Interview

Interview with Per Gessle and Lena Philipsson about the Roxette In Concert tour in Blikk, Hungary

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Blikk did an interview with Per and Lena on Friday via Zoom. The Roxette In Concert tour’s first autumn show will happen in Budapest on 4th November.

Blikk: – The return of Roxette surprised everyone. Why did you feel like you had to continue with the band?

Per Gessle: – For many, many years I couldn’t decide what to do with Roxette, so this is a really big step for me. Then a few years ago I realized that I was a little sad that I couldn’t perform the songs that I had written for Roxette over the course of three decades. I tried to find a way to continue, but I didn’t really know what to do. In 2024 I made a Swedish album with Lena on it. When we worked together in the studio, I realized that she had the ability and the knowledge to sing Roxette songs. I just felt that out of all the people I had met so far, she was the first one who could really do it. I thought about it for a while, and then I met Lena and I presented my idea to her, which made her completely pale of course. But then we just tried it. We rehearsed some acoustic songs with some of the members of Roxette and they sounded great. Lena was a really good choice, she sings these songs just amazingly.

Blikk: – Lena, what was your first thought when Per asked you to join this project? It’s quite a challenge to step into Marie’s shoes.

Lena Philipsson: – It’s definitely a challenge. And it’s not that easy, because I know that when I go on stage, I’m not the person people really want to see. They want to see Marie, but unfortunately she’s not with us anymore. So someone else has to sing the songs, and that someone is me. In that sense, it’s a bit complicated. At the same time, Per’s request was flattering, almost impossible to refuse. And then, once I said yes, from then on, I just tried to focus on what I had to do and do my job as best as I could, considering the uniqueness of the situation. I really wanted to keep the original version of the songs as much as possible, so as not to cause any confusion for anyone, because it’s already a big difference to see a different person on stage, who might move differently and look different. It was important to me not to change any of the songs, but to show respect to Marie, Per and the fans by keeping the original. Our South African premiere was of course quite nerve-wracking. I tried to pay attention to the atmosphere in the venue to get a feel for what the band was doing, what we were doing on stage and how the audience was reacting. That’s where I started. But I think the feedback was positive from the very beginning. And from there, everything just got better and better.

Blikk: – We’ve seen other bands continue working with a new singer – most recently with Linkin Park. What do you think is the most important thing for it to work well?

Lena: – I can only speak about our own situation – for me it’s about showing respect for the music. I mean, I try to blend in, because it’s Per’s project, and I try not to take control of it. Just pay attention to the mood and listen to what the flow dictates. I don’t know how to explain it – you just have to be yourself as much as possible, instead of trying to be someone else. Give yourself and be honest in what you do.

Blikk: – Do you remember when the moment came when you felt comfortable in this role?

Lena: – After the second concert, I felt that everything was OK, that it was working. Now I can go out and be myself even more, giving myself more space. So it happened pretty quickly. The band, Per and I were working together for the first time – as musicians, we had to get to know each other on stage. But in terms of the setlist and the things that happened on stage, as we played together, it got better and better. So I think I got used to it pretty quickly.

Blikk: – Which song is the hardest for you to perform together?

Lena: – I would say “Spending My Time”, because it’s just me and Per on stage. He plays the guitar while I sing, which is very stripped down and revealing at the same time – so that’s an important moment. Also, singing “It Must Have Been Love” is very important to do perfectly, but I’ve learned it pretty well. Now I have more favourites: I really like “Listen To Your Heart”, for example, it’s pure joy for me to sing it, and I don’t think of it as complicated anymore. I just want to do a good job. We’re over the difficulties.

Per: – I think the best thing about the whole line-up is that we have a lot of fun and we feel good together on stage. The band members are also very enthusiastic. Lena’s presence and being able to perform the songs again is very inspiring for them. I tried to gather all the key figures from Roxette’s past, like guitarist Jonas Isacsson. Clarence Öfwerman, our producer, is still with us. I think that ultimately it is a tribute to Roxette and its legacy, and for that to happen we have to enjoy what we do. For me that is the most important thing, because if we have fun, the audience will have fun too.

Blikk: – What’s the goal of the project, besides playing old Roxette songs? Are there any plans to write new songs in the future?

Per: – No. I think the point of Roxette is to perform old songs. That’s all we do. By the way, we have made music together before, and maybe we will in the future, but I don’t think we will do it under the name Roxette.

Blikk: – You will also perform in Budapest in November. You just mentioned “Listen To Your Heart” – this is the song that probably every Hungarian knows, because from 1990 onwards a political party in Hungary started using it for its campaign and other events. Sometime around 1992 you said in an interview that you had heard about it. Were you ever worried that people would automatically associate your song with a party, forgetting its original message and content?

Per: – Well, first of all – looking back – I don’t like it when people use songs without permission. In the past, we were not asked about it at all. What happened in Hungary is a very unique situation, I have never experienced anything like this anywhere else. We have always tried to stay away from politics, because we don’t fully understand the countries and their political situation. I think if anyone had asked me if I would license one of my songs to a political party or movement, I would have definitely said no, without taking a stand for the left or the right. Because that’s how I operate and that’s how I work. I think copyright should be respected and the person who owns it or wrote the song should be asked first before they use it. That’s what I think.

Blikk: – There was a case a few years ago –  the same party used your song at a political event, and they even uploaded a video of it on Facebook, but because of copyright, that video was removed. Have you heard about that case?

Per: – I didn’t know about that, but I know that our record label, Warner Music, took legal action against it, because for them it’s the same situation: copyright infringement. You can have any political views, but ultimately it’s about how laws and rights work. As I said, I don’t have any other experience, so I can’t give you any other examples – it’s a unique thing. And I don’t really like being in the middle of things that I didn’t choose.

Blikk: – Let’s get back to the concert. You’ve been touring for a while now, how is the audience reaction?

Per: – We’ve done 25 shows so far, and they’ve been just fantastic. When we started, we were still wondering what happens if it doesn’t work out? On the one hand, what happens if people don’t buy tickets? On the other hand, what happens if they don’t like Marie being replaced by someone else? So many things could have turned out differently, but it turned out the opposite. Even the most dedicated fans have started to get to know Lena, appreciate what she does, and everyone leaves the concerts with a smile on their face. We have a huge catalogue of songs that people have grown up with and that have become part of their everyday lives – I think that’s just amazing, and it’s also a very rare thing. It’s really fantastic that I’ve found a way to carry on Roxette’s songs and that they are accepting it like that.

Blikk: – What message do you think the audience will take away from the fact that Roxette’s legacy lives on?

Per: – I don’t know if there is any specific message. But I’m a songwriter after all – I started writing songs when I was a teenager and I still do that basically today. I feel lucky to have had so much success all over the world in my life, and if my music and lyrics still mean something to so many people globally, that’s really fantastic. I hope that the people who come to our concerts get their reward from us on stage – something that adds value to their lives and that we can be a part of. Some people got married to our songs, some people gave birth to their children, and some people listened to “Joyride” on their way to school. These are just small fragments of some people’s lives, but we are part of them. It’s amazing to see that our music means so much to others.

Find the dates and links to ticket sales sites HERE!

Interview with Per Gessle in Cityliv

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Joakim S Ormsmarck did an interview with Per Gessle for Cityliv magazine in Halmstad. Read the original Swedish article HERE!

Roxette is back on stage in Halmstad. With two sold-out concerts, the city is once again filled with fans from all over the world who want to experience Gessle’s treasure trove of songs here at home where it all began. But it is a tribute to Roxette – not a new Roxette – that is now taking the stage.

It has been 36 years since Roxette last performed at Brottet. The pop duo’s breakthrough was still quite fresh at the time, and the concert at home kicked off the Look Sharp Live! Tour, which was to last until the end of the year with all stops from Hunnebostrand to Milan and Brussels. A lot has happened since then, not least the fact that Marie Fredriksson is no longer with us. But Roxette is still Per and Marie, Per makes that clear when he talks to Joakim.

It’s not that I’ve restarted my band with Lena, but the tour we’re on now is a tribute to the song catalogue. Roxette is me and Marie, but since she can’t be there, this is simply a variation. A bit like Queen with Adam Lambert or like Jon Stevens in INXS… Stevens was actually our opening act at some of the shows in Australia and he played a lot of INXS songs, it was fantastic.

Joakim has managed to do this interview during a break on the tour and Per is home in Halmstad for a few sunny days before it’s time for the Netherlands, Belgium and Finland before the summer tour ends with two shows in Gothenburg and two in Halmstad.

Joakim is curious if it is nice to have a break or if it disrupts the rhythm.

Good question actually. It’s both. You lose a bit of that flow that you get when you play every other day and we haven’t played that much together yet. We have only done eighteen shows so we’re still working on getting to know each other on stage. At the same time, it’s really nice to have a few days off for the sake of your throat, plus it’s great to land here when the West Coast is at its best.

The tour started in February in Cape Town, South Africa, Australia and parts of Europe have been completed. After the gigs in Sweden this July, there is a break. Among other things, Per will be working on the musical based on Roxette’s song collection, which will be staged in the autumn at China Theatre in Stockholm. But after that, it’s the tour that counts again.

Joakim wants to know if touring is still as much fun after all these years.

It’s actually more fun now than it was at the beginning. With Gyllene, you were terrified at first. We had done six gigs before we were number one on the charts, so we were constantly fighting against people’s expectations. We learned the hard way, you could say. It was really only during the Roxette era that I started to relax more on stage. With Gyllene, I was the one who would be at the front singing, but with Marie we could share everything.

To the question how he feels the tour he is on now is different from the previous ones, Per replies:

The big difference is that we are not trying to be number one on the list with a new album, but this is a tribute to the Roxette catalogue. We are playing a fantastic treasure trove of songs that very few artists can put their fingers on and that makes it special. We don’t want to promote new music, but play the old.

If Roxette releases new songs:

No, I don’t think so actually. I would like to make more music with Lena, we released “Sällskapssjuk” together last year and I would like to continue that collaboration, but it will not be under the Roxette label.

However, there is a lot of material that Marie and I did that has never been released, studio and live recordings. So there will be more from the original Roxette.

On this year’s tour, Per has gathered musicians who have played and worked with both Roxette and Gyllene Tider, as well as his solo albums. Among others, Jonas Isacsson, who was already on the first albums, is back as a guitarist.

When Jonas plays his solos on “Listen To Your Heart” or “Queen Of Rain”, it’s like time has stood still. It sounds exactly as it did before. It’s pure pleasure.

Joakim asks Per how he puts a band together for a tour like this. If he sits down with the phone book and starts calling around.

It’s a bit like that, actually. The idea of Lena as a singer came when we recorded “Sällskapssjuk” in the studio. She has exactly the power in her voice that Marie had, but in a different way. So we had a meeting and I told her my thoughts. We tested a few songs and when she decided, I started thinking about who I should include in the band.

Per says that his aim was to include as many of the original band members as possible. Jonas Isacsson and Clarence Öfwerman have been with them from the beginning, Christoffer Lundquist was already on the “Have A Nice Day” album in the late ’90s.

Pelle Alsing is no longer with us, but Clarence and Christoffer suggested Magnus Norpan Eriksson, because they thought he played quite like Pelle. I don’t agree with that at all, but he plays really good pop drums and that’s exactly what we need. Especially in songs like “The Big L.” and “How Do You Do!”.

Joakim is curious about how long Per has contracted the band and if there will be Roxette in 2026 as well.

Yes, there is a big world out there with South America, Asia, North America and so on. What has been said now is that we are doing 2025 and 2026, and then we will see. It could be that we do the spring and then we skip it or it will be spring, summer and autumn.

But before that, two packed concerts at Brottet are ahead, and there is no doubt that Per is looking forward to delivering here on home ground.

It is of course special to play here in Halmstad and at Brottet where we have played with Gyllene in recent years, but Roxette has not played there since “Look Sharp!”. So it will be really fun.

All interview text is written by Joakim S Ormsmarck for Cityliv Magazine in Swedish. Here it is a translation by RoxBlog.

Interview with Fredrik Etoall and Per Gessle in Tylösand Magazine

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Joakim S Ormsmarck had a busy interview period and he also met Fredrik Etoall and Per Gessle to ask them about their collaboration. The result of this conversation was published in Tylösand Magazine.

When Fredrik Etoall discovered the camera at the age of 16, it was like the missing piece of the puzzle. Finally, he could express himself and capture the moment that he always lives in the middle of. Two years later, after finishing the media high school, together with a friend they took a car down to Höganäs to see the legendary photographer Christer Strömholm’s exhibition. A trip that would change his life.

It was fantastic. We insisted on getting an internship and I stayed there for periods until Christer passed away three years later. There I got to learn the craft for real, manage Christer’s legacy, retouch prints by hand and work with the images that would be passed on to buyers around the world.

This is where Fredrik and Per Gessle crossed paths for the first time when it dawned on the young photographer that the picture he was working on was going to Per Gessle and his hotel in Tylösand. A hotel filled with photos, he had to go there at some point…

My first memory connected to Per and Roxette is “Look Sharp!” on vinyl. I was eight years old and my mother had bought the record. We listened to it and danced at home in Vänersborg. But what caught my attention the most was the cover, the glamour, that’s where I wanted to be. On tour around the world.

Per interjects:

A fantastic cover. It was Mikael Jansson who took that picture!

For those who know his photography history, Mikael Jansson is a well-known name who has created iconic images over the past thirty years that have been published in all the major magazines around the world. It almost feels a bit typical that he was the one who took the picture for the cover of Roxette’s international breakthrough. Surrounding himself with the best photographers has become something of Per Gessle’s signature. Not uncommon at the beginning of their careers.

To Joakim’s question regarding how Per and Fredrik found each other, Fredrik replies:

In the fall of 2011 I worked with Icona Pop and made the video for “I Love It” which was very different from everything else that was being made at the time, rawer and less tidy. We had almost no budget, but the song and the video were a total hit and I followed the group around the world. In the middle of this, Marie Dimberg, Roxette’s manager, got in touch and wondered if I wanted to shoot the band for their album “Travelling”.

Per continues:

I thought it was fun to work with Fredrik right away. He’s a nice guy and he made sure we looked awesome in the pictures, hahaha. He has a feel for good light and a little fix, but not too much. He has the eye and there’s almost not a single picture that’s been published by Fredrik that isn’t good.

Fredrik laughs:

Thank you, I’ll send you money via Swish for the compliments.

About the photo session, Fredrik says:

We had lots of different things to do. When it came to picture four, Marie couldn’t take it anymore. Then I thought, damn it, it went wrong and I didn’t get any pictures at all. But it turned out that we still managed to take some pictures that still live on.

Per adds:

What Fredrik managed to capture with Roxette there and then were pictures of us that we hadn’t really done before, it was special in a way. Take this picture, for example. I have my black nails and yawn, Marie is standing in the background looking a bit uninterested. It’s a really lovely picture from that session.

In retrospect, everyone who was there that day agrees that something happened there and then. A special connection and trust were created, which led to new collaborations. Over the years, Fredrik has worked with Per and Marie solo as well as Roxette, PG Roxette and Gyllene Tider.

Per remembers:

When we made PG Roxette, we worked for two days. But we didn’t use anything from day two, because we had such a great first day with an incredibly good amount of material. It’s different when it’s just me. It’s easier. When I felt like I wanted to change pants, I just went and got another pair of pants. Or when Fredrik had an idea that I should have something that matched the curtain in the room, we solved it. It’s that simple.

Fredrik agrees:

That’s true, every session is unique. There is a big difference between working with one person or with a whole group, then the dynamics in the group become so important. I have been on jobs on other occasions where there may have been some fuss in the group before I came, and then it is so clearly noticeable. With Gyllene it has been a lot of fun, because there are five such different personalities who together become what is so special.

Fredrik tells Joakim what Marie Fredriksson has meant to their collaboration. How her elegance and power combined with humility led to a special relationship.

When I photographed Marie for what would be her last solo album at Grand Hotel, I took the picture of her standing in the window looking out towards the castle. It’s one of my absolute favourite pictures. It symbolizes both freedom and strength, how she carries both herself and me in that picture.

All interview text is written by Joakim S Ormsmarck for Tylösand Magazine in Swedish. Here it is a translation by RoxBlog.

Thanks a lot for helping out with the physical copy of the magazine, Chrissie Röhrs!

Interview with Åsa Gessle in Tylösand Magazine

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Joakim S Ormsmarck visited Åsa Gessle at Hotel Tylösand for an interview in the reborn Tylösand Magazine. Katja Cherkasova styled Åsa and Anders Sällström took some amazing photos of her.

Åsa loves black, but it should be soft and always with the guest and the heart in focus. Inspiration is drawn from hotels around the world, but also from the grass outside in the sand dunes and a striped Italian stone that was used to lay the foundation for the latest project.

July 1995. Two months earlier, Roxette’s second world tour had ended with two concerts at the Olympic Stadium in Moscow. The news hit like a bombshell, the unexpected duo Per Gessle and businessman Björn Nordstrand are buying Hotel Tylösand and they both emphasize that the reasons are both emotional and business oriented. With careful planning, strategic investments, and proper Company registration, the new venture quickly gained attention as a promising blend of passion and entrepreneurship. Now the hotel is to be lifted to new levels and the one who immediately takes the challenge regarding colour, shape and ambience is Åsa Gessle.

Åsa and Joakim have settled down at Titus Tapas with a view of Solgården.

I have always loved hotels and we have stayed in so many different ones around the world, both privately and on tours. You learn a lot about what you want in a hotel room and what is good. Often it’s the small details and simple things that make the difference. When we bought the hotel, it felt like we were getting to enter that world and being able to start creating these ambiences.

It all began with the green apples. The apples and the toilet rolls in Strandhuset, but Joakim starts with the fruit, because it has become something of a green thread through the thirty years that have passed since the first ones landed in a bowl on the reception desk.

We loved a hotel in Miami Beach called Delano and I was hooked, because in every room they had a small stand on the wall with a green apple with the sign “an apple a day keeps the doctor away”. Even though this was a real party hotel, they had thought of this little detail.

Hotel Tylösand in 1995 was, however, quite a long way from an exclusive beach hotel à la Miami. Åsa talks with an undertone of laughter about stuffed birds, artificial plants and pink carpets with fish patterns. From the ceiling in the restaurant hung heavy burgundy curtains which, when taken down, turned out to have collected a lot of dust over the years. But the old stuff went out and the new was introduced step by step.

Joakim asks about those toilet rolls and Åsa smiles.

It’s one of the strongest memories from when we took over. This was the old strip along the beach and when you entered the toilet in the rooms, there was a mirror straight in and on a little shelf underneath they had lined up extra toilet paper rolls. So what you saw was yourself and the toilet paper. We bought holders and put them next to the toilets instead and then it was solved.

This whole thing about creating ambiences and working with interior design has always been a part of Åsa Gessle’s life. From dollhouses as a child at home in Trelleborg, to when she was 13 years old, she went around the shops in town and asked if she could do their shop windows, which she did and gave it her all. But Joakim comes back to the mid ’90s.

The first major project after we had removed all the stuffed birds, and cleaned endlessly as I remember it, was to take care of the hotel rooms. Architect Johnny Andersson and I started sketching and that was the first time I realized that my preferences didn’t always match everyone else’s, haha.

I like black, but our CEO at the time was clear that we have so many business people as guests so it has to be blue. And I hate blue. The compromise was cherry with a blue bedspread and I realized that I didn’t know the industry the way he did and the guests always come first.

With a smile, Åsa notes that the blackness was gradually incorporated so that blue would be appreciated more by the guests than black, she has never found any evidence for this. Blackness has become her signature in design and it permeates all aspects, it has even become so that the concept of Åsa black is now available as a color in the local paint store.

Joakim is curious what sets this blackness apart from all other blackness. Åsa shows and lifts a pillow against the black wall.

There is a little brown in it to make the black warm.

And of course the difference is visible now that we know about it.

If you just look at this sofa, you probably won’t see it, but it becomes softer to the eye and I feel like we ground ourselves through the black. Then we can contrast with a tulip, a pillow or a green apple. And sometimes we play around with some natural colours, but the black is always there as a base.

Today, Åsa sees herself as a Creative Director for the hotel and is involved in everything related to the interior design, new construction and renovations. Here she works closely with architects, renton roofing contractors, cabinetmakers and craftsmen. A way of working that has existed since the Gessle family designed and built their own villa.

Our first project was Per’s and my rental apartment on Torsgatan in Halmstad. The house was to be renovated and we were given the opportunity to merge two apartments, design and choose materials the way we wanted it.

Then when we were going to build our house we were recommended to contact Abelardo Gonzalez and we did. We visited him and the house was not our style, but on the other hand his architecture was very exciting. He did things differently and he has such an openness in his way of thinking. So he drew and we adjusted. We worked very closely throughout the whole process and I have learned so much from him.

One lesson that stuck is that everything can be built. Even though others said it was impossible, Abelardo Gonzalez didn’t listen and he built, an attitude that fits well with Åsa Gessle’s determination and conviction. Like the blackness, for example. Today, Åsa herself draws much of what is being built at Hotel Tylösand. As long as it is not structural construction, it is her drawings that are used.

We do as much as we can ourselves, then it will be the way we want it. When it comes to water and sewage, electricity and such, we bring in external help. The same thing as when I design a bar, I know how it should look but then everything has to work for the people who work there with machines and all the functions. Then I work together with, for example, Kay Linghoff, who I have worked with a lot over the years.

To Joakim’s question regarding how much time Åsa spends at the hotel, she replies:

I’m here a lot. It’s been a little less now when we are on tour, but otherwise I feel like I’m here almost all the time. I want to make sure the ambiences are as they should be. In a hotel, things have a tendency to move around all the time, and then I have to carry the chairs back, fix the cushions and stuff like that, haha.

This particular laugh recurs often during the conversation. It’s clear that Åsa is truly passionate about the hotel and the experience, and that she finds it just as much fun today as it was thirty years ago when the green apples first appeared.

Everything is in the details and often there are details that you don’t see as a guest, but you experience them anyway. Like cleaning, you don’t think about it when it works, but if you have ever stayed in a hotel where it didn’t work, you know it’s noticeable right away.

Joakim asks Åsa about the cushions.

We have a karate chop that needs to be done, so that the pillow gets its fold. Then the zipper should always be downwards, and I have to struggle with that a bit. But like I said, it’s all in the details.

One of the hotel’s major projects in recent years is the completely new SPA department, which was inaugurated last year. Both floors have received a major facelift and Åsa says that one of the goals was to connect the interior with the sea, which is so close, but still on the other side of the large glass areas.

I think many SPAs are a bit boring, our spa should be like the rest of the hotel. A little cozier and a little more Asian, a social SPA where everyone can enjoy themselves.

Åsa tells of a dinner just after the inauguration. She was sitting with Per and eating when a family came up to thank them for the experience. Or rather, the children wanted to thank them.

They were lyrical and described it as them never being able to go to a SPA before and now it was like being at a nightclub with music, a cinema in the pool and so on. It was something different from the bathhouses they had visited before.

When she started planning the new SPA:

It started with me finding an Italian black and white striped stone that really laid the foundation for everything. Materials are important in a SPA, like the Kolmården marble that has its motion in the pattern and meets the grass outside on the sand dunes.

Above the pool, the lighting forms a heart. A heart that Åsa originally wanted to have at the bottom of the pool, but which was not possible for technical reasons. It is now reflected in the water surface instead, creating a completely new effect.

The heart is in a lot of my designs, I guess no one has been able to escape that. It probably reflects me quite a bit, but also the feeling we want it to have here at the hotel. It should be warm, cozy and absolutely not stiff and boring. The heart has to be in there.

Thirty years have passed since that July in 1995. The projects have succeeded one after the other, and perhaps a feeling of satiety could have set in now that everything is finished. But that thought doesn’t seem to have even crossed Åsa’s mind or any of her colleagues’ minds.

It can always be developed and I always have ideas that stretch a number of years into the future.

Åsa concludes and points across Solgården towards the SPA building.

There I would like to build a sun deck with only glass sections around it. I have seen exactly one like that at a hotel in Sao Paulo. It is really cool, so we must have it here in Tylösand too. People will love it!

All interview text is written by Joakim S Ormsmarck for Tylösand Magazine in Swedish. Here it is a translation by RoxBlog.

Thanks a lot for helping out with the physical copy of the magazine, Chrissie Röhrs!

Interview with Per Gessle in Hallandsposten about the Roxette In Concert tour

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Jan-Owe Wikström did an interview with Per Gessle for Hallandsposten almost ten years after Roxette’s last concert in Halmstad. Per brings the Roxette band for two gigs at Brottet.

Then it was with Marie Fredriksson, now he performs with Lena Philipsson.

Lena has grown into the role in a fantastic way. Marie can never be replaced, but Lena really does it in her own way so we are not a cover band. In addition, Jonas (Isacsson) is back, who is very much Roxette’s guitar sound.

15,000 people saw the concert on July 22, 2015 at Örjans Vall, which would be Marie’s last with Roxette at home when the following year she was forced to step down due to health reasons and then tragically died on December 9, 2019 from the consequences of her illness.

To keep Roxette’s song collection alive, including four US number-ones, Per went on tour in 2018 under the name Per Gessle’s Roxette. But it was in connection with the recording of the duet album Sällskapssjuk that he realized that Lena Philipsson was the right person to take the place next to him on stage.

Since then, Roxette has had two concerts in South Africa, nine in Australia and ten in Europe before the tour reaches Sweden; Gothenburg on July 23 and 25, and Halmstad on July 26 and 27.

Out in Europe, Lena is a completely unknown name, but the fans have received her in a fantastic way. But here at home, Lena is a big name in her own right, so it will be very exciting to see her meet her home audience.

I mean, there’s a big difference between her today and the first gig in Cape Town, and that’s how it should be. Because it’s on stage that you grow together as a band and learn how everyone behaves, what roles they take. You can never work that into rehearsals, and it’s the same with the social side – that it works there too.

Then we have deliberately included some songs that Marie never sang live. “What’s She Like?”, which is very strong in the musical, is one that Roxette never played live before. Likewise “Vulnerable” – mostly because I thought it was boring to sing, but the audience loves it, hahaha.

During the journey, he has also received confirmation of how strong Roxette is as a band with sold-out concerts in most places.

Yes, we are reaching a new audience, which is fantastic. In January 2024 we had 10.4 million unique listeners a month on Spotify, now we have 17.8 million, which is almost a doubling with 70 million listens every month.

To Jan-Owe’s question what he thinks the reason behind is, Per replies:

On the one hand, it’s a treasure trove of songs that shouldn’t really be possible to fail with. On the other hand, we represent a kind of music that is becoming increasingly rare, because pop music is no longer made in the same way, with a bridge before the chorus or a key rise. And that benefits people like me – especially with the song catalogue that we can build on.

I saw a documentary about Brian Wilson from The Beach Boys who recently passed away. It would have been impossible for him to have a hit today, when most things are artificial and programmed with many songwriters for each song. And it will get worse with AI.

When Roxette reaches Sweden, it will be standard concerts, while in Europe it has been about festivals where Roxette has in many cases been the headliner.

It’s different to play at festivals. Partly because it’s a shorter set, and partly because the audience is there for many different artists, unlike when it’s pure Roxette concerts where everyone has come for us. So if you play a lesser-known song, some people go and buy beer.

Initially, the second Halmstad gig was the end of the tour, but it is already clear that there will be a continuation in the autumn with gigs in Linköping and Stockholm in Sweden, among other places in Europe.

Yes, for each gig, five new offers appear, so the schedule will be filled afterwards. Because if you want, this is just the beginning of the continuation…

Pics by Åsa Gessle