STOCKHOLM - In an exclusive and hastily scheduled telephone interview with The Daily Roxette, an embarrassed Per Gessle confesses he made an error in calculating how many years it has been since he first started working with Roxette. “The 20th Anniversary was actually last year… in 2005,” he admits. “So we’re cancelling the plans we had made for this year.

  “I know there will be many fans disappointed by this, so we wanted you guys at TDR to be the first to know. But we’ll try to make it up to them,” said Per. “And hey, you do get the German EP!”

  “Math has never been my strong point. I almost flunked the subject when I was in school. On the other hand, I did really well with geography (he laughs), and not only do I know we have fans around the world, but I can point to where those countries are on the map! We haven’t forgotten all those smiling faces beaming up at us on stage,” he declared.

  ”Oh well… maybe 25 sounds better than 20 anyway. It does have a nice ring to it, so we’ll just have to wait,” said a disappointed Li Lindebäck at EMI. But manager Marie Dimberg, trying to put a positive spin on the story, said “Look what 25 did for Gyllene Tider. Don’t be too upset, this could be good news. It’ll give us more time to prepare something really big.”

  “For someone with the reputation of being both a good musician and businessman, Per really does have some difficulty with figures and accounting,” said Jan Beime, his business manager at Desert AB. “I suppose that’s why he hired us.”

  It’s unclear at the point exactly what is to become of the Greatest Hits album and the RoxBox collector’s set. Per seemed to indicate that a portion of this material might still be released this year, but he was not immediately available when we tried to reach him again. A press release is expected Monday.

EDITOR’S NOTE: This was, indeed, part of our little April Fool’s Day joke … thanks to Per for being a good sport about it. – LEO