Certain things were cooking today. Two of them: Munich from the outside (36°C) and from the inside, or rather inside the Olympiahalle. 8300 enthusiastic people helped themselves with the heat and made the roof fly away at Roxette’s 49th show on this world tour in Munich.
For many die-hards the day was also the day of goodbyes: Goodbyes to fellow Roxers who they won’t see now for quite a while and the goodbye to Roxette, who played their last show in Germany. So for many it was quite sad and true when Per Gessle said that this will be the last concert for a while in Germany and therefore certainly a night to remember. Some fans even think there won’t ever be another Roxette tour, so they were prepared for a sad goodbye anyway.
Per, though, couldn’t have been more right. He might not have known at this very moment that the Munich show could reach the Berlin league, but this hot and sweaty summer night became one to remember. The sweat didn’t stop the audience from dancing, shouting, singing. There was such a tremendous noise in the Olympiahalle that some people in the standing area turned their heads, looking around and wondering if this really could be the audience singing. It was! I don’t think I have ever heard German fans sing this loud. It gave many of us int the front rows goosebumps and forced us to go on and on with clapping, jumping and singing – besides the heat that had weakened us tremendously while waiting outside for the doors to open.
Munich is almost always a blast, but this night was very very special. So, now, after the German leg of the tour is over it is easy to choose the best two shows: Berlin and Munich. The audience in both cities was cooking, could never be stopped and came to the show for one main reason: to party together with their idols from the past.
It didn’t matter that not everything worked on stage and that the sound in the front rows wasn’t the best (it never is, I know that, but in this case, it was a bit worse than usual), it was enough to hear 8,000 people sing together. Again almost instantly when “How do you do” started and even more than at the other shows during “She’s got nothing on but the radio” audience and band became one. We tend to forget that “Radio” was a chartbreaker a few years ago, but the audience didn’t. So those two songs might have been the best tonight – they turned the last German show into a glowing memory for all of us!
Vienna tomorrow!
MUNICH UPDATE: Oh yea, finishing the German leg of the tour in style. We had a blast tonight in front of a superb crowd, 8300 wild ones. So dear German friends, see y’all soon, it’s always a pleasure being here and enjoying your endless love, affection, beer and hospitality!!!! Danke schön! /P.
Articles and photos
Videos
Setlist
Sleeping In My Car
The Big L.
Stars
Spending My Time
Crash! Boom! Bang!
Crush On You
She’s Got Nothing On (But The Radio)
The Heart Shaped Sea
Watercolours In The Rain / Paint
Fading Like A Flower
How Do You Do!
It Must Have Been Love
Dressed For Success
Dangerous
Joyride (intro: Ein Prosit)
Extra:
Listen To Your Heart
The Look
nheim show was much better than the concert in Dresden, not everyone agreed on that. Most of the fans I talked to shared my opinion: Marie’s voice was outstanding, the band had their energy back after a well-deserved day off and most important: The audience was much more affectionate than in Dresden. But then there were a few who disagreed. So all you ever get in our reviews is, of course, a personal opinion.
e 45th on this tour. The best way to check if the show was good or not is, though, to talk to or listen to the no-die-hards leaving the venue. Yesterday I picked up words like “Es war so hammergeil” which can be translated as “This was so fucking awesome”. Other people were singing “The Look” while they made their way to their car with several hundred other spectators. The love and affection already showed during the show and once people start cheering, that band cannot stop to rock. It’s not the die-hards who make the show a success – it’s all the people in the back. Once Marie and Per got them they never let go. I witnessed this in Cologne, Hamburg certainly Berlin and now in Mannheim. “How do you do” is the one song that can turn a show in Germany – it never did in Dresden, but it did in Mannheim and the roof almost went off. It doesn’t matter that not everything goes right. Per missed his part in Joyride, Marie cursed a bit about some lyrics she had forgotten and the “99 Luftbal
lons” intro to Joyride didn’t really make the people go crazy – but in the end this is a live band and this is what makes them so special. The sound was terrific – this band sounds damn tight and if we not already had gotten a live CD I would have begged for one at this very point. Yes, maybe, Roxette never sounded better live than between 2012 and 2015.