Liberec is approximately a one-hour drive from Prague, and it is hosting the Benátská! s Impulsem festival over the weekend. The main attraction of the four-day event was Roxette last night.
There were four stages, and the festival site was huge. Some people didn’t leave the main stage area all day; they even brought camping chairs with them to camp out there. Haha.
Roxette were due to begin their show at 21:30, and the last act on the main stage finished at 20:10, so the crew had to set everything up during that time. The biggest challenge was getting Per’s mic stand to stay still. It kept bouncing whenever someone jumped nearby, but they managed to fix it in the end, so we didn’t have to worry about Per losing his teeth because of the bouncing mic stand. Haha.
The gang appeared on stage two minutes ahead of schedule and were at full speed right from the start. This time there was only a very short catwalk, and it seems this is the perfect length for Per too, because he walked to the very front more often than he did in Vienna. At first, Lena had to encourage him, but later he came to the front on his own as well.
It was lovely to see Dea and Magnus there too, and of course, Lena and Christoffer absolutely rocked it.
The audience seemed happiest to hear It Must Have Been Love, How Do You Do!, Dangerous, Listen To Your Heart and The Look.
After the band presentation, the rest of the band walked off stage while Per and Lena stayed behind to perform Spending My Time. The gang were scheduled to play until 22:45, and it became obvious they wouldn’t finish on time. But The Look simply had to be played, and thankfully they didn’t shorten it. So the gig lasted five minutes longer than originally planned. Good for us!
Chris played the Czech folk song Holka modrooká as the intro to Joyride, and the crowd sang along. Some big red balloons were released during Joyride and the audience kept them in the air throughout the next two songs as well. We also realized that big balloons pop with quite a loud bang. Haha.
Setlist
1. The Big L.
2. Sleeping In My Car
3. Dressed For Success
4. Crash! Boom! Bang!
5. Fading Like A Flower
6. The Church Of Your Heart
7. Stars
8. She’s Got Nothing On (But The Radio)
9. It Must Have Been Love
10. How Do You Do!
11. Dangerous
Band presentation
12. Joyride
13. Spending My Time
14. Listen To Your Heart
15. The Look
Next stop is Neu-Ulm, Germany on 26th July! Tour dates and links to ticket sales sites HERE!
Photos in the article are taken by Patrícia Peres. More photos HERE!
Per after the gig:
After the amazing Liberec show! Thanx all of u (how many? 15000?) for making this something very special. See you soon again.
Lena after the show:
Thank you Liberec/Czech Republic for some action with Roxette yesterday!! It was a lot of fun!!
