26th anniversary of Look Sharp Live – Roxette in Borgholm? – VOTE!

No, the anniversary is not today. It’s next year. Why do I come up with this topic then? Probably, because several new dates have been added to the already impressive list of XXX tour dates during the past 2 weeks. Still no South or North American, Asian or African dates are known, but surely there will be some concerts added also in those parts of the world, when everything is arranged.

Since the European tour leg was announced and I saw the Swedish dates, I can’t get one thought out of my head. And I guess I’m not alone with that thought. The cities are:

18 July – Kalmar
22 July – Halmstad
24 July – Gothenburg
25 July – Stockholm

There are some days off between Kalmar and Halmstad which could be spent with something else than just sightseeing in Sweden. Kalmar actually lies very close to an extremely important place not only in the Swedish Royal Family’s life, but in Roxette’s history. Borgholm is the place I’m talking about.

Roxette performed at Borgholm Castle already in 1987 on the Badrock tour, but more importantly, the place is known for most of the Roxers because of Look Sharp Live (recorded on 25th-26th July 1989, released on VHS on 1st October 1989) and for the rest of the people on the Globe because of Listen To Your Heart video. Still too funny that the ruins were thought to be built only for the video’s sake.

Wouldn’t it be awesome to drive through Öland Bridge on 19th July, look around on the island and have a fantastic gig at night inside the ruins of Borgholm Castle? Just like 26 years ago. The distance between Kalmar and Borgholm is only 40 km, so it’s easy to get there. 20th-21st July is still enough for everyone to do the usual ”sightseeing” in Halmstad before the show on 22nd July.

So far there is only one concert scheduled for the summer of 2015 inside the ruins (Tomas Ledin, 29th July), so 19th July still seems to be free. The date? Fits! Roxers’ touring agenda? Fits! Marie barefoot? Fits!

How about a poll? Even if you might not be able to attend that gig personally for any reason, you might want to share your opinion and see some videos later. If miracle happens and a concert will be organized there.

[yop_poll id=”17″]

On a side note, hearing Paint live there would be a fab addition, but already a gig itself inside the ruins would simply be an out of the world experience! Wishful thinking it might be, but hope dies last… We want to see Roxette live in Borgholm! The 30th anniversary tour definitely deserves a stop there!

 

LTYH_stills_rs
Stills are from Listen To Your Heart video

 

Update on 17th December:

Now we’re informed that a Facebook page was already created by Maria Francovig Valero (Argentina) in 2013 to support Roxette to perform in Borgholm in 2014. Then as the year was passing by, another page was created, hoping for Roxette to play there in 2016. You can join those pages if you feel like it. No matter which year, we just need a Roxette concert in Borgholm! 2015 just seems to be a perfect year for that.

Per Gessle about Kaj Kindvall

Kaj Kindvall is a Swedish radio host since 1970. He hosted music programs (Tio i toppen, Poporama and Tracks among others) that played an important role in Swedish music history. In 2003 he got a Swedish Grammy, the jury’s honorary award for his work at the radio and spreading pop music.

His last program after working for more than 40 years at Swedish Radio is on 27th December, at 18:30 CET on P4. It will be a summary of the past 40-45 years and besides his colleagues and listeners, artists will also talk about what “Tracks” and Kindvall himself meant to them over the years. Per Gessle will also talk about his thoughts and memories related to Kaj and his programs. The part with Per was probably recorded last Saturday, when he visited the radio’s studio.

So tune in on 27th December to listen to him!

PG_in_front_of_Swedish_Radio

NEW Roxette tour date – Faroese Roxers, get ready!

And we thought it’s strange that Roxette plays in France next year… Now another rare tour date is announced. One in the Faroe Islands! Who would have thought? They will really tour countries and cities they’ve never toured before. Too cool! There is a summer festival in Klaksvík between 6th and 8th August and Roxette is one of the main acts performing there next year. Tickets are already on sale, however, it’s not yet confirmed which day Roxette is there. Most probably, 8th August.

This means the band’s last European gig in 2015 is not going to happen in Stockholm in July, but so far it seems the European tour leg ends in Klaksvík in August. Who knows what else they have in the can? There are still some free days in between the already announced tour dates. Let’s see what happens!

 

Faroe Islands_Roxette

Roxette 30th Anniversary Tour: Turku, Finland – November 29 – #15

Maybe it’s time to widen my top list of concerts. Nah, doesn’t matter. Each concert is different and special for one thing or another and the one tonight was definitely a top gig. The show in Turku was magical and I dare to say: it was the best of the last 4 gigs this year!

The support act, Costello realized it’s better to keep those songs in, which have English lyrics than play only in Finnish. It worked better. What we were surprised at was that they started playing at 19:00. We expected the support act to start a bit later and there were almost no people inside the arena except for the first 4-5 standing rows. People started coming in during Costello’s part, but then again, they went out and occupied their seats only after a while.

Roxette started at 20:00. Marie was in an extremely top shape, smiling during the whole show, dancing a bit, swaying her hips many times and pointing at fans every now and then. At the end of the concert she tried to point at each and every fan in the front row. Per was also amazing tonight. Sounded fab! Besides bouncing around, we could see some hot moves from him. He even ”kicked” Christoffer in the ass. Talking about Christoffer, his intro to Joyride worked much better today than in Helsinki. The crowd was quite reactive.

Marie had some problems with the lyrics of Listen To Your Heart, looked at the crowd and asked for help, but almost before she could ask, we were already singing out loud to help her. The whole arena became one and sounded great. Marie even said a short ”sorry” into the mic while she was singing. Sorry for messing up the lyrics. No need to say sorry. We all loved her! Dea was again very supportive. Whenever she felt / heard that Marie might not remember the lyrics, either she just sang a bit louder or she mimed at Marie what’s next.

During The Heart Shaped Sea there were again some red cardboard hearts in the crowd and the Spanish fans brought their colorful wigs to wear them during Dressed For Success. It was fun. Åsa was filming a lot at this concert, too.

In THIS short video you can see Marie throwing kisses to some front row fans and Per realizing there was nothing else to do on a Saturday night in Turku. Hilarious!

Marie, Per and the whole band were filled with so much energy, I bet they could have played another show. And we would have gladly attended that one, too. A pity that this was the last concert for a while, but we don’t have to wait for so long. Hopefully, everyone will have some relaxing time with their families at home. Christoffer and Clarence will surely have less time for that, since Mr G probably already booked some studio hours and won’t let them rest for so long. Marie, Dea, Per, Chris, Clarence, Pelle and Magnus, thanx for all the great shows in 2014! Have a good rest until the next concert and amaze us all again in February 2015!

Per’s post after the concert:

TURKU UPDATE: Superb ending of the first leg of the XXX Tour! The massive Turku-crowd was outstanding and the band wasn’t too shabby either. Had a wonderful time, Marie in top shape + Magnus in his bartender-look = what else do you need? Films by Åsa tomorrow. Thanx everyone for showing up on the first 15 gigs of the tour, what would we do without you? All the love there is from P&M&Co.

Next gig (first one in 2015) is on 7th February in Auckland, New Zealand, where the new XXX stage design will premiere.

 

 

Articles and photos

ts.fi
mesta.net

 

Videos

Sleeping In My Car
Spending My Time
Real Sugar & She’s Got Nothing On (But The Radio)
Perfect Day
Fading Like A Flower
Fading Like A Flower & How Do You Do!
Watercolours In The Rain
Chris intro to Joyride + Joyride
The Look
Listen To Your Heart
Queen of Rain

 

Setlist

Sleeping In My Car
The Big L.
Stars
Spending My Time
Crash! Boom! Bang!
Real Sugar
She’s Got Nothing On (But The Radio)
The Heart Shaped Sea
Perfect Day
Fading Like A Flower
How Do You Do!
7Twenty7
It Must Have Been Love
Dressed For Success
Dangerous
Joyride

Extra:
Watercolours In The Rain
Listen To Your Heart
The Look
Queen of Rain

 

All photos in the article © Patrícia Peres

Roxette 30th Anniversary Tour: Helsinki, Finland – November 28 – #14

In my Tallinn review I wrote that gig made it to my Top3 best Roxette concerts ever. What can I say now? It got easily replaced by Helsinki last night! What a show it was!

The support act, Costello was on home turf and to our biggest surprise, they performed their songs in Finnish tonight. Except one song that they kept in English. We almost learned some of their lyrics and now they changed them to Finnish. OK, no sing-along then.

Roxette was greeted by an international front row this time again. Now some more Roxers joined us, so there were even more countries represented. Per was happy to see the familiar faces, he already mentioned us in his first speech, which you can watch HERE. I was very happy that while we were waiting, a younger girl from Finland joined us. It turned out that she started liking Per Gessle and Roxette after she heard Per’s Mazarin album 4-5 years ago. She was too young for her parents to let her go to any concerts years ago. Today was her first show. I love it that Roxette can still engage new fans.

Before the show everyone was thinking about Marie, if she was fine, if she would be sitting on stage or if not, then was everything fixed for her to be safe on stage or if she decided for standing during the whole show. Apply the latter one. She was standing all night and showed us how strong she is! She acted like she would really want us to see everything is alright with her. She even stood for some moments without holding the mic stand. This time the stand was fixed to the floor indeed. Even BoJo came up on stage and checked it with his own eyes. Marie was singing her heart out and enjoyed it to the full. It was just amazing! Perfect Day got a fab respsonse. Marie was satisfied with the crowd’s reaction and she showed Clarence a thumbs up and Clarence showed thumbs up, too. Some fans brought cardboard hearts with different texts on them and held them up during The Heart Shaped Sea.

The concert was so powerful and sound-wise it was awesome as well. Everyone acted so much during the whole show. Marie was smiling at the crowd all the time, showing some funny facial expessions, swaying her hips; Per and Chris played their guitars in several poses, e.g. leaning against each other’s back. That was a cool one! Per even took a round around Marie with his guitar. It was during The Big L., if my memory serves me right. It was so funny. What surely added a lot to Per’s mood tonight is that Åsa is here with him. She filmed a lot. Gabriel was also there, as well as Micke and Christoffer’s daughters. It’s good when the families are around, that’s clear. The band puts even more energy into the gig then.

Despite the fact that Christoffer’s intro to Joyride didn’t really catch this audience, the crowd was loud enough and Per said several times we sounded terrific. I haven’t filmed Chris’s solo, just the band presentation before that. You can watch it HERE. The Look got everyone on their feet, of course! Now the setlist was full, they didn’t leave out any songs this time. Introducing Real Sugar it turned out that yesterday Magnus’s fave Roxette album of all time was Baladas en español. Yeah, sure.

Per’s thoughts after the show:

HELSINKI UPDATE: Yea! Fab evening in Suomi! We’ve been playing this place so many times and it’s always a treat! Thanx for stopping by and help us out with the lyrics! See y’all next time! How about tomorrow in Turkku??? /P.

Hell yeah! Next gig (last one in 2014) is on Saturday (29th November) in Turku. See you there!

 

Articles and photos

iltalehti.fi
Tiia Santavirta Photography:1; 2; 3;
iltasanomat.fi; 2; 3;
rexfeatures.com
eastnews.pl
turkulainen.fi

 

Videos

Sleeping In My Car
Crash! Boom! Bang!
Dressed For Success & Dangerous
She’s Got Nothing On (But The Radio)
Stars & Spending My Time
How Do You Do!
It Must Have Been Love

 

Setlist

Photo by Patrícia Peres

Sleeping In My Car
The Big L.
Stars
Spending My Time
Crash! Boom! Bang!
Real Sugar
She’s Got Nothing On (But The Radio)
The Heart Shaped Sea
Perfect Day
Fading Like A Flower
How Do You Do!
7Twenty7
It Must Have Been Love
Dressed For Success
Dangerous
Joyride

Extra:
Watercolours In The Rain
Listen To Your Heart
The Look
Queen of Rain