The Daily Roxette

MELBOURNE - With just 90 minutes before showtime, I had the great honor of sitting down with Per Gessle back stage at Rod Laver Arena for Roxette's second Melbourne concert. We discussed all topics from Travelling to Charm School to the exciting soon-to-be-announced North American Tour and everything inbetween. Enough talk: enjoy this exclusive Daily Roxette interview.

TDR: OK, so first up, let's talk about Travelling. We've had Tourism 2, 2rism, T2 and now Travelling, how did you finally decide on a title?

PG: My idea was to call it Tourism 2, I thought it sort of made sense because the whole idea with the album was sort of the same (as Tourism) sort of a sequel, but it was actually our record company which didn't like the idea because they said people are gonna get confused and they'll mix it up with Tourism number one, personally, I didn't get that. So then we said, OK, how about T2? But then they said no because a title with a number wasn't good and I said how about the Adele's record 21... and they didn't answer that one (laughs). At the end of the day, Marie and I fooled around with different ideas and I came up with this Travelling thing because it's like, Roxette is travelling at the moment so we decided we liked it even more and chose that instead of having these quarrels all the time... But we kept the same subtitle “songs from studios, stages, hotel rooms and other strange places”. For some reason, some people find things complicated...

TDR: The concept reminded me of the KISS live album(s) Alive, they have Alive 2, Alive 3, Alive 4, sort of a continuing legacy...

PG: ...yeah and I think that's a cool thing. It's like Bat out of Hell...

TDR: ...same as Welcome 2 My Nightmare by Alice Cooper...

PG: ...yeah, for me, I always thought that was a smart commercial move... but obviously I was wrong (laughs) ...but like I said, instead of having a big fight about it, we just decided to use something else and yeah, I guess it was a little confusing for those reading on the websites etc.

TDR: OK, so I'm guessing you're not going to reveal too much about the new album, but what can you tell me and talk me through the structure, how many new songs and so on?

PG: There are quite a lot of new songs, more than we were supposed to have. We came up with certain ideas, I revealed a couple of titles the other day, but I can reveal some more, for instance there is a version of "Perfect Excuse" from Party Crasher sung by Marie, which is a very cool version and it's there because basically, I always wanted to hear Marie sing that song, 'cause it's a beautiful song. On my album it's me singing the verse and Helena is doing the chorus and this is just Marie and Helena singing it, it's very slow and very different to the original...

TDR: ...so you don't sing on that song now at all?

Here are some of the new songs on Travelling, what do you think?

"Me & You & Terry & Julie"
"Lover Lover Lover"
"It’s Possible"
"Excuse Me, Sir, Do You Want Me To Check On Your Wife?"
"Touched By The Hand Of God" (including the happy small town poetry 'I guess my kind of talking was misplaced like hell Just like the "funk" in Art Garfunkel')

P.

PS. Terry & Julie are the two youngsters from the Kinks’ "Waterloo Sunset" but everyone knows that, right???

MELBOURNE - Some quick words from Melbourne to honor Roxette’s return, back since 1995.

The sold out concert at the great Rod Laver Arena (home of the Australian Open Grand Slam) was well worth attending. Having attended so many other Roxette concerts, I don’t think full house in big stadiums was ever a prospect, ever again. Not here... not a single seat was empty!

This reporter though new to the Melbourne scene, was bracing himself to the “unknown Roxette experience”. Melbournians are known for their engagement in any type of Sport and Cultural event. Not one year goes by without having big international acts visiting. And the support is there. Coming from Spain, where we go crazy just by recognizing 3 chords on radio or someone else’s stereo, I was excited to see the band again after an 11 year wait.

Setting the scene, just imagine over 10,000 fans walking toward the stadium from the main strip... we are all there for the same reason. Some though, haven’t seen them since 1992... in fact, my bet was that MOST hadn’t.

As our friend Stevo Petkovic from Sydney pointed out, the concert only took a nice Roxy vibe when the tune was recognized... and so, apart from losing "Opportunity Nox" from the set list, all went well as the build up to the second half of the concert was coming. As a Roxette fan, no flaws... great to see Marie back on stage, and Per and Christoffer running around. However, the audience was quite laid back probably nervous early on that most of the songs would be “new” and so "The Big L." helped everyone get into the mood with "It Must Have Been Love" getting full crowd engagement. Per’s golden nugget obviously paid off, even 25 years after.

SYDNEY - After seventeen years, they came, they saw and they kicked some serious ass!

Australians are a notoriously reserved crowd, our laid back culture unfortunately tends not to lend itself too well to a live rock show, but to their credit, Sydney stepped up its game... and in turn, noticing and responding to the crowd's overwhelming energy, Roxette met their match... and then some!

From the crunching opening chords to "Dressed for Success," Per and Marie were quickly shuffling around the stage busily recreating their standard poses, aware of the photographers at the front, Marie did her usual pouts and Per was jumping around like any well-choreographed classic Roxette music video. It almost seemed like a ritual or initiation to test the temperature of the crowd as the band were posed with a metaphorical question, "do we keep falling into our standard rock clichés and simply jam with our buddies on stage? Or will this crowd do their part and become part of the show and we can relax and let the music take over?" And the answer? Sydney overwhelmingly kicked ass! By the time The Big L started to pound the venue, the band had begun to relax as they were feeding off a starved audience and the show took on a more natural tone as it seemed for this performance, Roxette had recruited a new band member, over 10,000 hungry Roxette fans. From here on in, it got wilder and wilder.

Despite his cocky swagger and vintage swinging guitar rock moves, it was obvious Per was giddy as a school girl, cracking smiles in disbelief, surely a surreal moment knowing that 17 years on, that their once old stomping ground had come out in force to welcome back the band with open arms.

For non-Australian readers, perhaps a little perspective is needed. Roxette has not had a Top 40 single on the Aussie charts since 1994's "Sleeping in my Car," and despite regular airplay of "It Must Have Been Love" on classic FM stations, there was a reason why it took so long for the band to announce an Australian show as part of their tour. Was there enough interest? Roxette had been knocked back not once, but twice from two separate Australian promoters and were insulted during the process when referred to as a "mouldy old project". Live Nation Australia took a punt and 100,000 tickets and 10 shows later, Roxette has confirmed what we, the fans, always knew; last night was more than a rock show, last night was vindication and any Rox-doubters were noted by their absence or they were simply drowned in the hysteria of the crowd. This was a night for the people, this was a night for the starved Roxers who waited patiently, the night belonged to us!

As expected, the crowd reacted overwhelmingly to the "usual" hits and they were perhaps more reserved during their lesser known tracks but a true testament to the band and their talent was the thundering reception they received post "7Twenty7." The crowd weren't familiar with this guitar thumping track, after all, Have A Nice Day only peaked at #62 on the ARIA Charts, but despite their unfamiliarity, a wild applause at the conclusion of the song erupted as the Sydney Entertainment Centre had just witnessed one of the greatest live performance from a pop... err, rock band, they had ever seen, and the beaming smile emanating from Clarence Öfwerman's face post his psychedelic keyboard solo confirmed just that!

Here is a special Christmas greeting from Marie and Per:

2011 turned out to be something very special indeed. We don’t really know where to start! The ”She’s Got Nothing On”-single that made it all the way to the-4th-most-played-song-in-the-world for a couple of weeks? The Charm School album that felt like the perfect comeback for this young couple? Or The World Tour that kicked off in February? Oh yeah, let’s start there!

No one expected this kind of reception we got from you guys, we couldn’t even dream of filling huge arenas again. Almost 800,000 people came to the shows this year. That’s an awful lot of tickets!

And you know, we say it again and again, nothing would have been possible without the support, friendship, love + affection we get on a daily basis from YOU; The Rox Aficionados all over the world!!! You make things so much easier.

We certainly hope we’ll meet all of you again in 2012. Looks like this tour will have another 65 shows to go before the finale in October. New cities + new countries are in the can as well as some jolly returns to favourite places.

And, hey, as we’re writing this... we’re just wrapping up the recordings of the new T2 – Tourism 2-album. It feels like we’re having a splendid one coming up, recorded while touring, filled with the positive energy from you + from the superb bunch of musicians we’re blessed to work with.
We la-la-la-la-love it! Have a feeling you’re gonna love it too!

So, folks…..have a wonderful xmas + a mighty 2012.

Cheers,
Marie + Per

As you may or may not know, before every tour Per spends a night in front of his stereo system with a bottle of wine to put together the perfect mix tape to play while fans all over the world wait for Roxette to come on stage. This tour is no different. If you have access to Spotify, just click the link. Songs marked with * are not available on Spotify.

Rox World Tour 2011 II by Mr. Gee

Eddie & the Hot Rods, Do anything you wanna do
Madness, My girl
Lynn Anderson, Rose garden
Kraftwerk, The model
The Mascots, A sad boy
Madonna, Dress you up
Kirsty MacColl, Days
The Marvelettes, Please Mr. Postman
Kleerup, Longing for lullabies (w/ Titiyo)

[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.)

Ten years after their last visit, Roxette rejoins on stage in Helsinki's Hartwall Areena ice hockey rink. The concert went with the same formula as the previous ones during this world tour, so no surprises there. This was my third concert this year and the only new things were the minimalistic LED show on the background — a nice and subtle extension to their rather light stage construction — and the addition of "Crash! Boom! Bang!" to their set list. The new rendition of CBB with Per singing the first verse actually worked very well.

Marie struggled with the lyrics a few times, but Per and the audience of 7,500 people helped her well enough. Like in my previous Roxette concert in Tallinn, audience didn't realize that Roxette will always have two encores (They should know that the concert isn't over until the lights come up and Per's mix tape starts rolling!) and started leaving the arena. Then when the band came back first for "The Look" and then for LTYH, people were rushing back to their seats.

"Silver Blue" and "Stars" were dropped from the set list.

ZÜRICH - At first, this was meant to be a short clip with some nice scenes from Roxette’s SOLD OUT concert in Zürich on the 31st of October 2011 at the Hallenstadion. But then it turned out to be a small movie. 13,000 fans wanted to see Roxette in Zürich that evening. As we had reserved seats on the right side just in front of the stage, the view was amazing. Luckily, small cameras were allowed, so we managed to record some snippets. There are some scenes you shouldn’t miss. For example Per’s blooper at the beginning (fortunately, nothing happened). After “The Big L.,“ Marie was smiling all over her face and gave Per a pat on his back. Per’s talking to the audience saying that it would be always a pleasure to come back to Zürich. From “She’s Got Nothing On“ the audience was a lot more active than during the first songs. One gets goosebumps listening to the whole arena singing “It Must Have Been Love“ or “Spending My Time“. Another favorite: Per is playing with the audience at the beginning of “How Do You Do!“.

During the band presentation Per asked Magnus about a strange little blue machine he has never seen before. That part was indeed funny, because Per pretended that he has never heard of a synthesizer and many people were laughing at him. You can see the audience having fun with the big Roxette balloons during “Joyride“. “The Look“ was just amazing, watch the snippet. Marie at her best during “Listen to Your Heart“. After the first verse of “Church of Your Heart“ Per stopped singing. He was overwhelmed by the huge audience.

At the end of the concert Marie seemed a little bit lost as you can see on the snippet. It’s probably because most people did not applaud, but put their hands in the air and screamed “oohhhh...“. What they didn't realize of course is that this is really special about the Swiss audience at big concerts or music festivals; it’s a sign that they enjoyed the concert. When they do this, they also want to play and wait for someone starting a wave. At the beginning of “Watercolours in the Rain“ you can see the front row trying to start the wave, but it didn’t work. It has to be someone from the stage. Fans hoped for Per or Marie to start the wave, but naturally nobody had told them about this. Hopefully next time! All in all, it was an unforgettable evening.

Here is the video, it's not searchable.

Marie has drawn this charcoal piece called "Tre vänner" ("Three Friends") which is being auctioned out.
All profits from the auction go towards the Child Diabetes Fund, and is arranged by the Child Diabetes Fund together with the medical company Eli Lilly along with the Swedish Auction Office.

November 14 is World Diabetes Day. This is also the last day of the auction. Many Swedish celebrities have donated objects to this auction.

The auction is available at Auktionsverket and www.stadsauktion.se until November 14, and anyone can place a bid!