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Photos:
Per Gessle’s comments:
Brilliant afternoon show in Frankfurt (#3!!). Thanx everyone for showing up and singing along. Day off now. Behave.
Official videos:
Fans stories:
YouTube clips:
The Look | It must have been love
Media reports/reviews:
Per Gessle was interviewed for Hallandsposten by Jan-Owe Wikström (co-author of “Roxette – The book”) just before NOTP’s Stuttgart gig.
The article reveals some interesting details about Roxette’s first studio album after nine years and their further present and future. I tried to translate some bits:
– I have already written 14 new songs. Two more and we have an album.
– It feels great, admits Per. Studio time is booked in the spring at Atlantis and Polar Studios in Stockholm and with Christoffer Lundquist down in Österlen. Marie wanted to record her vocals in Stockholm, so we decided to have more than one studio this time.
– We test ourselves with different arrangements and so put Marie on vocals. It’s fun to see Marie really passionate for it.
– He describes the upcoming album with the working title “Roxette 2010” like a modern version of Roxette’s 21-year-old breakthrough album “Look Sharp!”.
– Perhaps not the tracks. The production with a lot of machines, but with all the instruments, everything is clearly audible, “idiot-audible” as Clarence says.
About touring:
– There has been a tremendous response, both by audience and media, it’s a very emotional journey, as we have encountered old Roxette fans from around the world and simultaneously a new audience.
– It’s been a long road, but now … it shows really how Marie enjoys every moment, describes Per. Therefore, they are beginning to consider a Roxette tour on their own again.
– The next step would possibly be a 45-minute gig. But full concerts lasting nearly two hours still feel too long.
At the same time they believe to have discovered a greater interest in Roxette again.
– I received an email from Anders Herrlin, who was in New Zealand. He said that Roxette was played several times a day over there and he couldn’t simply understand that, Per laughs.
Source: Hallandsposten
We need your help. Each and every concert will have a such topic. If you find something connected with this particular gig, post it in the comment section. Thanks for your help and cooperation!
Photos:
Per Gessle’s comments:
XLNT gig last nite in Ffurt. Pbly the best so far onzetour. The crowd was unbelievably good. So was the catering. Thanx. Nu show in an hour.
Official videos:
Fans stories:
From roxgirl-germany:
The second Frankfurt concert would be a standing one for me. At 6PM, they let people run to the first place where tickets were checked and we had to wait another half hour until we ran past the guys handing out the funny little lights (Got one! Finally!) to get my ticket ripped off to enter the hall. There were quite some people already, I got a nice spot in the bend on the righthand side of stage with a nice view to center stage. The presenter made the same jokes as the day before (respective as on any concert). Christina Stürmer came on stage, greeting the familiar faces of the “Roxette Fan Club”. The rest of the programme was the same as the day before (see my report there).
The crowd burst with cheers when WICF started. It was the same when they came back, the mood was even better than the day before. Marie started to improvise more and got more confident walking around on stage. Per even stepped a bit in front of the stage once, near me, being impressed by the balloons. (“You are crazy!”) During the flower ceremony, a little dolphin was thrown on stage for Marie, she held it and talked to Per quite vividly. A girl near me got Per’s flowers while Marie kept hers.
Next stop: Cologne 1 & 2. And where can I buy balloons?
YouTube clips:
Wish I Could Fly | The Look (clip) | It Must Have Been Love | Joyride | Listen To Your Heart (clip) | Flower ceremony
Media reports/reviews:
We need your help. Each and every concert will have a such topic. If you find something connected with this particular gig, post it in the comment section. Thanks for your help and cooperation!
Photos:
Fans stories:
From Kiwein:
I keep it short, Frankfurt #2 is waiting. Best show so far. It seems Marie reached the top now. Everything is perfect! Per seems to feel better and the Festhalle is cooking. NOTP team should think about more standing concerts. People in their seats seem to fall asleep after 20 minutes. So yesterday was LOUD, GREAT and reminded me of the old times. So all we need is more balloons for tonight’s JOYRIDE.
From roxgirl-germany:
Arriving at the venue at half past seven, I had to wonder once again why there is always such a long queue in front of the ladies’ room. Many people tried to make it to their seats ten minutes before the start of the show, which pointed to a slight trouble with the organisation of the entrance. When I made it to the first balcony, the music had already started, while I had to walk around the entire balcony to make it to my seat on the lefthand side of stage, right i
Looking at the first row, I recognised all faces!! I discovered Jonas, sitting quite near to me. While the classic parts were nicely arranged and the Katona Twins, Christina Stürmer and Heaven 17 were good, I was eagerly awaiting Roxette, who appeared ten to nine.
During the first tunes of Midsommarvaka, I could see Pelle, Clarence and Christoffer enter the stage via stairs behind the electric band, while in the front part of stage, suddenly a hole appeared, allowing the people on the balcony to see a glittering green-blueish suit sitting bent on a chair. The chair was driven upwards, while Per appeared on the righthand side of stage to the tune’s changing into WICF. Hell broke lose. It was a perfect presentation (even with subways!) that was greeted with a lot of cheering, even though I seemed to have been the only one standing in my block all the time. The platform went down again and I could see them stepping down from it, it is low down there.
The show continued with Alan Parsons giving a good performance (with Per’s black acoustic guitar that he uses e. g. for Billy). He dedicated the second song to his late partner whose funeral he attended earlier that day in Glasgow. (I had read about it in the morning newspaper.) He told about it in really good German (he read from the teleprompter) as well as in English. The Katona Twins showed once again what you can do with a guitar and then accompanied John Miles for his first song. Christina Stürmer did another song and a computer game song met Classic Music (while I have to say that was the weakest point of the evening). I had not seen Jonas and thought he had gone backstage to finally get some of the wine that the others always drink (LOL) but he stood on stage with Heaven 17 who continued the show. John Miles gave another performance, and at twenty to eleven, after the “Bolero”, “our” band entered the stage and a piano with Clarence sitting by it was lifted through the stage. (Said piano had quite some fun going up and down that evening.) Marie had changed into the black outfit, and as mentioned several times that evening, this was the comeback of the year. The music turned into The Look and the audience burst into cheers and claps. IMHBL was also a favourite and Marie’s right hand turned into a fist after the successful performance. (“Yeah, that was great!”) “Joyride” was a blast and LTYH concluded the evening. Marie got back into singing bluesy on stage and walked around slowly. After they waved good-bye and left, Oscar took Marie by her arm while she took his. She climbed down the quite steep stairs holding herself on both sides and Per followed her. A man standing next to me shouted “Bravo, Marie!”
The rest of the show were the ever popular “Land Of Hope And Glory” for the audience to sing along as well as John Miles’ masterpiece “Music”.
Everybody was called back for the flower ceremony to receive flowers. Per donated his to the front row (who got them?) while another Roxette fan got those of Christina Stürmer. Marie kept hers which caused her some problems to climb down the stairs, a guard took them and helped her downstairs. While leaving, Per even looked up into the balconies, waving to us.
YouTube clips:
Wish I Could Fly | The Look | It must have been love | Joyride | Listen To Your Heart
TL 2 | IMHBL 2
Media reports/reviews:
BILD Frankfurt: “Roxette comeback enthralls”
dpa/Zeit: “Roxette celebrate moving comeback in Frankfurt”
TV report in HR Hessenschau
Kirsten and Judith met Jonas Isacsson in Hamburg for an interview. He just came back from a walk in rainy Hamburg. After short introduction, we went straight to work.
Yesterday we saw that you are also in the front when you played with Alan Parsons, not in the back behind the orchestra.
– Yeah! I have to come down and play with him as well. That’s fine. He’s an old hero of mine, he was assistant producer of Pink Floyd’s “Dark side of the moon” and he worked with The Beatles as well. So I’m honoured to play with him, actually. He’s a cool guy, and very big, I’m not that tall, I look like a dwarfs. He’s nice, but like 2 meters tall!
Alan Parsons is a new act in the show. There are other new things, for example, Sharon von Adel is not there anymore. So John Miles does “Stairway to Heaven” alone. We miss her! I miss OMD as well. They played somewhere in town yesterday as well. They were supposed to come to the hotel after the show but they didn’t.
Is it exhausting to play during the whole show, it lasts three hours…
– No, it’s actually better than sitting in the dressing room and wait, because the other guys in Roxette and everybody else have to sit and wait for their moment, kind of boring. The only thing that disturbs me when I come in during the break is that the wine is gone! I’m sure it’s Pelle, Clarence and Christoffer!
Yeah!, We can see that on the YouTube videos.
– Yeah, that happens while I am up on stage you know. It’s kinda funny, stupid but funny. We have a good time anyway.
So we’d like to know about your career. How did you start to play guitar?
– Two elder brothers, Thomas and Mikael, were playing in bands. They both played bass, they would fool around with guitars too. I always tried to be better than them (laughs), so that’s how it started. I went to rehearsals with my brothers, saw the bands, and I liked the atmosphere with amplifiers and all that.
How old were you?
– I was five. There were guitars in my house all around. And my great grandfather played organ at the church, so there was always music in the house and started from there.
Do you play other instruments?
– Yes! Bass and drums. I learnt to play drums at the music school, I could play guitar before that, but drums were the first instrument I really had to learn, but it became boring. I can also play keyboards.
Is it true you played with Joey Tempest and John Norum’s as well, back in early 80ies?
– I lived in Upplands Väsby where they come from. John Norum had a band called W.C., Water Closet, with some friends of mine, he was a great guitar player but he was a kid back in those days, he was very shy and stood with his back to the audience, but everytime I listened to him play guitar, I thought “this guy is great.” So we lived in the same town and grew up with those guys as well. I also worked with Joey’s first solo album.
You said you lived in Upplands Väsby, but where do you come from?
– No, I was born in Umeå. We’re nearly one age. We moved to Dalarna and I moved to Stockholm in 1975.
You also worked with Eva Dahlgren a long time. How did you start to work with her?
– I worked with Eva from her second album “En blekt blondins hjärta”, from 1980 till 1991. Eva’s producer Anders Glenmark and I were on tour with a band, we played in the same show, a bit like this show wi
th various artists, and Eva was backup singer in one band, so we met then and became friends. Then Anders and me started to work together and we formed a band actually, with Eva. Then in 81 we went on tour with Eva, the woman went rocket skyhigh immediately, with such great songs.
How was it working with her? You composed one song with her, “Älska mig”.
– It was great! We also did music for a children’s movie and worked a lot together those days. I miss her sometimes, to play with her. We have still contact, we live very close to each other in SouthernStockholm, we see each other shopping groceries, you know, so I see her a lot. But she has a new band and works with Lars Halapi, they seem to have a good working relationship, so I don’t want to go and mess things. But if she’d ask I’d say yes , of course.
How did you start to work with Roxette?
– Working with Eva lead to other jobs, I got to do a lot of sessions with other big Swedish artists. I was working in studio 4-5 days a week, with different people and different kind of music, including dance bands, lots of stuff. And Clarence, Pelle and I knew each other since 1977, from different bands, Clarence got the offer to produce a solo album with Per, which then became Roxette. Clarence said “I want to have this band,” which was me and Pelle, and Tommy Cassemar. So I worked with them since 1986, except for the 7 years where Marie didn’t play. That was tragic.