Additional tour dates in Germany in Autumn!

Live Nation has sent out the first dates of the additional dates which will be added to the Roxette World Tour 2011. The dates are, so far, for Germany and Spain (already known) only.

“The concerts have been great so far,” tells Per Gessle. “Marie and the band are in top form and the response of the audience has been incredible. And it is also great that the new album has been received like this. We are very happy and look forward to this exciting year!”

2011.10.13 – TUI Arena – Hannover, Germany
2011.10.14 – Gerry Weber Stadion – Halle (Westfalen), Germany
2011.10.16 – SAP Arena – Mannheim, Germany
2011.10.17 – Schleyerhalle – Stuttgart, Germany
2011.10.19 – König-Pilsner Arena – Oberhausen, Germany
2011.10.24 – O2-World – Berlin, Germany
2011.10.25 – O2-World – Hamburg, Germany
2011.10.27 – Arena Nürnberg – Nuremberg, Germany
2011.11.18 – Palacio Vistalegre – Madrid, Spain – pre-sale starts March 16, normal sale March 18
2011.11.19 – Sant Jordi Club – Barcelona, Spain – pre-sale starts March 16, normal sale March 18

Information about ticket sales in Germany is still not available.

In addition, apparently Live Nation Spain has cancelled the Golden Ring tickets which were announced last week, so currently only the normal tickets (49 EUR) are listed on the website.

More dates to come, hopefully in other countries and Stockholm too! For the complete tour agenda so far, visit our World Tour 2011 page!

Update: Tickets for Germany will go on sale this Friday, March 18 at 9 in the morning.

A short note about releases: The interest in the countries where “Charm School” hasn’t been released yet is very high. However, the album won’t contain the same track list in all countries. For example, China has forbidden Roxette to release “Sleeping In My Car” due to the sexual content. Therefore the live version of this song, which is included in the Deluxe version of “Charm School”, will be excluded.

Jonas Isacsson: “I would join Night of the Proms again if they asked me”

Kirsten and Judith met Jonas Isacsson in Hamburg for an interview. He just came back from a walk in rainy Hamburg. After short introduction, we went straight to work.

Yesterday we saw that you are also in the front when you played with Alan Parsons, not in the back behind the orchestra.

– Yeah! I have to come down and play with him as well. That’s fine. He’s an old hero of mine, he was assistant producer of Pink Floyd’s “Dark side of the moon” and he worked with The Beatles as well. So I’m honoured to play with him, actually. He’s a cool guy, and very big, I’m not that tall, I look like a dwarfs. He’s nice, but like 2 meters tall!

Alan Parsons is a new act in the show. There are other new things, for example, Sharon von Adel is not there anymore. So John Miles does “Stairway to Heaven” alone.  We miss her! I miss OMD as well. They played somewhere in town yesterday as well. They were supposed to come to the hotel after the show but they didn’t.

Is it exhausting to play during the whole show, it lasts three hours…

– No, it’s actually better than sitting in the dressing room and wait, because the other guys in Roxette and everybody else have to sit and wait for their moment, kind of boring. The only thing that disturbs me when I come in during the break is that the wine is gone! I’m sure it’s Pelle, Clarence and Christoffer!

Yeah!, We can see that on the YouTube videos.

– Yeah, that happens while I am up on stage you know. It’s kinda funny, stupid but funny. We have a good time anyway.

So we’d like to know about your career. How did you start to play guitar?

– Two elder brothers, Thomas and Mikael, were playing in bands. They both played bass, they would fool around with guitars too. I always tried to be better than them (laughs), so that’s how it started. I went to rehearsals with my brothers, saw the bands, and I liked the atmosphere with amplifiers and all that.

How old were you?

– I was five. There were guitars in my house all around. And my great grandfather played organ at the church, so there was always music in the house and started from there.

Do you play other instruments?

– Yes! Bass and drums. I learnt to play drums at the music school, I could play guitar before that, but drums were the first instrument I really had to learn, but it became boring. I can also play keyboards.

Is it true you played with Joey Tempest and John Norum’s as well, back in early 80ies?

– I lived in Upplands Väsby where they come from. John Norum had a band called W.C., Water Closet, with some friends of mine, he was a great guitar player but  he was a kid back in those days, he was very shy and stood with his back to the audience, but everytime I listened to him play guitar, I thought “this guy is great.” So we lived in the same town and grew up with those guys as well. I also worked with Joey’s first solo album.

You said you lived in Upplands Väsby, but where do you come from?

– No, I was born in Umeå. We’re nearly one age. We moved to Dalarna and I moved to Stockholm in 1975.

You also worked with Eva Dahlgren a long time. How did you start to work with her?

– I worked with Eva from her second album “En blekt blondins hjärta”, from 1980 till 1991. Eva’s producer Anders Glenmark and I were on tour with a band, we played in the same show, a bit like this show wi

th various artists, and Eva was backup singer in one band, so we met then and became friends. Then Anders and me started to work together and we formed a band actually, with Eva. Then in 81 we went on tour with Eva, the woman went rocket skyhigh immediately, with such great songs.

How was it working with her? You composed one song with her, “Älska mig”.

– It was great! We also did music for a children’s movie and worked a lot together those days. I miss her sometimes, to play with her. We have still contact, we live very close to each other in SouthernStockholm, we see each other shopping groceries, you know, so I see her a lot. But she has a new band and works with Lars Halapi, they seem to have a good working relationship, so I don’t want to go and mess things. But if she’d ask I’d say yes , of course.

How did you start to work with Roxette?

– Working with Eva lead to other jobs, I got to do a lot of sessions with other big Swedish artists. I was working in studio 4-5 days a week, with different people and different kind of music, including dance bands, lots of stuff. And Clarence, Pelle and I knew each other since 1977, from different bands, Clarence got the offer to produce a solo album with Per, which then became Roxette. Clarence said “I want to have this band,” which was me and Pelle, and Tommy Cassemar. So I worked with them since 1986, except for the 7 years where Marie didn’t play. That was tragic.

Read more

NOTP tour: Hamburg, November 28, #24

We need your help. Each and every concert will have a such topic. If you find something connected with this particular gig, post it in the comment section. Thanks for your help and cooperation!

Photos:

Per Gessle’s comments:

Hamburg #2 was a treat! Thanx everyone, we had a blast. Berlin tomorrow!

Official videos:

Craziness staring here

Fans stories:

KIWEIN:

My first German show after five Dutch/Belgian shows. I missed Sharon den Adel. H17 is an “ok” substitute for OMD, Alan Parsons is great and the show seems “shorter” than it was in Belgium/Netherlands. I missed the effects (pyro) and the catwalk (especially the ppl who walk in at the beginning of the show).

Christina Stürmer is better than I expected, don’t know why she plays only 1 song after the break. Feels a bit like they didn’t know where to put it. They changed the classical parts (to the better if you ask me). WICF is still so-so. I don’t know what I miss about it on this tour but so far I liked it only once when Marie did it the all-bluesy way. John Miles is still great, miss Sharon on Stairway to heaven. If I could is still boring (yes, sorry for that..).

And one thing: I know the organizers decided to do more seated shows to please the people. Apparently ppl wanted more seated shows. But for me it spoils the atmosphere completely. I don’t like it at all and I was really thinking about selling my tickets for the seated shows. I am not 50 yet and I want to party..and I do believe more people want that. Everybody stood anyway and I think the pushing is not THAT bad on a NOTP show..! AND I think there’s much more party with people standing and it’s not so hard for the artists to perform, too.

About last night’s show: Screwed up WICF again, voice great, lyrics, eh, yes, well, no. The Look and LTYH rocked, Marie gave all she has at the end of LTYH, it was fabulous! Joyride was nice, too. And it’s funny to see the audience seems to be fond of IMHBL. Everybody sang along…

MAMAN:

It was absolutely fantastic! As Sasha already wrote concerning the first show in HH: No one got more applause. Everyone woke up, stood up when Marie rose like the sun onto the stage. As if she was the one, all had been waiting for. I bet, she was! And she did such a great job! So much strength, so much power!
There were some wrong words in WICF, but you wouldn´t have noticed it without knowing the lyrics by heart. So: no problems. She reached the high notes, she sung so powerful, I´m speechless. What a woman! She smiled and I´m sure that she enjoyed the show! What a power, what a strength on stage! THANK YOU, MARIE! ABSOULUTELY FANTASTIC!

YouTube clips:

It must have been love

Media reports/reviews:

Halterner Zeitung: Roxette is the highlight | Abendblatt: Roxette – Tears and goosebumps

NOTP tour: Hamburg, November 27, #23

We need your help. Each and every concert will have a such topic. If you find something connected with this particular gig, post it in the comment section. Thanks for your help and cooperation!

Photos:

Sascha’s snapshots | Der Westen | NDR2 | Morgenpost | Kölner Stadtanzeiger | RTN | Regioactive | Bildmaschine

Per Gessle’s comments:

Excellent Hamburg gig. We felt extremely welcome by the German crowd. Thank you. Danke, dears. Let’s kick ass tomorrow again.

Hamburg! What a crowd! What a response! Just did Wish I could fly. Marie’s in top shape! Alan Parsons just borrowed my black guitar. Swell.

Official videos:

Lots of fresh footage starting here

Fans stories:

SASCHA:

What a night! Already the knowing to really be at a Roxette event after those dark seven years felt incredible while I went into the arena. The show started of with some classical songs, the Katona twins, then Christina Stürmer, followed by Heaven 17. another classical track. Hey, what was that? A blue dress was glittering left of the stage… Marie?

Marie!!! The stage lift went down and I could see her head in the dark hole. Then the strings went into a familiar note: the intro of WICF. As she went up, smiling into the audience, Roxette got such a big welcome, so much louder than everything before! Marie started to sing and it sounded different to the past. But for sure not worse. Rather in the direction of hoarse, but full and touching. The beautiful performance was thanked with a thundering applause and they said good bye until the 2nd part.

After some classical part Alan Parsons entered the stage with Jonas on his side and they did a couple of beautiful songs. Jonas is such a master at the guitar, I wanna hear much of him on the new record! In the break I looked for the merchandise stand and got the new NOTP CD. They had ROX20 as well, but I didn’t find the shirts. 2nd part. The classical tracks were mixed with the twins doing a nice pop medley, than Christina again. John Miles did some good songs and Jonas was quite often jamming at the front of stage. Great solos! Jonas playing around… dand dang-dang… The Look!

As soon as Roxette entered the arena again everyone was on his feet. And they did simply great: Per jumping as usual, the whole band smiling all over and Marie walking the stage, fooling around with the band and orchestra. Thousands of lights at the ballads, thousands of voices at the up-tempos! Everyone was Na-na-na! Marie dared quite high notes at the end of LTYH and at one point her voice broke of. After a second she went on and sang even higher, with more power! They got such a huge response by the crowd, such a thunder of applause and encouraging screams, it was clear for everyone: Roxette was the absolute highlight of the night, they won them all. Like the reporters put it later: It seemed like everyone came for one reason: Roxette’s comeback.

Now watching my photos and videos it’s still hard to believe it really happened. But it is! Almost unreal. I did only a few video clips and snapshots cause I needed to enjoy as much as possible through my own eyes, unfiltered. It went so damn fast! The bad point of the night: I was too far away! Can’t wait to jump into the crowd in Dortmund. 🙂

NOTP FANPAGE: “Roxette – the absolute highlight”

YouTube clips:

Sascha’s video (in HD) | IMHBL | LTYH | IMHBL (clip)
By Tueffelberta: WICF | TL | IMHBL | J | LTYH

Media reports/reviews:

NDR2: “The most emotional NOTP”
Abendblatt: “Comeback of the year”
Der Westen: “Magnificent comeback of Roxette”

The voice of Marie Fredriksson has become more mature, in the heights no longer quite so at home, but all the more expressive.

Morgenpost: “Old heroes and hire youngsters”
Kölner Stadtanzeiger: “Roxette’s stage comeback”

TV reports: Leute heute | Brisant

NOTP: Hamburg is getting ready for the show!

Don’t forget to visit German-language blog written by Karen, one of The Nokia Night of the Proms staff in Germany. She posted few photos from Color-Line Arena in Hamburg.

Update: Newspapers have some nice articles around the show and particularly Roxette. In German of course: Roxette united again | Back to the 80s

Google translate may help you reading… 😉