Surjo Benigh

Marie’s tour: Västerås, 12th April #17

by

Yesterday Marie and the band rocked Västerås big time!

The first row was again mostly full of fans, but there were some also in the other rows, which probably helped to keep the mood happy and loud throughout the whole concert. Of course, the band was awesome and Marie was in a very good mood, so all this were the perfect ingredients that made the Swedes want to join the party. And they did already on song #2. After a few shows where we had to wait until towards the end to see some action, I was pretty surprised and felt so happy for the girl and boys on stage. They seemed to be happy with the response as well because they were all smiles, proud smiles.

Of course, Efter stormen was the song where really everybody (not only the fans) stood up and clapped and sang along, but you could see that in many other songs as well. Even the people at the balcony were standing and having fun, and Marie saw that and waved to them with a big smile. At some places we have seen skeptic or a bit angry faces when we stood up to some songs, but yesterday the audience seemed to like that. Like the 70-something ladies in the first row who had a blast; or the 4-6 Swedes that were sitting in row 2 who first looked shocked when we stood up but at the end thanked us in the first row for spreading the fun; or the two mid 50 ladies in the first row who were faster standing up than some of us!

The craziest rockiest song was Mellan sommar och höst. The audience was already standing up when Marie walked out to the stage again and everybody went wild with the amazing guitars and Marie’s rocky voice.

This concert was also the last one for many fans and Marie and band knew it, so they gave special attention to the ones on first row. Specially during Tro when everybody hugged and moved to the rythm of the song and many of us were all tears she gave those looks of hers to many of us. At the end, she also made sad faces to some of the fans she knew were saying goodbye to the tour yesterday night. It was not possible to  hold back the tears, it is actually also not possible as I am writing this now. It has been so special… the love tour 🙂

Some fans had prepared flowers and a card for Marie to thank her for the great tour. Many fans had signed it and Anne gave it to Chris at the end of the show. The fans who waited for Marie after the concert explained that Micke had thanked them for coming to the concerts and said that fans turned the tour to something completely different and special and he added that the reviews were all very good because of that.

By the way, Clarence was in the audience yesterday night.

So now it’s just 2 concerts left: Luleå and Umeå. Those who are going to the last shows will surely give our best and party until the end!

Setlist (no changes)

1. Så stilla så långsamt [1992 – DSR]
2. Kom vila hos mig [2013 – Nu!]
3. Bara för en dag [1987 – ES]
4. Det regnar igen [1992 – DSR]
5. Sista sommarens vals [2013 – Nu!]
6. Ber bara en gång [1996 – IETSV]
7. Sparvöga [1989 off the Swedish drama TV series]
8. Ett hus vid havet [1985 – DSV]
9. Ett bord i solen [2007 – TFT]
10. Så skimrande var aldrig havet [1990 off Taube compilation album]
11. Ännu doftar kärlek [1984 – HV]
12. Så länge det lyser mittemot [1992 – DSR]
13. Om du såg mig nu [1987 – ES]
14. Efter stormen [1987 – ES]
15. Den sjunde vågen [1985 – DSV]

16. Mellan sommar och höst [1992 – DSR]
17. Den bästa dagen [1985 – DSV]
18. Tro [1996 – IETSV]

Articles

VLT

Marie’s tour: Stockholm, 8th April #15

by

Judith’s review
Today it was finally the day for concert that many were waiting for, expecting it to be a blast! And what to say, the concert was more than super! Marie was welcomed by a very very loud crowd and she had to wait a bit to start singing the first song. After that she was all smiles! The shouting and the smiles remained the whole concert.

After an amazing concert in Linköping I didn’t think this could be topped, but wow! The band did an amazing job, I’ve never seen Surjo move around so much before, Chris, watch out! 😉

Jokke was all smiles all the time, as were all of us in the audience. Jokke also delivered an incredible solo in Den sjunde vågen, which also felt longer than usual. It was simply great to see the band and Marie have so much fun with us, or the other way around.

The most touching song was probably the last one, Tro. It was the last concert for many fans and I could see many of us hugging and singing along. It felt as if the song had suddenly become a hymn for love and friendship. Not to forget to mention that fans had arranged to bring roses to give to Marie at the end. Everybody had one rose, at the end of Tro all of them were brought to the front and put on the stage. Micke collected them all and took them backstage for Marie.

There were also some familiar faces in the audience. Lasse Lindbom, Anders Herrlin, Mats MP Persson, Jonas Åkerlund and, last but not least, Per and Åsa, just to mention a few. Per posted on Facebook that they celebrated the 25th anniversary of The Look reaching #1 in USA at the after-show party.

 

Patrícia’s review

Per and Åsa at Cirkus - sorry for the bad quality pic... :)
Åsa & Per at Cirkus – sorry for the bad quality pic…
Check out Roxette Rosario’s pic, too 😉

As you could already read here and there, Marie’s gig in Stockholm was marvellous with many famous people in the crowd. Oh yes, with Per among them! Woohoo! We’ve been expecting him to appear at this concert, but we couldn’t be sure he would really come until we saw Åsa, Per and Jonas Åkerlund arriving together 1-2 minutes before 19:30. They found their places in the 10th row, on the left side, close to the exit. After many Roxers realized Per was there, we started clapping and he and Åsa waved to us smiling. After some minutes we repeated it. It was awesome to see him in the crowd, sitting among us. Besides them, there were many other familiar faces and now I’m not talking only about the hardcore fans. Mats MP Persson (who was sitting in front of Per), Anders Herrlin, Clarence Öfwerman, Dea Norberg (she even posted a pic on her Instagram), Marie Dimberg, Lasse Lindbom were there in the audience, just to name some of them, but there were many other famous Swedish people in the crowd. Also Oscar, Marie’s son was there, sitting in the 6th row, together with his grandma, Micke’s mum.


MF_CirkusOne could have thought that this crowd would make Marie and the band nervous, but no! They were in TOP shape and rocked Cirkus! The sound was perfect and Marie’s voice simply blown us away. She was smiling a lot and the audience was clapping so much that some songs had to wait to be started. I think there was no concert where they could start Så stilla så långsamt so late, waiting for the audience to be silent. Marie enjoyed it so much, you could see it on her face. She was shining!

I must admit that the audience was very good at clapping, they could even follow the rhythm Surjo and Micke showed by clapping themselves, but if you ask about how many of them stood up… Hm. We, the international fans (Argentina, Austria, Brazil, Bulgaria, Czecz Republic, Germany, Hungary, Lithuania, Poland, Romania, Russia, Switzerland, The Netherlands, USA etc.) were sitting at different places in the crowd, owing to the not so funny mechanism the tickets went on sale in October. Some got tickets in rows in the middle, some in the front, some in the back, others on the balcony. We thought it was a great chance to animate the Swedish part of the crowd even more, since we could do a little of this ”job” in every corner of Cirkus.

We stood up already at Kom vila hos mig and we expected the Cirkus crowd being at least as cool as Göteborg audience was and following us, but not really. Unfortunately, there were a lot of people in the middle and on the left of the first 4-5 rows who were not willing to stand up, so people in the back could have thought it was still better to be sitting. We thought, OK, maybe at the next fast song they would realize how they should act when seeing how Marie loves this reaction and they see the security guys didn’t make us sitting.

Oh yes, talking about security guys – who were not present at any other shows so far – Atli, from Show Security Sweden was there too. You surely remember him and his team from the Gyllene Tider tour. I greeted him after the concert and he said the show was great, he liked it a lot.

Back to the concert: Så länge det lyser mittemot made us stand up and dance again. Then there were some more in the crowd who followed us, but the left side was still sitting, only clapping. Efter stormen was our next party song. It rocked big time again! There were Swedes sitting in front of me and it was such a good feeling to see them deciding: ”OK, maybe now we could really stand up” and they did so. C’mon, people! There is nothing wrong with it… Live it!

Den sjunde vågen was fabulous this time again and I always have a big smile on my face when I see Marie’s reaction to the fact she has to go off stage. It’s different every time, but always so lovely. After she left the stage, the guys went crazy. Christoffer even throw away his hat. Hat was grabbed up by Jokke when they also left the stage. I have to mention that I think Jokke was the best on this concert from the 5 I’ve seen. He’s a great guitarist! We couldn’t stop clapping and being loud to have Marie back on stage and some minutes later she appeared again for the extra songs. We didn’t sit down and Mellan sommar och höst was again the song that made even more people stand up. Even Per stood up towards the end of it. Hats off, Mr. G! We’re very proud of you! 😉 Then came Den bästa dagen and many of us had the feeling it was really the best day of our lives. Such a fantastic concert it was! And it hadn’t ended yet. During Tro we stood up again and there were roses in our hands. We’ve been holding them up and waving them during the whole song. Thank you very much for the great idea, Christina Tholander and Nina Wolfframm and also thanx a lot to Heartland Anne, who organized roses for many fans and even a heart-shaped bunch of red roses for Marie. When the song ended, we’ve been forwarding the roses to the front and Micke was collecting them, while Marie got one bunch of red roses from a fan, handed over by Micke N-S and Chris collected the heart-shaped bunch. It looked fab and Marie was so happy to get the flowers. Awesomeness! (You can see it here, in the video I embedded and on these 3 Instagram pics: 1, 2, 3.) Per was leaving his seat before Tro ended, but Åsa stayed until the end of the song.

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6TaE7m1E1Vc

After the concert, there was a celebration of the 25th anniversary of The Look’s becoming No. 1. on the Billboard. The celebration took place in a separated area of the restaurant at Cirkus. Everyone looked very happy and enjoyed their time there. Per’s comment on tonight’s show:

TUESDAY EVENING UPDATE: Had a blast at Marie’s gig at Cirkus in Stockholm. Wonderful concert and Miss Effe + band in top shape. Great to see so many Roxers making a lotta noise. Afterwards some press + celebration with old friends. As you probably know by now….The Look No 1 in the US goes 25! Thanx Warner/EMI for being great hosts! Cheers, P.

We’re glad you enjoyed it! We had a blast, too! Unfortunately, this was my last concert on this tour. I’m very sad about it, but I’m grateful that I could be a part of it and enjoy every second of 5 absolutely fabulous and exceptional concerts. Tack så väldigt mycket Marie & the band! By the way, can you believe that only 4 shows left from this magical tour? Impossible. We need a next tour soon!

Setlist (no changes)

1. Så stilla så långsamt [1992 – DSR]
2. Kom vila hos mig [2013 – Nu!]
3. Bara för en dag [1987 – ES]
4. Det regnar igen [1992 – DSR]
5. Sista sommarens vals [2013 – Nu!]
6. Ber bara en gång [1996 – IETSV]
7. Sparvöga [1989 off the Swedish drama TV series]
8. Ett hus vid havet [1985 – DSV]
9. Ett bord i solen [2007 – TFT]
10. Så skimrande var aldrig havet [1990 off Taube compilation album]
11. Ännu doftar kärlek [1984 – HV]
12. Så länge det lyser mittemot [1992 – DSR]
13. Om du såg mig nu [1987 – ES]
14. Efter stormen [1987 – ES]
15. Den sjunde vågen [1985 – DSV]

16. Mellan sommar och höst [1992 – DSR]
17. Den bästa dagen [1985 – DSV]
18. Tro [1996 – IETSV]

Articles and photos
 Gaffa.se
Svenska Dagbladet

Videos
Den sjunde vågen by Heartland Anne (4:13-4:16 Marie and a fan whistling were too cool 😉 )
Ett bord i solen & Så skimrande var aldrig havet by Heartland Anne

 

Marie’s tour: Halmstad, 21st March #11

by

Halmstad was cooking almost at the same temperature as Gothenburg! What a great show and what a great audience again!

Since the venue was changed from Halmstad Arena to Halmstad Theater, a much smaller place, everyone who bought the tickets already the first day they went on sale in October was worrying about the seats, how the organizers would solve this issue. We hoped for not sitting in the 15th row if we had a ticket for the 1st row, however, the organizers tried to assure us that it wouldn’t be the case. We were still not sure about how it could work, until we actually got into the theater and saw that they renumbered the seats, so everyone could be satisfied with the new seats.

In the audience – besides many Roxers from abroad (Argentina, Brazil, Japan, Spain, Poland, Hungary, Bulgaria, Denmark, etc.) – there were Göran Fritzon (from Gyllene Tider) and Jan-Owe Wikström (Hallandsposten; author of the Alla tiders Gyllene Tider book among others). We missed 1 big Roxer though, but we hope for his appearance at least in the crowd at a future concert. Per, you must go and see Ms Effe! She’s awesome! But you know that.

Some of us met Marie and the band when they arrived to Halmstad and they were all smiles already then. We were excited to see them on stage again. Before the show, when almost everyone found their places, a girl from the crew came and distributed some signed Marie cards (the one you could get if you pre-ordered her album Nu!) to the fans in the front rows. It was very nice. Thanks a lot for that!

MF_Halmstad_03And the show began. Should I mention Marie was barefoot? Now it’s quite evident she performs like that and we just love it.

After the acoustic Så stilla så långsamt we just jumped up from our seats and so did almost the whole audience, so the fab intro of Kom vila hos mig led us to a great party this time again. Halmstad crowd was almost as cooperative as the one in Gothenburg. Marie mentioned it already at this song how fantastic the audience is. She kept the acting she did in Gothenburg during Bara för en dag. So lovely! The bridge between Det regnar igen and Sista sommarens vals is still something fabulous. Ber bara en gång brought the party feeling again, but we were sitting, just clapping and dancing while sitting. At Sparvöga Marie mentioned it’s her favourite song and it sounded amazing this time, too. During Ett hus vid havet a seagull flew to the wrong place, but otherwise the performance was fantastic. Still so heart-warming how Marie and Jokke are performing it together. Then came the 2 most touching songs, Ett bord i solen and Så skimrande var aldrig havet. Marie’s facial expressions and how she feels these songs were again undescribable. Ännu doftar kärlek made the audience sing along. Not too loud, but you could hear more people were singing out loud than before. Party time again AND this time the audience stayed standing also after Så länge det lyser mittemot, so we were still dancing during Om du såg mig nu and of course during Efter stormen. Wow! THAT was a party! By the end of the tour there might be a concert where no one is sitting, but standing during the whole show. Before ES, Marie thanked the Roxette fans in English for being there. She got a loud response from the fans. Some fans also shouted ”I love you, Marie!” several times and they got a reply from Marie: ”I love you, too!” The party at the end of Den sjunde vågen when Marie already went off the stage (helped by MNS) was so intensive that even Christoffer’s hat fell off his head.

During the break we didn’t sit down, were clapping and standing all the time, waiting for Marie to come back. And she came back, of course. Micke was helping her again to find her place at the mic stand. The party went on with Mellan sommar och höst, then came Den bästa dagen. Before the closing song, Tro, Marie thanked in Swedish for all the energy she gets from the crowd. It means a lot to her. And it means a lot to us. It’s really fantastic to see her reactions, how she loves the active audience. One can see the whole band enjoys it much more when the crowd makes some noise. Even Surjo was acting more tonight, clapping and dancing a bit in the background and Micke was playing the keyboards many times standing and dancing more than how I could see them before.

 

MF_Halmstad_heart

 

At the end of the concert, a red heart was back. This time there wasn’t ”Tack!” written on it, but it was a heart-shaped pillow Marie got from a fan, Nikolett. That’s what you can see on the picture here.

Halmstad audience was really fab, joining us whenever we stood up and clapping with us to the rhythm. I loved the reactions of some older Swedish people behind me. They were happy about being part of a crowd like this and they were smiling all the time.

 

 

After the show Marie came out and gave some autographs. We also met Pelle and Chris. Chris said it really makes a difference to them when we are there. He said his favourite concert so far was Gothenburg and also Växjö, but tonight’s Halmstad show was very close to them. Chris asked us if we know the guitarist of Gyllene Tider… Of course we know! Pelle and Chris said MP (Mats MP Persson) was playing at a place not too far from the theater, so if we want to see him, we should go there. Some of us went there and yes, MP was playing with a band. They were covering e.g. Bryan Adams: Summer of 69 and we were in time for hearing their cover of Tylö Sun from Gyllene Tider. Per’s voice was definitely missing, but otherwise MP’s playing was great. I had a chance to talk to him a bit and he said they play together with this band once a month. He seemed to feel more comfortable with this cozy set up on stage than with Gyllene Tider. He agreed. This ”after-party” was a great closure of tonight.

Marie and the band are in Karlstad tomorrow. Have fun, everyone and make some noise there, too!

 

Setlist (no changes)

1. Så stilla så långsamt [1992 – DSR]
2. Kom vila hos mig [2013 – Nu!]
3. Bara för en dag [1987 – ES]
4. Det regnar igen [1992 – DSR]
5. Sista sommarens vals [2013 – Nu!]
6. Ber bara en gång [1996 – IETSV]
7. Sparvöga [1989 off the Swedish drama TV series]
8. Ett hus vid havet [1985 – DSV]
9. Ett bord i solen [2007 – TFT]
10. Så skimrande var aldrig havet [1990 off Taube compilation album]
11. Ännu doftar kärlek [1984 – HV]
12. Så länge det lyser mittemot [1992 – DSR]
13. Om du såg mig nu [1987 – ES]
14. Efter stormen [1987 – ES]
15. Den sjunde vågen [1985 – DSV]

16. Mellan sommar och höst [1992 – DSR]
17. Den bästa dagen [1985 – DSV]
18. Tro [1996 – IETSV]

Articles

Hallands Nyheter

Videos

Ett hus vid havet

 

Marie’s tour: Uppsala, 19th March #10

by

Setlist (no changes)

1. Så stilla så långsamt [1992 – DSR]
2. Kom vila hos mig [2013 – Nu!]
3. Bara för en dag [1987 – ES]
4. Det regnar igen [1992 – DSR]
5. Sista sommarens vals [2013 – Nu!]
6. Ber bara en gång [1996 – IETSV]
7. Sparvöga [1989 off the Swedish drama TV series]
8. Ett hus vid havet [1985 – DSV]
9. Ett bord i solen [2007 – TFT]
10. Så skimrande var aldrig havet [1990 off Taube compilation album]
11. Ännu doftar kärlek [1984 – HV]
12. Så länge det lyser mittemot [1992 – DSR]
13. Om du såg mig nu [1987 – ES]
14. Efter stormen [1987 – ES]
15. Den sjunde vågen [1985 – DSV]

16. Mellan sommar och höst [1992 – DSR]
17. Den bästa dagen [1985 – DSV]
18. Tro [1996 – IETSV]

Comments
According to some fans who were at this concert, Marie and the band were amazing again and Marie’s vocals were incredible.

She also talked quite a lot, even some English words found it’s place. When Marie was telling that they would play many of her old songs, ‘of course’.

This time what was so so was the audience. The few fans didn’t manage this time to inspire the Swedes to stand up and have fun. Just a tip to those fans who may feel weird standing up with everybody else next to you sitting. Just do it!

As you may have read, snow has arrived to the center/northern part of Sweden, but a few fans decided to wait for Marie despite the cold. And they were lucky! Marie stopped by and chatted for some minutes with them.

Next concert is on Friday in Halmstad. Get ready to make lots of noise!

Articles

Interview with Marie (published before the concert)
Interview with Maria Sörgjerd about Roxette fans.
UNT’s review
UNT meet&greet winner

Videos

Så skimrande var aldrig havet

Göteborg was cooking tonight!

by

For the setlist and collection of reviews click here.

Take my review from yesterday and multiply the blowing-away factor by at least 10! Göteborg concert was P-U-R-E A-W-E-S-O-M-E-N-E-S-S!

Before the concert we met Christoffer and he said we should be prepared for maybe not the best sound, because the acoustics of the concert hall are not the best as he knows it. However, we were sure they would do their best with the sound anyway and in the end, to me it seemed to be perfect. We also met Marie before the show and she said she is so happy that so many international fans are here to support her. She was in a great mood, smiling again all the time and she also said she tries to be better than she was yesterday in Jönköping.

One word: BAREFOOT! Now we know this always means a concert will be mind-blowing.

MF_GTB_03Some of us decided that whatever happens, we will stand up already when Kom vila hos mig comes. As we’ve been mostly in the first 3 rows, we all stood up and the rest of the audience realized it had to be like that, so they stood up as well. Great crowd it was! Everyone could see that Marie & the band liked it a lot, so we kept the energy high in the crowd and so did Marie on the stage.

She was acting much more, e.g. in Bara för en dag she made gestures according to the lyrics like ”… göra mej vacker och tvätta mitt hår, låta solen torka det …”. It was great to see her acting.

During Sparvöga the audience held up glow sticks (thanks Basia Konarzewska & Chrissie Roehrs for organizing it) and moved their arms to the rythm of the song. After the song Marie said it’s a fantastic crowd. She said that after several songs, since the audience indeed was continuously fantastic.

 

MF_GTB_01

Ett hus vid havet today was how it has to be, all the boats and seagulls were at the right place now and the ”Och göra som jag vill” (= And do what I want to do) line at the end was as effective as yesterday.

We stood up again when Så länge det lyser mittemot started and the whole audience joined us. We held up some letters to show Marie the words: KÄRLEK and VINNARE. She recognized it. KÄRLEK stayed there on the stage. Thanks to our RXB Team mate, Kirsten Ohlwein for organizing this and drawing the letters.

The biggest party was again at Efter stormen. Everyone in the front was dancing, jumping, singing along and in the back people were rather clapping. It was fab to see the crowd like this!

It was again Micke N-S who helped Marie going off the stage during Den sjunde vågen. Now talking about the crew, I must mention at this point the hilarious guitar changings of Christoffer. He is wearing a hat and when Jakob Johnzén, his technician comes up the stage, Jakob gets the hat to his head while the guitar finds its right place at Chris.

MF_GTB_02There wasn’t a long break before Marie came back to the stage. Micke was helping her to come to the mic stand. Aw, they are such a lovely couple! We’ve been already standing and also the rest of the crowd, so we were in the right position to continue the party during Mellan sommar och höst.

When we could hear the first notes of the closing song, Tro, I couldn’t and didn’t want to believe that this party was coming to an end. It was such an amazing night! Those who were in Växjö said it was very-very close to it. But one thing is sure: Göteborg crowd was the best so far! Marie confirmed it as well.

I must add that there were some changes in the lyrics here and there, but if someone doesn’t know them by heart, couldn’t recognize it. Marie handled it perfectly and she gave each song a great flow. Hats off!

 

 

After the concert Marie went straight to have a rest, but we could talk to the band. Jokke said the audience was amazing and the show was fantastic. Very similar to Växjö. Micke said it means so much to Marie that the audience is reacting like this and that gives her even more energy. He also said it was a fantastic concert and Pelle thought so, too.

Thank you, Marie & the band for the amazing experience and huge thanx for your cooperation, Göteborg!!!

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ifhaKPoUyzg

 

Next show is on 19th March in Uppsala. There will be a bit less international fans, but I hope the spirit stays like this. More of us are there in Halmstad on 21st March, so we are expecting a very similar energetic night then.