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???

SYDNEY - Buoyed by the phenomenal success of their current tour Down Under, Roxette's 2006 Compilation Roxette Hits! - Their 20 Greatest Songs has finally cracked the ARIA Top 40 Album Charts some 5 years after its initial release, peaking at #39.

Often seen hovering at the lower end of the Top 100, the album has finally cracked the prestigious Top 40. Roxette's last charting album on the Australian Charts was Charm School back in February 2011 where it reached #49. The last Roxette compilation that featured in the Aussie album charts was Don't Bore Us Get to the Chorus peaking at #10 in 1996, ironically, also reaching its peak well past its initial release date which was November 1995.

Roxette Hits! is also at #10 on the Australian iTunes charts.

The Australian comeback continues, stay tuned to TDR for further updates!

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!

SYDNEY - Tonight (last night in Australia) Roxette performed the first of three Sydney gigs, all sold out. According to The Daily Telegraph Roxette delivered. Kathy McCabe writes "EVERYONE has been scratching their head since the tour was announced - how the hell have 90s Swedish pop act Roxette sold out so many concerts in Australia in 2012? The answer was abundantly clear at their opening show of three gigs at the Sydney Entertainment Centre last night... The screams which greeted their arrival on stage and opening track 'Dressed For Success' had me contemplating ear plugs. They were piercing and ecstatic." Click here for more photos.

The Daily Roxette will review the concert as soon as the reporter has put it down on paper.

The tour continues with Sydney again tomorrow.

BRISBANE - Roxette has just kicked off their first Australian tour since the Crash! Boom! Bang! World Tour in 1995.  The opening number was, of course, "Dressed For Success"!  Per has previously mentioned that the setlist will be the same as the autumn leg of the tour.  However, there might be one or two surprises...

The concert has now finished, and there were no surprises in the setlist.  

While there are no details in the article, Roxette has promised to return to New Zealand and all the fans there. CEO of Live Nation Sweden, Thomas Johansson says that the ticket sales were around the 6,500 mark and they "were really pleased with that." Roxette is planning to return at a later date.

Roxette opens up the 2012 leg of the tour in Brisbane, Australia, on Valentine's day.

According to the sites Aftonbladet and Sky News there should be no danger to the Australian part of the tour. "Guitarist" Per got a nasty stomach bug on the flight down and got very dehydrated. He was hospitalized to get better. Per himself tweets and FBs that he already is feeling better. Roxette is desperate to play Australia, a spokesperson for the band says to Sky News.

Live Nation regret to advise that Roxette has been forced to cancel its New Zealand concert, which was to be held at Auckland’s Vector Arena this Saturday, February 11 2012.

Per Gessle of Roxette fell ill during his flight from Stockholm to Auckland and has been forced to rest for several days to prepare for the remainder of the tour. "Per got a crazy stomach bug on the flight so he's dehydrated and needs to rest," says Dita Kleman of d&d.

Despite the best efforts of all involved with the tour, it has not been possible to schedule an alternative date for the Auckland show within the already demanding tour schedule.

The tour will resume as scheduled in Brisbane on Tuesday February 14.

What now?

For all tickets booked online or by phone, the credit card used in the booking will automatically be refunded. Please allow up to five working days to receive your refund.

If your booking was made at a Ticketmaster outlet, please return to the original outlet with your ticket(s) and the credit card used to purchase, to obtain your refund.

Source: Live Nation Australia and New Zealand