Tour

Ticket sales: What the fans say

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There have been many other occasions on which some parts of the fans have been ranting – thinking of the RoxBox in particular, and some other releases as well as of course some tour problems. There is always something to complain about, but this time it seems the hardcore Roxers out there all think the same: This is a rip off and I won’t join in this time. So please, if you want it like this, no fans in the front rows or there at all.

We just collected some of the fans’ reactions that came on Facebook, have been written on the Roxette Official wall or have been posted in a “Roxette Tour Group” on Facebook. And yes, it’s all there: disappointment, anger, frustration, desperation, resignation – and over all the decision not to get on that ship and rather buy no tickets.

Tanja:

 it’s gettin’ insane! To pay a fortune just for front row in a standing section, which usually is occupied by hardcore fans, is now sold to snobs and hipsters!

Katja:

Rox in Halmstad was my biggest dream since many years, it never worked but 2015 it should come through. All was checked and planned: Babysitter, Holiday , Money – but now when i think about the reactions after the last shows and the prices for the different tickets, i don’t know if it is that worth i’m very sad and feel helpless at the moment.

Claudia:

With all these developments, I have just lost the interest in going at all. And I am sadly not the only one.

Maria:

I believe this is not really the aim of this Roxxxette 30th Anniversary; many of us hardcore fans have been making many efforts for the last years to follow you almost everywhere possible, we spent tons of money and time because we really enjoy and love being on tour with you but with this situation coming up, it’s becoming more and more difficult or at times impossible to be there for you, just a pity since this should be a tour for everybody but certainly also for all of us who have been there for you for such a long time!

Tina:

Maybe you should consider changing the name of the tour to “$$$ – The Rip-Off Tour”, seems much more fitting! I never thought I could be so disappointed in a band I’ve been a fan of for 20+ years… *sighs*

Marcelo:

This is so very sad. I WOULD pay a fortune to see you if I had the money, but I think it’s unfair to all your fans/supporters throughout the world. We were there for you when Roxette returned. We gladly paid all we had in our wallets to see our Queen and King of Swedish pop music throughout the Neverending Tour, but it was AFFORDABLE. This is NOT affordable, it’s so freaking EXPENSIVE! I humbly ask you to review this issue and reconsider what can be reconsidered. We are always waiting for you, but I’m afraid 90% of us won’t make it this time around.

Neil:

Unfortunately this is the way ticket sales work these days, especially with live nation as a promoter as this is the way they work. They probably didn’t have all these packages last time as they didn’t know how many tickets they would sell, but now they see that Roxette still have great selling power they will chance their luck. I understand peoples frustrations, but in reality moaning to Per will achieve very little, as he will have very little to do with setting ticket prices. They will have a contract with live nation and will be paid a certain amount and it is live nations job to make that money back and make a profit for themselves. Even if Per wasn’t aware and complained to live nation it would be too late to change anything, as as soon as these tickets are sold, you can’t go back and tell these people they can’t be at the front, even though they paid a premium for it. For me personally, it does mean I will go to a few less gigs. If I go abroad for a concert I want to be at the front, and there are only so many early entry tickets I can afford….especially so close to Xmas. Also disappointed that I don’t have tickets to london yet, and I might not be able to get very good tickets, especially since that venue is an hour away from my house…..but that’s life!

Tim:

I laugh at the people who say ” If you don’t like it then don’t buy it” because that’s the easiest way out of the argument. It takes ZERO brain power to come up with that. For me I don’t care to be up front because I miss the ” big picture” of the concert. I love a wide view. Ticket prices are high because we as consumers set them high. Stop buying pricey tickets and the market will go down. It’s that simple. Two examples where I live was when the Rolling Stones played in LA and prices were outrageous! $400.00 got you back of the arena and the nose bleeds cost $200.00. People were pissed didn’t buy and for the first time the Stones didn’t sell out the arena. Weeks before the show they cut the prices from 200.00 to 80.00 and 400.00 to 150.00. That’s when they sold out. The same thing happened to the Who. They over priced their last tour 2 years ago and people didn’t show up. The had to use a discount ticket company to sell tickets at 60% to 75% off face value. For their 50th year tour in 2015 they price tickets at affordable prices and people are back.

Sandra:

Having been to 184 Rox/Per/Marie/GT gigs I have to say I was never as dissapointed as with the actual ticket selling policy.

First lots of presales where the good places couldn’t be bought or people haven’t been informed that other tickets with Early Entrance will pop up later which didn’t gave them a chance to chose because they didn’t knew all terms. And then prices where I choked when I first saw them.

380,-€ for a hot seat (=front of stage) in UK. 200,-€ for one in Paris and in Sweden Early Entrance tix for around 150,-€ and 169,-€ for Amsterdam????

Is that the way to treat the devoted fans for their loyalty and support throughout the years??? And of course the hardcore Roxers are the aim with that policy because no one else than them would be willing to pay a lot of their well saved money for this opportunity: to see their beloved idols as close as possible.

Now I also have to reconsider what concerts I will go to because I simply can’t afford it. And travelling through Europe to go to concerts with rhich people in the front who don’t need to care about money but who also don’t know how to party and sing along is nothing I want to see. That’s why the average ticket to a lower price is useless for me and many other hardcores. Then I also rather skip those concerts and try to find some with normal ticket policy instead.

I planned to go to 24 gigs. 10 are already crossed out now (so far). Unfortunately also Sweden which is a pitty since I love to be there and have vacation combined with some concerts. But 150,-€ x4 plus vacation is nothing I could afford and imo it’s also not worth it. I guess that’s the point where my support ends. I am no gold donkey for anyone. Sad about this development. Really. But I hope you will still have fun at your concerts with some familiar faces in the front.. if there are any left.

J:

I had planned fix 5 shows, with about 5-10 more ‘probably’. I think it will be just 4 in the end, which solves the problem with some ‘conflicts’ I had regarding number of holidays etc.

Usually one celebrates an anniversary with the ones one loves/likes, family and friends who are around for good and bad, this seems to have become a party for VIPs only, well, have fun, without many of us.
I have never seen so MANY angry fans before. Sad but true.

Funny how, after the concerts in NY and Boston I had the feeling something had ended, or a book had closed. I remember Per messing up Things will never be the same in Boston, the last I saw, and though that may be a funny sign. Well.

If you don’t like it – don’t go: A ticket price rant..

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This is just a blog post, WARNING, no news included.

In the middle of the ticket presales that started this week the fans have been surprised by not so nice things. One of the “things” popping up was an issue already months ago when the ticket sales in Australia started. Australian fans were – let’s say – surprised when they found out that the prices for tickets in the front rows were high above what they were willing to pay. A check today made clear the prices never changed, even though many fans complained about them on Facebook, Twitter, official sites and elsewhere. So, a “hot seat package”, which probably means you have a “hot seat” in front of the stage costs around 212 Euro. And then there is a “VIP package” which costs around 280 Euro. And of course, there are normal tickets – even in the front row, if you are lucky enough to get them. In the end that means that someone who paid 90 Euro could easily set next to somebody who paid 212 – a really bad thing and a trend that cannot be stopped it seems since there are always some people out there who pay every price they have to. For those who want to see more than one show it’s even harder.

However, prices in that range were hardly imaginable in Europe, but today we learned better. A front row seat for the show London costs around 380 Euro and a ticket for the also seated show in Paris is around 200 Euro. But this is not the only problem regarding the ticket issue. Many fans wondered why there are “exclusive presales” when it’s not possible to book and buy the best possible seats. This problem showed up for the show in Mainz (seated show, tickets costs 86 Euro which is pretty much for Germany and starting from row 3) and Paris (tickets from row 7 only). So yes, the question is: Why exactly do they offer an “exclusive presale” when it’s not possible to get the best tickets? Who else but hardcore fans buy tickets on an “exclusive presale”? Seriously?

A quick poll among fans showed what even hardcore fans are willing to pay. The German Roxette fan site Planet Roxette asked their users on Facebook about that. Many would definitely pay more for their favourite band but then buy less tickets and see less shows. For the German fans 80 Euro seems to be the magic limit. Compared to let’s say Romania this isn’t much. The tickets for the Romanian show cost 60 Euro, but please keep the ticket price-salary relation in mind. 200 Euro for a ticket is about 1/6 of a monthly average salary. 60 Euro in Romania are 1/7.

Another short story from yesterday/today. The Swedish presale via coop and comviq yesterday didn’t include the possibility to book tickets with an “early entrance” option. Today suddenly this option appears – for some extra 90 Euro. We wonder: What happened to the numbering system? Is it really all because of the money? And why is it necessary to totally rip off the fans?

Throughout the day many fans were clearly irritated about the increasing prices for concerts, prices which are not much longer affordable.  In the end, it’s pretty easy: “If you can’t afford it, don’t buy it. If you don’t want to afford it, don’t buy a ticket.” But maybe it’s not that easy in this case. Many fans save their money for concert tickets for months, waiting for this one concert, this only chance to see their favorite band on stage. Everybody in this world should be able to do so. It’s clear that this is not Roxette’s fault but certainly a big fault of the promoters. Or maybe really their intention. In the end it means that at least some foreign fans don’t travel to Swedish Liverpool, because they are not willing to pay 190 Euro to stand in the front.

Just a short note: The German promoter Marek Lieberberg blocked the two front rows for the Mainz concert for themselves – no chance for fans to get in the front row. And not many people are willing to pay 86 Euro for a third row ticket.

This feels wrong. It probably shouldn’t be like that – neither the prices nor the way the agencies deal with the tickets they give away.

UPDATE, November 14th:

This is getting more and more absurd. Not only in Mainz but also in London the front rows are already blocked for American Express customers. So it says on the website: “”American Express Invites® Reserved Tickets.” If this is the future of pop concerts, then no, I don’t want to be part of it anymore.

Roxette on tour in Europe 2015!

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A press release just came in informing about the third leg of Roxette’s 30th Anniversary Tour: Europe in Spring/Summer 2015!

The tour will start in Milan, Italy on May 10th and go on until July 25th in Stockholm, Sweden. Note that there were some slight changes to the initially published earlier today by other websites!

Tickets will go on sale on Friday, 14th of November. Not sure if this applies to all venues or just Swedish ones, but we will keep you posted as soon as we know! The tickets for Sweden will cost 495 SEK+ service fee.

It’s amazing to be back on the international scenes. The response we’ve had from our audience all these years is overwhelming  and we can’t wait to meet the fans again. We look forward to seeing you in Europe!

Roxette_XXXMay 2015
May 10th  Milan, Teatro Arcimboldi, Italy (ticket pre-sales start Nov 12, normal sales Nov 13)
May 13th  Madrid , Palacio Vistalegre, Spain (ticket pre-sales start Nov 12, normal sales Nov 13)
May 14th  Barcelona, Sant Jordi Club, Spain (ticket pre-sales start Nov 12, normal sales Nov 13)
May 17th  Bucharest, Aranele Romane, Romania
May 19th  Budapest, Budapest Sports Arena, Hungary (ticket sales start Nov 12)
May 21th  Prague, O2 Arena, Czech Republic (Live Nation pre-sales start Nov 11, normal sales Nov 12)
May 23th  Jelling, Jelling Festival, Denmark
May 26th  Paris, Olympia, Paris (ticket pre-sales start Nov 13, normal sales Nov 14)
May 27th  Amsterdam, HMH, The Netherlands
May 29th  Antwerp, Lotto Arena, Belgium

June 2015
June 1st      Dublin, The O2 Arena, Ireland (ticket pre-sales start Nov 12)
June 13th   Trondheim, Sverresborg, Norway (tickets – start Nov 14)
June 22nd  Warsaw, Torwar, Poland (ticket sales start Nov 12)
June 24th   Cologne, Lanxess, Germany (tickets, no info on sales start yet)
June 25th   Hamburg, O2 World, Germany (tickets, no info on sales start yet)
June 27th   Berlin, O2 World, Germany
June 28th   Dresden, Elbufer, Germany (tickets, no info on sales start yet)
June 30th   Mannheim, SAP Arena, Germany

July 2015
July 2nd    Stuttgart, Porsche Arena, Germany
July 3rd     Bad Kissingen, Luitpold Park, Germany (tickets, no info on sales start yet)
July 5th     Mainz, Nordmole, Germany
July 7th     Munich, Olympiahalle, Germany
July 8th     Vienna, Stadthalle, Austria (ticket sales start Nov 14)
July 13th   London, O2 Arena, United Kingdom (ticket pre-sales start Nov 13, normal sales Nov 14)
July 18th   Kalmar , Fredriksskans, Sweden (ticket sales start Nov 14)
July 22nd  Halmstad, Örjans Vall, Sweden (ticket sales start Nov 14)
July 24th   Gothenburg, Slottskogsvallen, Sweden (ticket sales start Nov 14)
July 25th   Stockholm, Sjöhistoriska, Sweden (ticket sales start Nov 14)

Update some hours later: we have found some ticket sales information and added it next to the dates. Most ticket sales start on Friday 14th, but as you can see, some are earlier – and some have pre-sales too. Just check our site out or livenation.se (or your local livenation or ticket seller website) for more information.

Interview with Per Gessle on Finnish newspaper

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Mari Pudas (a Roxette fan from Finland) interviewed Per Gessle for the Finnish newspaper Iltalehti (and interview #2). Here is a summary of the interview.

“I’m like any other person, just a normal person. I am grateful for my success, the fact that people are interested in what I do, because it should not be taken for granted. Today, songs and artists come and go, so it is rare for a career to last so long. Every now and then I have to pinch myself,” he explains.

As we all know, Roxette go on tour starting this upcoming Tuesday in Vladivostok . After summer 2015 Roxette plans to release a new album – with the first single to be released early 2015. Per started to work on the album in summer 2013, and he tells that it will be “modern, almost electonic/techno”, but still keeping the pop sounds. “I wanted to challenge myself to write music in a new way, and see where it leads. Of course, the album will have typical Roxette components but they will sound fresher. I’m really glad that we have moved on and are not just repeating ourselves.” Per has also been working with David Guetta and other Swedish DJs for other projects.

Roxette will play in Finland end of November, “Finland is fun to play,” says Per. He also explains that he has got more self-confidence with his voice and that he discovered he is not a bad singer and his voice has some strenghts. He also comments on the fact that they have taken their music to many places around the world. “We wanted to go out from Sweden to the world and we managed it. Sometimes Marie and I look at each other on stage with a smile, and we realise what we have reached”. And he explains that he realised in the previous tour that one tour is not enough for Marie, “she wants more and more concerts”
 
Per also says that he doesn’t know which is the most important song they have done, but that they realised during the rehearsals how good “Queen Of Rain” is, which they haven’t played for a while. Will we hear this one on tour? We will see!
Thanks Mari for your help!
Per’s reaction on Roxette Official to the above mentioned:
SETTING THINGS STRAIGHT FROM SEOUL: No, at this point in time there won’t be any collaborations with David G and/or any other DJ’s on the new Rox-album. Misunderstandings. Stuff lost in translation. I am working with different ppl on different tremendously exciting projects but it has got nothing to do with Rox. So you know. /P.

Interview with Per Gessle: “I wanted the books to show who I am, my style, my drawings, my silly notes and confused guide-lines”

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PG BookFair01-1 We had the chance to ask Per Gessle some questions about the books (“Texter, klotter & funderingar” and “Songs, Sketches & Reflections”), so we went through the books and thought of some detailed ones. Per, who is currently busy with the Roxette rehearsals, nicely took the time to answer to all these questions. Here is the result!

Don’t forget to grab the books and check them out while reading for a complete experience. Or to buy them if you haven’t yet (or you may be lucky in… read at the bottom!)

RXB/J&PP: So let’s start from the beginning. When did you get the idea to make these books? Was it born at the same time as the box? What came first, the idea of releasing TPGA box or publishing the books?
Per Gessle: Hello.. It’s something that’s been in the back of my mind for a long long time. There are so many songs around, so many demos. It really is “a lifetime of songwriting”! Also I’ve got so many studio diaries that need some fresh air!!

Through our Facebook-site I’ve also noticed that many people are interested in the demos. That feedback was certainly important to me in my decision.

It’s been a great ego trip in spite of the endless hours of research that was needed to make (especially) the box happen, since the amount of material is so vast. Lots of people have been involved, primarily MP (finding & refreshing old tapes + recording & editing Sven’s and my conversation-pieces which took forever), Pär Wickholm (CD-box layout) and Benny Mårtensson (book layout). Without those guys it wouldn’t have happened. Not like this. I’m extremely pleased with the result.

The books are not simply some lyrics put together black on white with a few pictures but something much more personal, with comments, drawings and other things from your archives. What was your initial concept you had in mind? Did you have such design in mind from the beginning?
Yes. I didn’t want to do just standard lyric-books. I wanted them to show who I am, my style, my drawings, my silly notes and confused guide-lines. To write a song is a long journey and most of the time people only get to know the final destination.

Why did you decide to split them in two books, English and Swedish? Do you plan to release the English book outside of Sweden?
I’m sure both books will be available globally through Amazon etc. The reason for two separate books is that otherwise it would have been too thick. And I don’t want to compete with the bible. Or the complete edition of “Fifty Shades Of Grey”.

We also realized that some songs are missing from the books and some are missing your comments and only the lyrics are included. How did you decide on which songs to include and comment on?
I wrote down what I remembered and if there were any good stories or anecdotes connected with the songs. Some songs I don’t remember writing. Some lyrics didn’t make it due to copyright-reasons. “Tylö Sun” and “Skicka ett vykort, älskling” for instance. I don’t own the copyrights to those.

10624861_10152244866910178_591528627164385920_nEvery page on the books is different, some pictures are used more than once but each page has a different design. We know Benny Mårtensson did this part, but what was your involvement? Did you check every page or give hints to certain lyric pages how they should look like?
Yes. I wasn’t in favour of using the same pics more than once but Benny found that OK. A few of his pages I didn’t particularly like so he remade them. He’s done a fantastic job. A very talented guy. The original idea was just to mix the lyrics, my studio diaries incl drawings and combine them with a few comments about the songs. Then I realized that some of the original lyric-sheets looked really cool with coffee-stains and dead flies on them so we used a lot of those. The pics should not be the main thing. Just to spice things up a bit and make it even more personal and easy to look at.

One can read the books in (at least) 2 different ways: Either with or without the music to the lyrics. While reading the books without music one gets a deeper insight into your lyrics and realizes (once more) how great songwriter you are. Did you (re)discover parts of your lyrics that impressed you? Lyrics long forgotten where you thought “wow, did I write that?”? (or some you thought “what was I thinking?”).
Thank you. I’m happy you enjoy my work. My ambition writing lyrics has always been that they should be capable to stand on their own two feet. I think it’s crucial that you should be able to read a song lyric without getting too embarrassed. Both as the writer and as the reader. Sometimes I’ve screwed things up, sometimes it feels good when I bump into one of my lyrics.

We have both interviews in the Swedish book, but only the Sven interview in the English one. Both are great reading for fans or even non-fans and going through all the interesting things in the Tomas Andersson Wij interview, it would have been a good idea to translate it and include it in the English book as well. Why didn’t you decide for having it there?
I agree. TAW’s interview is great and should have been included in both books. If there will be a 2nd edition it will be translated and made available in English as well. The reason we didn’t include to begin with was that Tomas and I mostly talked about my Swedish work and thought it didn’t really interest that many people abroad. We were wrong.

In the Sven interview you say you try to avoid learning too much, because you are afraid of losing the unconscious. At the same time, working together with all those fantastic musicians, it’s impossible not to learn from them. How can you keep the balance?
Well, what I’m trying to say is that it doesn’t really work for me to “educate” myself too much and learn the classic and proper rules of music. I want to trust my gut feeling and if I need help (which I do all the time…, I know what I want but I don’t know how to get it…) I consult more “educated” people than me, Christoffer and Clarence for instance.

I truly believe that I’d been a far less interesting songwriter if I didn’t follow my own set of rules and instincts. I don’t really know when I’m doing things “right or wrong” and that’s the whole idea for me. Follow that sweet smell of surprise.

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