SVT has just shared a teaser (1m 36s long) of the upcoming Rox documentary called “IT ALL BEGINS WHERE IT ENDS”. Click here and enjoy!
Per says the documentary “will be subtitled for each country”.
Per posted the info this afternoon on Roxette Official: the title of the DVD will be “IT ALL BEGINS WHERE IT ENDS”. The title says it all and reading the comments, it seems to be very popular among all magic friends. How couldn’t it be?
Don’t forget that you can watch a shortened version of the documentary soon on SVT and as Per informs, more international TV channels will follow shortly. Hopefully, we are not kept waiting so long for the release date of the DVD itself.
In cooperation with the author of the book, Maria Sörgjerd, we are giving away 2 copies of “I en underbar ballong”.
Since the book is about what it is to be a Roxette fan, we would like to hear your story. Write in a few sentences what it is for you to be a Roxette fan or your best memory from the 2011 – 2012 Roxette tour. Note that we will randomly select the 2 winners and your story will be published here.
Write an email with your name, address (so we can send the book) and your story to contest@roxetteblog.com until December 21st.
Good luck!
And here is the small letter, contest conditions
- In order to participate, you have to send an email to contest@roxetteblog.com with name, address and your story. We will consider all emails we receive until the 21st of December, 2012, 23:59 CET time.
- 2 winners will be picked up randomly among those who have participated.
- As it is usual, you can only participate once, any attempt to participate twice will lead to your disqualification.
- Prizes won’t be paid out in cash. Prizes will be sent by standard mail only once (so basically, if the envelope gets lost.. we won’t be able to send a replacement).
- Winners will be announced on this website and your story will be published here. You will also be notified per email and you’ll be required to answer to the notification email.
- Stories sent in by all participants may be used as well on the website, anonymous if wished.
I just finished reading “I en underbar ballong” (“In a wonderful balloon”), written by Maria Sörgjerd from Sweden and published by Fenomena. Maria, who studied psychology and music psychology, spent two years collecting information about being a fan and interviewing Roxette fans for her book.
I read the book quite fast, one of the reasons being the fact that I know most of the interviewed fans, even though most of them got aliases, if you’ve been around long enough you will recognize them and their stories. And of course, because I recognize, even if not relate to some of them, many of the topics which are treated in the book, being a fan myself.
The first part of the book is an introduction to what it means to be a Roxer and to go to a concert for the fans, meeting all the other fans and friends, but also fighting for the first row or meeting Per and Marie or the musicians after a concert. It also contains a short biography of Roxette & co, with comments of Roxette’s position in the music market and how Roxette is seen by the media and “outside”.
In the second part of the book, the author goes deeper in the psychological aspect of belonging to the fan(atic) subculture and having Per and Marie as idols. Not everything is a wonderful balloon though: some may take their fanatism to extremes of stalking, and there is also a lot of competition about who is first to break the news or who has met Per and Marie most times, jealousy and hostility among fans. It has become less with the years, but unfortunately, is still present.
Luckily, there are a lot of positive aspects as well, such as friendship and love stories – many found their best friends or their partners because of Roxette – and how fans help each other sharing videos, pictures and stories via fan communities, from the old times via Friendship Books to the internet era.
The last part of the book concentrates on music and how it affects our brain and feelings, and how music serves as therapy and makes us feel better in hard times and happier in happy times. The author comes to the conclusion that it’s not just the melodies that matter, but also the texts and voice, and has a special mention about Marie’s voice.
All in all an interesting book that should not be missing in the private library of a Roxette fan, both for fans who have been around for a long time and fans who recently joined the fun and want to understand the reason behind some rituals, behavior and stories and jokes. It might not be that interesting to read for “outsiders”, it may help other music psychologists and sociologists though, since the market lacks books like this.
Brazilian fan page www.roxettebrasil.net has done 11 Q&A sessions with people working with/for/as Roxette during the World Tour – including Marie Fredriksson, Dea Norberg, Calle Brattberg, Danne Persson, Peter Fredriksson, Jakob Johnzen, Anders Molund, Mikael Svensson, Tumppi Haaranen, Sven Lindstrom (who took his time to answer those question not as others 
, Ulf Brynte and last but certainly not least – Bo Johansson.
If you had problems with remembering who did what during the tour (expect Marie and Per singing), so this guide will take you through all other people that need to be remembered. And for those who didn’t know – Marie reveals who “Moje” is.
For those who are eagerly waiting for Christmas gifts – there will be a big one from Roxette. You just have to live in Sweden to watch the public channel SVT on Wednesday, December 26th at 10:30pm for the shortened version of the Roxette documentary which will be – HOPEFULLY – out on the DVD next year. If you are living abroad, we guess it will be available in a free-of-charge VOD service on the website later that week. At this point we do not know if the documentary is in English or Swedish.
Additionally – as Roxette Cafe found out – January 2, 2013 at 10:30pm SVT 1 will air a Roxette concert compiled from the 2011-2012 world tour!
We’re keeping our fingers crossed the Gyllene Tider casus won’t be repeated this time…*
Here’s the short synopsis translated by Patricia Peres:
After Marie Fredriksson suffered from a brain tumor in 2002 it was a long way to recovery, and no one could have imagined that Roxette almost ten years later would be revived and go on a world tour again. What started with six planned gigs became a triumphal march around the world that lasted over 19 months. We follow Per, Marie and the band in a documentary about their return, the world tour, work in the studio, fantastic and fanatic fans worldwide with wonderful stories about how Roxette affected their lives and how they live with Roxette’s music.
* GT promised to release DVD with a documentary back in 2004, but firstly they showed the shortened version of the programme on TV and then the DVD was moved in time and with time cancelled…
According to Jungfrau.ch and confirmed by Per Gessle, Roxette will perform live at SnowpenAir 2013 in the Kleinen Scheidegg, Switzerland on April 6, 2013. One Republic, Hanery Amman and MC Juli will also take part in this event.
The open-air concert is held at 2061 meteres above sea level. More information to be found soon at www.snowpenair.ch
Roxette Cafe contributed to the article.
A mini-documentary about Roxette’s 2012 world tour and “the special relationship between the band and the fans” as Colin van der Bel of TDR describes on his blog. It was recorded on June 29 in Amsterdam and Per Gessle and other band members were interviewed for that occasion. A must-watch!
ROXETTE 2012 – FANtastic! from Colin van der Bel on Vimeo.
Over 167,000 travel agents in over 160 countries vote in this unique competition. As HallandPosten.se informs, Hotel Tylösand received a golden prize during the World Travels Awards gala in Algarve, Portugal in the middle of October. Hotel Tylösand is a winner in “Sweden’s leading spa resort 2012″ category. The award is considered as one of the finest treasures a travel product can get.
To win a gold in this big race is to win recognition, says Elisabeth Haglund, CEO of Hotel Tylösand in a statement.
Thanks to Monika Nowak for sharing this news.
It’s been a while since we’ve done our last update. Obviously, it’s all because of those two bottles of wine we drink to our daily meals every now and then since November 1… if you feel like sharing your thoughts on the taste, please do this in the comment section below.
In this very meantime between “the next big things” such as the live Rox DVD, solo albums, new tour announcements, Oliver Zimmermann sent us 7 pictures of the low budget release called “Die ultimative Hit-Kollektion” from EMI Germany.
If you’ve started planning Christmas presents for your parents, we have one recommendation – wine is a better investment.
If you find Facebook videos hard to watch and you still remember wonderful accoustic performance of “Dressed for success” among others, so this is the clip you have to see. Just relax and spend next 30 minutes at the backstage with Roxette & the might band.
Done by Patrícia Peres.
…the most enjoyable TV shopping ever!
Thanks to Daniel Kühn for sharing.
A new (probably unofficial) Roxette video DVD was released by Garra Media Corp company in the Argentinian market recently.It includes a Travelling picture taken by Fredrik Etoall and 13 videos – from “Soul deep” to “Milk and toast and honey”.
Source: Discosprocom.com
Maria Sörgjerd with help of several die-hard Roxette fans has written a book called “I en underbar ballong” (Swedish for: In a Wonderful Balloon) that will be released in December 2012. Here’s the short note that can be found on the Fenomena Förlag in both English and Swedish. The publication will be released in Swedish only.
Roxette has had a transformative and even vital impact on many lives all over the world. A proof of this is the subculture which centres around Roxette, on websites and at conserts. The author Maria Sörgjerd has spent the last two years writing a book with a popular scientific focus, based on the stories of the most dedicated Roxette fans. She has found out what it is that pushes these people to travel around the world, visit concert after concert.
What is it about the group Roxette that appeals to the fans? There are people who have moved to Sweden because the Roxette members – Per and Marie – live there. There are people who have learned Swedish thanks to Roxette. There are also examples of people who have crossed the line in their eagerness to be close to their idols, but for most fans music is a positive source of energy and a lifestyle.
An underlying message in the book is that music that we like can make us feel good, not just classical music but even something as “trivial” as pop songs about balloons. The stories told by the fans are connected to the scientific field of music psychology, with an easy going and funny tone. The book is easy to relate to with casual examples.
This project is not connected at any point with the official Roxette book being currently written by Sven Lindström, author of “Att vara Per Gessle” biography.
It was a very hot day! Roxette took the stage at about 21:40. The wait for Roxette to take stage was just very late. The crowd was losing patience waiting for Roxette to take stage. The Gibson Amphitheater didn’t have an opening band, but rather a DJ playing 80s music! But most of us know Roxette did most of the work in the 90s. There were girls dressed up in 80s fashion that evening.
The worker at guest services said that 3/4 of the building had tickets available. I don’t know if it’s true, but it is possible. I would say maybe 40-50% of the venue was sold. I was surprised with the turnout of the enthusiastic fans that showed up! I didn’t like the way Live Nation sold tickets for this event because during the pre-sale of tickets the ‘pit’ area up front were not accessible and you had to be a Citi Bank member to get the tickets for pre-sale, or use a Live Nation app. However, the tickets for up front to the pit area were eventually available through Stub Hub. Other fans were complaining that they didn’t have access, or the option to buy tickets to the ‘pit’ area.
Roxette to LA was long overdue. Then finally after 20 years Roxette finally took stage! The last time Roxette performed in LA was in the exact same venue on a cold, rainy, Friday evening in March of ’92 that I had attended when I was in High School. Looking back, I would’ve never imagined it would’ve taken Roxette 20 years before seeing them return to my hometown. Then as the band finally took stage the crowd came to life! The audience leaped to their feet! The crowd was yelling with enthusiasm where you couldn’t hear the person next to you speaking! Then Marie opened up with “Dressed For Success” and yelled, “Yeah, yeah, yeah….
I was surprised how the audience remembered their songs as they sang along during the evening. What was more amazing was how the audience not only remember the singles, but the album tracks as well. The crowd really just remembered songs from ‘Look Sharp’ and ‘Joyride’ days. When Per was strumming his guitar to the beginning to ‘How Do You Do’ he was telling the crowd to sing along, but many people didn’t know that song, so Per said, “Well, let’s try over here on this side” (on my side of the stage, where I
was in front of Christoffer Lundquist). Then still Per couldn’t hear anyone singing, then finally as he walked closer to me, he could hear me shouting out the opening verse. Then I was the sole singer to ‘How Do You Do’ shouting at Per!
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