Per Gessle on Nordic Rox – August 2024

Per Gessle and Sven Lindström are back to Sirius XM with the second part of their ’70s countdown on the August episode of Nordic Rox.

Before the guys get down to those 5 great songs from the ’70s, they stay in present tense and play Fire In Cairo, a new track by The Hellacopters. A wonderful song according to PG.

The next one is Black Hole by Edith Backlund. Per loves this song. It came out appr. 10 years ago. Then comes Send Her My Love by Robert Pehrsson’s Humbucker. Sven thinks it’s a great band name and Per agrees it’s a wonderful one, but he doesn’t know anything about Robert Pehrsson and his Humbucker. It sounds great, Mr. G likes it. Sven found this song on a list of Swedish garage rock.

The guys start talking about Gyllene Tider – Per says he knows those guys, haha. It’s Per’s power pop band from Halmstad. PG says they started off in 1978 and in 1979 they had their breakthrough. Sven says they made a major impact in Sweden in 1979, 1980, 1981, 1982 and around 1983 they were ready to conquer the world. Per says he did his first solo album in 1983 while the other guys in the band did their military service. The band had a comeback and they made an English album called The Heartland Café that came out in 1984. It’s not the best album in the world, PG says, but what’s interesting is that there is one track that was pretty popular called Break Another Heart. That was the first time where Per worked with Marie Fredriksson who he eventually formed Roxette with. Sven says it was released in the States and they used the name Roxette, so this is actually a teaser of what would become Roxette five years later. Per confirms, the first version of Roxette was actually these five guys. The album came out on Capitol Records in 1984. It sold about 225 copies, Sven adds. The guys are laughing. It didn’t sell that much. Per remembers going to Los Angeles and he went to Tower Records on Sunset and they had their own little section next to Roxy Music. PG thought it was so cool. Then the band split up and he started Roxette with Marie instead. It was a good idea, Mr. G says. Sven says if you are a record and vinyl nerd, which they grew up with of course, the bass player in Roxette, Magnus Börjeson had a band called Beagle in the early ’90s. They were really happy about that name, because that put them between The Beach Boys and The Beatles. Haha. Per thinks it’s brilliant.

Yours To Keep by Paola is next. Per thinks it’s a nice one; the Teddybears is involved in that song. Then comes Where The Wolf Bane Blooms by The Nomads, a superb garage rock band from Sweden. The song is from their debut album.

Here comes the ’70s list from No. 15 to No. 11. Sven warns the listeners, because if they are sensitive to sweetness and sugar, they should watch out. A super sugary track called Moviestar is next by Harpo, produced by Bengt Palmers, one of the biggest producers in Sweden in the old days. He produced Hooked On A Feeling, for instance, and he was really big, producing lots of artists for EMI Records in the ’70s. Moviestar was an enormous hit in 1975 and it was also an extremely big song in Germany. Harpo is still touring in Germany once in a while, Per adds. He says you couldn’t escape this one in the ’70s if you were in Sweden or in Germany. Per asks the listeners to fasten their seatbelts.

Sven says they got the reason to return to Bengt Palmers later on in the shows, because you can’t escape him.

No. 14 is a guy called Magnus Lindberg. He used to play in a band called Landslaget, before he became his own sort of singer-songwriter, eventually becoming a little bit more new wavish. He did two albums in the ’70s. They were pretty acoustic and very good. He’s got a wonderful voice according to Per. He writes his own songs as well. The guys picked Månsken Peggie (Moonlight Peggie). PG thinks it’s a beautiful song. It came out in the late ’70s.

No. 13 is a band of ’60s pop veterans, Secret Service. They consisted of lots of people from the band Ola & The Janglers from the ’60s and some veterans in the industry. The band had their own distinctive sound and original songs as well. Not bad in Per’s book. PG says it was pretty rare in the ’70s to have international success for Swedish artists. ABBA was probably the only exception. They probably woke Secret Service up to the idea. They became enormous in France and this is their breakthrough song, Oh Susie from 1979.

Now the guys go to the north of Sweden and play a wonderful, typical ’70s mix of modern music and old traditional Swedish folk music. Gammal jämtländsk brudmarsch (A wedding march from the county of Jämtland /in the north of Sweden/) was a big hit. It was an instrumental track by a girl playing the organ called Merit Hemmingson. It was a big one on the radio in the ’70s, produced by Bengt Palmers, who also produced Moviestar by Harpo we just heard. Sven says, he was back earlier than they expected. Haha. Sven thinks it’s an interesting mix of musical styles. Per says the first time he heard it, he loved it and he was just a kid. He still loves it. Sven thinks it might be the first time Merit is played on American radio.

This brings the guys up to new wavish sounds from mid Sweden. A band called Eldkvarn is next. They had a big breakthrough in the ’70s and they are still around on and off. They closed down the factory a couple of years ago, then they came back again. They have been really big and have their own distinctive sound as well. The songs are written by vocalist Plura Jonsson. Their current tour, a sort of new farewell tour is named Det är aldrig försent att lägga av (It’s never too late to quit). The guys are laughing. Per finds it a good tour name. When Eldkvarn started out in the mid ’70s, they were not called Eldkvarn (Fire mill), but Piska mig hårt (Whip me hard) instead. It probably caused some controversy, Sven thinks. Per has never listened to them that much. In the ’80s-’90s he listened to them a bit, but this is new music to him. It’s taken from their 1979 album where they totally change musical style from slightly progressive ’70s rock, Sven says. Per thinks it sounds like Elvis Costello & The Attractions came into their lives. Sven thinks that there is life for Eldkvarn before this year’s model and there is another life after. They took up their amps to eight or something and started speeding up the tempo. It’s not bad, Per likes it. So they play the title track from their album Pojkar, pojkar, pojkar (Boys, boys, boys), wrapping up the ’70s countdown on this show.

The guys take a trip to Copenhagen, Denmark. Here is She Owns The Streets by The Raveonettes. Sven thinks it’s a cool band. Per adds it’s one of their favourite bands.

The amazing sound of I Go For The Cheap Ones by Heavy Tiger is next. They are a female band from Stockholm. Per heard they haven’t been doing anything since 2019, but they are an amazing group and they are missed. Sven says they should come back, the world needs Heavy Tiger.

Sven and Per thank the listeners for joining them and Cigarettes by Anita Lindblom closes the show, as usual.

Pic by Patrícia Peres, Book Fair 2014, Gothenburg

Thanks for your support, Sven!

Sleeve and tracklist of Per Gessle’s new album revealed

Per Gessle’s new album, Sällskapssjuk is released on 25th October. The sleeve and the tracklist – this way all the duet partners as well – got revealed in the press release of the fourth single, Plåster today.

The upcoming album was recorded in Halmstad and, as the title indicates, it mostly consists of duets with a number of brilliant singers.

Tracklist

1. Hoppas
2. Henry väntar på en chans
3. Plåster (feat. Amanda Ginsburg)
4. Jag är regnet (feat. Lisa Miskovsky)
5. Nyper mig i armen (feat. Albin Lee Meldau)
6. Hjärtats vackraste rum (feat. Helena Josefsson)
7. Det tar den tid det tar
8. Beredd (feat. Molly Hammar)
9. Har på känn (feat. Uno Svenningsson)
10. Ingen kan som du (feat. Helena Josefsson)
11. Sällskapssjuk (feat. Lena Philipsson)
12. Ingen annan
13. Utan din humor (feat. Helena Josefsson)

On the sleeve you can see Emmylou, Tingeling, Baloo and Per Gessle. The dogs belong to Anna Lindmarker, Swedish TV personality, former news anchor on TV4.

Photo by Fredrik Etoall

Pre-order the album at Bengans! The different formats and exclusive additions you can order:

  • Bengans-exclusive oxblood red vinyl
  • Black vinyl
  • Black vinyl + signed card
  • CD
  • CD + signed card
  • Bundle incl. Bengans-exclusive oxblood red vinyl LP + the 4 singles on 7″ vinyl + signed card

 

 

Per Gessle’s new single, a duet with Amanda Ginsburg is out!

Per Gessle has released a new duet, Plåster from his upcoming album as the fourth single. The single contains two songs:

Side A
Plåster

Side B
Jupiter Calling (2024)

Listen to it on any streaming platform HERE and don’t forget to order the physical copy, a 7″ vinyl at Bengans! (B side HERE!)

The video to Plåster premieres at 9 am CET on 4th October.

Per says:

I have already released three singles from the album, duets with Molly Hammar, Lena Philipsson and Albin Lee Meldau. Now it’s time for another duet, this time together with one of my favorite Swedish singers, Amanda Ginsburg. I have admired Amanda for several years, both through her outstanding concerts and records, and was extremely happy when she agreed to sing on “Plåster”, a key song on my new album. Amanda has a wonderful voice to sink into and it fits the “Plåster” message perfectly.

Amanda says:

Being invited into Per’s music has been an enormous joy and honor all the way through! What a star! For me, “Plåster” is a reminder of the power of words and to dare to say both the small and the big kind words. We always need them, but perhaps now more than ever.

Per to RoxBlog:

Amanda’s certainly got an amazing voice. So happy she wanted to sing along.  “Plåster” is, for me, the standout track on the new album. It’s not very commercial nor radio friendly, but it’s a very special composition and I do love the way it turned out. Ola G played some fab guitars on this one. And I love the brass section.

“Jupiter Calling” is part of all the recordings I did with MP + Micke Syd way back in 1995. I’ve added new backing vocals and fixed one line in the lyrics. Otherwise it’s still how it was recorded with a new mix by MP. He surprises me sometimes with new mixes of old analogue stuff. “So many songs, so much time” is the MP way of living these days.

That one change in Jupiter Calling (2024) is “the batteries ran out” instead of “the batteries were down”.

 

Plåster

Om du hade suttit intill
Och jag kunde gjort vad jag vill
Så hade jag berättat för dig
Vad du betyder för mig
Jag vet att
Ord kan vara så små
Och göra skada ändå
Men mina är starka som stål
Och blir plåster på dina sår
Mjukt på dina sår

Om du hade suttit bredvid
Det hade knappt tagit någon tid
Innan vi skrattat i kör
Åt världen som bor utanför
Jag vet att
Ord kan skapa magi
Men också ställa till krig
Mina är harmlösa barn
Inga frågor som kräver svar
Du får allt du vill ha

Ord kan bygga magi
Mirakel fyrverkeri
Jag hoppas de går att förstå
Och blir plåster på dina sår
Mjukt på dina sår

De blir plåster
På dina sår
På dina sår

Words & music: Per Gessle
Published by Jimmy Fun Music

Produced by Per Gessle

Recorded at Tits & Ass, Halmstad, February + March + April 2023 + Sweetspot, Harplinge, March 2023

Engineers: Mats Persson (T&A) + Staffan Karlsson (Sweetspot)
Mixed by Mats Persson + Per Gessle at T&A, Halmstad, May 2023

Per Gessle: acoustic guitar + piano + vocals
Amanda Ginsburg: vocals
Ola Gustafsson: electric guitar + slide guitar + mandolin + dobro
Magnus Helgesson: drums + percussion
Fredrik ”Gicken” Johansson: electric bass + lap steel + dobro
Helena Josefsson: backing vocals
Mats Persson: mandolin + synths + dobro
Per Thornberg: tenor saxophone + baritone saxophone

 

Jupiter Calling (2024)

Words & music: Per Gessle
Published by Jimmy Fun Music

Produced by Per Gessle

Recorded at Tits & Ass, Halmstad, 3rd August 1995 + 31st July 2024

Engineer: Mats Persson
Mixed by Mats Persson at T&A, Halmstad, August 2024

Per Gessle: electric guitar + acoustic guitar + piano + synth + vocals
Micke Syd Andersson: drums
Mats Persson: electric guitar + electric bass

Photo by Fredrik Etoall

Jupiter Calling (2024) got its own digital sleeve so that this song doesn’t pop up on the duet partner’s page as well.

Per Gessle on Nordic Rox – July 2024

After doing the ’60s countdown, Per Gessle and Sven Lindström came back to Sirius XM in July and started a ’70s countdown for Nordic Rox. They listed their favourite Swedish and Scandinavian songs from the ’70s from 20 to 16 in this episode.

The guys are talking about another decade. Per says there were so many things happening on the Swedish music scene in the ’70s, so they are going to go through a couple of songs that they like. Then he adds that to tell the truth, they even included a couple of songs that they didn’t like. Haha. Sven says they are very open-minded and inclusive here on Nordic Rox.

Before getting down to the list, they kick off with a track by a band that made an album 30 years ago, and Sven thinks Per is familiar with it. PG says it’s Roxette and the album is called Crash! Boom! Bang! It was recorded in the isle of Capri in Italy. The song they play from CBB is Run To You. Sven asks Per what he remembers about this one. Mr. G remembers they spent like six weeks in Capri making the core of the album in 1993. It was good fun. INXS had just been in the studio when they arrived, so they inherited a lot of the INXS wine bottles. Haha. They had a great time and it was a very creative period in their lives. Marie just had her first child, so she had a family with her. They did some great stuff on that album. Sleeping In My Car, for example. Sven says a jubilee version of the album is coming out. Per confirms it’s coming out just before Christmas, the 30th anniversary release. Sven says they will get back to that one.

A new single from one of the guys’ favourite constellations comes next. It’s Say Lou Lou’s Above Love. Sven thinks it’s a great one, PG says it has a French touch to it. Sven saw all these French singers, Françoise Hardy, Brigitte Bardot. They made some cool ’60s pop songs with fussy guitars and that sort of touch is here as well.

Then comes Borderline by The Soundtrack Of Our Lives from the album Origin Vol. 1. There never was an Origin Vol. 2, but for some reason it was named Vol. 1. Per thinks the band has a classic sound, and it sounds like it’s really familiar, but at the same time, it stands out. They have a very distinctive sound. Every song you hear from their catalogue sounds like The Soundtrack Of Our Lives.

Nordic Rox continues with a new single by Noak Hellsing from Stockholm. The song is All Day. PG says he has never heard of Noak Hellsing before. He must be very young and very new. Sven says Per is right on both points. Mr. G thinks it’s a good song, Sven agrees.

Shimmy Shimmy Style by the Teddybears is next.

Then the guys are leaving the modern age and going back to the ’70s. Track No. 20 is by a guy called Ola Magnell. Per says Ola was a singer-songwriter in the early ’70s and he had a couple of so-so hits, but then he went on tour with another Swedish guy that was a little bit bigger than him called Pugh Rogefeldt. The song they play is a live recording from a live album coming out in 1974. Per was there at the recording of that album in his hometown, Halmstad. Mr. G was 15 years old at the time. He remembers it being an amazing show in a pretty small theatre in Halmstad. There were like 800 people or so. It was a sensational evening for a 15-year-old kid. Sven remembers Pugh, he was probably the biggest rock star in Sweden in 1974. Sven saw Pugh and Rainrock in his hometown at the disco called Barbarella. The bass player came out on stage in a jeans skirt and that was rather cool. Back to Ola, the guys play his breakthrough song Påtalåten. It’s done with the Pugh band and it’s a live version from 1974. Per thinks it’s really, really cool and hopes the listeners like it. Per thinks it’s a great song. It’s got this sort of country flavour combined with some Swedish folk music. The rhythm is really wonderful. Sven thinks that sort of mix sounds incredibly Swedish. A lot of people were looking back to folk music in the ’70s.

Speaking about that, one of Per’s favourite singers, Monica Törnell is up on position No. 19. Mr. G has had the pleasure of working with Monica a couple of times, singing together. She’s got a really amazing voice, Per thinks. She had a breakthrough in 1972. There was a Swedish singer-songwriter called Cornelis Vreeswijk, who unfortunately is not with us anymore. He found her and he got her a record deal. Monica made an album which was basically a lot of covers translated into Swedish. It’s really an outstanding album, because her voice is so outstanding, PG thinks. It’s the elite of the Swedish session musicians at the time playing. It sounds really cool with standup bass and amazing piano playing. Per just loves this song. The original, I Really Loved Harold was written by Melanie. It’s called Förut (när jag var liten) in Swedish. Sven asks Per if this was something that mesmerized him when he was a teenager. PG listened to this album a lot and this is his favourite track. Sven thinks Monica sounds like some kind of mythical figure living far up in the woods. Per loves her voice.

The guys travel to Hollywood, somewhere in Los Angeles in 1971. Gram Parsons And The Flying Burrito Brothers. The next song sounds like that at least. It’s a guy called Basse Wickman and it’s taken from his first album in 1976. Out On The Road is not a big hit, but both Sven and Per always loved Basse. Per says he’s got this amazing, velvety voice and he made some amazing albums. Actually, PG has never heard the debut album before, so this is a new one to him. Sven says it’s actually quite obscure. For some reason, he never really made it, but Sven thinks they have a couple of tracks that they are going to revisit on the ’80s list when they get there. Per agrees and says Basse had his peak in the ’80s. Now comes some sort of Swedish country rock. It didn’t make the charts in Sweden at all, but it sounds lovely, Per thinks.

No. 17 on the list is a group called Dag Vag. Sven says it’s some sort of slight new wave reggae. Mr. G says it’s more like ska music, like The Specials from England. Dag Vag was really outstanding in the ’70s on the Swedish music scene and made it big, Per says. Sven says they were a bit older than the new wave movement. He means they came from the hippie movement, more or less. Per agrees, but they used this punk new wave attitude to come through and they did it very well. They brought along Kenny Håkansson on guitar from the prog rock group Kebnekajse. He is an amazing guitar player. Everyone in the band had really weird names, alter egos. Per can’t remember the name of Kenny. Sven thinks he was called the Silver Surfer, but he is not sure. Dag Vag means a „vague day” in English, it doesn’t make sense. Sven says „if it doesn’t make you any wiser, you can trust us, we’re not wiser either.” And the song is called Dimma, which means „fog”. It’s probably the first time this song is played in the US.

The guys think they did a great job on this list, as always. Now they are moving to the late ’70s, 1979. There was a group called Factory, that was enormously big in Sweden. Per says, first of all, most of the songs from the ’70s they played are in Swedish, because it was a big thing in the ’70s to work in Swedish. In the ’60s nobody did that at all. But in the ’70s everyone changed. Pugh was probably the first one. So, Efter plugget (after school) by Factory was a huge hit in 1979. If you listen to it now, you can trace the influences by Supertramp a lot. Per remembers when he was a kid, this song was all over the place. Sven says it was rock disco, a sort of danceable rock music. It was the same time as Da Ya Think I’m Sexy? by Rod Stewart. That sort of style. Or Miss You by The Rolling Stones. This one was all over the airwaves in 1979, you couldn’t escape it, for good or for bad. People tried to dance to it. Sven remembers girls from that time looking slightly bored. At least when they (the guys) came up on the dance floor. Per says probably that was the reason why they looked bored. Haha.

This wraps up the ’70s list for July.

Nordic Rox continues with Nowhere Blue, an indie duo from Stockholm with a new track called Keep On Running Off.

Do You Love Me by Amanda Jenssen is next. Amanda is one of the guys’ favourites and the song is from her debut album Killing My Darlings, 2008. Per thinks it’s a wonderful song. Sven thinks she is an amazing artist and an amazing singer.

The beautiful sound of Doojiman & The Exploders is next and their wonderful Yeah Yeah Yeah, Per says. Garage rock in its prime from Sweden, taken from the album Sweden’s Newest Hit Makers, Sven adds. PG thinks it’s such a great title. Sven says it makes you think of how they marketed The Rolling Stones in the States back in 1964: England’s Newest Hitmakers.

The guys are ready to leave, they have to go. Studio time is up. They will be back with five more songs taken from the Swedish ’70s in the next show.

Sven and Per thank the listeners for joining them and Cigarettes by Anita Lindblom closes the show, as usual.

Photo by Anders Roos (2019)

Thanks for your support, Sven!

“Joyride – The Musical” world premiere through the eyes of a longtime Roxette fan

I’ve been a Roxette fan for 33 years. Music-wise Joyride was the first real life-changing experience for me when I first heard the song. The little girl who in 1991 was sitting persistently in front of MTV to catch the video certainly wouldn’t have thought that 33 years later she would be sitting in the front row of the audience in Malmö Opera and see the world premiere of a musical titled Joyride, including tons of her most beloved band’s amazing songs.

Besides music, theatre is my other great passion, so when I heard that a musical would be created based on Roxette songs, I couldn’t be happier and more excited. The press release about Roxette’s music becoming a musical came out in May 2022. Per already talked about musical ideas in an interview in 2015. He said he can imagine that there could be a musical built on Roxette’s hits, just like ABBA’s Mamma Mia! and the Queen musical, but only if the right way is found. Something new. As he mentioned recently, Malmö Opera came into sight in 2017. Good things take time, right?

In 2022 it was also revealed that the musical would be based on bestseller author Jane Fallon’s novel Got You Back (published in 2008). Of course, I immediately bought that book and read it to see what it’s all about. It’s an entertaining story about the triangle between a husband, his wife and his mistress and the revenge of the latter two gone wrong.

While reading, a tremendous amount of Roxette songs popped up in my head and back then I made a list for myself. 12 of the songs I put on that list ended up in the musical. That list was long (32), but I could have added at least as many tracks still. Usually, 20-25 songs fit in a musical and when it comes to a world famous band, of course, the most well-known hits should be included. But is there any place for lesser-known songs?

Fast forward to November 2023. The title was revealed: Joyride – The Musical. The world premiere was set to 6th September and the ticket sales started. 35,000 tickets were sold in a very short time and people from 30 different countries bought tickets. As Per said in an interview, 45% was bought by people who have never been to Malmö Opera before, so Roxette is a strong magnet.

This strong magnet pulled me to Malmö to see the world premiere. I arrived in Malmö a couple of days before the big show and I was happy to walk around and be greeted by a Joyride musical banner on Södra Förstadsgatan. Malmö Opera has an LED screen on their roof and that one had been promoting Joyride – The Musical since long and it gives a wonderful picture together with Tragos Fountain at the square in front of the opera house.

 

Before premiere day, there were 3 main rehearsals to which Malmö Opera invited closed groups of theatre people and students. In social media you could see some pictures and short videos popping up and all of them praised the show. I heard one of these main rehearsals didn’t go too smoothly, but hey, those were still rehearsals, when the show was not ready yet. It has to be ready for the premiere.

On premiere day, while having my breakfast, I saw Per – sitting in his hotel room – giving an interview to Nyhetsmorgon on TV4. He joined in via video call and you could see he was excited and so ready for that historical day.

During the day we bumped into other Roxers in town as well – fans from Germany, Poland, Hungary, Finland, the Netherlands and other strange places. Haha. We got dressed for success and arrived at Malmö Opera after 5 pm. The red carpet was already rolled out, there was a Joyride photo wall in front of which anyone could take pictures and of course, there were tons of balloons. Heart-shaped ones!

There were photographers and journalists waiting in front of the red carpet, people who wanted to see the prominent guests’ arrival were standing there too. Others were already inside the building, grabbing a bite or having a drink on the terrace. I went inside to pick up some press stuff. The package included a Joyride musical bag in which there were two printed program booklets. One of them was the one that anyone could pick up for free, a smaller size, colorful booklet in Swedish, the other was a bigger, 12” vinyl size booklet full of pictures and interviews, words by Per. Mine was in English, but it exists in Swedish too. This latter one you can buy for 150 SEK.

The building is huge and spacious! In the foyer, there is a giant bronze statue of Thalia and for this historical world premiere, she got some heart-shaped balloons in her hands too. Tragos Fountain was on fire – I thought it was also for the event, but I was informed the fire is on every day when there is a performance at the theatre.

  

The invited guests walked the red carpet, many of them were stopped by the photographers, then by the opera house’s cameraman who recorded short interviews with them. Then they entered Operagrillen to have a drink or two before the show. Yeah, there were Joyride – The Beer cans both at Operagrillen and the theatre buffet. Such a cool idea!

At 6 pm (for about 15 minutes) there was an introduction to the musical in the lower foyer by dramaturg Boel Adler, while opera singer Rickard Söderberg and dramaturg Tor Billgren joined her.

Who walked the red carpet? There were some early birds like Alar Suurna, Magnus Börjesson with his wife and Mats MP Persson. We were all extremely happy to see Mikael Bolyos!!! He arrived with a friend. Then came Valdemar Wahlbeck, Staffan Karlsson, Mats Olsson, Uno Svenningsson, Nisse Hellberg, Anders Roos, Jan-Owe Wikström, choreographer of the musical Miles Hoare and Fredrik Etoall. All with families and friends.

 

At appr. 6.15 pm, Per appeared around the corner, Marie Dimberg was showing the way towards the red carpet. PG – the pop star – was stopped by fans who asked for autographs on their records. The schedule was tight, so Mr. G had to move forward to the red carpet, in front of the Joyride photo wall and he was of course joined by the muse who on one fine day wrote that note in Swedish that became the starting idea of Roxette’s fourth US No.1 hit. „Hello, you fool, I love you!” Åsa and Per were posing for photos, then they were joined by their son, Gabriel and his girlfriend. Some more photos were taken and then they walked off the red carpet towards the same way they came from. Some fans took selfies with Per and SVT also stopped PG to do a short interview with him.

 

 

Then some more invited guests walked the red carpet: Sven Lindström, Dea Norberg, Micke Syd Andersson (he even jumped back to pose with a bunch of fans), Göran Fritzon, Christoffer Lundquist, Lars Nordin, Clarence Öfwerman, director of the musical Guy Unsworth and set designer David Woodhead. They all came with families and friends as well.

 

More red carpet and stage photos HERE!

Here I just mentioned the guests related anyhow to the Roxette world, but I’m sure there were even more famous Swedes on the guest list.

We all entered the opera house to find our seats and finally join the Joyride in musical form. The starting time was set to 7 pm and the show was said to be 2 hours 45 minutes long including a 30-minute break between the two acts.

I had my seat in the first row, in the middle. As I mentioned previously, I love going to the theatre and I sit in the front, because it’s important for me to see the faces of the actors while they are playing. I love to see all the little details, the facial expressions, the gestures. For those who like to see the whole stage, all at once, I suggest sitting in further rows or on the balcony. Also, the dialogues are in Swedish, the songs are in English, but everything is subtitled both in Swedish and in English, so if you want to read the texts during the show, you should definitely sit further away, because the texts are above the stage. All choreographies are anyway very enjoyable from the front row close-up too, but if you prefer the big picture, sit in the 5th row or further away.

Malmö Opera’s main stage has an auditorium that holds an audience of 1511 and the stage is one of the largest in Europe. It’s a large stage indeed. XXXL! What you see when you enter the auditorium is the word JOYRIDE set up letter by letter on stage. Before I saw pics and vids from the rehearsals, I thought the orchestra would be right under the stage in the orchestra pit in front of me, but the setting was different. The orchestra had its place behind the JOYRIDE letters, the musicians were tuning in their instruments.

Stella (Sara Stjernfeldt), the daughter of Stephanie (Jessica Marberger) and Joe (Alexander Lycke), entered the stage with a guitar while everyone in the audience tried to find their seats. She sat in the middle of the stage, in front of the JOYRIDE letters. She seemed to be writing a song.

 

When almost everyone was already sitting, Per and his family and friends also entered the auditorium and seated themselves on the left side of the stage in maybe rows 8-9.

The excitement was growing and… it was time for the musical to start. BUT, before a performance starts at theatres, there is always a voice asking you to switch off your mobiles. This time the voice was Per Gessle! Haha. When Per posted a picture of himself a couple of weeks ago saying „Yep. Had to work today at Malmö Opera! Joyride The Musical needed me!”, I was quite sure this would be the case, recording his voice for the mobile alert. Fab! The intro to Per’s talking was the tune of the Joyride whistle (already here the audience got very silent) and then Mr. G greeted the crowd at Malmö Opera and said that filming and taking pictures are not allowed during the show and he kindly asked you to switch off your mobiles. „And now… C’mon, join the Joyride!” The audience was cheering very loudly.

Here I switch off my usual me who always describes / transcripts things in details how they were, because I don’t want to spoil the fun for you watching the musical whenever you have the chance to see it. I will only share some general feelings, observations which are of course subjective and I’m of course biased when it comes to anything related to my most beloved band. So be prepared for all the positivity and love. Haha. Those who don’t want ANY spoilers should stop reading here. Oh well, actually, they shouldn’t have started reading this article at all. Nevermind!

The show is played in two acts. The first act is appr. 1 hour 15 minutes long, the second lasts for appr. 1 hour and 10 minutes.

The key roles of Stephanie (the wife), Katie (the mistress) and Joe (the husband) are played by Eurovision Song Contest participant Jessica Marberger, West End musical artist Marsha Songcome and Alexander Lycke, international musical actor and frequent leading man at Stockholm City Theatre.

The direction and adaptation for the stage of Klas Abrahamsson’s original script are made by Guy Unsworth, international award-winning director and writer, whose intention was to create a perfect evening for those who love musicals, but also for those who love Roxette.

In the creative team we could see two familiar names: Clarence Öfwerman (producer and musician; Roxette producer from the very beginning; keyboards in Roxette) and Christoffer Lundquist (producer, multi-instrumentalist musician and songwriter; producing Per’s music since Mazarin and playing in the Roxette band mainly on lead guitar, but on other instruments as well). We could be sure that Roxette’s music was in right hands and all the songs would be handled with care. So besides the fact that Per has been involved in the project from the start, it could also give us a guarantee that the end result would be magical.

The music has been reworked by Clarence and Christoffer in collaboration with Joakim Hallin, who is the conductor of the orchestra. This team did one hell of a job!

Earlier Per said:

I haven’t had any direct wishes or opinions about how it should be other than that I think it should be very much Roxette. I think the worst that can happen is that it sounds like a Roxette cover band playing this. You want it to sound like the soul of Roxette is present in some way.

Since everyone in the promo videos and in interviews, as well as the press conference was very enthusiastic about the musical, I was sure they would put all their efforts into making it a magical night. Everyone in the cast and creative team was excited to be part of creating something new, a newly written musical. Malmö Opera also promoted the show at their summer events, where the actors were singing songs of Roxette and so we could hear they are all very talented singers. Now on stage it came out even better. The three main characters, Stephanie (Jessica Marberger), Katie (Marsha Songcome) and Joe (Alexander Lycke) have amazing voices and oh. my. God. what a voice Stella (Sara Stjernfeldt) has! This girl is pure awesomeness how she sings. Then there is Meredith (Sanna Martin) with fantastic vocal abilities. The ensemble, when they are singing together, it sounds fabulous!

The amount of Roxette songs that got into the musical will amaze you. There are so many songs it feels the dialogues are only there to fill in the gap. Haha. Nah. The whole performance is put together in a great way. All songs included come at the right point of the story adding to it with their lyrics. Even if the story was already there and the lyrics were already there, not written especially for the musical, they all fit together, completing each other. I don’t know which direction is more difficult. To write a story based on existing songs or find the most fitting songs for an already existing story. What happened here feels like a match made in heaven.

The choreographies by Miles Hoare are very modern and you feel like you would love to jump on stage to dance together with all the dancers. Of course, singing along (at least miming) during the whole show is evident for a fan, I think. It was impossible at least for me to shut my mouth when all Roxette songs came one after the other. It felt like being at a concert. Especially the fact that the main characters sometimes hold the mics in their hands or stand next to a mic stand while singing strengthens this feeling. My theatre-lover side would love them to use only their head microphones, because that doesn’t grab me out of the scene and lets me live together with the emotions of the character, but my Roxette fan side says hey, it’s all about Roxette’s amazing song catalogue, so I like it like that and I want to sing along with Katie or Stephanie or Joe or Stella and feel the emotions through the songs.

The costumes are amazingly colorful – mainly during the fashion-related scenes as Stephanie is a stylist. They perfectly fit the vivid colors of Roxette’s music. Torbjörn Bergström and his team did a fab job! There are also hints related to Roxette clips and I love that. They probably won’t be noticed by standard audiences, but fans appreciate all the little details.

And those little details are not only in the costumes. They appear in the texts too. In the dialogues there are references to lyrics and small things all fans know about. One of my favourites is when Stella says Gibson (her guitar) is to be pronounced with a hard G. So it’s these kinds of small things. You must love it.

The JOYRIDE letters on stage have different functions, not only to be beautiful. The back side of the letters is set like a shelf at the fashion company (where Stephanie works) or shelf in a shop, shelf of the vet clinic (where Joe works), things like that. The stage set is effective and playful. How the stage construction is used is also playful. The orchestra appears here and there, pulled to the front, pushed to the back. The front of the stage goes very deep at one point and there are scenes when the actors climb stairs to get to the next floor of the apartment.

Oh yes! There is a car! After all, it’s JOYRIDE – The Musical, so there just has to be a car at some point. A red one, of course.

The audience’s reaction to the songs is everything! Their clapping along, singing along, the cheering, the whistling.

During the break I bumped into Christoffer and we talked a little. I told him I absolutely loved it so far and he was very happy to hear it. He said that at the Tuesday rehearsal it didn’t look like it would work out, they even had to change this and that. For the premiere it seems every piece fell into its place.

  

Before I mention my top favourite songs, I have to mention my absolute favourite character. It’s Gary (Oscar Pierrou Lindén). He is so entertaining! His look, style, facial expressions, singing, most fun!

My Top3 songs together with the related scenes are:

No. 3: I’m sorry, I have to cheat, because I can’t decide, but The First Girl On The Moon performed by Stella (Sara Stjernfeldt) on guitar is magical and it has to be one of my No. 3 songs. This girl is amazing! The song is interrupted, then Stephanie (Jessica Marberger) and Joe (Alexander Lycke) sing the rest of it. Wonderful! The other No. 3 song is The Centre Of The Heart (Is A Suburb To The Brain) – how it heightens the thrill together with the dialogues in between. It’s sung by Katie (Marsha Songcome) and the ensemble joins in. The orchestration is wonderful.

No. 2: Haha. I need to put 2 songs + scenes at this spot too. First of all, Crash! Boom! Bang! – sung by Stephanie and Katie. Exceptional the way it’s sung by two women. The scene before they start singing is very entertaining and their singing is very dramatic. The ensemble’s choir is magical here. The other No. 2 is Queen Of Rain sung by Joe (Alexander Lycke). It’s not the only Marie ballad Alex sings in the musical, but for me this was the strongest. Wow! A.m.a.z.i.n.g. vocal performance! Goosebumps! The orchestration here is wonderful too.

No. 1: What’s She Like? – I love how the song is used, how the lyrics support the flow of the story. Stephanie (Jessica Marberger) sings like a rock star here and when the ensemble joins in, I love it too. The choreography is surreal with all the costumes as well. Top! (I only missed a little pause here to be able to give a round of applause to this scene, but a next ballad comes right after.)

These are my Top3 (after seeing the musical only once), but it would be hard to set further top songs and scenes, because it feels very complete to me and also very emotional as a fan. I’ve been wondering how it can affect the songwriter himself to hear all these songs one after the other that mean his life, when even me as a fan of 33 years feels like it’s all my life. These songs have been standing by my side in good and bad times.

Besides my top songs mentioned above, of course the big hits like Listen To Your Heart, Dangerous, The Look, Dressed For Success, It Must Have Been Love, How Do You Do! (haha, have to laugh when I remember the scene it was used in: love triangle surprises at their best), She’s Got Nothing On (But The Radio), Sleeping In My Car, Spending My Time, Neverending Love, The Big L., Fading Like A Flower, Wish I Could Fly are also included. It’s a jukebox musical after all! At the same time, there are lesser-known songs (to the wider audience): Milk And Toast And Honey, Stars (the choir singing in this one is outstanding and absolutely magical), Opportunity Nox, Dance Away, Half A Woman, Half A Shadow, Goodbye To You. The fact that Marie’s song, Little Girl got in the musical and the spot it got, sung by Stephanie (Jessica Marberger) is in itself wonderful. Jessica said in an interview that this is the song she likes to sing the most in the musical.

Did I miss something? Oh, yeah! JOYRIDE! Haha. Wow! So many songs, so little time! Haha.

You would think they used all the hits in the first act, but then you realize you still haven’t heard this song and that one, so you can be sure there are goodies left for you in the second act as well.

At the end of the show I loved seeing short video scenes from clips where Marie also appears. Her presence was felt. Much love!

And much love to the whole team on and off stage! No surprise the world premiere ended with a standing ovation, loud cheering and neverending applause. Hats off to all involved in the making of Joyride – The Musical! You all did a wonderful job!

Thank you, Per, for all the amazing songs that have always made this world a better place and provided a soundtrack to thousands of people’s lives! Also thanks for your neverending drive and striving for keeping Roxette’s legacy alive!

 

 

Per thinks Marie would have liked that Roxette’s music now becomes a musical:

I think she would have thought it was amazing. She was much more interested in musicals than I really was from the beginning. So I think she would have thought this was really cool. I’ve never been a huge musical fan myself. It’s a new chapter in the book of my life and it’s exciting to step into it.

To the question how important it is for him that their music becomes a musical, Per replied:

It’s a big thing and it’s exciting. It feels great and I have a good feeling about it in every way. I hope this musical will be a success, so that it can go on around the planet, just like Roxette did once upon a time.

Why I am confident it will work very well not only in Sweden, but all around the world is because all the fans who are definitely not fans of musicals liked the show and as I could see, all the musical fans enjoyed it a lot as well. Win-win!

Ticket sales are going crazy! All shows in autumn are sold out. Malmö Opera decided to add two more shows in December and they sold out in an hour. So, if you still see tickets available, make sure you buy one, because they are selling like hot cakes and you definitely don’t want to miss this show! You can see it at Malmö Opera until 27th April 2025. Get your tickets HERE!

I have to see it again (and again and again) not only to notice even more little details, but to enjoy this amazing piece of art the team put together. The plan was to make a feel-good musical and they oh so succeeded!

West End, Broadway, musical theatres all around the world! C’mon, join the JOYRIDE!

 

Cast and creatives

Creatives

Based on the songs of Roxette and the novel Got You Back by Jane Fallon

MUSIC AND LYRICS by Per Gessle
ORIGINAL BOOK by Klas Abrahamsson
NEW BOOK by Guy Unsworth
DIRECTED by Guy Unsworth
MUSICAL SUPERVISOR Joakim Hallin

CONDUCTOR Joakim Hallin / Bjarni Frímann Bjarnason
SET DESIGN David Woodhead
COSTUME & MASK DESIGN Torbjörn Bergström
CHOREOGRAPHY Miles Hoare
LIGHTING DESIGN Ulrik Gad
SOUND DESIGN Avgoustos Psillas
ARRANGEMENTS Joakim Hallin
ORCHESTRATIONS Joakim Hallin, Clarence Öfwerman, Christoffer Lundquist
VIDEO DESIGN Daniel Denton /Nathan Fernée (animator)

Cast

STEPHANIE Jessica Marberger / us Caroline Gustafsson
KATIE Marsha Songcome / us Kerstin Hilldén
JOE Alexander Lycke / Patrik Martinsson
NATASHA Sara Lehmann / us Sienna Sebek
GARY Oscar Pierrou Lindén / us Rasmus Mononen
MEREDITH Sanna Martin / us Emilie Evbäck
MICHAEL Patrik Martinsson / David Lindell / us Fredrik Sjöstedt
JOHN Jan Modin / us Erik Gullbransson
STELLA Sara Stjernfeldt / Elsa Zetterqvist Thunström / Tilda Hallström

Ensemble

Marcus Elander
Kerstin Hilldén
Michael Jansson
Caroline Gustafsson
Patrik Martinsson
Fredrik Sjöstedt
Erik Gullbransson
Sienna Sebek
Rasmus Mononen
Emilie Evbäck
David Lindell
Emmie Asplund
Joel Zerpe
Steffen Hulehøj Frederiksen
Robin Lake
David Auxoilte
Oliver Gramenius
Hanna Carlbrand
Emma Kumlien
Leila Jung
Christel Nilsen

Malmö Opera Orchestra

Publisher

PUBLISHER / AGENCY Nordiska ApS / Jimmy Fun Music

All photos in the article have been taken by Patrícia Peres