5 months passed since the last XXX gig happened in Drammen and now Roxette found themselves in South Africa. The band is there to perform 5 shows. How great it is to start the real XXX anniversary year with a sold out gig in Johannesburg!
It wasn’t the first time Roxette played in the city. First they appeared there during the Crash! Boom! Bang! World Tour in 1995 and played for 60000 people. Fortunately, that concert was filmed and the Crash! Boom! Live! video was born. However, we would still love to have it as a DVD release. The 2nd time the band performed in Joburg was in 2012. Now 4 years later Roxette was back at Ticketpro Dome to entertain 13000 people.
Some hours before showtime Mr. G posted a pic on Instagram from backstage to show us all the boxes of their gear. He then posted on Roxette’s Facebook page about his virtues:
JOHANNESBURG UPDATE: Great long soundcheck. Loads of mistakes from yours truly. Will I ever learn the chords to Dangerous??? Time will tell. See you soon, folks! /P.
Dea and Mister Magnus also shared pics on Instagram (Dea, Magnus) of what they saw during soundcheck from the stage. And after the show Dea posted a nice collage of the preparations on her Facebook page.
Families, couples, friends gathered at the venue, different generations attended the concert to fulfill their childhood dream or check something off their bucket list. First the crowd saw Watershed on stage, they were the support act. The audience enjoyed their performance, which is good, because they will open for Roxette at the next 4 shows as well. Roxette hit the stage a bit after 21:15 local time.
The arena was fully packed as it was a sold out show. There were two big screens on the sides to make sure no one in the very back misses what happens on stage. Funny how the seats were tied to each other. We thought it was useless, since no one would have wanted to use them. Oh well… Security guys were the least cooperative and they didn’t let people stand up. They were asking people (not too politely) to sit down all the time. Big Concerts should work on it at the remaining seated shows and tell them to let anyone stand up. When it’s boogie time, it’s boogie time, you know. It was this time only from Joyride on when everyone was on their feet.
Marie, Per and the band were in top form like there was no tour break. They were full of energy and charmed their loud crowd. Besides Joburgers and South Africans from other cities, there were Roxers from Germany, Australia, Poland, Russia, Finland, the UK, etc. as well. Always good to have an international crowd!
The setlist didn’t change vs. 2015, so this means all evergreens were performed and also Crush On You was kept.
Blinds seem to be efficient to bring along only in Europe, since they were not present in Joburg. There were curtains in the background instead and the lights were projected on them.
JOBURG TONIGHT: Yes yes yes, what a crowd. Great evening, band was really tight even though we haven’t played together for a couple of months. Thanx for stopping by and singing along. Always a pleasure to be here, Joburg!!!! Vids coming up. /P.
Next stop is Durban on Tuesday (2nd February).
Articles and photos
Instagram: 1; 2; 3; 4; 5; 6; 7; 8; 9; 10; 11; 12; 13; 14; 15; 16;
Twitter: 1; 2; 3; 4; 5; 6; 7; 8;
Big Concerts photos: 1; 2; 3; 4; 5; 6;
Gallo Images
rexfeatures.com
Getty Images
El Broide’s review
DK Expressions
ourfriends.co
Videos
Instavids:
Dressed For Success
Joyride
Dangerous
The Look
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 (intro: Scatterlings of Africa – Johnny Clegg)
Extra
Listen To Your Heart
The Look