Hallandsposten (Jan-Owe Wikström) did an interview with Per in relation to the Roxette concert in Halmstad tomorrow. It’s going to be the 6th time they play in Halmstad. After 1988, 1989, 1991, 1994 and 2010 tomorrow it’s time for them to play again in the band’s hometown. It will be their first time at Örjans vall though.
According to the interview, the tour will continue in 2016, however, nothing is planned after the September concert (company gig) in Warsaw. Per says since they turn 30 next year, the tour should last until then and they haven’t played South Africa, Asia, North America and South America yet on this tour. At the same time it is Marie’s health they are depending on, how much she can do.
Screenshot is from the making of video of The Look 2015 remake
Regarding the tour Per mentions it’s quite typical nowadays that as no artist can earn money on album sales, they go on tour. When Roxette played in Madrid, there were posters from Katy Perry via Mark Knopfler till the Foo Fighters. Since there is this big competition, he says it’s fantastic that they still have sold out shows and can sell 8000-18000 tickets per concert. In Halmstad there will be approximately 15000 people in the audience. The plan for the 5 concerts in Sweden was to sell 50000 tickets altogether and it seems it will work.
Per tells Jan-Owe the tour is one of the reasons why the new album is delayed. The other reason is the EMI – Warner merger. There are too many new people and Per wants to work with people he likes and who respect their history and the new songs. 5 songs off the new album are ready and as Per says, it is 65-70% of the total album. This would mean the album has 8 songs? Hm.
With Addeboy vs. Cliff, who mixed the 2015 remake of The Look, Per wrote some songs together. He says to Hallandsposten that it’s hard to find people who are talented in what he is not too good at, ie. programming.
There are still unknown collaborations on the new album, but Per told Hallandsposten he and Mats MP Persson wrote some songs together now for the first time since long and they might turn up on the new album. Mr. G says he would never be able to write “Fading Like A Flower” today, simply because he has moved on as a songwriter.
Regarding the changes in music consumption Per says nowadays it’s less important to people who wrote the songs or who plays the drums. Today’s pop music reflects the society today, so most of it is made on laptops where everything can be fixed in the end.
This time he says again that social media is a unique way to get close to the fans.
Jan-Owe Wikström asked Per what is left to do after that he has done almost everything with Roxette, Gyllene Tider, his solo projects and soundtrack. Maybe a musical? Per can imagine that there could be a musical built on Roxette’s, Gyllene Tider’s hits or his solo songs just like ABBA’s “Mamma Mia” and the Queen musical, but only if the right way is found. Something new. Maybe with Jonas Åkerlund as a director.
From the Hallandsposten interview it turns out that Per is still writing his diaries after each show, so it’s not only the Facebook posts he writes about them. And they film a lot. Probably, a lot more than what we get to see after each gig on Facebook.
The Swedish tour leg with 5 shows started tonight in Kalmar, where Roxette had never played before. Many posters welcomed us in town everywhere we walked, either the poster of the Kalmar show or the one with all the Swedish dates on it. All 5 concerts are open air gigs, so we prayed for good weather for the start. It worked so-so, because during the waiting time we had some heavy summer showers, but all in all the temperature was fine and the sun came out to shine on us in the afternoon.
You know you are in Sweden when the first thing organized at the entrance is the toilet. Haha. It may sound stupid, but no other country can tell they have a security team thinking about those who are waiting all day in front of the venue. And you know you are in Sweden when Show Security Sweden is in charge, with good old Atli as the head of the team. They are really the world’s best security team! Helpful, patient and kind all the time. Not only the supervisors, but the whole bunch of people they are working together with at the venues. Thanks for all your support, guys!
Swedish shows got a bit different vs. earlier years because of Live Nation’s Early Entrance ticket policy. Actually, today there were approximately 30 people showing up with an early entrance ticket, but most of them just wanted to have a calm walk inside and find a place at the bar, on the grass or at the very side of the venue, more in the middle, not in the front. They first had to register, appr. 1 hour before the inlet and they got their merch stuff which was a tour programme signed by Marie and Per and a Roxette XXX tour bag. Then they were let in 15 minutes before all those with normal tickets. Even if there were hundreds of people waiting for getting let in, everything was calm and no one was really nervous about the entrance. It feels good when after all the inlet mess in other countries you get to experience this.
Eskobar hit the stage a bit later than 19:30 and it was very nice to hear them in their homeland. For me the best they were in Vienna so far, but their tonight’s show comes very close after that. You could feel they were comfortable playing at home, however Daniel, the singer of the band enjoyed the German-speaking countries so much that he used the expression ”ein bisschen” several times.
After they went off the stage, the crew was setting it up for Roxette. While looking around and checking the seats where guests had their places, we spotted Crown Princess Victoria with her husband Daniel and Prince Carl Philip with his wife Sofia, who are on holiday in Öland now. They were sitting in the last row, which was at the highest place. They disappeared for some minutes during the break and as you could see on Eskobar’s Facebook page, they visited them in background. Victoria is a Roxer, so surely, they met Roxette backstage, too.
It’s summer, but Swedish summers are unpredictable, so it was a good option to install a heater for Marie on the stage. BoJo tested it himself to see it was working properly. After all guitars and other instruments were tested, the mics were set to the proper height and Åsa set the iPhone to video mode, it was time for Roxette to come up stage. One of the characteristics of Swedish summer is that the sun goes down quite late, so it was still daylight when they started the show. The intro didn’t have the same adrenalin kick effect on the crowd this way, but still it was very energetic how the band hit the stage.
Being at home, both Marie and Per talked in Swedish. The talks in between the songs were more or less the same as the English version, but one huge difference was that Marie talked much more than usual. She felt very comfortable and it was easy for her to talk. We all loved it so much!
The crowd did well on the sing along parts, but it wasn’t the most enthusiastic audience of all. There were however Roxers from several countries (Argentina, Chile, Brazil, Spain, Poland, Finland, Germany, Hungary, Switzerland, Austria, Denmark, Greece, etc.) who made more noise and moves. I tend to believe Swedish crowds are really this reserved most of the time. Or maybe tonight it was because they thought the royal family members were watching them and taking notes of who behaves how. By the way, they showed how to party, during The Look. HERE you can watch Svenska Nyheter’s video about it.
Crush On You was very cool this time again, however, the effect of stopping after ”no Elvis in the leather / I want you now or never” was a bit strange with the sun still being up on the sky. Nevertheless, the crowd reaction sounded the same as in any other country where it was complete darkness at this point.
During The Heart Shaped Sea, in the era of smartphones with flashlight app, someone lit a real sparkler, but as it’s quite dangerous in the middle of the audience, Atli had to take it away.
After THSS Marie and Dea were preparing for Watercolours In The Rain / Paint and Marie started talking. That was the funniest of all. HERE you can watch it in a video. She said (in Swedish):
Now we’re going to play a really really old song. It means so much to me. Micke… ah … no, he’s my husband… it was a little mistake, but Per wrote the lyrics and I wrote the music and I’m so proud of it.
One must love her! It was such a cute little mistake!
I must mention Marie’s talking during another song, too. During Dressed For Success, when it comes to the crowd clapping choreography, she usually shouts into the mic: ”C’mon and clap your hands, everybody!” When she got to this point tonight, she wanted to shout it again in English, but before she did that, she realized she was in Sweden and shouldn’t talk in English, so she just started laughing instead. Then she made the crowd clap along.
After the balloon song, Roxette went off the stage and the audience didn’t want to stop shouting ”En gång till! En gång till!” to have them back on stage. They didn’t let us wait for long and came back with the usual 2 extra songs.
It was a nice first gig in Sweden during the XXX tour with 14612 people in the crowd. Hopefully, the next 4 shows will get the crowd into party mood and it won’t be ”only” the band on fire.
KALMAR UPDATE: Oh yea, the Swedish tour has finally started. Almost 15000 showed up tonite at Fredriksskans and sang along. And no rain in sight. Thank you!!! The band was sooo tight, have to love that!!!! Badabam from P.
Next stop should be Borgholm tomorrow (and for many of us Roxers it will be a sightseeing stop at least), but the next gig is in Halmstad on 22nd July. Can’t wait!
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:Här kommer Pippi Långstrump)
Concert No. 51 took place in a beautiful setting in Locarno. The last time Roxette played at the very same place, Piazza Grande was almost exactly 4 years ago, 14th July 2011. That was a sold out show with more than 12,000 people in the crowd. This time (according to Corriere del Ticino) appr. 6,600 people went to see Roxette. Actually, the huge main square looked so full, I can’t imagine how more people could fit there. Most of them were standing on the ground, but since there are houses, those who live there watched the show from their balconies. How cool is that! Wouldn’t we all want Roxette to play under our balconies if not in our living rooms?
After some disastrous and messed up inlets on this tour leg, the security team in Switzerland showed it can work in a much better way. Those Roxers who had been waiting in front of the open air venue all day could reach their well-deserved spots in the front row.
Roxette charmed the audience with their performance and yet another sweaty night it was for the band. Marie was shining and in top shape, Per was smiling all the time from ear to ear while jumping like hell. The band was very energetic, too and they animated the crowd continuously, however, the audience rather remained a bit reserved. The setlist got one song shorter than at the past few shows. It was again The Heart Shaped Sea that was left out.
Just like in Vienna an Austrian flag, in Locarno at the end of the concert a Swiss flag was thrown to the stage by long time Roxers Karin Rubischung and Jörg Zimmerli. Dea and Chris held it up, you can see it on this pic. Lovely!
To make sure everyone sees what is happening on stage, there were big screens on the 2 sides. Just like in Australia for the Sydney Opera House gig, the screens were showing everything in black & white.
Anders Roos, photographer of the upcoming XXX tour book this time fixed a camera to Christoffer’s guitar he is using during Dressed For Success and Dangerous. Quite curious about the result. We do hope we will get to see it one day!
Åsa is still on tour, so we can expect many cool videos appearing on Roxette’s Facebook page from the show.
LOCARNO UPDATE: Allright!!! Could this be the most beautiful concert setting in the world? I dunno, but it sure makes your jaws drop when you’re standing on that stage!!! Wonderful crowd and a most asskickin’ band this hot Friday night. Thanx everyone for showing up, I dunno how many you were, looked like at least 10.000. Some sleep now, after some really stupid Pelle jokes, then it’s Zurich-time! See y’all tomorrow, folks!! Cheers, P.
Can you believe that only 10 shows are left and the European tour leg is over? My, oh my… Roxette stays in Switzerland for one more gig. Next show is in Zurich without a day off (11th July). Dear champagne lovers, don’t forget to party hard! 😉
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)
Watercolours In The Rain / Paint
Fading Like A Flower
How Do You Do!
It Must Have Been Love
Dressed For Success
Dangerous
Joyride (intro: Vogel-Lisi)
Extra
Listen To Your Heart
The Look
Thanx for your help with the setlist, Karin Rubischung!
After more than a month break (since Prague) on my tour agenda, I got my proper dose of Roxdrug again. I always wanted to see Roxette live in Germany. In the country where they had their first successful steps outside Sweden and which is still a huge market for them. There is no tour that doesn’t include several German gigs. This time Germany gets 9 shows all in all. Impressive, isn’t it? I was curious about the atmosphere, how the crowd lives together with the band, etc. One could see several videos from earlier concerts and there were louder and more reserved shows, but being there in person, experience the happenings live is always different. After seeing vids from Cologne some days ago, I really prayed for an at least as fab crowd as the Cologonians were. Then Hamburg happened where Marie and Per, as well as the band were in top top top shape and the crowd was very loud from the first minute till the very last. So I started wondering what I could expect at the third German show after 2 wonderful gigs in this country. My prayers were in good hands tonite! What an incredibly amazing concert it was!
Marie probably got a cold, because she was coughing several times, even instead of one rocky ”that’s where I’ll meet you” in Stars and when BoJo came up on stage before The Heart Shaped Sea, when he usually brings Marie something to drink, now he brought a tissue as well. Poor girl! We all hope she gets over this cold very fast. BUT: don’t think this stopped her from being totally awesome! She gave 100% into her singing and her voice sounded extremely fab! Well, OK, some lyrics were missing, but she was again so professional getting over it and just smiling at this fact. She was all smiles during the whole show and flirting with cameras during the photographers’ time. She looked in the eyes of fans in the front which we all loved so much! She enjoyed the whole gig to the full! She said more than once it was ”great to see so many people here tonight!”
Per was in extreme bouncing mood, sometimes running across the stage, sometimes jumping in circle and our charm school guy had thousands of sexy moves and flirting looks tonight. He was also ”kicking” Chris in the ass at least 3 times during their guitar playing.
Chris was very much on a high with his absolutely fab guitar solos and the local song he played kicked ass! The audience loved him!
Magnus was quite reserved and he didn’t look like he was in a good mood during the first few songs, but he started acting with us from Dressed For Success and we loved it so much. It felt like he started really enjoying the show since DFS. During their usual discussion with Per, when they talk about him being a viking and he was lip-syncing to Agnetha in ABBA songs, he mentioned that he saw Agnetha and Frida on the Berlin Pride and it was nice. Regarding his fave album he said: ”You in the front already know which my favourite album is!” Of course, we know it’s not Have A Nice Day, but Baladas en español. He did a little voting exercise asking the crowd to put their hands up which their fave album was. He asked Look Sharp!, Joyride and Baladas en español and the latter one won! But of course, Per insisted on playing a song from Have A Nice Day and yes, it was Crush On You. Damn hot performance it was!
When Per started with the teaser to How Do You Do!, the crowd went c.r.a.z.y. and we started singing the song ourselves. Per was so amazed and satisfied his facial expression was priceless.
Before It Must Have Been Love Per said to Marie: ”Huh! How are you, Marie?” She replied: ”It’s sweaty!” Per told her: ”It’s very warm, isn’t it? This is Germany. It’s much warmer than Sweden.” Then they started to play the once-crappy Xmas song (which is so not true that it has ever been crappy) and Marie missed a part of the lyrics and looked at Per for help, but he couldn’t help her out. They both were smiling like hell and Per sticked his tongue out. Both of them were so cute! It didn’t really matter that they couldn’t go on with the lyrics, we helped them with our singing along anyway.
Before Dressed For Success Per said: ”OK Berlin! It’s Saturday! It’s party time!” And they made the whole arena catch the Saturday night fever, stand up on their feet and dance!!! The crowd was a fantastic one from the beginning with their singing along and clapping, but from DFS and then on they never stopped partying!
Flying Christoffer & Magnus. Photo by Patrícia Peres
There were many international fans (besides the German Roxers of course, there were fans from Australia, Hungary, Poland, Norway, Spain, Bulgaria, Russia, etc.). We were prepared with many balloons, so when the magic word left Per’s mouth, all of them were up in the air and the crowd enjoyed playing with them so much.
When the band left the stage after Joyride, the crowd went crazy again, craving for more. They didn’t keep us waiting so long and when they came back on stage, Per shouted in the mic: ”So, are you ready for more?” and they started playing Listen To Your Heart. Marie while singing the word ”goodbye”was waving like really saying goodbye. Well, soon it was the end of the gig with an incredibly energetic The Look.
When waving goodbye at the end of the show, they just couldn’t believe how fantastic the concert was and the crowd didn’t want to let them go off the stage. Marie and Per were standing there much longer than usually, waving and Marie was blowing many kisses to the audience. Then they started walking and turned back before they left the stage, to wave one last goodbye. Marie even said to Per ”it’s amazing!” It was actually amazing x 3! People leaving the venue, talking to each other said ”What a concert!” Tons of them.
Since the next show is in Dresden without a day off and the trucks should have been packed fast, Micke N-S already started packing the stuff during LTYH. The short videos during the concert were filmed by Micke Lindström tonight.
Anders Roos, the fab photographer of the upcoming Roxette XXX tour book was taking tremendous amount of pictures both of the crowd and the happenings on stage, as well as during the building up the stage, etc. He already has several thousands of photos from which it is probably very difficult to choose only some that would fit in the book. This time he even asked Micke N-S to fix a camera onto Magnus’s Blue Swede Sex Machine. Would be great to see the result one day.
BERLIN UPDATE: Danke!! What an evening! A truly unforgettable Saturday in this mighty city. What a crowd! So much energy we forgot that this was the third show in four days!!!!! Unbelievable to be on stage with almost 11.000 Roxers in front of us!!! Thanx a million. Still got an andrenalin rush!!! Wow. /P.
No rest for the wicked! Next stop is Dresden in some hours (28th June).
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: Pack die Badehose ein)
The last time Roxette played in Sofia was in May 2011. That was a sold out gig with 15000 people in the crowd. According to Per, there were more than 11000 people tonight, but the news on Bulgarian Nova TV informed that this time there were again appr. 15000 fans at Arena Armeec. No matter how many attended the gig, one thing is sure: they were incredibly loud! They had pure fun and never wanted to stop clapping!
Even if Per asked to keep that sun shining, it was a rainy day in Sofia, but it didn’t let the band down. Everyone was in top shape on stage. Many complained about the arena’s poor acoustics and some technical issues, but it seems all could get over it and Roxette kept the spirits high by singing their hearts out and playing all those instruments with full power.
SOFIA UPDATE: Yea!!!! Truly fantastic gig tonite. What a crowd! What a band!!!! Loved every minute of it! Hope you did it too! (I know you did…). Thanx everyone for making this happen. Love always! Now: RoxAir back north! Vids tomorrow! Cheers, P&Co
Roxette is back on the road after celebrating midsommar this weekend. Next gig is on Monday (22nd June) in Warsaw, Poland.
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
