The Daily Roxette

Today is the day that Per Gessle turns 53 years young! 

I'm sure all our readers will join us in wishing him all the best on his special day.

Happy Birthday, Mr G, from the TDR team - Hope you have a great day!

[EDITOR'S NOTE: Make sure you click on the jump to read Paul's exclusive interview with Per and a particularly well-written comment from Tholmes1138. Note also the addition of a link to a reader's full account of the show.]

LONDON – After a long 17 year wait, Roxette finally brought their epic World Tour to the UK last night.  Wembley Arena was packed to the rafters with about 12,000 fans who, in this reporters opinion, were full of energy and sang along to all of the songs.  

The setlist was, as expected, identical to previous concerts in the re-launched tour (minus "Soul Deep" within "......Radio") and both Per and Marie were in top shape, so we won't cover much on the actual show. However, Chris did an amazing, frenzied version of "God Save The Queen" as the "Joyride" intro.

For a more complete report and review, Brandon Veevers, one of our readers who won a slot at the Meet & Greet, filed this report afterwards for a UK entertainment site.

The Meet and Greet, organised through this newspaper in conjunction with d&d Management and Live Nation, was a great success.  The fans that were lucky enough to win our contest were each able to have one item signed by Marie and Per. One such item was a rare blue vinyl edition of Marie's "Ännu doftar kärlek."  Marie was clearly very surprised when she saw this!  

The Daily Roxette also managed to grab some time with Per for an interview and to answer some questions put to him by you, the readers of TDR!

Photos of the show and Meet & Greet to follow...

(Click read more for the exclusive pre-show interview with Per.)

LONDON – Planning on attending the big concert in London? Would you like to go backstage before the show to say hello to Per and Marie?

The Daily Roxette, in conjunction with LiveNation and Roxette's management, is pleased to be able to offer a small group of fans the opportunity to participate in a "Meet & Greet" just before the November 15 concert in London's Wembley Arena.

All you need to do is answer at least one TDR Trivia question correctly in order to qualify for the drawing (one entry per person). The eight lucky winners will be chosen at random from the pool of qualified responses.

You have until 12 noon (UK time) on Friday, November 4 to enter the contest.  We'll contact the winners, and you can look for their names to be published here on Sunday, November 6.  Perhaps one of them will be you? Good luck!

NEW YORK – Many of our readers participated in the The Daily Roxette's trivia contest for a copy of Matthew Chojnacki's new book Put the Needle on the Record: The 1980s at 45 Revolutions Per Minute that features, along with about 250 other great examples from the 80's, the cover art to Roxette's "Neverending Love" single.  Here are the answers, and the names of the winners:

The first question, which 77 percent got right, asked which graphic artist or designer was responsible for the majority of Roxette's album and single covers. Yes, it was Kjell Andersson who helped Roxette obscure their identity in the beginning (and who stayed on for many albums thereafter). Chojnacki quotes Per as telling him that without photos of them on the covers, the plan was they could return to their solo careers without anyone noticing, "just in case the Roxette thing didn't work out."

NEW YORK – Over 250 readers participated in the The Daily Roxette's trivia contest for a copy of the new U.S. Greatest Hits release from Capitol Records, along with some runner-up prizes. Here are the answers, and the names of the winners:

Given that both Per and Marie speak English rather well, it's a little funny to learn from Caroline Greyshock that she used finger gestures to get them to cross the street on that beautiful spring day when these Look Sharp! publicity photos were taken. 86 percent got her name right.

Where did Roxette often go in New York's East Village to buy their clothes? Well, "Broadway Boogie Woogie" is the name of a Times Square inspired painting by Piet Mondrian that is in the permanent collection at MoMA (The Museum of Modern Art) in New York City. Abercrombie & Fitch, a trendy young adult brand has its flagship store is on Fifth Avenue in Midtown.  CBGB's is the now-closed music venue associated with punk bands like The Ramones (but you can still buy logo t-shirts). Duo is in the East Village (and Roxette is a duo), but this boutique sells vintage and local designer clothing. The correct answer, which 64 percent got right, is Trash & Vaudeville.

The story's been around so long that almost everyone (91 percent) seemed to know that it was a radio station in Minneapolis (KDWB) to whom Dean Cushman (also 91 percent) loaned his copy of Look Sharp!

Finally, 77 percent knew that it was the music video for The Look that EMI execs in the States wanted remade, while 80 percent knew correctly that the other artists involved in the controversial McDonald's promotion were Tina Turner, Elton John and Garth Brooks.

So who are the lucky winners of the new U.S. Greatest Hits CD, courtesy of Capitol Records?  They are Luiz Possebon (New York, USA), German Divonis (Rosario, Argentina), Dario Olivera (Buenos Aires, Argentina), Sarah Feeney (Texas, USA), and Kandice Halfacre (Tennessee, USA).

And the six bonus winners (who had to get all the trivia questions correct) are: Nicolas Cortés (Mendosa, Argentina), Blanka Pentela (Lodz, Poland), Arnaldo Suarez (Cordoba, Argentina), Thom Renström (Linköping, Sweden) and Johannes Lemm (Cologne, Germany). They each will get a gold Roxette logo pin (Charm School version) along with a TDR/Roxette lanyard and a promo card from Roxette's previous U.S. greatest hits album!

We also asked for suggestions for future trivia contest questions, and got many great responses.  We think it's fun to give stuff away, so you can look forward then to another such TDR contest in the near future!

+++ Please be aware that this competion has ended in the meantime. Thanks to all of you who participated! See a report about this meet & greet here. +++

 The Daily Roxette, in cooperation with the Polish fan club and d&d management, is proud to offer you the chance to meet Marie and Per backstage in Warsaw this Sunday. Together we are giving away 7 (seven) m&g passes for you fans!

Of course, we will need to put up some rules:

- Readers of Polish nationality please head over now to www.roxettepl.com and look for competition details over there.

- Non-Polish fans please apply here as follows: Send an email to kai@dailyroxette.com with the following details: Your name, email, cell phone number (international format!) before Saturday evening 23.59 Warsaw local time.

- Winners will be informed on Sunday morning via a text message to their cell phones. You will need to have purchased a valid concert ticket beforehand. Sorry, you cannot bring friends to the M&G. Pictures of the M&G will be taken for you and sent to your email address afterwards. No guarantees whatsoever for chances of getting items signed.

- Your personal data will remain secret and will only be used in connection with the preparation of this event. Data exchanges among TDR, RoxettePL and d&d may occur.

- Have fun!

BUENOS AIRES - Immediately following last night's sold-out concert, The Daily Roxette and Run to Roxette hosted an After School Party at the Dorsia nightclub in the trendy Puerto Madero district near Luna Park.

With the suport of the Swedish Embassy, the nightclub was decorated with posters highlighting various aspects of Swedish culture and a large, full-size blue and yellow Swedish flag hung behind the main bar. Fog machines and the expected disco ball along with theatrical lighting effects added to the festive atmosphere.

Almost the entire staff of the Swedish embassy attended the party along with a cadre of fashion models; Violeta Lo Re,  a well-known Argentinian actress; Alejandro Gallego, from Dancing with the Stars,  and -- to the delight of the fans who applauded their arrival -- Clarence Öfferman, Christoffer Lundqvist, Pelle Alsing and Magnus Börjeson from the Roxette band along with several crew members.

Clarence, Christoffer, Pelle and Magnus declined Dorsia's offer of a special VIP area, preferring instead to mix and mingle with the the other VIPs in attendance (i.e., the fans who where all given special VIP laminated passes and lanyards as an entrance gift  -- along with a gold Roxette lapel pin).

As the party progressed into the night, there were raffles and some karoke (that proved to be very popular with the crowd). Per made an appearance via a special video greeting recorded just prior to his taking the stage at Luna Park: "Hi this is Per, Im here at Luna Park which is the place to be tonight...I just want to say have a great evening and have a great party at the After School Party tonight...enjoy yourselves! Cheerio!"

Several band and crew members commented to this reporter that they thought the party was "brilliant" and that the fans were respectful and fun to be with.  The sincerity of their comments was reflected in the amount of time they chose to stay at the party. The crew members were in fact amongst the last to leave, and the band members stayed for most of the party.

Groups of Roxette fans in many countries around the world have organized parties over the years, and if you have ever been to one of those events, you know how special they are. RoxSpain and Roxette LatinoAmerica hosted two such parties last month to celebrate the release of Charm School. And now there are two more parties coming up in Buenos Aires where you can enjoy Roxette’s music and videos with other fans who understand how much it all means to you.

This Saturday evening, the Real Roxers (which began as merely a Facebook group) will throw a party to mark the start of Roxette's 25th Anniversary year that they're cleverly calling the "Wonderful Balloon Fest."  It will be held in Palermo at Plaza Serrano and will feature a live band.

And then, following the highly anticipated, sold-out Roxette concert on April 4, you can keep the excitement going by heading on down to Club Dorsia for the big "After School Party" being sponsored jointly by The Daily Roxette and Run to Roxette. Relax in the VIP lounge area, dance to the Roxette playlist, watch Roxette music videos, participate in a raffle drawing for prize giveaways, and make connections with other fans you may have previously only known online.

Welcome to the all-new Daily Roxette! As you can see, we've (finally) done a complete overhaul to the site. Please drop us a message if you find something not working.

The old user accounts are gone. If you want to add comments to the articles, you can do it without logging in at all or you can authenticate yourself with your Twitter or Facebook account.

The old site with all the articles and comments is available as static files at www2.dailyroxette.com. Naturally, you can't register or add comments there anymore.

We hope you'll enjoy your stay at TDR!