Roxette

“Roxette Diaries” premiere – an afternoon in the cinema with Per Gessle

by

Paula and Stina attended the premiere of “Roxette Diaries” and wrote the following report for RXB. Enjoy this thrilling story about watching the “Roxette Diaries” sitting almost next to Per and Åsa and sharing the experience with other long-time fans.

roxette_diaries
Picture by Nico Radoi

W.O.W. Way Out West…
The film “Roxette Diaries” premiere.
…Yes! It is actually very “WOW”!!!!!!!

We met at Gothenburg’s central station and we headed for Bio Capital cinema. A cozy little place, that you almost missed walking by! We were a bit too early so we were sent out in the streets again. We went on a food-hunting adventure and ended up in the area of Haga where we tried to get our heads around the fact that first of all we would be going to the cinema in a few minutes to see a Roxette documentary on the big screen, but most importantly we would be joined by Gessle himself!
We came back to the cinema by 14.00 and little by little fans began to arrive as well as other well-known faces. While taking some pictures of the place and posters, suddenly a big black car arrived in the parking lot on the opposite side of the street… and yessssss it was Per driving with Åsa sitting besides him. Marie Dimberg went to welcome them, it was fun to see how they went to the ticket machine to get the parking ticket for the day! They came to the cinema and said hi friendly and started to talk to some people. We were all together by the cinema door on the sidewalk, talking and waiting for the time to be let in.

The event started with a representative from Way Out West festival welcoming the few people/fans who had found their way into the darkness this Friday afternoon. We were approximately around 35-40 people who joined for this journey down memory lane. The film began with a small written introduction by Per himself and then it immediately took off beginning with the early days back in ’80s and the recordings of Look Sharp!

11872008_10153229138764440_6141195069566446422_o-1
Photo by Paula Cafiero Högström

So many funny moments and rarities…going through TV-shows, recordings in the studio, private meetings, eating at restaurants, recording video clips, celebrating Usa #1’s, shows and concerts in different parts of the world, fans waiting and singing outside hotels, radio greetings, photo sessions… so much to take in and that as a fan you just soak up and it was absolutely lovely to see.

Laughter, happy emotional tears, goosebumps, vivid heartbeats of those you feel your chest is gonna explode, shivers… and so many memories from those times in our lives. It was incredible to recognise many moments during the film that we once had seen from another angle, we could even see the camera-man filming that angle as we now were watching it from mainly Åsa’s camera. And SO MUCH never seen stuff it was awesome.

Some of our favorite parts (out of way too many) were to see them fooling around, having so much fun with each other… being silly and laughing… And seeing everyone so young! At some point Micke (with hair!) joined the craziness.

The behind the scenes filming of some of the most well-known official videos. Maybe it’s because we watched the videos to pieces back in the early 90’s, maybe it’s because the videos are such a big part our teenage years, but seeing those gems from a different view, different angle, with attitude and humor…. It’s just goosepumpingly priceless.

roxette_diaries1
Picture by Nico Radoi

Another era to mention are the many footage from the Tourism-recordings (including the suitcase-drum kit) as well as the recordings from Capri making C!B!B!

With “Roxette Diaries” we joined Marie and Per travelling the world many many times in only one and a half hour. As a viewer you really get the sense of hard work and how tough it can get being on the road touring. And you get this particular weird feeling that we had been part of this all. And in a way we fans are part of this all. Either because we had been present in person at some TV-show or concert shown on the film or just merely because of the fact we have all followed this amazing band throughout all these years, through their music and magazines and radios and other sources of information…

roxette_diaries2
Picture by Nico Radoi

Specially these kind of old videos and films that we saw during endless evenings and nights, by ourselves or together with friends when we were so young, these old interviews, TV-shows, promo shows, concerts. We could spend a whole evening – or even long into early morning hours and through the whole night – watching those VHS tapes. Sharing laughters, amazement, admiration, commeting a look, a phrase, a face, clothes… We had so much to talk about. We even helped each other understand some word they had said in English that the other hadn’t really understood… and later came the Swedish!
The “pause” and “rewind” buttons were pressed way too much and often by then. It was common that the ink on the keys had faded after a while on the VCR-player!!
Those times were magic and are of those moments in life you’ll carry with you for ever. So many strong memories and laughters. And sharing this passion we have under the name Roxette, it´s magic! SHARE, we love that beautiful word! Share among friends from the “old” days and some others from recent years… many who are around in Europe and who started as pen-pals back in the mid 90’s!!!

So nostalgy and memories hit us hard while we wrote this!

… and you could really SENSE and FEEL in that cinema yesterday, the same way we felt then, all over again while watching.

11896337_10153229138529440_8866066674774402342_o-1
Picture by Christina Tholander

When the film was over (what?? How can 90 minutes go this fast!!) Gessle came forward and answered a few questions.

He was asked how he felt when he saw the movie and he said proud and happy because he had forgotten 95% of it… Proud because this whole Rox thing originally started as a hobby and the idea was to play at clubs…
He was asked what had made Roxette so succesful and he said luck, and experience, the fact that they were not that young and that they both had careers from before in the luggage and all that experience. He mentioned here the amazing gift that Marie has as a performer singing and on stage, which made his songs and music so good.
He was asked who they made this film for… he answered for the band, the inner circle, to sum up all those video tapes that mainly Åsa had recorded when video cameras were not so common to own. It was important to cherish special moments like shows in odd parts of the world where other big bands never played before, like in South America or China.

Then fans could ask questions too and Sandra began with THE question: if they were gonna make this film available for us fans, specially the ones that hadn’t been able to come to the premiere. He said they are working on it, talking to TV stations in Sweden for them to broadcast and hopefully release it … or “ilegally put it up on youtube” 😉
Another fan asked if there is something negative about this whole glamourus and luxurious way of life we just saw on the screen and he said that there are some tough parts like all the travelling and the boring parts of promo and making interviews and photo shoots and miming the same songs over and over again, it’s very tiring and Marie hated it, specially since they both have a very good live tradition with lots of tours and playing live… but it’s part of the job and in the end you have the positive around you that beats the tough part.
He was asked if it was the first time he saw the film we had just watched. He said the first version was 12 hour long!!! Then cut to 3 hours… it was a lot to see and go through and there were parts they have “missed” like MTV Unplugged 1993, the show in Johannesburg in South Africa january ’95…

per_roxette_diaries
Picture by Nico Radoi

After this,  fans could take pictures with Per and get some autographs. He was very social and positive and talkative.

We also talked to Åsa and she told us it was her premiere to see the movie as well and that for them it’s many happy memories and emotional going back in time, too. But I have to say it’s like that for us fans too!

So this 90-minute storytelling is a true pearl for both hardcore fans and for people with a genuine interest in music and it tells the crazy intense story of everyday life for one of the worlds biggest pop sensations. It’s worth watching many many times and we truly hope it won’t be long before it will be released out into society!

Quotes from fans AFTER the film:

– Tanja Hesse had brought her friend Patricia Bienko (both from Germany) and they were both speechless and so happy to have been able to take part of this.

– Karin Rubischung and Jörg Zimmerli from Switzerland said this was their best meeting (with Per and Åsa) ever, very emotional to see the film too!
Jörg added: “the movie is a very good memory for having been a Roxer since the very beginning”

– Nico Radoi from Romania living in Gothenburg was very pleased with the whole thing and happy she took many pictures to eternalize some of the many magic moments during the film.

– Marie-Claire from Holland living in Stockholm was also very happy and overwhelmed.

– Sandra and Jana were full of joy and couldn´t really sum up what they felt… so we went for some drinks and food afterwards to talk talk talk talk talk about this whole amazing happening in our Rox-lives and share it with each other… coz after all it isa ll about sharing! … and it all begins where it ends!!! ?

Thanks so much Roxette Blog and D&D Management for this amazing opportunity that we were able to be part of!

Paula Cafiero Högström & Christina Tholander

Roxette XXX Tour – Rättvik, Sweden (Dalhalla) – July 27 – #58

by

I started writing this while sipping a cup of coffee looking at the lake Siljan with a big silly smile on my face and thinking life is beautiful. And that I wouldn’t change a thing. For various reasons (including a 12-hour journey by car/plane back home, work and exhaustment) it took some days to finish this article, but better late than never, they say.

11754260_1601330503459377_7345004972875497328_n
Picture by Anne

Dalhalla, organisation, logistics
Roxette played at Dalhalla, an amphitheatre in an old quarry nearby Rättvik, which opened as a summer stage 20 years ago. To make it more mystique, they say that a meteor fell in this area about 360 million years ago and I suppose that the name is an allusion to Valhalla, the home of the Norse gods. In any case, the place looks awesome, probably one of the most unique and interesting places to play or attend a show, not only because of the sound but the surroundings and nature. It all makes the experience special.

Usually, there is a big separation between stage and the first rows of the audience, with water flowing in between, but for Roxette this was covered with a platform and seats were place on it, meaning the audience was much closer than usual. We guessed it was Roxette who wanted to have the audience closer, as they like to communicate with the fans. And that was a good thing. More about the audience below.

Organisation and logistics were also a bit… special. When we checked in at the hotel in Leksand (Rättvik was fully booked) they asked us if we were going to Dalhalla (was it that obvious?) and advised us to leave with loooooots of time ahead for two reasons: there was Classic Cars exhibition in Rättvik it would take us at least 1 hour to cross the city and Dalhalla is in the middle of nowhere, with a narrow road driving up a hill and the long queues to get to the parking / event can take up to 1 hour too. So we followed the advice and left earlier than planned.

Rättvik was indeed a chaos, but at least we enjoyed the (mostly) nicely kept old cars cruising up and down of Rättvik (we were told that this meeting is mostly just about that, showing off your car in the main street of the city). It felt almost like entering Grease movie. We left Rättvik behind us to get into the next chaos, in this case mostly because of the lousy organisation at Dalhalla. We arrived shortly before 6pm, the time they were supposed to open the doors. What we didn’t know is that the parking wouldn’t open until 6pm either. So cars just gathered in a more or less unorganised way in front of the gate, with no information or signs about that, nobody to guide and make sure cars stand in a row… I guess it says a lot when a fan ended up organising the car queue together with one of the workers because the others claimed “they only start to work at 6” (!). Parking was well organised, at least for the first/second row, afterwards cars more or less parked where they wanted.

20150727_205310_
Picture by Connie H.

Eskobar’s last show as Roxette’s guest (?)
Unfortunately, it started to rain right before Eskobar, so this and the traffic jam to get to the venue were the cause many people were not in their places / seats when Eskobar started to play. The about 10 “hardcores” who were there agreed to make the best out of it anyway, and try to make a great last Eskobar show.

Since it was Daniel’s birthday, we also decided we would sing Happy Birthday after the first song. And it worked out very well!

Rox on!
After seeing the lack of enthusiasm of the audience, we hoped that people would cheer up and at least show some interest during Roxette. We decided to stand up no matter what, hoping nobody would complain, and it worked out just fine. Before the show, Atli from Sweden Show Security approached us and asked us just one thing, we could stand up if we wanted to but we should remain in our places and not go/run to the front. There was like 2-meter distance between the first row of seats and the aisle and we behaved (imagine that usually there are like 10 m or more separation between the stage and the audience!). Unfortunately, we were not allowed to the front during the last two shows, like it had been in Zurich or partly in London, would have been great to have another close-up The Look but well, security is security.

The audience wasn’t as bad as we thought, though. People next and behind us were standing up now and then, and even if it required hard work from Marie and Per and the rest to make people sing, it was loud enough.

Marie was in a great mood, as one could see and hear her laughing many times. For example, during Magnus-Per “Have A Nice Day” story, Magnus didn’t refer to “Baladas en Español” but a very unique limited edition of a rare  album, or when she made funny faces with Magnus or Dea. Or when she asked Per “är du med, Per?” She also enjoyed Chris solos a lot and did a lot of her “yeahs” here and there. At times it sounded like she had a cold, but on “Spending My Time” or “CBB” or “Listen To Your Heart” she left us all mouth-open.

20150727_224217_
Picture by Connie H.

Per also joked about “Tourism”. When he mentioned “The Heart Shaped Sea” story, and that it was from Tourism, a few people cheered, and he jokingly say those are probably the only ones who bought it. The (few) hard-core fans also got lots of special attention from Marie and Per and the band. What can I say? Isn’t it just a great feeling when your favourite band knows you and makes contact with you?

Pelle was amazing on drums, improvising a couple of times. We’d love to hear more of that! Time for a long drum-solo? And Chris and Magnus just decided to run in the aisle from one side of the stage to another, which Åsa caputured on camera, as one can see here. Chris played Härjarevisan, a typical drinking song in Sweden, maybe as a hidden tip for the Swedes, to drink more and have more fun?

It was indeed a special and different concert. And we all had lots of fun, and the guys and girls on stage too. I already mentioned this before, but the concerts in Stockholm and Rättvik just confirmed it, seeing the band so tight, there is no way one can stop the band now. Let’s hope that what Per mentioned in his post is more dates! It’s just 3 shows to go in August (not counting corporate show in September) and we all are looking forward to the next schedule-trip-planning (not our accounts though).

I also have to say, I realised in the last two shows that the setlist is just awesome. First Sleeping and Big L to get people in the mood, then a few slower songs where Marie just shines with her voice, then Crush and She’s got nothing on which are pure craziness and fun. Then it gets calmer again with Heart Shaped and Watercolours (it works much better with both songs), and then slowly going crazy and powerful again starting with Fading almost non-stop until The Look, despite the fact that It Must Have Been Love and Listen To Your Heart and a break are in between, the arrangements of the songs rock big time, so it feels like a guitar-party non-stop.

Post-show

Per wrote a very long comment, specially mentioning Eskobar:

DALHALLA UPDATE: Yes, thank you! One of the most spectacular places we’ve ever played. Stunning! Beautiful!

And thanx for making this sold out show very special. Rain in the air but we all jumped between the raindrops. Great vibes were certainly floating around at this unbelievable venue.

Thanx also to Eskobar who did their last show with us. They’re not only a great band but really wonderful people. Pls check them out in the future, they’re def worth it!!! And hey, they make really outstandng music!!

So, now we’re taking a live break for ten days or so. The studio is waiting and I have some birthday parties to attend…. No rest for the wicked!

Thanx all of you hardcore Roxers for showing up at so many gigs, see y’all very soon again. You’re the one who make a difference!!

Also…. got exciting news re next year. More details to follow….
Stay tuned.
Cheers, P.

What a nice comment, especially about Eskobar and about the fans!

Talking about Eskobar, fans loved to have them as support act and have started a page on Facebook to ask to have Eskobar as special guest for the (possible) tour 2016. It would be great, wouldn’t it? And judging by Per’s comment, there seems to be something going on next year, so let’s cross our fingers.

Daniel also posted the day after that Marie had sung happy birthday for him backstage, lovely! Per also posted this picture two days later with the following comment:

rox_eskobar
Picture by Anders Roos

THANX ESKOBAR for supporting us on the European Tour. A delight. Pic by Anders Roos. Cheers, P.

Articles, videos, pictures

This is a very nice summary of the show.
Dalhalla mix
Listen To Your Heart (not complete)
It Must Have Been Love (not complete)
Joyride (not complete)
Sleeping In My Car
The Look craziness recorded by Åsa

Review on DT
Review on Dala-Demokraten

Setlist

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: Gärdebylåten / Härjarevisan)

Extra
Listen To Your Heart
The Look

Roxette XXX Tour – Stockholm, Sweden (Sjöhistoriska) – July 25 – #57

by

2 days ago I never thought another Swedish show could top Gothenburg, but I must say, Stockholm was so far (to me not only in Sweden) the coolest and most energetic concert with the funniest communication between the band and the crowd. Best ever in my book! One could say despite the shitty weather, but I say because of that.

Waiting time and the security team

roxette_in_stockholm_01
Dress code: casual. The crowd is waiting patiently in the heavy rain. Pic by Patrícia Peres

Since there were many Roxers who attended the show in Gothenburg and travelled to Stockholm either after the show by car or in the morning by plane or by train, the waiting time in front of the venue started a bit later than usual. The weather forecast we saw wasn’t too promising. It said heavy rain from 6 pm until 6 am… Weather forecasts are always wrong. It was heavy rain already from after 3 pm! Lining up was quite ”funny” this way… There were approximately 150 early entrance ticket holders waiting for the inlet. After they got their merchandise stuff some could put it in their cars, but others had to hold it during the whole night. I’m curious how the tour program and the bag survived it. The ordinary ticket owners were lining up at a different entrance again. We used the foil the security team fixed on the fences to hide the view and we were hiding from the rain under it. The inlet on both sides was again very smooth. All respected the system and acted according to that.

Hats off to Show Security Sweden for having the patience also in this heavy weather. Thanks so much for all their efforts, understanding, support, help, smiles and kindness. Thanks to all of them, not only in Stockholm, but also in the other 3 cities we enjoyed their service. Since I won’t be there in Rättvik, I wanted to highlight again what a great team they are and all other countries should learn from them. How about a security team conference in Stockholm to train all the sec teams in each and every country and tell them how it works the best? 😉 Wishing Show Security Sweden an easy day and night in Rättvik and hope to see them very soon on another upcoming tour related to our beloved artists.

Preparing the stage and the awesome job of the crew

Once we were inside we had nothing above our heads to keep ourselves safe from the rain. Only our raincoats and ponchos. Well… they didn’t help too much. We were watching what was happening on stage. Everything was covered with water and the rain was not falling straightly, but more towards the stage. Even if the cables and boxes and instruments were covered, as well as the front part of the stage with a huge foil, it still didn’t look too good. We started worrying twice that the show would be cancelled. Once when the lights on the left side of the stage got lower without anyone touching them, but the crew fixed it very fast. Then the second time was when BoJo came up on stage with at least 9 other crew member and started discussing things. We asked him if everything was alright and he said yes, don’t worry and showed thumbs up. So all, good, we just had to wait for the concert to happen.

We had a fab waiting time in front of the stage, watching every move of the crew members. How they cleaned the stage from the water which didn’t help too much, because after 5 seconds they could have started again and again and again. Then how they decided what to put where. They moved Eskobar’s instruments and mics more towards the back of the stage for having the chance to avoid more rain falling on them and on the band while playing. Then we thought they would probably set Marie’s and Per’s place also more towards the back, in front of the drums and keyboard. Bo walking on the stage, checking the situtation was extremely funny. Once he acted like swimming on the stage, there was so much water. Thomas Johansson from Live Nation, as well as Miss Dimberg also came to check how it looked.

The crew was really awesome before, during and after the show. They did their best to clean the stage from water as much as it was possible and save the instruments and mics and all the gear from the rain. Setting up everything according to the new plan in a very short time. Cooperating with each other to get the best out of the situation. They are really the best crew on Earth! They are also a very important part of the Rox family, we all know it. Thanks for all their hard work especially last night.

Eskobar

The time schedule was kept as much as they could keep it, so Eskobar hit the stage not much later than 19:30. It was the last time I saw Eskobar on this tour and I must admit I was charmed by their performance. Despite the heavy rain, their mood was on a high, they even found the situation cool I think. At least that’s what I could read from their facial expressions. They enjoyed performing to us very much and we had a great party to their songs. There was even a surprise for us Roxers. Daniel asked Dea to come to the stage for singing Someone New as a duet. It sounded beautiful. Dea is so talented! I love having her as Roxette’s backup singer, I think she fits the band very well, but she certainly should find more time for her solo career in the future. She already showed with her EP how amazing singer / songwriter she is. Back to Eskobar, the crowd was loud, singing along and clapping. They didn’t play all songs they have on their setlist, Freedom was left out for example. Hopefully, Frederik’s keyboard is safe now after last night. He had to wipe it with a towel several times.

The break between Eskobar and Roxette

roxette_in_stockholm_02
BoJo testing the heaters before having a shower and a massage. Pic by Patrícia Peres

During the break between Eskobar and Roxette we could see some more hard work of the crew. They cleaned the stage again and again. Wiped the instruments and took away the covers, created new foil covers for the keyboards and Magnus’s Blue Swede Sex Machine and Per’s monitor. BoJo came to check the heaters they set up for Marie and started kidding and acted like he was having a shower, washing his armpits. Haha. Then while sitting, one of the crew members started giving him a massage. It wasn’t the easiest preparation for a show for sure, but they looked like having much fun and this made us smile and laugh, so we took the whole situation easier. Marie’s chair was placed in line with Dea’s spot, so more towards the back, as well as Per’s mic stand. Until Marie arrived to her spot, there was a foil and towel on the chair to keep it dry for our Queen.

Those who came to see Roxette were not afraid of the rain. I guess most people who planned to come, but were not there at the concert didn’t came at all. To me it seemed only a few left after checking the situation and decided not to stay there all night in the cold cold rain. In the loud speaker we heard a woman asking people in the crowd to put their umbrellas away despite the rain, because Roxette will soon hit the stage and the umbrellas would block the view to those who are standing behind someone holding an umbrella. Many booed at this call, but fortunately, they understood it really won’t work holding the umbrellas up. So we really had to trust our raincoats and ponchos.

Roxette time! Woohoo!

When they came up the stage, first they seemed to be worried, Per was maybe even pissed off or upset. I think they were not sure about how the crowd felt, but after the first chords of Sleeping In My Car they could all be sure we would be having fun no matter what. Suddenly, they started smiling, laughing, looking at each other with the facial expression that ”hey, all good, they are fine, so let’s rock!”. Marie (also in Gothenburg, I just forgot to mention I think) started again to point at people while singing ”making love to you and you and you”. Lovely!

Poor photographers didn’t have an easy task to take photos in the rain with all their pro objectives, but from what I saw so far, they did a great job.

As I mentioned, Marie was more to the middle. If I remember right, it was before The Big L. when BoJo came to the stage and helped her getting a bit more backwards with the chair. She was so cool, BoJo was still there moving her, but she didn’t mind at all, the band didn’t stop playing and didn’t go on with some more filling chords until everything was set, so she just started singing regardless. It was her part, she had to sing and she did. Such a lovely professional attitude! She surely was freezing even if she had warm clothes and even gloves on. The heaters most probably couldn’t give her the warmest feeling. But this didn’t stop her singing her heart out, improvising and show the most velvety tone of her voice. She rocked big time!

roxette_in_stockholm_03
Pic by Patrícia Peres

It wasn’t much more than 10 degrees and the rain was falling on our faces heavily, but after a while you really let it go. Water from the roof of the stage poured on us like a shower every now and then with the funny coincidence during the fitting lyrics were sung out.

So many lyrics with rain and water. It all made sense last night! Both the crowd and the band was smiling or even gesturing when these words left either Marie’s or Per’s mouth. ”It’s where the water flows”; ”I’m freezin’ in the summer”; ”no changes in the weather”; ”in and outside, I’ve turned to water”; etc… One could think Per wrote all these lyrics on a night like it was yesterday. 😉 When he was singing She’s Got Nothing On (But The Radio) and got to this part: ”Nobody’s got a clue if there is such a reason” they pointed at us in the front with a question mark above his head. It was too funny. Per was again looking into the eyes of the wet familiar faces. Not as intensively as in Gothenburg, but still many times. He has never communicated so much with the crowd. Not in that spontaneous way as in Stockholm.

The stage was quite slippery and we thought Per would stay more at his mic stand. Remembering that pic from some years ago where he holds the umbrella and Åsa is walking next to him we didn’t really expect PG to come to the edge of the stage. We were not sure if he wanted his hairdo to be ”ruined”. But to our biggest surprise, he joined us in the rainy party and came to the front several times. Much appreciated! It was funny to see the splashing water under his stomping leg and the guitar fights with Chris stepped into another dimension in the rain, but while bouncing around sometimes we were worried Per would fall over. But keeping the balance is something he is very good at it seems, so there was no problem at all. Splashing under each and every step of him, as well as Chris, Magnus and Dea was very cool when they came jumping and grooving to the edge. They rocked! So hard that Christoffer’s hat fell off his head and the wind blew it away and it landed almost in front of Marie.

Another thing to be mentioned regarding Per’s hairdo (the most discussed topic of all times in the Rox World, haha) the rain made it curly and it looked very much different vs. when he is just sweating at the show. Damn hot he looked! Maybe he should forget about using the hair straightener at all. 😉

The stage was cleaned from water during every little break between the songs and I think this was the first concert we saw Micke N-S on stage so many times. He continuously had to wipe the monitor with a towel. By the way, the back cells were not used and there was no projection to the background this time. Not sure if there was any problem with the system or it was just because in the rain the projection itself wouldn’t look how it should anyway.

Åsa was filming a lot despite the rain. She rulez! She had waterproof trousers and jacket on, but the cap of the jacket couldn’t keep her glasses dry. I was smiling at it, because I was wearing glasses too and had to wipe them several times during the show to have a clearer view. It was funny to see her in this outfit, but the funniest was that she was wearing a flip flop to these trousers and jacket. She’s cool. Hopefully, the iPhone was also waterproof and it survived the filming.

Hard to judge which was / were the highlight song(s) of the night, because all songs were very special in this set. Before Crush On You there was a nice change in the conversation between Per and Magnus. After Per said Magnus’s fave album is Have A Nice Day, Magnus didn’t mention Baladas en español at all. He said to Per, so you want to play a song from that album. Per said yes and Magnus replied: ”So that’s what we do then!” Per: ”Thank you!” And they laughed and we laughed. It was really nice for a change.

Although according to the printed setlist they planned performing The Heart Shaped Sea, it was left out and after She’s Got Nothing On (But The Radio) they went on with Watercolours In The Rain / Paint. Before Marie and Dea started performing, Marie said how awesome it is to see so many people in this damn rain. They all were quite impressed by the crowd not just because of standing there in the rain, but how active we were. WITR/Paint got a warm welcome from the wet crowd. This duet can never go wrong! Marie and Dea sound amazing together!

Before they started playing Dressed For Success, Per shouted into the mic in Swedish: ”It’s Saturday! Dull weather! Party time!” The crowd was partying hard anyway, during each and every power pop song. The clapping choreography can never go wrong, but this time it hurt so much because of our wet hands. Actually, our hands looked like we had a full-day bath. Oh well, we did have… Haha.

Joyride started with the intro ”Raindrops Keep Fallin’ on My Head” played by Chris. We were wondering what local song he would have played if it wasn’t raining. No matter what, it fitted perfectly. There were less balloons during Joyride this time than usual, because it was very hard to prepare them in the rain, mainly to close them after blowing them up.

When the band went off the stage, everyone wanted to have them back and they came back with a most fantastic performance of Listen To Your Heart. Marie was brilliant! The ending was again w.o.w.! Then The Look rocked and Marie came up again with ”you’ve got the look” pointing at the audience. We love that! The crowd applauded Roxette very loudly, not feeling the pain in the hands anymore. It was so hard to let them go! After the concert ended many were still singing nananana.

While I prefer wiping sweat off my face instead of rain, it was really the best show ever in my life. I’ve never felt Roxette and the crowd so united as last night. I mean it!

You know this show was indeed one of the best ever gigs for Roxette too when you see Per’s (longest ever?) comment after the concert:

STOCKHOLM UPDATE: Excellent! Not the pouring rain. Jeezus! Haven’t played in a shower before. This was far out! So slippery everywhere. And Magnus’ glasses with all that water pouring……surreal….

But the crowd!! Oh my God, over 13000 ppl standing proud for so many hours, then singing along and giving us so much positive energy I feel like a Duracell-rabbit right now!!!

Thanx everyone for making this a one-of-a-kind gig no one who attended will never forget. Day off tomorrow. Then the last gig in Sweden for a while.

Vids are coming, folks (both from Gothenburg + Sthlm), I just haven’t got the time to check ’em out at the moment!!!!

Cheers + lots of love to all of yoi! /P.

 

One feels so much love for them! This band is the best there is! Next stop is Rättvik on 27th July. It’s going to be a beatiful show in a beautiful setting.

 

Judith’s review:

One of the things I learnt during my first trip to Sweden back in 1999 is that shows are not cancelled here just because of a bit of rain (heavy storms may be another story). Back then I was afraid my to-be-first concert by Eva D. would be cancelled, as I was used to the Spanish way. Back then rain = show cancelled. When I spoke out my fears my Swedish friends laughed. Cancel because of rain? So yesterday despite seeing the management and crew checking up the situation, I was sure they were just discussing HOW to make the show happen, not IF. Instruments and mics were relocated and voila!

I went to the venue pretty late, as I was supposed to take pictures so no need to queue up for hours. And we landed a first-row spot on the faaaar right of the stage, couldn’t see Clarence though. This time I was better prepared for the rain, after the freezing cold experience of Halmstad 2010, but still ‘only’ my trousers got wet. I know it was worse for those on and off the stage, so thanks for putting up with that and making such an amazing show possible! As Daniel of Eskobar kept saying, heroes! Unfortunately, I couldn’t take any pictures because I didn’t have my (cam is not waterproof) “camera poncho” with me and didn’t want to destroy more than 1000 euro in equipment. It turned out to be a good decision, but that’s another story.

Eskobar started a bit late (because of rearrangements on stage) and skipped some of the songs on their setlist. But they gave it all and more as always. The very nice surprise was when Dea stepped on the stage to sing Someone New. What a version! Dea should release an album. Soon!

And then it was time to rox! For details just read Patrícia’s review above. These are the moments that I took with me, like when Marie said something like ‘damn it IS raining!’ Or Bo pretended he was taking a shower when he tried out Marie’s chair and heaters. Or Per jumped even harder on the wet floor splashing the water. Or Chris played ‘Raindrops keep fallin’ on my head’ as Joyride intro. This is turning negative into positive! What struck me the most was Marie’s voice… Vienna was wow, Zurich was oh my… London out of this world… Yesterday there are no words for that. What happened here? Simply, she’s the best and a hell of a singer!

 

Articles and photos

rockfoto.nu
Expressen
Svenska Dagbladet
gaffa.se
dn.se
Anna-Lena Ramsten

Videos

Spending My Time
Watercolours In The Rain / Paint
How Do You Do!
Listen To Your Heart
The Look

Setlist

roxette_in_stockholm_04
They planned to play The Heart Shaped Sea, but it was left out in the end. Pic by Patrícia Peres

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: Raindrops Keep Fallin’ on My Head)

Extra
Listen To Your Heart
The Look

 

Roxette XXX Tour – Halmstad, Sweden (Örjans Vall) – July 22 – #55

by

Last time Roxette played in Halmstad was 5 years ago, so it was high time for them to do their 6th Halmstad Rox show of all time. Many international Roxers thought they would love to see the band playing in their hometown, so some bought a ticket for only this show in Sweden, others are there at more Swedish shows, but definitely didn’t give the Halmstad gig a miss. There were fans from the US, Argentina, Russia, Spain, the UK, Poland, Finland, Germany, Hungary, Switzerland, Austria, Greece and probably more.

The waiting in front of the venue started in the morning and local people were smiling at us during the day, taking pictures of us, posting it on Facebook and wished us a great evening. Lovely! Even the police guys driving by every now and then showed thumbs up for us from their car. SVT, Hallandsposten and P4 Radio were also there with us. They did some interviews with the fans and shot some cuts. (See links in the Articles and photos section.)

This time there were approximately 100 early entrance ticket owners, but only a bit more than half of them showed up by the time the entrance started. There were also fans who didn’t respect those who were waiting there all day and wanted to do the trick at the inlet. Fortunately, Show Security Sweden was there again to support us and Atli (head of the security team) made it clear how the entrance should work and those who wanted to cheat faced a very correct and fair security supervisor. He got applauded by us for his fairness. The whole security team was very polite and helpful this time, too. Thanks a lot again, Show Security Sweden for assisting us! You rule!

Once we were inside, we found our spots in the front rows and couldn’t wait for the show to start. God was good all day and night and there was no rain at all, but sunshine.

Tonight there were 2 support acts. Besides Eskobar it was Mariette who got on stage first. Her performance started at 19:30. We wished for a far much better crowd in Halmstad than the Kalmar gang and already during the support act performances one could see the audience would be more active than the usually reserved Swedish crowds. Mariette and her band did a great job, the Swedes loved them and yes, I think the international fans liked them, too.

Eskobar hit the stage after Mariette. They communicated even more with the audience than in Kalmar and there were more crowd reactions to their songs than in the previous Swedish city. They enjoyed being on stage and playing for us to the full. Daniel even thanked for the cheering to the ”international guests” before performing Freedom. For Someone New they called Mariette back to the stage and performed the song as a duet. It sounded marvellous!

roxette_in_halmstad_01
Pic by Patrícia Peres

After setting up the stage and instruments for Roxette, those almost 15000 people in the audience couldn’t wait anymore to hear the first tunes of Sleeping In My Car and have much fun during the next almost 2 hours. When Roxette came up on stage you just saw on both Marie’s and Per’s face that it was going to be a fantastic show. Being on home turf, enjoying their home crowd was all written on their faces. The band was in great mood and in top top top shape. Everyone was really on a high. Marie was shining like a real star! She was the pearl and the audience painted their love all over her world. You could feel everyone was grateful to see her on stage and cheered her during the whole concert. Per was very much into being on stage tonight. His presence was incredibly strong with all the Gessle moves and his way of performing. Both him and Marie acted a lot with the crowd, having eye contact with the fans in the front and animating them during the sing along parts which turned out to be very loud tonight. The band was also very active. Christoffer was running around like hell with his guitar, having his cool ”fights” with Per, getting kicked in the ass by Per again. There was now a new funny moment, when Per touched Christoffer’s hat while starting with Crash! Boom! Bang! Magnus was having his Baladas en español moments while charming us with his bass playing. Dea was animating the audience very enthusiastically and she was supporting Marie the lovely way she always does. Regarding Pelle and Clarence, who are always in the background, I just want to mention that without their amazing drum and fabulous keyboard playing this band is just nothing. They enjoyed being there on Örjans Vall’s stage very much.

One of the highlights of the night was It Must Have Been Love with the ’80s band intro from Per, remembering the funny hairdos and shoulder pads from those years, as well as the fantastic bands like Roxette, Milli Vanilli and Modern Talking. Another highlight was Watercolours In The Rain / Paint. Marie and Dea together can only mean a perfect duet!

roxette_in_halmstad_02
Pic by Patrícia Peres

All the international fans brought their balloons, so there were many and people in the crowd loved playing with them during Joyride. After the song the band went off the stage and the only strange thing during the whole show to me was when there were those appr. 5 minutes while they were away. It felt like the audience wasn’t sure they would come back and wasn’t sure they should be cheering. We in the front were very loud, as usual, but it took some time until the rest of the crowd joined in shouting ”en gång till” or screaming. Fortunately, the band heard it quite well, so they got back to us and oh what a Listen To Your Heart performance it was as the first extra song! How Marie ended it was out of this world!

The uptempo songs, mainly How Do You Do!, She’s Got Nothing On (But The Radio), Dressed For Success and Dangerous got the audience dance and clap along during the whole songs while singing along loud and The Look at the end left the crowd wanting more. When Per said goodbye at the end of the show, he shouted in the mic in Swedish: ”See you soon again! We are very sure about it!”

Marie got 2 heaters on stage and this time it was again BoJo himself who tested if they worked well. In the end only one of them was working during the whole show. But the weather was really nice and rather warm, so we hope that 1 functioning heater was really enough for Marie.

Many in the crowd expected Gyllene Tider to appear on stage as a surprise, but those who are following Roxette and the related artists closely knew that Micke Syd had to be on stage with his Syd & Ekman project at another place, so it was predictable the fab five won’t be seen together in Halmstad tonight. BUT! We weren’t left without a GT tune! Christoffer played ”När vi två blir en” as the local intro to Joyride and it got a fab crowd reaction. We all loved it!

Per after the show:

HALMSTAD UPDATE: Yea! Very nice show at Örjans Vall. Very nice indeed. This place is so cool, just by the water, and tonight our home crowd was in terrific shape. Around 15000 joined the joyride and made a lot of beautiful noise! Vids tomorrow! Cheers, P.

Next stop is Gothenburg on 24th July.

 

Articles and photos

Hallandsposten:

SVT during the waiting time
SVT concert cuts

Videos

Sleeping In My Car / The Big L.
Spending My Time / Crash! Boom! Bang!
Crush On You
The Look

Setlist

roxette_in_halmstad_03
Halmstad setlist – Pic by Patrícia Peres

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: När vi två blir en)

Extra
Listen To Your Heart
The Look

 

20 tour dates for 2016?

by

Per says in the Kappahl interview that the plan is to go on with the tour until 2016 (asDSC00278 he already mentioned many times before, and that would be the meaning behind the whole XXX tour, as Roxette turns 30 in 2016!).

Now he revealed that Roxette plans to do about 80 dates until 2016. If you count the dates until Drammen (Norway) on August 22, that makes up to 61 dates. Which means about 20 would be left to be announced / planned. And this raises lots of questions:

Will these dates be in 2016 only? Will there be more in 2015? Where will it take Roxette to? South Africa? South America? North America? Some more Europe / Sweden to celebrate the 30th anniversary “home”? Lots of questions for our never-resting minds!

What we know for sure is that fans are longing to see more of Roxette live, both those who have been to (many) shows since the tour started and those who haven’t seen Roxette since at least 2012. And that The Look 2015 is awesome. And that we cannot wait until the new album is out! And that we already need the tour dates for 2016.