live nation

German promoter Marek Lieberberg joins Live Nation

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4Not really Roxette news, but a little bit related in the end: Live Nation Entertainment is partnering with German concert promoter Marek Lieberberg to form Live Nation Concerts Germany, promoting concerts and festivals in Germany, Austria and Switzerland – beginning January 1, 2016.

This is indeed news because it means that Marek Lieberberg leaves his own company “Marek Lieberberg Konzertagentur” – the one agency responsible for the huge festivals “Rock am Ring” and “Rock im Park” in Germany and also responsible for the Roxette shows in Germany and the Party Crasher tour back in 2009. The Marek Lieberberg Konzertagentur belongs to German ticketing company CTS Eventim.

The ticketing for Live Nation Concerts Germany will be in the hands of Ticketmaster Germany. Ticketmaster Germany will serve as the lead ticketing company for the new venture, which probably means that the tickets get a bit more expensive in Germany than they already are, but that is just my humble opinion.

According to their own statement, Live Nation offers more than 23.000 shows for 60 million fans in over 40 countries. The “Lieberberg deal” is supposed to add another 700 shows and two million fans.

Q&A with Per at Live Nation – The answers!

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roxetteloveAs we informed you some days ago, you could tweet your questions to Per on Live Nation Australia & New Zealand’s Twitter account. Per replied to 14 questions so far.

It’s not yet known if he continues to answer the remaining Qs or if new ones are coming, but we will keep our eyes open and let you know if he does so. Article will be updated then.

 

 

 

Q: – Per, how do you deliver a song like I’m Glad You Called? I mean clearly it was an emotional hell that break up!

Per: – There are of course bits & pieces of me in those lyrics. But I’m a writer, I make things up.

 

Q: – Per is there any song from a previous album that you regret not choosing as a single?

Per: – LS, Joyride & CBB had lots of potentials. Sleeping single. Paint. WSL? & more. Tough competition.

 

Q: – What makes a crowd exceptional to you?

Per: – Every crowd is great. Rox-fans are glowing with positive energy. How could you not love that?

 

Q: – Hello! Will Roxette be re-releasing any rare songs like “I Want You” in the near future?

Per: – Not IWY. It was made with other artists & belongs to another rec. company. But other fun stuff might pop up.

 

Q: – 24 years wondering what will be the perfume that he uses? Time flies.

Per: – Perfume is good for you. I change a bit. Bottega Veneta got some nice ones for guys like me.

 

Q: – U talked about re-release old roxette’s vhs and DVDs. It will happen? When?! Looks promising!

Per: – Hope so. Everything is kinda upside down at the moment with the EMI/Warner-merger. One of these years.

 

Q: – Can you please do that epic mashup of ‘crash boom bang’/’anyone’ again please?

Per: – Yea, that was cool. No promises though…

 

Q: – Are there songs that are tricky to do live? Have u ever tried 1 that u couldn’t make work live? If so, which?

Per: – Most early ones are tricky because they were made for the studio, not necessarily to be played live… You have to re-think some songs to make them work live w/ a band w/o using computers & other devices.

 

Q: – Can we expect high-tech lighting or any mind blowing, dramatic stage production changes in 2015?

Per: – Cirque de Soleil here we come!

 

Q: – When you tour do you find it hard to adjust to the different timezones?

Per: – No, it’s fine. As long as you get some sleep you’ll adjust pretty easy.

 

Q: – Per! Do you plan to tour for many more years? Will Roxette be neverending?

Per: – Yes, both Marie and myself love to tour and perform so I’m pretty sure we will continue.

 

Q: – Do you ever see photos uploaded to social media of yourself with fans and wish you could have a retake?

Per: – Every day!!!

 

Q: – So glad you are coming back to Oz! Can we expect some surprises like maybe some unreleased songs in your shows?

Per: – We start rehearsing in September so until then I don’t know. But we’ll try out some different stuff for sure.

 

Q: – Per, what out of all the Roxette albums is your favourite one?

Per: – LS! is cool because it just came down from the sky. It was created without fame, fortune & expectations.

 

Some more answers were added on 25th June:

Q: – Does it blow your mind that there are so many hard-core fans in distant lands (New Zee) after all these years?

Per: – Yes, never take it for granted.This biz eats acts for bfast=to have global fans after all these years is fab!

 

Q: – Tell me your favorite Roxette lyrics, the ones that mean the most. I need ideas for a tattoo!!!

Per: – I’m living in a box but I’m out when opportunity nox!

 

Q: – G’day from Oz Per! With all your frequent F.L.Y.I.N.G, have you ever thought of buying your own private Jet?

Per: – Hahaha. Good one. Of course. Per Air!

 

Q: – When you sit down to write, do you write both melody & lyrics or does one come first (usually)?

Per: – Both work for me. I usually start with music but sometimes a phrase or an idea for a title makes me tick.

 

Q: – What is the biggest advantage of playing live? Are there also disadvantages?

Per: – Live = very different from being in the studio. All songs are written for the studio so you have to make them work live, which can be tuff.

 

Q: – Per, what song took the longest to piece together (vocals, music etc)?

Per: – Most of In My Own Way was written in 84 but only finished in 2010. Very unusual=I’m fast when writing.

 

Q: – Per do you like the You don´t want love production? You think in the next Rox album will inc a song like this?

Per: – I really enjoy some EDM music. Definitely you’ll hear those influences in the future. But in our special way.

 

Ask Per a question!

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Live Nation Australia & New Zealand posted a video with Per Gessle promoting the upcoming Roxette world tour’s Oz & NZ leg. If you ever wanted to know anything about Roxette, now here is your great chance to ask Per anything you want! He’ll be choosing his favourite questions to answer personally. So be creative and try to ask him something else than when they will come to your country! There are already some questions to him on Twitter.

Tweet your questions to @livenationoznz and don’t forget to use the hashtag #ROXETTELOVE!

It’s not yet known until when you can tweet your questions and when and how Per will answer them. Once we get to know it, we will update this article. Good luck, Roxers!

 

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KeC4LrE3_0w

Smooth entrance during the Roxette tour? Vote now!

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roxette_goes_on_tour_2014The fact that Roxette goes on tour at the end of this year made all Roxers incredibly happy. There were rumours about it since long, but the time to announce some dates had just come last week. And the list of tour dates will be longer than just those 13 shows in Russia, Estonia and Lithuania, that’s for sure.

It might sound insane (oh no, it IS insane), but yes, discussions about queuing in front of venues and how to get to the front row already started… We are used to waiting tremendous amount of hours in front of venues and tons of us are used to run-run-run to the front row after the entrance is open. It’s really funny to read conversations on Facebook already now about how to organize the entrance by the fans themselves. We are fond of the numbering system, but what could we do with it, if there is no control over the lining up and when the doors are open, everyone is just running like hell? Should we ask local Roxers to be there at the venue early and ask the security guys to let us in some minutes earlier than the rest of the crowd? Or should we contact the local security team some days before the concert actually takes place? But they might not be used to any systems like this, so they wouldn’t care about the fans too much. What should we do then? I admit it: this is crazy to discuss it this early! And it’s half a year before the tour starts… We’re getting more and more fanatic it seems. 😉 At the same time, if something is going to be decided officially by the organizers, it needs a lot of time and negotiations to organize everything in advance for the whole tour. Wishful thinking it might be.

 

Atli (Show Security Sweden) at a Gyllene Tider concert in 2013
Atli (Show Security Sweden) at a Gyllene Tider concert in 2013

Since last year’s Gyllene Tider tour, where we experienced how calmed down and smooth the entrance could be if a well-prepared and cooperating security team is in charge, there is no discussion among Roxers about such things without mentioning Show Security Sweden. You might remember our article about them. The team did an outstanding job during the whole tour in Sweden, even at the biggest venue with the biggest crowd (Ullevi, Gothenburg). They paid attention to the numbering system, took control over the lining up and let us in only some minutes before the normal entrance. No running, no danger, no being nervous, just a smooth walk to the stage. Of course, they needed cooperating fans, but when you can see they absolutely know what they are doing and are fully in charge, plus their aim is the same as ours: to have a great concert experience without any troubles, then you can only wish they or a company with the same targets would be in charge at all of the future shows we attend. It was already nice to see them at Marie’s Stockholm concert. Why not having such system on Roxette’s tour? We know it’s almost impossible and maybe not the most effective to bring so many security guys from Sweden to all over the world, but maybe it would be enough to have a great team of supervisors like Atli or Malin, who can coordinate the local security teams. If I’m right, it was the same at the GT shows. We saw different faces among the security guys, so they surely worked together with local teams in different cities of Sweden. And it worked amazingly well.

 

We know it’s not our business who is chosen as security company, but it would be great if Live Nation would consider the possibility of implementing this working numbering system or something similar on the upcoming Roxette tour to make the entrance more secure and smooth and this way, the concert experience even better for both the band and the fans. Because as Micke Syd mentioned in the interview Judith did with him during the tour last year:

I think it’s just making the concert experience a lot better. We feel it too if you have been queuing for hours and then you are frustrated because of all the stress to get to the front row. If you are relieved of all that you can just relax and enjoy. And then we also have more fun.

So, how about a poll? Let your voice be heard and vote below! We are curious about your opinion. Voting is anonymous.

Would you like Management / Live Nation & a security team to organize a smooth entrance during the upcoming Roxette tour?

[poll id=”7″]

After you voted, you can share the poll on Facebook or on Twitter by one click to the share button below, so even more Roxers could vote and share their opinion. Thanx for your help in advance!

The RoxBlog Team