beacon in NY, both the great sound and atmosphere.

IMG_0292-1 Marie, who was wearing white outfit and black jacket and tie, was laughing a lot, making eye contact with the known faces, and oh! her voice! It was awesome. I don’t know what she did during “Watercolours in the Rain”, but it was one of those moments when you realise (for the 1012912th time) why you just love this band so much. Goosebumps all the way! It’s hard to describe how she was singing, but it was so touching and jazzy and wow!

Magnus, Chris and Dea were also having lots of fun and Per jumping and running and bouncing as we know him and torturing his shoes (which, by the way, I realised are very flashy and cool, the sole is very elastic, maybe to make the bumping easy on his knees? I wonder how many pairs he needs every tour…!).

When Per told the story about Magnus’ favourite album, Magnus asked the audience which album they loved most. One could hear that “Joyride” and “Look Sharp!” got the most “votes”, matching the time Roxette was the most successful in France. Before “It Must Have Been Love”, Per asked Marie if she was ready and she said “I am always ready”, which made the audience and Per smile. Yeah! One could see during the whole show that she enjoyed the music a lot, especially Chris playing guitar, and connecting with Dea a lot. It is just an incredible feel-good feeling to see a band that is having so much fun on stage, playing, dancing, teasing eachother and interacting this way, not only with the audience but also among themselves.

Chris chose to play an Edith Piaf song as an intro to Joyride and he got a nice response from the audience. After all, Édith Piaf is one of France’s national divas! “Joyride” was incredible and pure fun, and “The Look” was a great ending of the show. You gotta love Chris going crazy with the guitar, it sounds just terrific! The whole band was in top shape and the audience didn’t stop jumping and singing during the whole night.

Per mentioned the fact that they hadn’t played in Paris since 1992 during the show and he asked how many had been at their last show at Le Zénith back then. A few raised their hands, and while Per was looking at the audience to see who had been there back in 92, he added a fun note when he saw some kids among the audience, saying that they weren’t even born back then. Such a long time! IMG_0315-1

Just like the concert in New York in 2012, this was a very special evening in a special place with lots of history. As Per mentioned in this post on FB, the Beatles played there back in 1964, and so did Édith Piaf and many others, a very legendary place. I think one of the best things were the big red glowing letters announcing Roxette “old style”. How cool is that?

PARIS UPDATE: Oui!!! What an evening! Thanx everyone for making this gig so special. What a great venue, lots of history. Can you believe The Beatles played here 18 days in a row (or something) back in 1964? And Chris played an Edith Piaf-song by heart tonight!!! So special for all of us. We had a blast in this beautiful city. See y’all next time. How about tomorrow in Amsterdam???? Love, P&Co.

All in all, it was a very positive surprise and experience. French fans showed they still love Roxette even though they haven’t been around for a while. And it was a great proud happy feeling to turn around and see so many people standing and having fun at a Roxette concert, in Paris! Let’s hope they don’t have to wait that long till the next show!

After the show, many fans stayed around to chat about the show. Many agreed that this had been a magnifique concert, maybe one of the best they had seen, and that it would be great to see more Roxette concerts in such venues and more relaxed settings. There is no need to queue for hours, which is not only great for our backs and feet but it means we are full of energy for the concert (we are not 20 anymore … ;)), and the atmosphere in such places is just awesome.

Videos

Articles and photos

Instagram: 1, 2, 3

laparisiennelife.com
concertmag.net
loeilduspectacle.fr

Setlist

Sleeping In My Car
The Big L.
Stars
Spending My Time
Crash! Boom! Bang!
Crush On You
She’s Got Nothing On (But The Radio)
The Heart Shaped Sea
Watercolours In The Rain / Paint
Fading Like A Flower
How Do You Do!
It Must Have Been Love
Dressed For Success
Dangerous
Joyride

Extra:
Listen To Your Heart
The Look

Per Gessle’s ”12 Peaks of Now” on Nordic Rox

May 24, 2015 by Patrícia Peres

When we heard about the Twelve Peaks show on Nordic Rox, we thought there would be at least one Twelve Peaks bonanza per month. The essence of the show is that Per Gessle chooses 12 songs according to the actual topic and he and Sven Lindström are discussing them. The first 2 shows were shared by Sven in February 2014. More than a year later, now he was kind enough to share a third program, this time via Sandra Knospe. Huge thanks for that!

At the very beginning of the 3-hour-long show (you can download it by clicking HERE), as well as at 00:34:00 and at 00:51:10 Sven is announcing his guest, Per Gessle and tells we will listen to the 12 peaks list of contemporary music that Mr. G grooves to right now. Per joins in at 00:59:20 and is on until 02:15:32.

Sven says he gave Per the choice to pick his 12 New Wave favourites, but in order to be hip and appear groovy, he chose contemporary songs instead. They named this part as ”Twelve Peaks of Now” since Sven couldn’t come up with a better title. Per jokes the title could have been ”12 peaks of what’s in my lunch box”.

At the time of recording the show (early March 2015) Sven said Per was in the middle of picking up ideas for the new Roxette album.

Per’s reaction to that was:

Most of the songs are already done, but I can change my mind.

Regarding how songs are influencing him he said:

I try to listen to lots of things, lots of different things. I mean I didn’t invent the wheel, I let myself be influenced by certain sounds or certain ideas or certain structures in songs.

They are also talking about the upcoming Roxette album. Remember, the show was recorded early March. PG says:

I started writing the new Roxette album half a year ago. Then of course we went on tour. We started touring in October in Russia and the Baltic countries and we just came back from Australia. In early May we start our big European tour over the summer with almost 40 shows in Europe. So this recording, this new album, we’re doing it when we’re at home. Which is like good and bad. The bad thing is that it’s very easy to lose focus, because you’re in the studio for a couple of weeks than you go on tour for like 2 months. Then you have to go back. I would prefer to be in the studio until it’s done and then do the tour. But we can’t do that at this point. But it’s going great, you know. We have a great material and it feels really cool, the new stuff. It’s a mix of classic Roxette combined with new ideas. … It’s a much stronger compilation of material than the last 2 albums. And also I think since we started touring again in 2010 Roxette has become this sort of working machine that I like to have. I think that really pays off when you’re making new songs for the band.

Sven who heard songs off the new album thinks it’s impressive and promising, quite a step forward compared to the last 2 albums.

Sven asked Per where he gets his music tips from for finding new music. Per replied:

Most of the time you just share playlists with your friends who know what I like and vice versa. … It’s easy to get lost, it’s also easy to get bored, because you listen to so many songs that you don’t like and you sort of give it up and start watching Breaking Bad instead. You have to find a way to filter all this. But I have a few friends and we sort of share ideas all the time. You should find friends, Sven! It’s a good thing.

They are talking about the great reception of The Per Gessle Archives and demos in general. They have a deep discussion about the question if mooses are elks and vice versa. You can also hear SMS messages coming in during the conversation. It’s always so cool listening to them. They are sharing jokes, kidding each other and their conversation about music is one of the most enjoyable things in life.

Sven and Per are also talking about 1975 and Mr. L asked Mr. G where he was in ’75. Per replied:

I was still in school. I hadn’t formed my first band yet. I was struggling with songwriting. I wrote lyrics and made up melodies in my head, but I couldn’t really play anything. But then in ’76 my mother – I think it was ’76 – my mother bought me a guitar. And I started to play this sort of fingerpicking style, you know, Leonard Cohen songs and Gordon Lightfoot songs.

Then came the New Wave and he had to form his own band. He was influenced by Blondie, Patti Smith, Tom Petty etc. He always thought each Tom Petty song could have been a single.

The main thing in the show, however, is that list of 12 songs Mr. G likes right now. They are talking about the artists on the list, as well as about the songs, why Per thinks they are good or even brilliant tracks.

Say Lou Lou – Julian
Tove Lo – My Gun
Bo-Dogs – She’s Got To Go
Jungle – Busy Earnin’
Feist – I Feel It All
Röyksopp feat. Robyn – Monument
Amason – Älgen
London Grammar – Hey Now
The 1975 – Chocolate
Banks – Beggin For Thread
Karin Park – Out Of The Cage
Lana Del Rey – Cruel World

We have no idea how many Twelve Peaks have been recorded so far, but hopefully, a next part can be shared soon.

Roxette XXX Tour – Jelling, Denmark (Jelling Festival) – May 23 – #32

June 1, 2015May 23, 2015 by Patrícia Peres

roxette_in_jelling_01 — BoJo testing Marie’s heater 🙂 Pic by Christina Tholander

While Europe was busy with the Eurovision Song Contest final (congrats, Sweden!), Roxette performed in Jelling, Denmark in front of appr. 40000 people tonight. It was their first European festival gig this year, more to come during summer. The stage had a big screen on one side, so even those who were very much in the back could see what was happening on stage.

Per appeared in his white outfit, Marie chose black for tonight. The weather was quite cold and everyone was wearing jackets off the stage. Marie was shivering with cold. She was wearing gloves and a scarf, she even got a heater in front of her to keep her warm, but it still wasn’t enough. When they came back for the extra songs, she got a blue blanket to cover her legs not to get frozen. Hopefully, she didn’t catch a cold during the concert.

No matter how freezing cold the weather was, the band was on a high, Marie’s voice was amazing and the crowd was full of party people willing to sing along each and every song.

Regarding the setlist, Roxette performed 16 songs. They skipped The Heart Shaped Sea and left out Almost Unreal.

They came to the venue by the Rox Jet and were rushing to it after the show ended to get back to their warm homes as soon as possible.

Per & Co. after the show:

JELLING UPDATE: Fab gig tonite in front of 30.000 party people. Great vibe, pretty cold for Marie sitting down, but we all had a blast. Pics + vids later on, folks. RoxAir is waiting!!!
Cheers, P&Co.

Next gig is on Tuesday (26th May) in Paris, France.

Articles and photos

Instagram: 1; 2; 3; 4; 5; 6; 7; 8; 9;

newsbreak.dk: 1; 2; 3; 4; 5; 6;
jv.dk
bt.dk
vafo.dk
gaffa.dk
poplish.dk
jellingmusikfestival.dk; same on Facebook

Videos

Instavideos
It Must Have Been Love
Dangerous
Listen To Your Heart

Setlist

roxette_in_jelling_02 — Pic by Christina Tholander

Sleeping In My Car
The Big L.
Stars
Spending My Time
Crash! Boom! Bang!
Crush On You
She’s Got Nothing On (But The Radio)
Watercolours In The Rain / Paint
Fading Like A Flower
How Do You Do!
It Must Have Been Love
Dressed For Success
Dangerous
Joyride

Extra:
Listen To Your Heart
The Look

Thanx for the updates and for the photos to front row Roxer Christina Tholander!

Roxette XXX Tour – Prague, Czech Republic (O2 Arena) – May 21 – #31

May 23, 2015May 22, 2015 by Patrícia Peres

From Budapest, Roxette travelled to Prague for their 31st gig on the XXX tour. The O2 Arena is huge and we already knew there would be appr. 16-17000 people attending the show, so many fans decided to go to the arena early, to have a chance to reach the best standing places. No one expected the security check being stricter than at any airport and scanning the tickets 3 times at different check points makes no sense at all. Mainly if the guys at the third point don’t know the technique of scanning or the scanners don’t work. Then those hostesses could practice at home how to put the wristbands faster on people’s arms. Many got hold back at the last checking point this way and could enter the venue only 5-6 minutes later, which meant the best places at the standing area were already occupied, of course. Well done, O2 Arena security team. Good luck to all the Madonna fans in November!

roxette_in_prague_03 — Photo by Patrícia Peres

After a disastrous entrance, all I can say about the gig tonight is purely positive. After Eskobar left the stage, Roxette’s crew started to prepare everything for the show. When Micke N-S checked Per’s mic stand, it seemed to be quite unstable. He and 2 other guys from the crew started jumping like Per would and they saw it had to be fixed, otherwise it wouldn’t survive Mr G’s stomping. They managed to make it stable in a short time.

The concert started at 21:15 and we could see Åsa was there with the iPhone in her hands. While the photographers were in front of the stage during the first songs, she stayed on the right side of the stage and she was even dancing while filming. Too cool! When it came to Crash! Boom! Bang!, she started shooting Micke N-S and it was quite funny how they were singing the song to each other. That video I guess we won’t get to see on Roxette’s Facebook page, however, it would be fun.

This time there were 2 screens on the 2 sides of the stage to make it possible for everyone to see what was happening on stage.

Marie was in an extremely good shape. Not only her jacket, but she herself was shining and smiling all the time, interacting with the crowd, as well as with Magnus, Chris and Dea. Oh and yes, with Per, too. Mr G was in b-b-b-b-bouncing mood all night. His guitar fights with Chris and their playing next to each other were just amazing! The picks sticked too much to Per’s fingers that he sometimes threw the picks even behind himself, not to the crowd. Too funny!

Prague audience was singing along all night and their clapping was fantastic. The crowd reaction to Chris playing a local song was great. When the band left the stage after Joyride, they could hardly stop clapping, whistling and shouting Roxette! Roxette!

Before playing Spending My Time, Per talked about playing in Prague 4 years ago and asked who was there back then. Many shouted they were there and he said it’s great to see so many familiar faces. Then asked the crowd to help them out if we knew the lyrics.

roxette_in_prague_02 — Photo by Patrícia Peres

The real surprise came before they played Crush On You. Per started the usual conversation about Magnus’s fave Rox album, but tonight Magnus decided for someone else telling what her fave album was. He picked someone in the audience. Someone, who had her birthday today and it was Sandra Knospe, who is close to having her 200th concert anniversary. The whole happening you can watch in THIS video. It was undescribably amazing! What a birthday present! Per also greeted Sandra on Facebook before the show and at the end of the gig Pelle also came to her and gave her a drumhead (see the pic). Pure awesomeness!

Witnessing this whole thing I can say it would be fantastic if the band could keep this kind of spontaneity at the shows. I don’t mean wishing happy birthday to someone at each concert, but today this, tomorrow something else that fits. It would make the gigs even more enjoyable and interesting.

The setlist changed vs. the previous concert, but only at 1 point: they played Almost Unreal again. So it’s again 18 songs on the setlist.

Per after the show:

PRAGUE UPDATE: Yea, fab gig tonite. 16.200 wonderful people took the concert to new heights. We had a blast, love to come back to this beautiful city. Vids to follow in due time…. Cheers, P.

Next gig is on Saturday (23rd May) at the Jelling Festival in Denmark.

Articles and photos

Instagram: 1; 2; 3; 4; 5;

t-mobile.cz/hudba
ireport.cz
Live Nation CZ
O2 Arena
musicserver.cz
play.iprima.cz
kultura.idnes.cz
nowinky.cz
cas.sk

Videos

Intro & Sleeping In My Car
Crash! Boom! Bang!
Intro to Joyride
Crush On You & She’s Got Nothing On (But The Radio)

Setlist

roxette_in_prague_01 — Photo by Patrícia Peres

Extra:
Almost Unreal
Listen To Your Heart
The Look

Cover of “Kärleken till livet” revealed

May 21, 2015 by Judith

karlekentill_inb_low — Cover of “Kärleken till livet”

Swedish publisher Piratförlaget revealed the cover of “Kärleken till livet”, Marie’s upcoming biography, on their website and autumn catalogue. You will also find a picture of the co-author Helena von Zweigbergk and Marie on the website.

A few more details about the formats have also been published. We knew that the book will be available on hardcover, e-book as well as audio book (CD-book, mp3 format and digital download). Now we can see that the hardcover will have 330 pages and the audio book version will be narrated by Helena von Zweigbergk.

According to Piratförlaget’s website, the book will be released on October 14, 2015. The books will probably cost around 200-230 SEK.