Posts Tagged Roxette

Interview with Magnus Börjeson: “We just want to have fun on stage.”

Kirsten and Judith met Magnus Börjeson a few hours before the concert in Halmstad to talk about his career as musician and how he sees Roxette at the moment. We picked him up at the station and sat down at the station café to chat. It was actually us who wanted to know more about him, but he started asking about us:

Magnus: So where are you from? Germany?

Judith: I come from Spain, live in Austria.

Kirsten: Germany.

M: So when you are not Roxette fans, what are you doing for a living?

J: I work as project manager in a bank.

M: And you?

K: I am a journalist.

M: For a newspaper..?

K: Yes, for a local newspaper, sports mainly.

M: Where is that?

K: North of Frankfurt.

J: What are you doing, when you don’t work with Roxette or Per?

M: I do music, that’s all I do. Haha! In different shapes and kinds, I do a lot of music for films and TV commercials, that’s what I’ve done the last couple of years.

J: Could you explain us how did you get into music?

M: I started playing when I was a kid with my neighbour, we played in his basement. Then I had a band at school. I had a lot of bands, I had a band called Beagle in the early 90ies, we had two albums out, that’s the first time we really had a record deal.

K: I saw the videos from that time, they are funny.

M: Yeah, we did a lot of videos. It was the age of the video. And yes, they were fun. I had a lot of hair then.

K: It looks better now anyway.

M: haha, thank you! I think so too. That was like my first real major thing. We signed with Polar, which was ABBA’s record company. We were at ABBA’s manager’s to sign the deal, everything was very intense. It was really fun for a couple of years. Then it wasn’t fun anymore, so we quit.

K: Can you really make a living from music?

M: yes, I do. I’ve done since then. It’s a lot of work; I’m into a lot of things. But I cannot imagine doing anything else, I have always wanted to do this since I started playing, so I couldn’t think of anything else to do. That would be horrible.

J: How many instruments do you play?

M: I play bass and guitar, and some keyboards. I started playing drums when I was a kid, that was my first instrument.

K: Do you still play drums?
M: I know how to play, but you know, when you haven’t played for a while, you get very bad. But give me six months and I think I would manage.

J: So you mentioned you don’t do anything else but music, meaning you also compose your own stuff?

M: yes, that’s what I do when I am not touring or doing something with other artists. I compose a lot of music for films.

J: Do you prefer to play live or studio?

M: Well, both. I love to play live, I think it’s funny, you can show off a bit, be a rock musician, haha! But I work a lot in the studio as well, I have my own little studio at home, so I work there every day and I enjoy that immensely too.

K: You mentioned music for films, can you tell us about this film you presented in Cannes?

M: We’ve been working long on this project. We first made a short film, which you can find on YouTube. It was about six drummers breaking into an apartment and starting to play songs. We did that in 2000, with a couple of friends of mine who made short movies at that time. And then a French production company suggested we should make a feature film about this. So we started about four years ago and we just finished before Cannes, where we presented it. It’s called “Music for one apartment and six drummers” and it’s going to have its premiere in Sweden and France this December.

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Evgeny: “I was thinking about how Marie would manage to conquer the wild wind”

The story of Stavanger gig from our Russian reader – Evgeny Perekopskiy.

It all started some months ago, when I happened to get one of the last tickets to the Stavanger gig. I was shocked at the price of postage (nearly 10 euros) and if you know how fast our Russian post is, then, without a doubt, you will understand me how nervously I was waiting for my ticket to arrive.

After one month (!) it arrived. But then Laura (an Argentinean fan) asked me if I could find her one more ticket, so I started to look for one for her. I found, here on RoxetteBlog, an advertisement from Csaba, a
Hungarian fan, offering a VIP ticket. So I contacted him and got it. Then all I had to do was wait for the moment to come…

On August 20th, I had to take four (!!!) flights to reach Stavanger and this I did :) Csaba met me in Stavanger and gave me my ticket. Next morning I went to meet Laura who was staying at the Radisson Blue Atlantic Hotel. When I met her, she said that Marie and Per were also staying there. What a nice coincidence! :) Later in the lobby I met two German fans, Tina and Anja, and three Argentinean fans, Silvana, Lionel and his wife Brenda. We were sitting and waiting for someone from rox related to come. Soon Oscar and Josefin came to the receptionist to order breakfast. Oscar recognized me and we chatted a bit.

Then it was midday. We needed to go to Randaberg to get in line. But prior to our departure to this village, we met Mikael Bolyos. He wished us a great time and to enjoy the gig. When we arrived in Randaberg, I found a lonely Roxette poster where Marie and Per’s faces were blue because the poster was a bit old. I thought that their faces had became blue because of the cold Norwegian climate ;)

When we reached the Viste beach, we noticed some Spanish and Norwegian fans. Some minutes later, the
security woman asked us to move to another area because Roxette were going to rehearse. When we moved, we saw Per arriving with his wife Åsa. Per was holding a bunch of red roses. They were for Åsa, of course, to celebrate their 17th wedding anniversary. Roxette started their rehearsal at around 4 o’clock. They played: ‘The Big L.’, ‘Opportunity Nox’, ‘Fading like a flower’, ‘Silver Blue’, ‘Church of your heart’, ’7twenty7′ and ‘Dressed for success’. After they finished rehearsing, the security team made four entrances, two for VIP visitors and two for ordinary ticket holders.

At 5.30 pm they opened the gates and fans ran as fast as they could. Luckily, I was standing near the front of Marie’s micro. Then I went to see what they served for VIP guests. There were some salads; fruit, fried meat, delicious shrimp and other dishes. I had some food and took some bananas for my friends who were sitting on the front row :) The support act – Paperboys – a Norwegian hip-hop band started to play at around seven o’clock. They played very well and I saw the audience liked them a lot and knew the lyrics singing along the whole session.

The clouds became grayer and grayer. It was damn cold and windy. I wasn’t thinking about myself, I was thinking about how Marie would manage to conquer the wild wind. Roxette went on stage at around nine in the evening.

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BEST OF ROXETTE – OFFICIAL SONG BOOK

“BEST OF ROXETTE – OFFICIAL SONG BOOK” (previously known as “Best of Roxette”) is due for release next month by Swedish publishing company Gehrmans Musikförlag. Gehrmans Musikförlag wants to present this book during Gothenburg Book Fair (September 23rd-26th) and then to start distirbuting it a week later. Furthemore, the book got a new cover – designers used the backdrop picture from 2010 Roxette tour.

The book is designed as the 2010 remasters. You can see a sample page with “Fading like a flower” notes here. There will be 30 Roxette songs of which 11 were never published in this form before.

The book will cost around 300-400 SEK in Sweden and will include many Roxette pictures as well as new liner notes from Per Gessle.

You can order the new version of this song book on Gehrmans’ website – www.gehrmans.se

Source: Gehrmans Musikförlag

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Tour 2010: Randaberg/Stavanger, August 21st

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

Setlist

1. Dressed for success
2. Sleeping in my car
3. Oppurtunity nox
4. The Big L.
5. Wish I could fly
6. She doesn’t live here anymore
7. Perfect Day
8. Things will never be the same
9. It must have been love
10. Silver blue (in one of the articles called “Kiss me”)
11. Fading like a flower
12. How do you do
13. Dangerous
14. Joyride

Encore:
15. Listen to your heart
16. The look
17. Church of your heart

Fan stories

Evgeny Perekopskiy – the whole story of Norwegian concert

The gig was wild, the surroundings were wild, the wind was wild, but the fans were wilder. When Roxette started to play ‘How do you do!’ proclaiming it a hit from back in 1992, it started to rain. The rain was so cold and so intense. We had no time to put on raincoats because we didn’t want to waste time on wearing useless raincoats. When Roxette played ‘Dangerous’, it was the rain which was dangerous for our health. But who cared? Marie was wearing a scarf. I don’t think it helped her to keep warm. Per was merely wearing a shirt. I was screaming: ‘Fuck the rain’, some other fans screamed it too. ;)

While Marie, Per and the band played ‘Fading like a flower’, the whole audience screamed: It’s such a cold
cold town! It was damn true… The show was so emotional because we, the fans, supported Roxette as much
as we could. I saw Marie concentrating on Laura’s eyes while Miss Bolyos was singing ‘Silver Blue’. She sang it perfectly, without changing words or forgetting the lines. Even if she did, who cared? Not me.

Videos

Dressed for success / Sleeping in my car / Opportunity nox (from Fittzar)

Photos

Aftenbladet.no | Rogalandsavis.no

Roxette’s comments

Media reports

Aftenbladet.no (the audianc before the gig) | Aftenbladet.no (pictures + setlist) | Aftenbladet.no (review – quite fair if you ask me)

Trivia

8,000 people in the audiance in a sold-out show. There were no Gessle’s solo tracks this time and no “(I’m not your) Steppin’ stone”. The rain was pouring down during the show and it was quite cold that evening – Marie wore a scarf. After the show people had problems with leaving the venue due to the traffic jam. Only three police cars were on the place.

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Meet & greet in Halmstad on August 14th

So yes, it did happened. The Daily Roxette with RoxetteBlog.com organized a little meet and greet with Roxette just after Roxette’s concert in Halmstad on August 14th. If you were at Leif’s Lounge on August 13th, you had a chance to win this unforgettable occasion to meet Marie and Per and see a little bif of the backstage.

Here’s the little clip from the meeting.

It’s not perfect, I know, but well, I hope at least that you enjoyed it.

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The stage in Stavanger, Norway is ready for Roxette

Bygdebladet.no published 4 pictures from Viste Stranden in Randaberg where Roxette will perform a sold-out gig for over 8,000 people on Saturday, August 21st. The only problem that the organizors might have is weather. There are reports of anything from rain to sun. The most optimistic forecast says it will be a fine weather, 17 degrees. Let’s hope that it will be the same situation as it was in Halmstad.

Source & pictures: Bygdebladet.no

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Roxette’s “The look” in Rock Band 3

Eurogamer has revealed 10 more songs that will make it to Rock Band 3, artists like Bob Marley, Roxette and Slipknot join eclectic groups like the Mexican band Maná and German band Tokio Hotel.

With these 10 tracks, the list of known songs in the game adds up to about 40, which is about half of the 83 to be included on the disc. The game is set to comes out on October 26th this year. Here’s the list of the 10 more songs:

* Bob Marley & The Wailers — “Get Up, Stand Up”
* INXS — “Need You Tonight”
* Poni Hoax — “Antibodies”
* Rammstein — “Du Hast”
* Roxette — “The Look”
* Tokio Hotel — “Humanoid”
* HIM — “Killing Loneliness”
* Maná — “Oye Mi Amor”
* Slipknot — “Before I Forget”
* War — “Low Rider”

Source: joystiq.com

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Tour 2010: Halmstad, August 14h

Published August 13th, edited August 17th and August 21st

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

Setlist
* Dressed For Success
* Sleeping In My Car
* Opportunity Nox
* Wish I Could Fly
* She Doesn’t Live Here Anymore
* 7Twenty7
* Perfect Day
* Things Will Never Be The Same
* It Must Have Been Love
* The Big L
* Silver Blue
* Fading Like a Flower
* How Do You Do!
* Dangerous
* Joyride

Extra:
* Listen To Your Heart
*The Look

Extra II (with Gyllene Tider):
* Juni, juli, augusti (GT)
* Sommartider (GT)
* När alla vännerna gått hem (Roxette and GT)

Fan stories

Videos

by MrSugardad: The Look, Dangerous, Sommartider, by TicoTorres: Things will never be the same, by Legenden81:  The Look, Sommartider, Juni juli augusti, by Paalm: Dressed for success, It must have been love, by flygaruffe: Juni juli augusti

Since there are lots of videos to this show, we won’t post all of them here. Just read the comments from our users (thanks for helping us out with searching for links!!!) below, or go to R2R’s forum topic “Live in Halmstad”, user Russian has posted an endless list of videos :)

Photos

http://fotografhalmstad.wordpress.com/2010/08/15/roxette-halmstad/

http://www.festivalphoto.net/index.php?page=2&concertID=16438&resultSite=1

http://www.fotosidan.se/blogs/maxpappasblogg/51895.htm

Roxette’s comments

Thanx for yesterday. A truly magic night that we’ll never forget. Rox were great, GT were great, the crowd was awesome!!!! Cheers, P.

Media reports

Big Hallandsposten interview with Per, you can find the translation on DailyRoxette | Halmstad is dressed for success | Video report from the queue from Hallandsposten | Reviews:  Sydsvenskan, Sydsvenskan Blog, Lahomstidning, Aftonbladet, HD, BT

Trivia

The issue with the tickets seems to have been solved, as articles report everybody got in.

Gyllene Tider joined Roxette on stage during the second extra and as you can see above, performed Juni, juli, augusti and Sommartider, to then be joined by Marie and Roxette’s band to play “När alla vännerna gått hem.

This must have been the concert with more international fans in the audience. There were at least 80, surely front row. Per spoke a special greeting for them, in English.

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C’mon Join The Fan Meeting Fun In Halmstad!

Update Friday 13 August: don’t forget! See you at Leif’s tonight! The party starts today :)

Hotel Tylösand confirmed there will be a special Roxette menu (different meals to choose from) today and tomorrow. I also asked them to play extra Rox&Co music tonight, I was told it would be done :) /J

Published on July 30th:

As many of you know since Roxette announced their plans to now perform in fabulous Halmstad instead of Anderstorp many fans that were not going are now going. So Halmstad is without a doubt going to be one big party fest! So in order to get the party started for Saturday evening, some fans came up with the idea to organise an unofficial meet & greet event at Leif’s Lounge in Hotel Tylösand on Friday August 13th, if you have not had the pleasure to check out the charming place that is Leif’s Lounge then now is your chance to come on down and meet some of the other fans, check out the fabulous Roxette memorabilia that is on display and buy a drink in the bar to increase Per’s profits! :)

We’re currently waiting to hear back on whether or not they will put on the special Roxette menu for the evening, for that there has to be more than 25 people… we expect more than 25 somehow! ;)

So C’mon join the joyride everybody…

Poster designed by the fabulous Dany who is currently somewhere in the sky on her way to Sweden!

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2010 tour: Sundsvall, August 7, tour premiere

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

Setlist

Fan stories

Swedish media reports about fans that made the long way to Sundsvall/Sweden:
- Danyela Etchard from Brasil, who shared her flight with Roxette
- Brenda Donatti and Lionel Zaragocin from Argentinia, who celebrate Marie’s comeback on 4 concerts

Alison’s report for RXB

Videos

By austlich: Dressed for success | Listen to your heart | Church of your heart | Fading like a flower | It must have been love | Joyride
By bodenina:  Fading like a flower | Sleeping in my car
By zvullo: Joyride | It must have been love | Fading like a flower
By odfah: Dangerous (not full, bad quality) | Steppin Stone
By Paularoxer: Perfect day | 7twenty7

Other: It Must Have Been Love (by JessieKay1978)| It Must Have Been Love (by holmas1) |  | The look (by torbjornl) |  It must have been love (by MrsTwisted)

Photos
Rockfoto.nu

Roxette’s comments

Per: “Marie was fantastic. What a girl! It is a pity that I’m married.” (laughter)

Marie a few song into the gig: “Fantastic! Finally!”

Official videos

Media reports

video: interviews before the concert | Expressens’s concert review | song by song | post-concert interview | blog entry | ST.nu review | allehanda | Aftonbladet | SVD | Dagbladet Sundsvall (5/5!)

Gessle: “Publice in Sunsdvall was fantastic” (ST.nu)

Trivia

16,000 visitors in the arena!

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Let’s make August 7 Roxette day on last.fm!

Posted July 31: Some Roxette fans plan to mark August 7 as ‘Roxette Day’ on last.fm, to celebrate the return of Roxette to the concert stage. It is simple to take part, you only have to listen songs of Roxette during the day via last.fm. In best case that should carry Roxette to the top of the service’s playlists. Everyone is invited to take part!

This call was brought to us by bonamaison

Update August 7: Today’s the day! Let’s play!

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Roxette at Leif’s

As you all know, Roxette gave a “surprise” concert at Leif’s Lounge (at Hotel Tylösand, Halmstad) on Wednesday 4 of August. Here’s my personal review of the before and after.

We arrived at the hotel at around 5 pm and went to get our reserved tickets. There weren’t many fans waiting outside/inside the hotel, must have been maximum 10. After getting our tickets we headed to the beach, the weather was nice, so why not wait for my 3 Spanish friends and the 3 girls coming from Malmö/DK enjoying the sun? After a while sitting near Bettans Bar I suddenly heard Marie’s voice, I was like “what?” I am not sure if they had been playing for a while already, if so, I didn’t realise until I heard Marie’s voice: Rehearsal! Some curious Swedes and me headed to Bettans to try to see the band. I had always wanted to see / hear a rehearsal and there they were! Tylösand, sun, beach and Roxette. I was wondering when would I wake up from this dream…
After a while Poli, Saar and Stina arrived. I informed them about the rehearsals, and we thought they had ended them, but then suddenly they played “How do you do!”. We were all “huh! they are playing THIS song?”. It was just a preview of what the concert a few hours later would be.
I had booked a table for 2 at Leif’s Terrace for dinner at 7 pm, which was the time the doors at Leif’s would open as well, so we headed to the hotel. Right on time my Spanish friends arrived, so we all went in a few minutes after 7. Of course, some people were already sitting by the fence front row. Txiqui kept a place for me (thanks!!) while I was eating at the terrace. We got a nice table, with a great view over the stage, which was perfect for Connie, since she didn’t want to stand in the crowd.
At about 9 pm I went to the front since it started to get full of people. The atmosphere was great, many people, and many Swedes wanting to be close to the stage!!! I got to meet Ted, I think we had seen eachother shortly at GT’s concert in 2004, but had never really talked to him before. A pleasure!

And now starts the interesting part for you. The concert started about 15 minutes late, at 10:15pm. We were all very nervous, excited, shouting for Roxette, and finally there they were! The show started like a bomb with the “yeah yeah yeah” to Dressed for Success. It was an explosion of happiness, light, guitars, drums, Marie’s voice. The version was similar to the one during Per’s tour last year. Of course, with one BIG difference, MARIE!!! Actually, as you check the setlist, the whole show felt a bit like a recicled Party Pleaser concert, keeping the Roxette songs which worked so well, and adding other Roxette songs instead of Per’s. I don’t mean it negative at all. The show worked last year, the songs rocked, so why wouldn’t it WITH Marie? Of course, we also got some songs we didn’t get to hear with Per solo, and some surprises.

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2010 tour: Halmstad, August 4, dress rehearsal

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

Setlist

1. Dressed for success (Look sharp!)
2. Sleeping in my car (Crash! Boom! Bang!)
3. Opportunity nox (The Pop Hits)
4. The big L. (Joyride)
5. Wish I could fly (Have a nice day)
6. She doesn’t live here (Don’t bore us…)
7. 7twenty7 (Have a nice day)
8. Perfect day (Joyride)
9. Things will never be the same (Joyride)
10. It must have been love (Pretty woman)
11. Stupid (Marie left the stage on this song)
12. Do you wanna be my baby (Marie left the stage on this song)
13. Silver blue (Per said they sing this one because it was #1 in the song requests/ fans wanted to hear, yep, it was your choice, dear RoxetteBlog.com readers) (Tourism)
14. Fading like a flower (Joyride)
15. How do you do! (Tourism)
16. Dangerous (Look sharp!)
17. Joyride (Joyride)

Encore:
18. Listen to your heart (Look sharp!)
19. The look (Look sharp!)
20. (I’m not your) Steppin’ stone
21. Church of your heart (Joyride)

Fan stories

Judith’s report for RXB

Videos

Intro | Listen To Your Heart | Joyride (part) | Silver Blue | Wish I Could Fly | LTYH 2 (better audio)

By Sarah: Silver Blue | Perfect Day | Church of Your Heart

By Alex Usero, go to his YouTube profile, you’ll find It Must Have Been Love, Perfect Day, Things Will Never Be The Same, Wish I could Fly, Silver Blue.

By Judith (parts of How Do You Do!, Opportunity Nox, Steppin’ Stone and Silver Blue full).

By Txiqui (Perfect day, Fading like a flower, Things will never be the same, Silver blue)

Photos

Photos can be found here in the photoshow at GP.se.

Great photo gallery by Txiqui/Roxspain

Roxette’s comments

Great dress rehearsal last nite. Marie in top form. The band kicked ass (after 4 songs..). The crowd was awesome. Hallelujah everyone.

Official videos

Media reports

Announcing the gig: Hallandsposten | Aftonbladet | Expressen | HD | GP | Aftonbladet
GP reports live from the concert
Concert reports: The Daily Roxette | Hallandsposten | Skanskan.se

Trivia

The 600 tickets sold out within 2 hours, despite only available at Hotel Tylösand. Plus 400 invited guests.

Pearls of passion – 0
Look sharp! – 4
Pretty woman soundtrack – 1
Joyride – 6
Tourism – 2
Crash! Boom! Bang! – 1
Don’t bore us… – 1
Have a nice day – 2
Room service – 0
The ballad hits – 0
The pop hits – 1
Per’s solo – 2
Cover – 1

Please excuse the rough translations!

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Roxette play surprise concert at Leif’s Lounge

As www.roxette.se informs, Roxette decided to share their dress rehearsal with 600 fans:

Like in 2003 (Per Gessle), 2004 (Gyllene Tider) and 2007 (Per Gessle again) there will be a secret concert, like a dress rehearsal if you will, in Halmstad August 4! Roxette will play Leif’s Lounge at Hotel Tylösand on Wednesday night. 600 tickets will be released on Wednesday morning, in order to stop ticket scalpers, and will cost 295 SEK. Tickets may be bought in the reception of Hotel Tylösand starting at 11.00 AM.
The concert starts at 10 PM.

Official tourstart will be Saturday in Sundsvall.

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16,000 people bought tickets for the Halmstad concert

According to the latest article published on Hallandposten.se, over 16,000 tickets were sold for the Roxette concert in Halmstad and the organizers in the official application documents say about max. 22,000 fans that can be expected on the concert day. The police sources claim that the marketplace can take even more people – close to 30,000 spectators.

Ingmar Nilja, the local police chef, met with the organizers from Nöjet AB two times just to discuss all the issues about the Roxette gig. It was decided that the organizers will be responsible for people’s safety in the concert area and because of that Swedish policemen will not get paid for their help.

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