On Friday, 6th December, a double vinyl live album (also available digitally!) of Marie Fredriksson’s last solo tour (Nu!) in Sweden will be released – ten years after the tour and almost to the day five years after she passed.
Former RoxBlog member Kirsten Ohlwein and Oliver Zimmerman thought we would all want to hear more about the release and that was reason enough to ask Marie’s husband Mikael Bolyos – who is behind the release – about the new and yet not so new album.
Kirsten Ohlwein: – Mikael, you can imagine that everyone is super excited about this release, it’s a dream come true. The last live album we got was “Äntligen”, which was 24 years ago. First of all, I am pretty sure many fans wonder: How are you doing these days? You know you are in the thoughts of many people out there who send you their best wishes and highest regards.
Mikael Bolyos: – That’s very kind of you, it’s touching and I really appreciate it! I am alright, thanks.
KO: – It’s been ten years since the “Nu!” tour which we all loved and have the fondest memories about. Now it’s apparently time to release the live album. What has been the initial thought to look into the live recordings again and decide that the material is good enough to release it?
MB: – I always wanted to release a single, EP or even more songs from the concerts, and when I heard a video clip last summer, I decided to go through the concerts again.
KO: – Can you tell us which shows have been recorded back then and why you picked Stockholm as the one to release?
MB: – We recorded every show in 2014. Christoffer and I went through all of them and realized that Marie and the band sounded so good at all of them, it was impossible to choose. The Stockholm concert took place at “Cirkus” which is a great venue, the crowd was very enthusiastic, and it was a magic night.
KO: – How long did it take to go through the material again and when did you make the final decision to release the Stockholm show as an album?
MB: – I started to listen to the different concerts pre summer 2024. It took a couple of weeks and together with Christoffer Lundquist we decided that the Stockholm show had an energy that was impossible to ignore. Peter Domnérus at Cosmos Music (our record company) came up with that brilliant idea to release the whole concert on a double vinyl record.
KO: – Were the moments when you went through the songs again when you thought: „Wow, this is much better than I remember it” or „why didn’t we do this earlier?”?
MB: – As you probably remember, Roxette started a world tour later the same year, 2014. Christoffer made some mixes already then, but we were all too busy to start the work with releasing anything from the “Nu!” tour. The Roxette tour went on until spring 2016, when Marie was too weak to continue. It was a very tough time for Marie and our family. And if this wasn’t enough, I had to do a heart surgery in 2017. I was recovering during 2018 and in 2019 as you know, Marie passed away.
The following years, I have been mourning. On 1st June this year I wrote to Christoffer and asked him to make a first brief mix of all of the songs, and in October we sat together in his AGM studio to do the mixes, and here we are now!
KO: – How did the process of going through the tour material feel for you? I can imagine that it wasn’t the easiest thing to do for you and yet probably very warm and special as well?
MB: – It was many tears…
KO: – What are your memories regarding that tour? What did you preserve from back then? Which one was your favourite song to play and what were your favourite moments?
MB: – It was a very special tour. Marie was so keen on doing the tour, she knew it was going to be her last Swedish tour, singing her own songs. Personally, I felt so good touring again, playing music in a band, consisting of friends. I always liked to play “Bara för en dag”, and “Efter stormen”, but my favourite moment was playing ”Så skimrande var aldrig havet”.
KO: – You have been quite busy spoiling fans with unreleased stuff in the past years. Every now and then you find a song or a recording that gets to be released either in December or May. We are very grateful for that! Is there more to come in the future?
MB: – Sorry to say, but I don’t think so. This double LP will probably be Marie’s farewell.
Thank you so much for your time, Micke and thanks a lot for your interview, Kirsten!
Live från Cirkus is out on 6th December! The record is a beautiful 180-gram double vinyl in a gatefold edition, with a total run of 1,000 copies. You can order it at Bengans.
Tracklist
Side A
- Så stilla så långsamt
- Kom vila hos mig
- Bara för en dag
- Det regnar igen
- Sista sommarens vals
Side B
- Ber bara en gång
- Sparvöga
- Ett hus vid havet
- Ett bord i solen
- Så skimrande var aldrig havet
Side C
- Ännu doftar kärlek
- Så länge det lyser mittemot
- Om du såg mig nu
- Efter stormen
Side D
- Den sjunde vågen
- Mellan sommar och höst
- Den bästa dagen
- Tro
Side A
SIDE A
