Malin My-Wall

Per Gessle’s Roxette – Zurich, Switzerland – 19th October 2018 – #7

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Per and his band had no break between the concerts in Vienna and Zurich. Many fans went to see the gang either for the first time or for the one and only time to Zurich. They were excited about the show and to see how Per Gessle’s Roxette works. What they didn’t expect was that their ticket they bought for the standing area of the venue, which was clearly stated on the seatmap to be in front of the stage wouldn’t be valid for that place anymore, but to the back, behind appr. 20 rows of seats. I mean, what??? The organizers, most probably the production company decided to reorganize the whole venue last minute, not sharing any info previously. When people could enter the venue at 18:30 they wanted to go inside and enter the standing area in the front, but the staff didn’t let them enter the front part. There was a seperated area of appr. 20 rows of seats and the staff told those are already taken. That wasn’t shown on any seatmap before.The seats were not unnumbered,  but actually the balcony seats were moved to those front of stage places. So those who had tickets for the balcony could get close to the stage and sit there, while those who bought their tickets exactly because they wanted to stand as close to the stage as possible, they had to go behind all the seated people. What a mess! And there was no one to talk to, to get an explanation at least. At the venue, everyone blamed someone else. The staff said it was the artist’s management that wanted the venue to be rearranged, however, others said it was the production company’s decision. Of course the hardcores tried everything possible and some of them got ”lucky” being able to change their tickets to the new seated area. And it wasn’t front row, but mostly 3rd row and more to the back. Fans were totally disappointed, for an understandable reason… And can you imagine the disappointment of those who were not able to change their tickets and had to be standing in the back? A nightmare! It might have been the suggestion of the artist’s management to make the floor seated, but they confirmed they weren’t aware of the issue mentioned above. Probably, they thought it could be sorted out in the way they changed 2 Swedish venues from standing to seated already. Seated, but with unnumbered seats, so first comes, first serves. And that was announced weeks before the concerts will take place. But it seems that in Zurich the price of the balcony tickets were 10 CHF more expensive than the standing tickets and the organizers probably thought the only fair thing is to offer them the front of stage seats. But they didn’t think about being fair to those who bought their tickets for the standing area, in front of the stage. We all started worrying that if it could happen in Zurich, it can happen at any other venue during the rest of the tour. The management said they would keep an eye on it and make sure this would never happen again.

So that’s how the excitement of fans was partly killed in Zurich. Lee MacDougall was the support act there too and those who saw him for the first time say he was fun and he is a great musician. He really knows how to grab the audience’s attention and make them interested in his music.

Per didn’t change anything in the setlist. It was the (now usual) 20 songs.

Setlist:

1. The Look
2. Milk And Toast And Honey
3. Crash! Boom! Bang!
4. Dressed For Success
5. She’s Got Nothing On (But The Radio)
6. Spending My Time
7. I’m Glad You Called
8. Small Town Talk
9. I Have A Party In My Head
10. It Must Have Been Love
11. Opportunity Nox
12. The Big L.
13. Fading Like A Flower
14. Doesn’t Make Sense
Band presentation
15. How Do You Do! (in a medley with No. 16)
16. Dangerous

Encore
17. Queen Of Rain
18. Joyride

Encore 2
19. Listen To Your Heart
20. The Sweet Hello, The Sad Goodbye

Mr. G and all the band members were in top shape, they put all their energy into their performance. They for sure didn’t even realize something was wrong in the audience area. They tried to animate the crowd, showing signs to get up or clap, but it worked only partly. Never mind, their joy of being on stage made many magic friends still very happy and those who wanted to join the Joyride, just did so and had much fun. Tthere were lots of balloons in the air. They were probably coming from those fans who got stuck behind the newly added seats. It would have been nicer if they could throw the balloons in the air in the front.

People were standing up from their seats during the uptempo songs, but not all of them. During the ballads and talking they were sitting. No surprise. Those who originally bought their tickets for the balcony wanted to sit anyway…

Fun thing is that a few people requested Sommartider. In between the songs when it was quiet there were people shouting out for it here and there.

Åsa was there filming a lot during the concert and as I mentioned in my Vienna review, Anders Roos is coming to take pictures to 8 shows, so he was there in Zurich too.

 

Oh well… I said that after each seated gig on this tour so far that if those concerts are such a blast, I want more seated shows. But not the way it was arranged in Zurich. Hopefully, such a mess won’t ever happen again.

Per after the show:

T H A N K U Z U R I C H

Wow! What a great Friday night! Thanks so much for showing up and making all that glorious noise!!! Seventh gig of the tour and now this show is starting to make sense for real!! Love this band, Helena is truly amazing, Malin-My as well. Ola + Andreas are bringing their own magic and mix it with the gold stuff I’m so used to from my old war heroes Clarence, Chris + Magnus. What a privilege to play with these people. Lucky me. Day off tomorrow. Warsaw on Sunday. See y’all there! Badabam from P.

Pics in the article are taken by Sandra Knospe. Thanx for sharing them and also for all the info about the gig and management confirmation.

More photos:
daily-rock.com

 

Per Gessle’s Roxette – Vienna, Austria – 18th October 2018 – #6

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The 6th gig on the Per Gessle’s Roxette tour, the 3rd seated show happened in Vienna. The venue being seated, we didn’t have to rush, we could take our time until we entered Stadthalle. First thing was to check the merchandise again. Actually, you can be lucky and at some venues you might find something new included. This time it was Per’s guitar picks. Only the black ones he uses on this tour, but all 3 of the black ones. You could buy 2 picks for 5 EUR. Just so you know when you see them on eBay or Tradera later. 😉

The venue wasn’t too big, but what felt really big was the space between the front row and the stage. There was even a cordon to keep you at least 2-3 meters away from the stage and between the cordon and the first row there was another 1 meter distance. Then we could see 4 security guys in suits and ties. They looked too serious, so the thinking about standing up in a seated area started again… How would they react if we stand up…?

Before the gig I met Anders Roos whose first stop on this tour was Vienna, but he will take pictures of the concerts and the band backstage during 8 shows altogether. Vienna, Zurich, Warsaw, Berlin, Cologne, Utrecht, Halmstad, Göteborg. To me it seems there is a high chance we get a tour photo book about the Per Gessle’s Roxette trip. Fingers crossed!

First we had Lee MacDougall again as the support act. This time he mentioned his Baywatch – The Look story again and also told he heard that Roxette fans love buying CDs, so he invited us to buy his at the merch stand. He also said Roxette has the best fans in the world. We love to hear that, don’t we? HERE you can see and hear Lee performing my most fave song of his, The Devil & The Rolling Stones. So catchy!

Showing that the main act was to start and we should occupy our seats again, bells started ringing. It’s always The B-52’s “Love Shack” that is the last song on PG’s mix tape before the show and that already gets the audience into the mood. Here is what the gang played after. (Nothing changed.)

Setlist:

1. The Look
2. Milk And Toast And Honey
3. Crash! Boom! Bang!
4. Dressed For Success
5. She’s Got Nothing On (But The Radio)
6. Spending My Time
7. I’m Glad You Called
8. Small Town Talk
9. I Have A Party In My Head
10. It Must Have Been Love
11. Opportunity Nox
12. The Big L.
13. Fading Like A Flower
14. Doesn’t Make Sense
Band presentation
15. How Do You Do! (in a medley with No. 16)
16. Dangerous

Encore
17. Queen Of Rain
18. Joyride

Encore 2
19. Listen To Your Heart
20. The Sweet Hello, The Sad Goodbye

You won’t be surprised if I write that already during the first seconds of Per & Co. playing The Look, everyone was right up on their feet? So cool! Another seated show that couldn’t go wrong! The security guys let us be standing, but only in front of our own seats. Some tried to come down the stairs to get closer to the stage, but they sent them back. All good, that’s the way it should be.

So, the party mood was guaranteed and people stayed standing during the uptempo songs, but at least the sides were more into sitting during the ballads and talking.

Per was happy to be back in Vienna. He told the crowd if we know the lyrics, help them out, they love that. Capri is still the most known for its most expensive pizzas. At least PG referred to it before playing CBB in Vienna too.

SGNO got a different ending vs. past shows. Andreas went totally wild on drums and it sounded just fantastic. After last year’s Sommartider intro by him, I can say we missed something like this from him. Now we got it. It could be longer or more! Just saying. 😉

When Micke N-S brought Per the guitar he switched from SGNO to SMT Per told the crowd this is Mikael (pronouncing it like Michael) and he said he found him on Tinder. Then Chris said ”he locked him in the basement”. LOL. Then Per started talking about his good day when he wrote 2 great songs in one day in May 1990. He said his wife, then girlfriend left a note on his piano saying ”Hello, you fool, I love you”. Per said: ”What could I do? I wrote a song!” Haha. He said then he took a break, had some Swedish meatballs and watched an Ingmar Bergman movie. Then he wrote this one. Yep. SMT followed. There were some technical hiccups during the song. Some strange sound was heard. For me it was funny, because during SMT there are birds flying in the background and it sounded a bit like shooting those birds. Even Per went to the side of the stage to ask the technicians what was going on. The guys were fast and sorted things out, so the sound was soon great again. I must say SMT gets stronger and stronger each time. Probably Helena is getting more and more secure when singing it and she gets braver and braver, so the song sounds now more powerful than at the premiere gig for example.

I only realized now during IGYC that when Per and Helena are singing ”look around, look around, look around” together, to me it sounds a bit like Nick Cave and Kylie Minogue in Where The Wild Roses Grow.

When Per introduced STT as the coming song, the title track off his latest English album, the audience gave him a loud applause and woohoo. And yes, it was magical on October 18th too.

IHAPIMH was a success too. The crowd was clapping along from the beginning of the song.

Before IMHBL Per mentioned the 72 songs he wanted the band to rehearse, but they refused. He was thinking about doing this next song or not, but it turned out to be one of Magnus’s Top3 fave songs among Vienna by Ultravox and Rock Me Amadeus by Falco. Haha. The crowd loved IMHBL, the sing-along was loud and clear.

Party time! OppNox and TBL! One can’t get tired of hearing and jumping to these two songs. After TBL Per asked the audience if we were having a good time out there. He got a l.o.u.d. YEEEEAH in response.

After PG & MB’s ’90s talk, the gang played FLAF, which the same way as SMT gets stronger each time. I remember how I found it a strange, weak version of this power ballad, but now it gets more and more power from Helena each time.

Before DMS Per said he had to teach the band to play this song, because they didn’t know the Party Crasher album. He had to teach them from scratch. Chris said Per was totally lying. Love love this song! And actually, every time I’m there at the concert and hear it, I can fully identify with the lyrics, there’s nowhere else I’d rather be.

How the crowd reacts during the band presentation, giving a huge applause and shouting and woohoos to each member is always amazing. Even if most of the people in the crowd see them for the first time, their reaction makes it clear they realize how good musicians they all are. Heartwarming!

The teaser to HDYD worked perfectly in Vienna too. Just like the whole song, followed by Dangerous. These 2 songs of course put everyone on their feet and the clapping and shouting didn’t end for a second while waiting for the guys and girls to get back on stage for the first encore.

One of the fun highlights on each gig is PG and CL kidding each other while playing their guitars in the intro to Joyride. Love being close, because you can even see their facial expressions, how much they also enjoy it. One thing happened for the first time during this tour, probably because this was the first venue where there was enough space for that. Chris and Magnus came down to the audience and played there for a while, running from one side to the other. It was so cool!

The 2nd encore… Oh well… this part reminded me of stupid people going to the theatre, not waiting for the actors to come out again for the next round of applause, but rushing to the wardrobe instead… OMG! Some really didn’t think they would come back on stage again? They rushed out. Maybe they ran back when they heard PG’s talking and the crowd’s reaction. Haha. Anyway, their bad if they missed LTYH and TSHTSG because of that.

PG’s opinion about the show:

VIENNA: Gig #6. Thank you so much for making this evening At the Wiener Stadthalle truly remarkable. So many fans, so many nice voices. Wonderful feedback. We loved it so much!!!! Can’t wait to come back and play some more for you! Lots of love from P&Co.

All pics in the article are taken by Patrícia Peres.

More photos:

kurier.at

 

Per Gessle’s Roxette – London, UK – 15th October 2018 – #5

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Per & Co. played the 5th gig on tour in London last night. How cool is that to play at a venue, Eventim Apollo (earlier Hammersmith Apllo, even earlier Hammersmith Odeon) that was an important place in one of Per’s biggest idols, David Bowie’s life. On the facade of the building, above the entrance there was written in huge red letters: PER GESSLE’S ROXETTE and there was a tour poster on one of the entrance monitors as well.

It was a seated show, so people didn’t have to rush inside. The doors opened at 7 pm, the support act started at 7.30 pm. Support act was Lee MacDougall again. He was added last minute, on 12th October. Great chance for him to play his first London show in 5 years. The audience liked his music a lot and his anecdotes were fun too. He said the first Roxette record he got in 1993. His sister is a big Roxette fan. His parents would buy them gifts to give them to each other at Christmas. His parents gave him the Joyride album to give it to his sister, but after he put the cassette on and it blew him away, he just couldn’t give it away. He created a plate writing Roxette (spelt wrong) and Joyride on it with glitters and all colorful stuff instead. When he gave it to her sister she was really excited because she thought she knew what’s inside, but then she was plain disappointed, she started to cry. Haha. A story to remember in a fan’s life.

After Lee left the stage, the technicians were setting up for Per and his band. The setlist stayed the same as on the past 2 shows.

Setlist:

1. The Look
2. Milk And Toast And Honey
3. Crash! Boom! Bang!
4. Dressed For Success
5. She’s Got Nothing On (But The Radio)
6. Spending My Time
7. I’m Glad You Called
8. Small Town Talk
9. I Have A Party In My Head
10. It Must Have Been Love
11. Opportunity Nox
12. The Big L.
13. Fading Like A Flower
14. Doesn’t Make Sense
Band presentation
15. How Do You Do! (in a medley with No. 16)
16. Dangerous

Encore
17. Queen Of Rain
18. Joyride

Encore 2
19. Listen To Your Heart
20. The Sweet Hello, The Sad Goodbye

It was the second seated show on tour. I wouldn’t have been too sure about the London crowd standing up, hearing they are more reserved, closer to Swedes in behavious when it comes to standing up at shows, but actually everyone were up on their feet already from the beginning, when the gang played The Look. So it seems, seated shows are indeed among the best ones and you can use the seats for your jackets and bags, but you won’t use them to sit.

After The Look Per mentioned this is a classic venue, used to be called Hammersmith Odeon and this is the place where David Bowie killed Ziggy Stardust in 1973. He said let’s hope nobody dies here tonight.

When Per said he’s been writing songs for more than 40 years, the audience cheered him. There are tons of Per Gessle, THE SONGWRITER fans in the UK. Speaking English as their mother tongue they just love how differently Mr. G expresses himself in their language.

PG asked the audience if they knew the lyrics to the songs, please sing along. And they did so. People stayed standing also during the ballads and partied to all uptempo songs.

Doesn’t Make Sense ended with Christoffer’s madness in London too, but he was on a high during the whole concert anyway. Actually, the whole band were in top shape. The crowd cheered Helena a lot, they liked her performance very much. The intro to HDYD worked great. DFS was huge too, probably there was an even bigger party than for OppNox here. IMHBL was of course a song Per couldn’t give a miss and even if there were 72 songs on his mind for the first time during the rehearsals, but the list was reduced, IMHBL had to stay. The loud sing-along was guaranteed.

One thing I expected – I’m quite sure I wasn’t alone with it – didn’t happen. Actually, I wished to hear Small Town Talk as a duet with the original artists, I mean Per and Nick Lowe. And since Nick is English, I thought it was possible to see him on stage in London. Well, he didn’t appear there. I saw he had a show in Canada on October 11th, so maybe that’s why he wasn’t there. Still not at home. Fingers crossed we can hear this duet one day live. STT sung by Per and Christoffer worked extremely well in London anyway.

Before both encores after the gang went off stage, the crowd was clapping heavily and were happy to have the ladies and gents back on stage again and then again.

Some thought it was a guilty pleasure gig for them, some went for nostalgia, some to see the talented songwriter on stage. One thing is sure: all of them had much fun in the audience. PG and the band had a blast too.

Mr. G after the show:

LONDON. Oh yeah, such a treat to play the old Hammersmith Odeon. Remember reading about it all the time when I was a kid getting my Melody Maker every Wednesday. And boy, did we have a blast. Super crowd and band in top shape. We’re only five gigs old but are almost grown by now!!! Thanks everyone for showing up and singing along. London, you never disappoint!!! Lots of love from P&Co.

All pics in the article are taken by Niall Corcoran. Thanx for sharing!

 

Per Gessle’s Roxette – Brussels, Belgium – 12th October 2018 – #4

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Without a day off after the magnificent Hamburg show, Per & Co. performed in Brussels on Friday. They all flew to the Belgian capital and since the connection between Hamburg and Brussels is not the greatest, some of us fans also travelled by the same plane. I must say it was a bit bizarre, listening to the Small Town Talk album on Spotify while sharing the flight with THE artist and his musicians. We all behaved, so we didn’t jump on either Per or anyone else from the band. Not on BoJo either. Haha. We all landed safe and sound and headed to our accommodations.

The doors were to open at 7 pm at the venue, but it was a standing show, so we got there a bit earlier to queue. When we entered we realized that the front row was right in front of the stage, without any fence. The stage was so low you could touch Per’s monitor. I liked it a lot that the balconies were hidden by huge black curtains with lights on them. This way the whole area looked like being covered with stars. Nice view from the stage it must have been. One not too important, but I think interesting detail is that it was the first time I saw much more guys in the crowd than girls. Why in Belgium, no clue.

This time there was no support act. The gig was to start at 20:30 and end at 22:30. The gang started playing at appr. 20:40. The setlist? Stayed the very same as it was in Hamburg the day before.

Setlist:

1. The Look
2. Milk And Toast And Honey
3. Crash! Boom! Bang!
4. Dressed For Success
5. She’s Got Nothing On (But The Radio)
6. Spending My Time
7. I’m Glad You Called
8. Small Town Talk
9. I Have A Party In My Head
10. It Must Have Been Love
11. Opportunity Nox
12. The Big L.
13. Fading Like A Flower
14. Doesn’t Make Sense
Band presentation
15. How Do You Do! (in a medley with No. 16)
16. Dangerous

Encore
17. Queen Of Rain
18. Joyride

Encore 2
19. Listen To Your Heart
20. The Sweet Hello, The Sad Goodbye

The Look turned out to be a great starter in Belgium too. It can never go wrong! After the song Per talked to the crowd and said he played there 29 years ago ”when you weren’t even born”. ”Or were you here?”, he asked. Some in the audience shouted yes and Per said ”we should go on a cruise together”. He tried to remember anything from that evening, but he couldn’t and Clarence, who was there back then too, he couldn’t remember it either.

Between MATAH and CBB Mr. G told about 1993 when the Roxette team went to Italy. ”Scary thought. Not Italy, the Roxette team”, he said.

With DFS, the gang speeded the tempo up and Per said we’re still young. Oh yes, they are and we are too! It got confirmed during SGNO as well. The intro to it increased the excitement and we partied on. I was standing on the left side of the stage again and Chris and Ola, as well as Per were so close to us when they came to the front to play their guitars. Once Mr. G kicked in the air with his left leg and it felt like there was 1 cm between his leg and my camera. The cam survived. Haha. After the song Per said it’s fantastic he is here, ”thanx to you guys”.

Before playing SMT, a guy shouted ”we love you”. Per smiled, but he still finds it a bit difficult to take compliments. That’s what I saw on his face this time too. He said this is a great day and he had another great day back in May 1990. Mr. G mentioned Åsa in Brussels, that he wrote Joyride thanks to his wife who left a note on the piano saying ”hello, you fool, I love you, bla-bla-bla”. The crowd laughed. Then he took a break he said and took some Swedish icecream, some coffee and then he wrote SMT. Helena got her well-deserved applause after she sang the song.

After IGYC, Per said ”dank u wel” I think (it means ”thank you”) and in reply to that someone shouted ”tack så mycket”. Per was happy both about his own and the shouting guy’s ”thank you”-s. Then Per talked about his Nashville experience before he started playing STT, which of course sounded wonderful at Ancienne Belgique. We definitely need it on a live CD, don’t we? 😉

The intro to IHAPIMH just almost contained na na nana na, but the audience was clapping loudly and enjoyed the song so much.

Before IMHBL Per mentioned that when they started rehearsing for the tour he had appr. 72 songs that he wanted everyone to learn in the band. Magnus said and they did. There was one song that he didn’t really feel like playing, but then he heard it was Magnus’s fave track of all time. Magnus said he had to pay Per to play this song and he stills pay Mr. G every gig. It became a nice sing-along.

Do I have to mention that OppNox and TBL put everyone on fire? On and off stage. I love this part! You could see in the video Åsa recorded from the back how the crowd enjoyed themselves during TBL.

Getting back to the ’90s, before FLAF Per asked Magnus about his girlfriends in the ’90s. Magnus said he didn’t have any. Per said then tell us about his boyfriends. Magnus said he didn’t have any friends at all.

Before DMS Per wanted to say something about the Party Crasher album, but then he said he shouldn’t. Magnus said we’d really love to know and then Per said Magnus blogged about it on www.puke.com. The crowd laughed out loud. The song by the way sounded awesome again and Chris became the definite hero of the night. Poor guy was rocking on his guitar so much that even something got broken on it and it flew over the audience and Christoffer’s hand was also bleeding like hell. Jakob, Christoffer’s technician tried to wipe the blood off with a towel, but it didn’t help much. The guys tried to find some plasters and were trying hard to stop the hand bleeding. Per asked, ”did that make sense?” Haha. Mr. G started introducing the band. Started with Chris who was still bleeding, then moved on to Ola, then Andreas. That was funny, because PG said he called 5 drummers, but 4 couldn’t make it, so that’s how Andreas ended up in the band. Haha. Then Mr. G introduced Clarence, who produced almost every existing Roxette song, even the hits and the B-sides. Then Magnus, Malin-My and Helena were introduced too. And then Per turned to the audience and said: ”And a wonderful crowd, thank you!” In the meantime, Chris got his plasters. Per asked him if he can continue and Chris said the show must go on. The crowd applauded him and shouted woohoo.

During HDYD we had a blast again, the intro teaser worked fine. Then came Dangerous and off they went. The audience didn’t stop clapping or shouting, not even for a second, however, it took a bit longer time now for the band to come back on stage to play the first encore, QOR and Joyride.

The crowd didn’t keep quiet while waiting for the 2nd encore either. They were really loud. And so the gang came up on stage again. Per said the next song he wrote for a friend of his in the ’80s, when there was a bit of a conflict in his friend’s life. LTYH it was, of course. Then the closing song TSHTSG. And it plays in my head again until the next show.

There was a Belgian couple who I met for the first time. We talked a bit before the show and they said it’s the only concert they plan to see on this tour. They have kids and have to work and the logistics are not so easy. After the show we talked again and they loved it so much they started thinking about how to organize things to be able to attend at least one more gig. Oh yeah!

Per after the show:

BRUSSELS: YEEHAA. Back again at the Ancienne Belgique. Haven’t played here for 29 years. Had a blast, dear you! Hot and cozy. Wonderful crowd. Great band. Happy!!!!

See you all in London. Plan A: Got to get some band aid for Chris’s hand…….. Plan B: Call MP! Cheers, P.

All pics in the article are taken by Patrícia Peres.

More photos:
Front View Magazine
Proximus
by WIM

 

Per Gessle’s Roxette – Hamburg, Germany – 11th October 2018 – #3

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Hamburg, Germany, the best show so far on tour! And that was a seated gig! If all seated gigs are like this, I’m very much into them. Once the tour was announced and we could see there were several seated concerts, we thought OK, the setlist would probably be too slow, full of ballads, so the seats might be because of that. Then we saw the setlist at the first show and realized there is a great flow in the mix of ballads and uptempo or midtempo songs. So when we reached the first seated concert in the schedule, we got curious how it would work out. Should we stand up? Should we stay seated? What is the rule at the venue? Are we allowed to stand up anyway? If we stand up, when should we? First world problems, I know…

The show in Hamburg was held at a concert hall, a beautiful building. The soundcheck started at appr. 5 pm again and those who met Per in town before he left for the soundcheck got lucky, because Mr. G was in a very nice mood, stopping to sign stuff and fans could also take pictures with him.

Since it was a seated gig and we had our fixed spots, no one was really queueing in front of the venue. Once we arrived we could take it easy, enter the building, check out the merchandise, grab some drinks, chat with other fans. That’s a big advantage of seated events.

This time the support act was again Lee MacDougall. Great guy, really. He was much fun on stage in Hamburg too and he even changed 2 songs in his short setlist. Well, this is how people can get to know his music. He mentioned that in Leipzig he said he is the biggest Roxette fan in the UK, but after the show a guy from the UK, called Huw stepped to him and said that actually HE is the biggest fan in the UK, so Lee corrected himself in Hamburg and said that since Huw is here, he can only tell he is the biggest fan in England.

Already during the support act it was a bit strange to be sitting. I was sitting in the front row and the stage was a bit too high for looking up there without having problems with your neck after. So the thought of standing up got stronger and stronger each second. Haha. Another thing that made me think we should stand up was that hey… the setlist starts with The Look, c’mon! How could you stay seated during The Look?! I mean even the royal family showed it long ago that it just doesn’t work. 😉

Even if Per said after Leipzig that they ”got a few more things to check out in Hamburg” regarding the setlist, there was only a slight change. Listen To Your Heart got moved to the 2nd encore, but otherwise the running order stayed the same. 20 songs. After talking to some of the band members later, it seems to stay like this, since 22 songs both Per and them all found too long. Oh well… ask a fan anytime, we wouldn’t have enough of a 30-song-long setlist either. Let’s hope that at least it stays 20 until the end of the tour and it doesn’t get even less, as it happened during last year’s tour.

Setlist:

1. The Look
2. Milk And Toast And Honey
3. Crash! Boom! Bang!
4. Dressed For Success
5. She’s Got Nothing On (But The Radio)
6. Spending My Time
7. I’m Glad You Called
8. Small Town Talk
9. I Have A Party In My Head
10. It Must Have Been Love
11. Opportunity Nox
12. The Big L.
13. Fading Like A Flower
14. Doesn’t Make Sense
Band presentation
15. How Do You Do! (in a medley with No. 16)
16. Dangerous

Encore
17. Queen Of Rain
18. Joyride

Encore 2
19. Listen To Your Heart
20. The Sweet Hello, The Sad Goodbye

So, back to the first world problems of standing up, when the gang hit the stage a bit after 9 pm and started playing The Look, appr. 5 seconds passed and the whole concert hall was standing. Woohoo! That defined the mood of the crowd and I think it guaranteed the success of the complete show. Also, it probably gave even more energy to the band. 150% energy on and off stage, I can tell. And the level dropped to 120% during the ballads. Haha. Most of the crowd stayed standing during the whole gig, but also those who ”sat down” were sitting on the upper edge of their seats and only during the ballads and talks in between the songs. Once an uptempo song came, everyone got on their feet again. Great vibes! It was fantastic being part of that crowd!

After The Look, Per talked to the audience while drinking his ginger tea and said he didn’t play in Hamburg since 2015 and asked who was there. Tons of people shouted in the crowds they were there. Nice.

He moved on digging in that deep box of Roxette songs and they played 2 ballads, Milk And Toast And Honey and Crash! Boom! Bang!. Both of them sounded great and the audience liked them a lot. After the ballads, Per tried to throw his acoustic pick to the crowd, but it got probably stuck to his hand so it landed on stage very close to himself. It happens. We were laughing and while Micke N-S brought Per his guitar he plays during speed-up song Dressed For Success, he was kidding him showing how he throws a plectrum. DFS was loved, as well as She’s Got Nothing On! Constant party mood in the crowd and madness on stage! Even 1 drumstick of Andreas flew to the edge of the stage at the end of the song. Per said he is getting too old for this. Someone in the crowd shouted we too. Haha. Per heard it and said you too are definitely getting old.

In the talking before Spending My Time Per mentioned he wrote 2 songs in one afternoon. The first one was Joyride, then he had some tea and biscuits and then he wrote the next one. The crowd sounded very happy to hear SMT and Helena got applauded loudly.

2 more ballads came, I’m Glad You Called and Small Town Talk with Chris in the 2nd verse again. Pure magic!

Showing how fab the crowd was, when the band started the intro to I Have A Party In My Head, the audience started singing Opus’s ”Live Is Life”, not just the Na Na Nana Na part, but the complete chorus. Per laughed and pointed at the audience while looking at the band, then talked into the mic saying this sounds great by the way, however, this coming song is from the Son of A Plumber album. He was glad that the crowd recognized that one.

It Must Have Been Love was next, Magnus’s favourite track (including The Beatles, The Eagles, Fleetwood Mac, Frank Zappa and even Milli Vanilli). Per said he tried to avoid to play it, but Magnus said he has to play it, he kills Mr. G otherwise. Per said he knows and it’s scary. Good they played it. The audience burst out into a loud sing-along.

Then came the party section again, with Opportunity Nox and The Big L. and these 2 songs rocked big time in Hamburg too. Per said ”getting ready for the weekend, right”. The ”bringing me down to my knees” part of TBL was funny, because since we had a bigger space in the front between the stage and the front row without fence or anything else, we could really get down to our knees. Almost. Haha. This time I was on the left side of the stage and loved how Ola and Malin-My came to the front to rock their instruments during TBL.

Before Fading Like A Flower, Per and Magnus talked about the ’90s again. Magnus said he doesn’t just remember the ’90s, he IS the ’90s. Wherever the ’90s went, he was there before. Haha. How Helena sang the song in Hamburg sounded a bit different vs. the first 2 gigs. I would say her version got more powerful from getting the energy from the wonderful vibe of the gig. Fantastic!

Doesn’t Make Sense was a blast again. I love the whole song. Beautiful lyrics, great PG vocals, how he sings ”nose” is still killing me and the ending where Chris and Andreas go crazy is one of the greatest parts of each show.

In the band presentation Per mentioned he is extremely lucky to have this band with him. Magnus he found in a flea market, he said. Haha.

How Do You Do! and Dangerous were very much welcomed by the audience to have some more party. HDYD had the teaser intro this time and the crowd started singing the song before Per started it. No one could believe the gang went off stage after these 2 songs. The audience didn’t stop clapping and shouting, waiting for them to come back on stage.

Then the band members appeared one after another and Per came back as well to play Queen Of Rain and Joyride in the first encore. Since the audience was whistling, Andreas tried to whistle using his hands too, but wearing gloves, it just couldn’t happen. It was funny though. I love how Per and Chris interact during the intro to Joyride. After these two songs the gang went off stage again, but the audience went crazy to have them back. And so they came to sing 2 more tracks in the 2nd encore.

This time Listen To Your Heart was moved to the 2nd encore, but the closing song remained The Sweet Hello, The Sad Goodbye. Helena was very happy to receive the love of the crowd after LTYH. Loud applause she got. And TSHTSG, well… keeps on playing in my head… again and again. Tütütütürütü. Awesome version!

Per closed the show with saying ”hope to see you again very soon”. Let’s see what happens, but with such a band and such an audience anything can happen! 😉

Sven Lindström was there in the crowd too. He liked the show and said he will probably see another one Sweden.

Åsa wasn’t there at the gig. It would have been great if someone filmed this concert for a DVD actually. Hard to top, but there are more gigs to come, so let’s see!

Per’s post after the show:

Hamburg tonite. Oh yeah! Thanx everyone for showing up and singing along. Wonderful feedback on every song, love that! Extra special thanks for the Party In My Head-intro (yaknowwhatImean…theunmentionablesong….). Have to come back to Hamburg again and again, it’s addictive!!!!! I’ve had two great days here, checking out Anton C’s fab exhibition and just enjoying myself in the sunshine. Brussels tomorrow. Rise and shine everyone! Lots of love from P.

All pics in the article are taken by Patrícia Peres.

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