Roxette rocked SnowpenAir

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Roxette arrived to Switzerland on 5th April and went to the venue in the afternoon. Some VERY lucky fans had a chance to hear and see the soundcheck. Even Per stated it on Facebook:

Wow! We love this place. Had a great soundcheck in front of serious winter lovers/Rox fans and it all felt like the tour was still going on. More to come tomorrow.

Fans reported that Roxette were in top shape like there was no break. Per had the same opinion:

The band looks like they just came back from Mexico last year!

 

Those serious winter lover Roxers were already there at the venue early this morning, to be able to reach the front row and they made it! SnowpenAir was reported to be sold out: 9000 tickets. First there was MC Juli, Hanery Amman, then came OneRepublic at 13:30. At 15:30  Roxette hit the stage.

We hoped for a certain coat to appear on this gig and when our RXB team mate Kirsten wrote a Facebook status after the show started: ”MaTaH coat!!!”, we all were very happy. We asked her about Per’s outfit, too and then let her enjoy the show. 😉

The gig lasted for about 1.5 hour. Roxers say it was an amazing, awesome, fantastic show, so fans had a blast! According to the photos we’ve seen so far and Per’s post, Roxette had a blast, too and they looked HOT HOT HOT!

Thanx for a fab afternoon delight by the ski slopes here in Switzerland. Wonderful reception, and Hey! This band works like clockwork!! First gig in six months, only less than an hour soundcheck yesterday and and almost everything works. Amazing + purrfect. Thanx everyone for your support, always nice to see familiar faces in the first rows!
Cheers + see ya next time! /P&M

Setlist:

  1. Dressed for Success
  2. Sleeping in My Car
  3. The Big L.
  4. Spending My Time
  5. Stars
  6. She’s Got Nothing On (But the Radio)
  7. Perfect Day
  8. It Must Have Been Love
  9. 7Twenty7
  10. Fading Like a Flower
  11. Crash! Boom! Bang!
  12. How Do You Do!
  13. Dangerous
  14. Joyride (band presentation before Joyride and local song: “Kiosk”) /only some fan balloons, no beachballs in the snowy mountains/
  15. Listen To Your Heart
  16. The Look

 

According to Berner Zeitung, they fly back to Sweden this evening. Hopefully, the internet connection will be perfect in Sweden and Per will post tons of videos and pics from yesterday and today.

 

Thanx to all the Magic Friends who were keeping us updated, especially to Kirsten Ohlwein, Mandy Sedgwick, Karin Rubischung, Jörg Zimmerli and Natalie Natalie.

 

Articles and photos:

Berner Zeitung (article + photos):

http://www.bernerzeitung.ch/region/thun/9-000-Besucher-am-Snowpenair-/story/12551843

Live it. (awesome photos):

http://liveit.ch/roxette-am-snowpenair/

Jungfrau.ch (article + 1 photo):

http://www.jungfrau.ch/nc/en/company/media/releases/detail/archive/2013/04/article/roxette-begeistert-am-snowpenair-1542/

partyguide.ch (beauty pics):

http://www.partyguide.ch/events/snowpenair-kleine-scheidegg-2013-04-06-268181/pictures/1/338224

Der Bund –  KulturStattBern blog (article):

http://newsnetz-blog.ch/kulturstattbern/blog/2013/04/06/sturchlig-am-snowpenair/

SnowpenAir FB page (photos):

https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.570345832999712.1073741827.109469035754063&type=1

Jungfrau Zeitung (article + 1 photo):

http://www.jungfrauzeitung.ch/artikel/124226/

Der Bund (article + 1 photo):

http://www.derbund.ch/kultur/pop-und-jazz/Nostalgische-Stimmung-im-Hallenstadion/story/15725245

konzertbilder.ch (photos):

http://konzertbilder.ch/bild/25653

ireadup.com (beauty pics):
http://www.ireadup.com/music/photos/photo.aspx?eventid=3727&overview_page=1&page=1

some of the ireadup.com photos in high resolution:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/intlekofer/sets/72157633200961425/

 

 

New-old Gyllene Tider sound charmed Swedish press

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Today both Aftonbladet (Jens Peterson) and Expressen (Anders Nunstedt) have published their reviews of Gyllene Tider’s 6th studio album, Dags att tänka på refrängen. It’s not a surprise reading a positive review in Aftonbladet, but Mr. Nunstedt positively shocked most of the fans – and I guess non-fans as well. Some lyckopiller might have been involved while he was listening to the album. 😉

 

GT.se

 

According to Aftonbladet, Per Gessle wants you to clap your hands, your knees to be swinging and your mouth to be giggling. Well, what else? Don’t you feel the same with each Gyllene Tider album? Dags att tänka på refrängen – in Expressen’s opinion – is an energetic and playful album, full of ingenious melodies and smart arrangements. However, Anders Nunstedt adds he is curious whether the album grows even stronger after a few more listenings, as one of Gyllene Tider’s strengths has always been their ability to make a strong first impression.

Aftonbladet writes there is nostalgia and tributes to record stores and pop heroes. We already know Bob Dylan appears in the first track, but be sure there is some David Bowie, too. All 3 songs that we could have a listen to yet are full of typical Gessle rhymes and reading the reviews, there is much more to come.

You can find everything on this album from melancholically beautiful to uptempo party songs and from catchy pop candy to charming spaghetti western. “Lyckopiller” seems to be the one and only ballad. According to Nunstedt it’s a romantic piano ballad à la the classic GT concept, even if the song makes a trip to SOAP-land. “Knallpulver” is the only instrumental track and Mr. Nunstedt suggests the publisher to send it to Quentin Tarantino. Wow! What a great idea! After Small Apartments soundtrack everything is possible in hot hot Hollywood. 😉

In the title track, ”Dags att tänka på refrängen”, Per sounds young and life-affirming, says Jens Peterson. Anders Nunstedt says Mr. Gessle is singing duet with himself through the left and right speakers. It seems to be a good choice to end the short short short short short journey the album provides with its 38-minute length.

Expressen writes 10 of 12 tracks sound like they are written to be performed live. So, what about a medley this summer? DATPR compact. Well, maybe a medley with 8 of these 10 songs and ”Det blir aldrig som man tänkt sej”, as well as ”Chikaboom (#2)” as separate songs in the setlist.

Release date of the album: 24th April, 2013.

 

 

Per Gessle, the workaholic

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Amazon.de shared the tracklist of Gyllene Tider’s Dags att tänka på refrängen album with length and dates next to the demos appearing on the Deluxe CD. The digital version is available from 22nd April, physical version (CD, vinyl) from 24th April.

 

GT-DATPR_Album-cover

 

Album:

  1. Det blir aldrig som man tänkt sej /2:52/
  2. Man blir yr (Album Version) /3:01/
  3. Singel /3:01/
  4. Allt jag lärt mej om livet (har jag lärt mej av Vera) /2:59/
  5. Tio droppar regn /2:53/
  6. Jag tänker åka på en lång lång lång lång lång resa /2:54/
  7. Lyckopiller /3:07/
  8. Chikaboom (Album Version) /3:08/
  9. Anders och Mickes första band /3:22/
  10. Tiden är en dåre med banjo /3:02/
  11. Knallpulver /2:32/
  12. Dags att tänka på refrängen /3:41/

 

Demos:

  1. Det blir aldrig som man tänkt sig (Demo 6/8 2012) /2:21/
  2. Man blir yr (Demo 26/7 2012) /3:24/
  3. Singel (Demo 6/12 2012) /2:11/
  4. Allt jag lärt mej om livet (har jag lärt mej av Vera) (Demo 6/8 2012) /3:05/
  5. Tio droppar regn (Demo 6/10 2012) /2:29/
  6. Jag tänker åka på en lång lång lång lång lång resa (Demo 28/8 2012) /2:54/
  7. Lyckopiller (Demo 21/6 2012) /2:53/
  8. Chikaboom (Demo 6/12 2012) /3:40/
  9. Anders och Mickes första band (Demo 5/10 2012) /3:23/
  10. Tiden är en dåre med banjo (Demo 9/8 2012) /2:41/
  11. Knallpulver (Demo 8/5 2012) /1:32/
  12. Dags att tänka på refrängen (Demo 28/6 2012) /3:13/

 

Looking at the demo dates one can see (not that we didn’t know it until now 😉 ) that Mr. G is indeed a workaholic – and we like it! Let’s take a closer look at these dates.

 

  • 8th May, 2012: gig day in Curitiba, Brazil. Was the demo made in the dressing room?
  • 21st June, 2012: during a short break between South Africa and Borlänge. Were there any lyckopiller involved during the recording? 😉
  • 28th June, 2012: 1 day after Borlänge and 1 day before the ultra-awesome Amsterdam gig.
  • 26th July, 2012: 2 days after the megafantastic Gdansk, Poland gig and 1 day before Kotka, Finland. By the way, this day Per shared the new ”Fake guitarist in an 80’s band” plec collection on Facebook, Roxette Official. So, most probably he had to try and see if they were OK, thus he recorded a demo.
  • 6th August, 2012: After all the birthday celebrations it was time to record 2 demos. Not mentioning the earthquake in Halmstad that day.

Woke up to a trembling world 5 o´clock this morning. Thought Micke Syd was rehearsing in Harplinge.

  • Actually, there was a tweet regarding the earthquake that day: “Det värsta är ju inte att det har varit ett jordskalv i Halmstad. Det värsta är att risken finns att Per Gessle skriver en låt om det.” (meaning: ”The worst thing is not that there has been an earthquake in Halmstad. The worst thing is that there is a risk of Per Gessle writing a song about it.”). Well, I’m not sure about any songs being written that day, but it would be too cool to have some earthquake vibes à la Gessle one day.
  • 9th August, 2012: during the break between Finland and Norway gigs.
  • 28th August, 2012: 1 day before the Ottawa, Canada gig, when Roxette went on a lång lång lång lång lång resa.
  • 5th and 6th October, 2012: 4-5 days after the premiere of Kurt & Lisa and Furet wines in The Per Gessle Selection.
  • 6th December, 2012: well, demos are always good to be recorded when Santa is in town. 🙂

 

Now it would be interesting to hear anything about the circumstances under which these songs were written. Hopefully, there will be a detailed interview about the songs with Per after the album is out. So far we know that ”Det blir aldrig som man tänkt sej” – formerly known as ”Är det jag” – was written in the 70’s (demo 9th July, 1979).

One more interesting thing – what a fan (Ketil Nordgård) mentioned on Gyllene Tider’s facebook page the day the tracklist was published – is that in the ”Att vara Per Gessle” book (p. 270) ”Knallpulver” is mentioned as a leftover from Per’s ”En händig man” album. However, Per stated in several interviews that the big difference between Gyllene Tider’s new album and ”Finn 5 fel!” (2004) is that one third of the songs on F5F were leftovers from ”Mazarin”, but now all the songs were written exclusively for Gyllene Tider. Well, whatever project ”Knallpulver” was written for, the title sounds exciting and it seems to fit the album quite well.

 

 

Roxette rox at SnowpenAir in 1 week!

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Roxette will appear on stage for the one and only gig this year on 6th April. SnowpenAir concerts are a true Swiss tradition. Marie, Per and the band will perform at 2061 m above sea level at Kleine Scheidegg amidst the stunning scenery of the Eiger, Mönch and Jungfrau mountains. It’s the 16th time the event is organized.

Programme:

10:30     Concert area opening

11:00     MC Juli

12:15     Hanery Amman

13:30     OneRepublic

15:30   Roxette

 

ROX_SnowpenAir

 

Looking at the SnowpenAir setlists of past years and taking into consideration that Roxette had a shorter setlist for festival gigs, they will most probably perform appr. 15 songs. At least they had a 15-song setlist in Ischgl, Austria in 2011. Let’s see what happens.

It’s written on the event’s website that ”DJ Alex der Skihüttenkönig” provides entertainment from 10:30, between the acts and after Roxette. So, it seems there will be no PG mix tape before Roxette or the DJ takes a rest during those appr. 30 minutes before the main act. 🙂

The event is nearly sold out, but there are still some tickets available.

The weather may be cold on top of the mountains, but Roxette had proved it many times before that they are able to warm up the athmosphere already by playing the first chords and singing the first triple yeah. One more thing is 100% sure: you’re not going to meet Mr. Gessle on the ski trail. 😉

 

 

Bolyos family no longer online

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Just a short note while surfing the net:

Though a new Marie Fredriksson album (and maybe tour?) seems to arrive this or next year – at least this is what the rumours say so far – the two websites Mikael Bolyos and Marie Fredriksson used to promote their releases, are not online anymore.
The domain bolyos.com, which Mikael used to promote his own solo album “A family affair” in 2007 has a new owner and is now used by Austrian estate agent Peter Bolyos (probably a relative of Mikael).

The domain maryjane.se – used for several releases of Marie Fredriksson – now is a blog, filled with articles of a Swedish guy called Erik.
So, the interesting question is: Which new domain will there be when Marie’s album is out – probably mariefredriksson.se?