Roxette Archives - Page 63 of 262

It’s May 30 – again! Happy Birthday, Marie!

May 30, 2015May 30, 2015 by Kiwein

Is it the 30th of May again, already? It feels like we have celebrated a very special birthday only yesterday. So, apparently, another year has gone by. Many great Roxette shows are behind us and many great things are still to come (more shows, a biography of the woman, a new album).

So, here we are again. The Roxetteblog team wishes the invincible, strong, brave, iconic and ebullient Marie Fredriksson a very happy 29th birthday. (Women never get older than 29, we all know that!) Have a great day! We are certain that there are some fans out there in Antwerp who not only enjoyed another great show of the European leg of the World Tour 2014-2016 but who definitely will get the chance to congratulate you in person today.

Thanks for all the joy you bring, for the role model you are for so many of us and for the strength you keep to show to us. A strength that keeps us carrying on as well.

200 Roxette World related shows

May 29, 2015May 29, 2015 by Patrícia Peres

As we mentioned it in our latest review, Sandra Knospe celebrated her 200th gig in Amsterdam 2 days ago. 200! What an impressive number! Hard to beat it except if you are member of the band or at least the crew. 😉 It’s not only Roxette, but also Marie and Per solo, as well as Gyllene Tider, but most of the shows she attended were Roxette gigs. She followed the band from South America to Australia, but being a German girl, she of course went to the most shows in Europe. And why I use past tense here I have no clue… she followed the band from here to there and she’ll never stop. Well, she was truly born to follow.

When Sandra enjoyed her 100th show she surely didn’t expect she would have such a special treatment 100 concerts later. The crew offered her to see the venue from a different perspective and showed her around the stage. Then on the concert the band mentioned her anniversary. What a night!

Here are Sandra’s thoughts about her 200th gig:

A Rox gig with a different perspective

Another day another concert. After Rox had played in the famous L’Olympia just the other night it was Amsterdam’s turn now. Approaching the venue at around 5pm I have to say I was surprised to see way less people queuing in front of it than usually. There were two entries, one for people who had bought the expensive Early Entrance tix and one for the remaining concert visitors. I expected to see more “hardcores” in any of the queues, but I guess some just decided to come late since it didn’t make sense to queue the whole day with a normal ticket and no big chances of front row anymore. And other Roxers probably have decided to skip the concert completely and boycott the EE ticket policy from Live Nation. So maybe one doesn’t need to wonder that it felt a bit different outside this time. And in a way it continued inside.

The entrance for EE ticket owners was around 6.15pm and the others followed shortly afterwards. I can’t really tell how the entry was outside, because a friend of mine and I were lucky enough to get to see the stage from the other side of the fence while the doors opened. That evening I celebrated my anniversary of 200 concerts including Rox, P&M solo and GT and a very kind person suggested that maybe it would be interesting for me to see the things from a different perspective. And it was!! I am very happy and extremely thankful that we got this little special treatment!!

After that my friend and I found our places in the front and we were eager to see the show. Some chit chat with people around us and then Eskobar started to play. As a fan who has seen a few shows you can already sense during the supporting act what mood the crowd is in and if they will get infected by the vibe and atmosphere on stage. At least to 90% you can guess that already before Rox enter the stage. And this time it felt as if it would be a bit of a tough job to get the crowd into it. And it turned out to be like that. Of course Rox got a warm welcome when they finally entered the stage and people surely clapped and sang along to the choruses of the oh so well known hits, but in between it felt a bit quiet and the enthusiasm was, well, let’s say limited compared to all other shows of this leg so far. But that only goes for the audience. On stage the glorious 7 had a top night. Marie delivering a great performance, Per bouncing, spinning and dancing around. Lyrics where they belonged. Only Per with a cock-eyed brain once, when singing this line twice in a row during “Crush on You”. And speaking of Per I have to take the opportunity to mention here that there is a noticeable change since this leg in the way Per interacts with the audience. There is much more contact with the people in the front rows than before. Keeping eye contact for more than just a millisecond and checking out the first few rows quite often is not that usual for him. It feels nice to see him being so relaxed and acting and reacting to the crowd in a more open way on stage. And it’s not just me who has noticed it. So whatever has happened that made him change this I hope he keeps it and I am sure all other Roxers hope that, too. Because it adds some extra kix to every gig.

The band was in top shape as well. What I really like a lot is that meanwhile the short dialogues on stage are alternating. It’s not always the same every night and it looks and sounds more spontaneous and not that practiced anymore. Really funny. They should keep that. It adds a lot to the atmosphere. And if not for the normal concert visitors then for sure for the hardcore Roxers. OK, I have to admit I am probably not very objective now since I got a little extra mentioning on stage that night. And THAT surely made my anniversary even more special!! So unexpected and freaking amazing. You simply have to love them all. Not only for the music. But before going into raptures now I’ll rather stick to the review.

I enjoyed the concert to the full and the energy and mood on stage made it exciting for me. So after the gig I was all smiles. The only question I’ve asked myself was “Would it have been different audience wise without EE tix?” I tend to say yes, because I think more hardcores would have shown up and been in front row, partying and jumping all the time. But with 150,-€ per ticket one simply has to cross out some shows when you have planned to see them more than just once during their tour. So I really hope that EE ticket policy won’t become a regular thing. But that’s just my personal impression. And even if most of the visitors weren’t physically active, the general opinion of the people who were standing next to me was positive. They all enjoyed the concert. The only thing some mentioned was the feeling that the concert was too short. Well, what can I say? Surely, I agree on that and all of us would love to get more than 17 songs on a gig, but nevertheless, we enjoyed what we’ve got to the max. So thanks for playing and cheers to the next 200!!

The audience could have been more active, but anyway, even if there is a standing still crowd, you can always be sure there is at least one person jumping in the front during the complete show. And it’s Sandra Knospe. Indeed, to the next 200, Sandra!

Roxette XXX Tour – Amsterdam, The Netherlands (Heineken Music Hall) – May 27 – #34

May 31, 2015May 28, 2015 by Patrícia Peres

After an exceptional show at an exceptional venue in Paris, Roxette performed in Amsterdam last night. Amsterdam. A magical place that rewrote Roxette’s future in 2009. In 2012 the band did a sold-out gig at the same venue as they played yesterday, at Heineken Music Hall. It was quite crowded this time as well.

You couldn’t tell there was no day off between 2 concerts. Everyone on stage gave all their energy into the show and enjoyed it to the full. Marie was in top form and Per was bouncing around like hell. The band was also animated, playing all the tunes with much enthusiasm. The crowd was rather reserved when it came to jumping and dancing, but their clapping technique was in top shape and they showed they knew the lyrics to all greatest hits.

You surely remember what happened during the Prague show, when Sandra Knospe had her birthday. Well, yesterday she celebrated her 200th gig (w.o.w.!), so she got mentioned on stage again before Crush On You, thanx to Magnus. To the next 200, Sandra!

As you could read the sad news, a great drummer working together also with Roxette and Per in the past, Christer Jansson passed away. Many well-known Swedish people posted about it and that he’ll be missed. You could even see a post on Roxette’s Facebook page. They decided to have Christer on stage with them last night, so Micke N-S placed a picture of him next to Pelle’s drum set. Nice gesture.

Per & Marie after the show:

AMSTERDAM: Yeah! Wow! Great evening with a most wonderful crowd + band! Thanx everyone for making this yet another Dutch Paradise taking place!!!! See you soon!!!! /P&M

Next gig is on Friday (29th May) in Antwerp, Belgium.

Articles and photos

Instagram: 1; 2; 3;

Heineken Music Hall: pics on their website; pics on their FB page
Mojo Concerts
muziek.nl
contactmusic.com
concertcamera.nl

Sandra Knospe’s review

Videos

Stars
The Heart Shaped Sea
Watercolours In The Rain / Paint
Fading Like A Flower
It Must Have Been Love
Band intro + Joyride
The Look + the goodbye
End of the concert; Another goodbye video

Instavideos:
Sleeping In My Car
The Look

Setlist

roxette_in_amsterdam — Pic by Tiina Pitkänen

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

Extra:
Listen To Your Heart
The Look

Roxette XXX Tour – Paris, France (Olympia) – May 26 – #33

May 31, 2015May 27, 2015 by Judith

rox olympia Roxette played in Paris last time in 1992. That is 23 years ago! That is definitely too many years, actually, if the records are right, Roxette only played twice in France/Paris, once in 1989 and the last time in 1992.

During the day I had been thinking about the show and what to expect. I was curious to see how the French audience would react for various reasons. Roxette having played here last time so many years ago, not really being present in the charts for a while. I had no clue how French audience is at concerts, would it be fun and sweaty like in Spain or more on the quiet side like in Sweden? And it was in a theatre, which meant seated. So lots of questions that were to be answered later that day.

Eskobar started at 8 pm and played the set that they’ve been playing during this tour. One could indeed feel that they have an audience in France, some people were singing along and a lot more were clapping. It was a great warm up, but somehow people still felt a bit quiet. Would it stay like that? Not really, that was about to change. As soon as the venue went dark and the Roxette-intro music started to sound, one could feel the excitement building up and when the first chords of “Sleeping in my Car” started to sound the audience went wild, people stood up immediately, some of those who were sitting in other rows even tried to get to the front, and people were singing very loud. The concert wasn’t going to be seated after all!

After just two songs, the whole place felt very hot, that was going to be a fun night! And everybody on stage was just crazy and happy. I don’t know what they expected from the sold out show. I was positively surprised by the response of the audience and I had the feeling Per and Marie and the band were too. The sound was awesome (even though Marie sounded very low, and it was not her fault neither the fact that people were singing very loud), that is the positive thing about small concert halls made to enjoy music. It reminded me in a way of the concert at the Beacon in NY, both the great sound and atmosphere.

IMG_0292-1 Marie, who was wearing white outfit and black jacket and tie, was laughing a lot, making eye contact with the known faces, and oh! her voice! It was awesome. I don’t know what she did during “Watercolours in the Rain”, but it was one of those moments when you realise (for the 1012912th time) why you just love this band so much. Goosebumps all the way! It’s hard to describe how she was singing, but it was so touching and jazzy and wow!

Magnus, Chris and Dea were also having lots of fun and Per jumping and running and bouncing as we know him and torturing his shoes (which, by the way, I realised are very flashy and cool, the sole is very elastic, maybe to make the bumping easy on his knees? I wonder how many pairs he needs every tour…!).

When Per told the story about Magnus’ favourite album, Magnus asked the audience which album they loved most. One could hear that “Joyride” and “Look Sharp!” got the most “votes”, matching the time Roxette was the most successful in France. Before “It Must Have Been Love”, Per asked Marie if she was ready and she said “I am always ready”, which made the audience and Per smile. Yeah! One could see during the whole show that she enjoyed the music a lot, especially Chris playing guitar, and connecting with Dea a lot. It is just an incredible feel-good feeling to see a band that is having so much fun on stage, playing, dancing, teasing eachother and interacting this way, not only with the audience but also among themselves.

Chris chose to play an Edith Piaf song as an intro to Joyride and he got a nice response from the audience. After all, Édith Piaf is one of France’s national divas! “Joyride” was incredible and pure fun, and “The Look” was a great ending of the show. You gotta love Chris going crazy with the guitar, it sounds just terrific! The whole band was in top shape and the audience didn’t stop jumping and singing during the whole night.

Per mentioned the fact that they hadn’t played in Paris since 1992 during the show and he asked how many had been at their last show at Le Zénith back then. A few raised their hands, and while Per was looking at the audience to see who had been there back in 92, he added a fun note when he saw some kids among the audience, saying that they weren’t even born back then. Such a long time! IMG_0315-1

Just like the concert in New York in 2012, this was a very special evening in a special place with lots of history. As Per mentioned in this post on FB, the Beatles played there back in 1964, and so did Édith Piaf and many others, a very legendary place. I think one of the best things were the big red glowing letters announcing Roxette “old style”. How cool is that?

PARIS UPDATE: Oui!!! What an evening! Thanx everyone for making this gig so special. What a great venue, lots of history. Can you believe The Beatles played here 18 days in a row (or something) back in 1964? And Chris played an Edith Piaf-song by heart tonight!!! So special for all of us. We had a blast in this beautiful city. See y’all next time. How about tomorrow in Amsterdam???? Love, P&Co.

All in all, it was a very positive surprise and experience. French fans showed they still love Roxette even though they haven’t been around for a while. And it was a great proud happy feeling to turn around and see so many people standing and having fun at a Roxette concert, in Paris! Let’s hope they don’t have to wait that long till the next show!

After the show, many fans stayed around to chat about the show. Many agreed that this had been a magnifique concert, maybe one of the best they had seen, and that it would be great to see more Roxette concerts in such venues and more relaxed settings. There is no need to queue for hours, which is not only great for our backs and feet but it means we are full of energy for the concert (we are not 20 anymore … ;)), and the atmosphere in such places is just awesome.

Videos

Articles and photos

Instagram: 1, 2, 3

laparisiennelife.com
concertmag.net
loeilduspectacle.fr

Setlist

Extra:
Listen To Your Heart
The Look

Roxette XXX Tour – Prague, Czech Republic (O2 Arena) – May 21 – #31

May 23, 2015May 22, 2015 by Patrícia Peres

From Budapest, Roxette travelled to Prague for their 31st gig on the XXX tour. The O2 Arena is huge and we already knew there would be appr. 16-17000 people attending the show, so many fans decided to go to the arena early, to have a chance to reach the best standing places. No one expected the security check being stricter than at any airport and scanning the tickets 3 times at different check points makes no sense at all. Mainly if the guys at the third point don’t know the technique of scanning or the scanners don’t work. Then those hostesses could practice at home how to put the wristbands faster on people’s arms. Many got hold back at the last checking point this way and could enter the venue only 5-6 minutes later, which meant the best places at the standing area were already occupied, of course. Well done, O2 Arena security team. Good luck to all the Madonna fans in November!

roxette_in_prague_03 — Photo by Patrícia Peres

After a disastrous entrance, all I can say about the gig tonight is purely positive. After Eskobar left the stage, Roxette’s crew started to prepare everything for the show. When Micke N-S checked Per’s mic stand, it seemed to be quite unstable. He and 2 other guys from the crew started jumping like Per would and they saw it had to be fixed, otherwise it wouldn’t survive Mr G’s stomping. They managed to make it stable in a short time.

The concert started at 21:15 and we could see Åsa was there with the iPhone in her hands. While the photographers were in front of the stage during the first songs, she stayed on the right side of the stage and she was even dancing while filming. Too cool! When it came to Crash! Boom! Bang!, she started shooting Micke N-S and it was quite funny how they were singing the song to each other. That video I guess we won’t get to see on Roxette’s Facebook page, however, it would be fun.

This time there were 2 screens on the 2 sides of the stage to make it possible for everyone to see what was happening on stage.

Marie was in an extremely good shape. Not only her jacket, but she herself was shining and smiling all the time, interacting with the crowd, as well as with Magnus, Chris and Dea. Oh and yes, with Per, too. Mr G was in b-b-b-b-bouncing mood all night. His guitar fights with Chris and their playing next to each other were just amazing! The picks sticked too much to Per’s fingers that he sometimes threw the picks even behind himself, not to the crowd. Too funny!

Prague audience was singing along all night and their clapping was fantastic. The crowd reaction to Chris playing a local song was great. When the band left the stage after Joyride, they could hardly stop clapping, whistling and shouting Roxette! Roxette!

Before playing Spending My Time, Per talked about playing in Prague 4 years ago and asked who was there back then. Many shouted they were there and he said it’s great to see so many familiar faces. Then asked the crowd to help them out if we knew the lyrics.

roxette_in_prague_02 — Photo by Patrícia Peres

The real surprise came before they played Crush On You. Per started the usual conversation about Magnus’s fave Rox album, but tonight Magnus decided for someone else telling what her fave album was. He picked someone in the audience. Someone, who had her birthday today and it was Sandra Knospe, who is close to having her 200th concert anniversary. The whole happening you can watch in THIS video. It was undescribably amazing! What a birthday present! Per also greeted Sandra on Facebook before the show and at the end of the gig Pelle also came to her and gave her a drumhead (see the pic). Pure awesomeness!

Witnessing this whole thing I can say it would be fantastic if the band could keep this kind of spontaneity at the shows. I don’t mean wishing happy birthday to someone at each concert, but today this, tomorrow something else that fits. It would make the gigs even more enjoyable and interesting.

The setlist changed vs. the previous concert, but only at 1 point: they played Almost Unreal again. So it’s again 18 songs on the setlist.

Per after the show:

PRAGUE UPDATE: Yea, fab gig tonite. 16.200 wonderful people took the concert to new heights. We had a blast, love to come back to this beautiful city. Vids to follow in due time…. Cheers, P.

Next gig is on Saturday (23rd May) at the Jelling Festival in Denmark.

Articles and photos

Instagram: 1; 2; 3; 4; 5;

t-mobile.cz/hudba
ireport.cz
Live Nation CZ
O2 Arena
musicserver.cz
play.iprima.cz
kultura.idnes.cz
nowinky.cz
cas.sk

Videos

Intro & Sleeping In My Car
Crash! Boom! Bang!
Intro to Joyride
Crush On You & She’s Got Nothing On (But The Radio)

Setlist

roxette_in_prague_01 — Photo by Patrícia Peres

Extra:
Almost Unreal
Listen To Your Heart
The Look