As we already wrote about it earlier, a Roxette movie is coming. According to Hallandsposten (1; 2), the Roxette Diaries behind-the-scenes documentary directed by Jonas Åkerlund will premiere in August at the Way Out West Festival. The festival is between 13th and 15th August 2015 in Gothenburg, Sweden.
As you know, Jonas got exclusive access to a huge amount of private videos filmed backstage during Roxette’s world tours, in studios, during PR tours and at other places. He received the videos in April 2014 and now he created a story about Roxette. The first updates were about tapes from 1988-2001, but later Per said what you’ll see in the movie is from 1986-1995. Now Hallandsposten mentions 1988-2001 again, but he used our article as reference, so it’s probably 1986-1995 in the end. Let’s see what happens.
Watch the fantastic trailer on Mr. Åkerlund‘s website HERE!
Hopefully, the movie will be available soon to a wider audience, too.
Hallandsposten (Jan-Owe Wikström) did an interview with Per in relation to the Roxette concert in Halmstad tomorrow. It’s going to be the 6th time they play in Halmstad. After 1988, 1989, 1991, 1994 and 2010 tomorrow it’s time for them to play again in the band’s hometown. It will be their first time at Örjans vall though.
According to the interview, the tour will continue in 2016, however, nothing is planned after the September concert (company gig) in Warsaw. Per says since they turn 30 next year, the tour should last until then and they haven’t played South Africa, Asia, North America and South America yet on this tour. At the same time it is Marie’s health they are depending on, how much she can do.
Screenshot is from the making of video of The Look 2015 remake
Regarding the tour Per mentions it’s quite typical nowadays that as no artist can earn money on album sales, they go on tour. When Roxette played in Madrid, there were posters from Katy Perry via Mark Knopfler till the Foo Fighters. Since there is this big competition, he says it’s fantastic that they still have sold out shows and can sell 8000-18000 tickets per concert. In Halmstad there will be approximately 15000 people in the audience. The plan for the 5 concerts in Sweden was to sell 50000 tickets altogether and it seems it will work.
Per tells Jan-Owe the tour is one of the reasons why the new album is delayed. The other reason is the EMI – Warner merger. There are too many new people and Per wants to work with people he likes and who respect their history and the new songs. 5 songs off the new album are ready and as Per says, it is 65-70% of the total album. This would mean the album has 8 songs? Hm.
With Addeboy vs. Cliff, who mixed the 2015 remake of The Look, Per wrote some songs together. He says to Hallandsposten that it’s hard to find people who are talented in what he is not too good at, ie. programming.
There are still unknown collaborations on the new album, but Per told Hallandsposten he and Mats MP Persson wrote some songs together now for the first time since long and they might turn up on the new album. Mr. G says he would never be able to write “Fading Like A Flower” today, simply because he has moved on as a songwriter.
Regarding the changes in music consumption Per says nowadays it’s less important to people who wrote the songs or who plays the drums. Today’s pop music reflects the society today, so most of it is made on laptops where everything can be fixed in the end.
This time he says again that social media is a unique way to get close to the fans.
Jan-Owe Wikström asked Per what is left to do after that he has done almost everything with Roxette, Gyllene Tider, his solo projects and soundtrack. Maybe a musical? Per can imagine that there could be a musical built on Roxette’s, Gyllene Tider’s hits or his solo songs just like ABBA’s “Mamma Mia” and the Queen musical, but only if the right way is found. Something new. Maybe with Jonas Åkerlund as a director.
From the Hallandsposten interview it turns out that Per is still writing his diaries after each show, so it’s not only the Facebook posts he writes about them. And they film a lot. Probably, a lot more than what we get to see after each gig on Facebook.
Since the news about the collaboration between Roxette and KappAhl was shared, we’ve been looking forward to the 2015 remake of one of Roxette’s most iconic songs, The Look. Many fans are rather hungry for some new Roxette songs instead of hearing a ”hundredth” version of The Look, but the time will come also for the new single and album soon.
When the track list of Travelling had been revealed before the album’s release date and we saw It Must Have Been Love as the closing song, I remember many of us were quite skeptical and couldn’t decide if we wanted to hear another version of IMHBL. We had to wait until the album was out and oh the emotions many of us had when first hearing the song (besides all other tracks on the record) I still remember clearly. It sounded like a different song, but still Roxette, still there was the essence of one of the Billboard No. 1 songs and the music and vocals were just perfect.
The first very short snippet of The Look 2015 remake KappAhl shared some weeks ago already sounded extremely promising and hoped for similar feelings as with Travelling when the complete song sees the light of day. Now the remake is out digitally in 2 versions. (A physical 7-inch vinyl single will be released on 28th August.) LISTEN TO IT ON SPOTIFY HERE! Different emotions than with IMHBL for sure, but again there is this aaaahmazement. Very much 21st-century-like! Even if the original The Look would still be a hit if it was released today as Per also says it in interviews, now the remake has this sound of nowadays. I think Addeboy vs. Cliff added a bit too much of their touch here and there and the instrumental version might not going to be our fave version of The Look, but the vocals in the non-instrumental version are incredibly powerful! If you watch the making of video, you can see how much fun it must have been both for Marie and Per, as well as for Clarence, Pelle and Christoffer to record this remake. THIS VIDEO is an absolute highlight of the project!
Is this remake a kind of prediction how (at least some songs) will sound on the new Roxette album? We’ll see. Hopefully, still this year.
P.S.: Bassflow is hard to beat when it comes to remakes, but The Look remake 2015 comes close after. At least I think so.
Stills are from the making of video. Directed and edited by Henrik Hanson.
ATTENTION! Do check out KappAhl’s website for much more information. Even the interview with Per has been shared now in its complete! Great site!
It seems that a seminar related to our beloved artists is a must at the Göteborg Book Fair lately. It’s the third year in a row when a Roxette / Per Gessle / Marie Fredriksson book is out and there is a seminar about them. In 2013 it was Sven Lindström’s fabulous Roxette – Den osannolika resan tur och retur, last year besides a cool pop quiz (1; 2; videos) it was Per’s most awesome books, Songs, Sketches & Reflections and Texter, klotter & funderingar and this year it’s Marie’s long-awaited biography, Kärleken till livet.
It would be wonderful to meet Marie at the book fair, but it seems that it will be only Helena von Zweigbergk, the author of the book who will appear there and talk about the book. The seminar is on Saturday, 26th September. It starts at 12:30 and lasts for 20 minutes. See the seminar program at THIS link on page 51. Helena will surely share much information at the book fair.
The book’s actual publishing date is 14th October according to the publishing company Piratförlaget, but it’s still 7th October appearing at Ginza, Bengans etc.
As you already know, Roxette was in the historical X-Level Studios to record a remake of The Look for a collaboration with KappAhl. Now it’s known that the worldwide digital release is on 17th July and Per says there might be a vinyl single as well. Bring it on!
As Expressen informed, there will be more material focusing on “The making of The Look” from the X-Level Studios recordings. They claim it will be available on 14th July. However, now that there is an exact date for the digital release, it could be that the making-of stuff will also be broadcast / shared the same day, 17th July. We’ll see.
In case you missed the hi res files (Roxette pictures and videos related to the KappAhl campaign), check them at this link: press.bindefeldab.se (username: kappahl; password: press). Beautiful things!
Update on 27th June: According to a recent Billboard magazine interview with Per, a physical 7-inch vinyl single will be released on 26th August.
Since the news about the 
The first very short snippet of The Look 2015 remake KappAhl shared some weeks ago already sounded extremely promising and hoped for similar feelings as with Travelling when the complete song sees the light of day. Now the remake is out digitally in 2 versions. (A physical 7-inch vinyl single will be released on 28th August.) 
