Spain

Roxette In Concert 2025 – Mérida – 28th June 2025 – #17

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The Spanish heat adventure continued in Mérida, Spain last night. Roxette performed at the STONE & MUSIC Festival as the closing act of the festival’s 10th anniversary edition to crown the event.

The venue was simply wonderful, the ruins of the Amphitheatre of Mérida, a Roman amphitheatre completed in the year 8 BC. What a setting!

A couple of hours before the show, at 19:45 Roxette had the honour to receive the Via Musicorum Award in Mérida. Per shared some pics and a vids from the ceremony (1, 2, 3) and you can see some content on the festival’s social media sites (1, 2) as well. Per dedicated the plaque also to Marie of course and he said it’s a privilege to be here.

Via Musicorum is an initiative launched in 2021 by the STONE&MUSIC Festival and Mérida City Council.

Per unveiled the vinyl on the Mérida Music Trail. The event was attended by the president of the Badajoz Provincial Council, Raquel del Puerto, who highlighted the STONE&MUSIC Festival’s commitment to quality music and the value of a band like Roxette, whose songs form part of the vital soundtrack of several generations. The event was also attended by Catalina Alarcón, Councilor for Social Services, Senior Citizens, and Housing of the Mérida City Council.

Roxette’s vinyl is the 26th to be added to the Music Trail, and can now be seen alongside those of national and international artists such as Deep Purple, Tom Jones, Status Quo, Europe, Andrea Bocelli, among others.

The piece in question – of which Per received a replica – was designed and crafted by local artisan workshop Terracota Mérida. Each plate features a vinyl record representing the tiles of a Roman mosaic, with a circular bronze plaque in the center. The plaque bears Per’s signature along with the date of the concert.

The work is framed in polished black granite and features the band’s name sandblasted in gold, as well as the festival logo and that of Mérida City Council, giving the work a visual balance in keeping with the urban environment.

The concert started at 22:15. The temperature was still very high, but it didn’t matter. The band found a devoted, wild sing-along audience in front of them and they were also in top shape on stage. Everyone had so much fun! Even if there were seats, no one really used them. Haha.

There was no curtain with the Roxette logo, no LED wall with the projections, but the beautiful ruins of the amphitheatre and the lights provided the backdrop. ¡Maravilloso!

The setlist was the same as in Madrid, including Christoffer’s intro to Joyride (Paquito el Chocolatero).

Setlist

  1. The Big L.
  2. Sleeping In My Car
  3. Dressed For Success
  4. Crash! Boom! Bang!
  5. Opportunity Nox
  6. Fading Like A Flower
  7. Almost Unreal
  8. Stars
  9. She’s Got Nothing On (But The Radio)
  10. It Must Have Been Love
  11. How Do You Do!
  12. Dangerous

Band presentation

  1. Joyride

Encore

  1. Spending My Time
  2. Listen To Your Heart
  3. The Look
  4. Queen Of Rain

Now a couple of days off and then the next stop is Kestenholz, Switzerland on 4th July! Check out all the tour dates and links to ticket sales sites HERE!

Pics in the article are stills from STONE & MUSIC Festival’s social media videos.

Per after the concert:

Oh yea! A hot sweaty evening in Merida, Spain. Beautiful crowd, had a fab time in this amazing setting. Love to come back!!!!

Lena after the show:

Yes! Everything went well yesterday! The heat was on and we had a great gig at this fantastic venue! Such a beautiful place! WOW! Thank you!

Roxette In Concert 2025 – Madrid – 27th June 2025 – #16

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Noches del Botánico is a series of concerts in Madrid in the Royal Botanical Garden of Alfonso XIII (Real Jardín Botánico de Alfonso XIII). Roxette came to this place to perform a sold-out show.

You could enter the festival area at 19:30 and Roxette was set to start at 22:00. The heat is unbearable during the day and the temperature starts to get OK at 22:00, so it seemed to be great timing. The staff at the venue was very nice. They let us stay in the shade while queueing. Approximately 70 people came earlier, some of them had been waiting all day.

There was no support act, so the staff decided to keep us outside the stage area, so that we could still be standing in the shade, as in front of the stage the sun was still shining very strongly. They let us in after 21:00.

Before we were let in, Christoffer came out to us and had a selfie time with all the fans and chatted with them.

The LED wall was back. It has very cool projections, so it also adds to the whole party feeling.

Spanish people know how to sing along very loudly. The crowd was amazing! The band was in top shape and Per was touched by the support of the fans, he thanked them several times. The audience was stunned by Lena’s performance and she got a lot of „Brava!” shout outs.

When Lena was introduced in the beginning of the show, she said she felt great and talked a bit in Spanish: „Me siento genial!” She wasn’t sure she pronounced it correctly, but the crowd was cheering her anyway. She said it’s very hot here, Per said it will get even hotter. Then Lena said she likes it hot, so she feels good.

During the band presentation, all band members got a loud cheering and when it came to Dea, her name was shouted by front row fans: Dea! Dea! Dea!, so Per said she has her own fan club here. Haha.

Christoffer played Paquito el Chocolatero as the intro to Joyride.

When Lena and Per came back on stage for the encore, Lena saw a Swedish flag and told Per in Swedish. First Per couldn’t realize what she was talking about, but then Lena explained it to him in English. Haha.

Before they started to play Queen Of Rain, the crowd was singing olé-olé-olé-olé.

In the crowd, there was Niklas Strömstedt as well.

The setlist was the same as in Munich.

Setlist

  1. The Big L.
  2. Sleeping In My Car
  3. Dressed For Success
  4. Crash! Boom! Bang!
  5. Opportunity Nox
  6. Fading Like A Flower
  7. Almost Unreal
  8. Stars
  9. She’s Got Nothing On (But The Radio)
  10. It Must Have Been Love
  11. How Do You Do!
  12. Dangerous

Band presentation

  1. Joyride

Encore

  1. Spending My Time
  2. Listen To Your Heart
  3. The Look
  4. Queen Of Rain

Without a day off, the next stop is Mérida, Spain on 28th June! Check out all the tour dates and links to ticket sales sites HERE!

Photos in the article are taken by Patrícia Peres. More photos HERE!

Per after the show on Instagram:

Madrid! Si si! Loved this! Thx so much for stopping by and bringing out your VERY LOUD VOICES!!! Wonderful evening, hope we meet again very soon!!!!

PG after the gig on Facebook:

Yea, lovely Friday in beautiful Madrid! Thanks for stopping by and singing and groovin’ with us. See you soon!!!!

Lena after the show:

Madrid!! Hot wonderful night!! Thank you so much!

Roxette XXX Tour – Madrid, Spain (Palacio Vistalegre) – May 13 – #27

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After a most awesome opening gig in Milan last Sunday, the European tour leg’s second show happened in Madrid. Many started wondering if Spain can beat Italy. People are loud there, too, but it felt like Milan was a tough act to follow. Not that it makes sense to compare one concert to another, since each gig is special and unique. The venue in the Spanish capital was a much bigger one, appr. 6000 people attended the show. The concert wasn’t sold out, but the arena looked quite packed.

Lots of fans had been waiting all day outside the venue to be the first ones to enter Palacio Vistalegre in the evening. This was the first Euro show with the support act Eskobar. (Read the interview Judith did with them some days ago.)

Roxette was to hit the stage at 21:30, but the show started only appr. 30 minutes later. Mañana (=tomorrow) is a frequently used word in Spain, they love taking it easy, but you shouldn’t be late when there is another show mañana in another city. Fans started worrying about the setlist being shortened because of the delayed start and they were right. 17 songs were played, the band skipped Almost Unreal.

The most common expressions regarding the concert used by the Spaniards are ”grandes” and ”conciertazo” meaning the band was absolutely great and it was an awesome concert. Per was extremely energetic, jumping and stomping even more than in Milan and joking all the time. Marie and Dea charmed the audience with a perfect Watercolours In The Rain performance. Magnus and Chris were so much on a high that at a point Magnus even fell on his bum and Chris dropped his guitar. Haha, pure rock & roll! Christoffer played ”Viva España” as the intro to Joyride and it worked very well with the cheering Spanish crowd.

Spanish fans never disappoint, they were singing their hearts out during the whole show and all the international fans who also attended the concert joined them. They were onehelluva loud crowd! As usual, Spanish hardcore Roxers prepared some fun. Instead of wigs this time they were wearing chicken hats. It surely made the band smile and we’ll probably get to see them in some short vids on Roxette’s Facebook page.

Per & Co. after the show:

MADRID! OH YEA! Fab gig tonite in front of the loudest crowd since I don’t know when! We had a blast and even did a jam session at the very end of Listen To Your Heart. Unexpected. Even for us!!! Thank you everyone who made this an everlasting memory for all of us!!!! Vids tomorrow. Barcelona as well. Cheers! /P&Co

Next gig is on Thursday (14th May) in Barcelona, Spain.

Articles and photos

Instagram: 1; 2; 3; 4; 5; 6; 7; 8; 9; 10; 11; 12; 13; 14;

diariovasco.com
es.noticias.yahoo.com
mercadeopop
Live Nation ES
hola.com

Videos

It Must Have Been Love
Watercolours In The Rain / Paint
Fading Like A Flower

Instavideos
Sleeping In My Car
Spending My Time
The Look

The bow

 

Setlist

roxette_in_madrid
Pics by Tiina Pitkänen (1; 2)

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

Extra:
Listen To Your Heart
The Look

 

Thanx for the contribution, Nina Wolfframm.

Solsken’s report from Barcelona

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Our reader Solsken sent us his personal review for Roxette’s Barcelona concert. Thanks!

BEFORE THE CONCERT
The waiting outside Palau Sant Jordi was really a long one, although I got there quite late. We had to give it all during the rain and due to the relatively cold weather for what Barcelona is. I was later told that such a rainy waiting was something common for several Rox concerts during the year. I just made us fight for what we desired – be there as close as possible to the band, which was achieved after some running and some annoying multiple-checking of the ticket for the show. The selection of which cameras enter and which not was also somewhat ridiculous, especially as mine stayed outside. It doesn’t matter, it’s all recorded in my head.

THE CONCERT & THE BAND
What can I say – a Roxette concert, from the 4-5th row: it can only be a magical experience with these songs and this band. I think Marie almost never struggled with the lyrics and delivered, what a woman, admire her strength!!! Once again I was impressed by the energy Per shows on this tour. I read somewhere (a stupid journalist?) that he has learned all the typical guitarist movements, but in fact they were his own movements which we know so well and I personally like a lot and expect to see. So he was full of energy and so interactive with the audience.

He also had a great gresture toward Marie he came after Perfect Day, and we were shouting “Marie, Marie”. Great musician and a great show by him personally. The same is the case for Magnus and Helena’s jumping during The look – they went so crazy… and great to watch. And what about Mr. von Lundquist: he can make an amazing guitar solo on every song: his versions of The Look, 7-27, and She’s got nothing on sound such rockingly great to me!

Of course, you always miss what you know can happen – like Sould depp & Watercolours in the rain, but you can’t always get everything you want… Oh, I almost forgot: I hadn’t seen the new lights and they really are not something excessively bombastic (which I think would be unnecessary), but they fir the songs very well and I personally enjoyed them very much – a very good decision. Chris’s Barça anthem really made the people go crazy, as well as Per reading (rather than speaking) Catalan!!! During that second episode is when the “Gessle, Gessle” shouting started.

THE AUDIENCE
I can only talk about the ones that were in the front, since I was always looking forward, so that I don’t I miss a moment of the show, like when I was fighting with the camera. I think in the front row it was really lively with all the jumping, shouting and singing, which never stopped, expected for some tender moments like Marie’s Perfect day during which is sang in a different (not so crazy) well. I think we did quite well with It must have been love, Spending my time and during the first verse of Fading like a flower (‘cos Marie asked).

We also sang “na na na na na na” in the Beatles style, after singing it in the Roxette style first during The look. I was particilarly pleased that we could sing the whole two verses of How do you do while Per was playing (with) the single guitar chord; we then sang it once again during the “real” song. And I am also very pleasued about the attendence – 8.200 (I read it on Facebook) is a great number considering the late change of venue and the zero promotion, except from some free newspaper and a radio station once in a while.

So, as I said, we had the “Marie, Marie” & the “Gessle, Gessle” cheering, we also tried to sing Happy birthday when Clarence was presented, but I think it wasn’t really heard from the stage. The “TACK!” coloured sheets of paper that we held were, as RXB says, a really good idea. Thanx to the more organized and crazier fans for this!!! And we also sang “oe, oe, oe” (or “ole, ole, ole” or something like that) several times and Roxette seemed to like that continued reaction:))

THE AFTER PARTY
As you know, there was an after party organized I think by RoxSpain (I don’t know the people personally, so excuse me if I’m wrong; in any case Thanx for the organization). I am not usually the center of any party, but it was really great to have 2.30h (due to late arrival) of only Rox-related songs. And we got to hear some Charm School demos!! The music was perfectly selected and I really enjoyed people’s response to Opp Nox and Crash on you, which are among my personal favorites.

THE EXPERIENCE
Apart from all already said, I had the chance to meet the band at the airport and I can only say that they are such nice people!!!! And that those seconds, especially with Per, are something I will never forget.

Party after the concert in Madrid and Barcelona? We need your help!

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Roxspain, the Spanish Fanclub, is working to organise an after-concert party in Madrid and Barcelona to celebrate the return of Roxette to our country. The party in Madrid would probably be the day before the concert. The one in Barcelona right after the concert.

We would like to know how many of you would assist to these parties so that we have an idea what kind of pub or disco we should book for that.

Please  go to the events we created on Facebook and click on “YES, I will attend”:

Madrid event

Barcelona event

or answer this poll.  Thank you!

 

[poll id=”3″]