The first things that come to my mind when thinking about the Stuttgart show? Heat, 34°C outside, no air condition inside the arena, strange waiting lines outside by people who don’t know what a queuing order is, a door that opens much later than the other which means that half of the die-hard Roxers who waited there since 9 in the morning didn’t make it to the front row (things like that happen, yes, but it’s annoying, every single time), sweat, sweat, sweat, fainting people and more sweat.
How it’s possible that a concert can take place in an Arena without air conditioning when it’s THAT hot outside – I don’t know. It shouldn’t. It’s pretty dangerous to gather people in front of stage and not give them enough fresh air to breathe. This has to be said at this place. It’s not Roxette’s fault, of course, but it has to be said anyway. I have never seen any Roxer being that wet after the show. We looked like as we were in heavy rain but certainly not a concert. When somebody asks me in three years about the Stuttgart show 2015, I will most probably say: It was one of the best Roxette shows of the leg, but it was much too hot, really silly and dangerous.
Which brings me to my next point: the show! What a show! Wow! The heat most certainly did not affect the band and did most of all not affect Marie. She also had a hard time with the heat but her voice didn’t. This could have probably been the best vocal performance by Marie on this leg and it’s most definitely the second best show of the German leg after Berlin. Maybe the only reason why this show can’t top Berlin is that the last spark between audience and band didn’t catch fire. Don’t get me wrong – the audience was great, cheering, full of love and support and understanding, but Berlin is hard to top. It’s just a feeling, but what happened in Berlin is probably a “once in 100 shows” thing.
But Stuttgart comes close for sure. The band sweat their asses off, Per was soaked at the end of the show and he had even changed his shirt. Go figure!
Highlights tonight most certainly were Listen To Your Heart, Crash!Boom!Bang! and The Heart Shaped Sea which for me worked for the first time in seven shows that I have attended so far. Finally I could actually hear Marie. The song which is meant to be a duet found its way back to the duet. Thanks for improving this, guys!
Marie was in top top top shape, which means that some of her gestures and faces reminded of the 1994 Marie. There’s so much energy, determination and love for what she does in her and it totally showed today. She doesn’t have to stand or walk around to let it show. All she needs is her mic, a cheering audience and a good day. It was astonishing to witness these flashback moments. It’s all there in her and you get the most exciting concert when she has a day to show all this.
The whole band seemed even more energetic than in Mannheim, which also was a great show, but this one topped it for many reasons: audience, Marie’s top top top shape, the awesome sound that this arena provided (finally the music was louder again which meant we couldn’t hear ourselves singing which was different in Dresden and Mannheim) and an dialogue improvising Per who didn’t care about the heat and ran his ass off on stage. To say he was soaking wet is probably an understatement.
This show comes right after Berlin, no doubt. One of my highlights of the show was this dialogue:
Per: “We played here four years ago. Were you there?”
Audience cheering.
Per: “I was here.” (pointing at Marie) And you were here. I remember you.”
Marie: “And I remember you. Thank God.”
It says so much, it says a lot lot lot about Roxette, about everything around it, about Marie. Maybe it’s all you need to know when you attend a show.
STUTTGART UPDATE: Oh yeah! 34 degrees on stage and the whole arena was cookin’!!! Fab gig tonight, folks. Thanx for stopping by and making us sweat a bit…… Lovely to see so many people having such a good time. Loads of familiar faces in the front rows! Nice!!!! The Rox machine moves with ease to Bad Kissingen tomorrow. Cheers! /P.
The next show is on July 3rd in Bad Kissingen.
Articles and photos
Photos by Marco Franzese
Stuttgarter-Zeitung.de
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: Muss i denn zum städtele hinaus)
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.
