Marie Fredriksson and Per Gessle “Orginal Album Series” are out

As we have informed in the end of June, EMI Music Sweden is releasing “Orginal Album Series” 5CD boxsets of its most popular Swedish artists on 17th August. Despite expectations, only Marie Fredriksson and Per Gessle’s sets will be out tomorrow; no info re Gyllene Tider’s albums.

You can purchase these two sets for SEK 159 each on Bengans.se – the official Roxette retailer.

According to information posted on the promotional poster these albums:

– are fully remastered from orginal tapes or CDs
– are in paper sleeves
– have orginal front covers
– have orginal tracklistings

Roxette will be on tour until August 2012; 50 concerts done, 80 to go!

Per Gessle reveals in an interview with Hallands Posten that “after Göteborg [concert #50], we still have 80 concerts to go”. The tour will go on until August 2012.  “As soon as we leave a city, the tour promoter wants to book us again, which is the best feedback one can get”, tells Per to Jan-Owe Wikström.

Per also comments on the success of “Radio” on the radio, “we’ve never been played on the radio as much as nowadays.” And it is specially thanks to Latin America, Russia and Eastern Europe, “where we are very successful.”

Per also says that he thinks Marie is in a great shape. “Last week in Locarno was the best I’ve seen of her since, right, the 90ies”, says Per.

As we know, the band is working on a new album, “2rism”. They have already recorded 5 songs and have booked more studios around the world.

“Charm School” has sold half a million copies, which indeed is great nowadays.

Some thoughts about the tour dates.

  1. So far they have done 50 concerts.
  2. Per says they still have 80 to go, and until August 2012.
  3. Of these 80, we know already 23 of the dates (July until December 2011).
  4. This means there are 57 (if the 80 is a fix number and not just estimation) dates still unknown.
  5. Conclusion: save the whole 2012 for more! 🙂

Thank you Thomas from Sweden for the link!

New album sets from Marie Fredriksson, Per Gessle and Gyllene Tider

As you may know from The Daily Roxette article, EMI Music Sweden is going to release the box sets with the orginal, mostly Swedish albums of Marie Fredriksson, Per Gessle and Gyllene Tider on August 17th.

Ginza.se has recently revealed the covers of the first two album sets (Marie & Per) and tracklisting for both. Looking at the price it is very likely that these albums will be released in cardboard sleeves with no booklet inside. There are no bonus tracks either.

Read more

Sun City press conference: over 50,000 people saw Roxette in South Africa

On news of the band returning to the country for a series of shows, fans quickly flocked to ticketing offices to make sure they got to see one of the world’s most loved bands on South African soil. The response was overwhelmingly positive, prompting organisers to add more dates to the tour. The result? Seven sold out shows in South Africa alone. Ahead of the show, the band’s Per Gessle said they really weren’t expecting such a response.

Watch an interview with Per Gessle

With the industry moving into a digital environment with fans downloading albums and using social media as a means to find out more about their favourite stars, Gessle says he too has embraced the new media craze.

I have a 13 year old son. If you told him I was interested in new media, he would probably laugh in your face. It all comes down to the fact that I always wanted to be in control of my music. I remember in the old days in the 80s when you had fan clubs. It was always terrible because there was always someone else running them. There was no money involved, nobody wanted to be involved. It’s just so easy using Facebook for instance. I have my iPhone and a take pictures. It’s just a fantastic thing for a fan to see that level of access.

More from the press conference