As this article is being written, Per and his band are being called back on stage to perform an encore before a noisy, raucous crowd in Helsinki, Finland. It's the first night of the Party Crasher tour and, like many other international tours involving Per Gessle, Helsinki is again serving as the first stop.  It's an exciting moment, one to be repeated over the next few weeks in venues across Europe.

Partly as a result of the obligatory pre-tour publicity campaign — the tour after all ended up being subtitled "The Man from Roxette" — and partly the result of the natural progression in the timeline that has marked the remarkable recovery story of Marie Fredriksson, there's been considerable mention in the media recently of a possible reunion of Per and Marie as Roxette.

Both Per and Marie, in speaking to various journalists and reporters, have over the last few months mentioned the possibility of some kind of Roxette project surfacing again.  Lately, Per's been quoted in an article appearing on Chart Attack as saying "I'm sure something will happen."  With both Per and Marie talking out loud, on the record, to reporters… not just once but repeatedly… it's now seemingly safe to say that it's not just possible, but extremely likely that we'll at least be able to hear Per and Marie again performing together as Roxette. Per has said that he and Marie recently picked up some acoustic guitars and sang some of Roxette songs together… to see how it felt. Apparently, it felt good for them both.

We congratulate Per (and his partners-in-music) on tonight's premeire concert.   Untold numbers of our readers are looking forward to attending one of the upcoming concerts on this tour, and The Daily Roxette looks forward to providing extensive coverage.  These are good days for fans of Per Gessle's music.  Still, as we enjoy the Party Crasher album, and hear Per singing Roxette material on stage again…  we know we're not alone when thinking about Helsinki tonight.  We wonder if it's too much to hope for that this favored first-stop city might be called into service yet once again?  It's not so silly, really… to consider the possibilty of Per and Marie jetting to various locales to give their fans a treat.  For example, fellow Scandinavians a-ha just did that in Brazil… flying in to do one concert in Sao Paulo and one in Rio. 

Yes, we're all a bit older and have learned to manage our expectations, but for now at least we'll once again entertain the idea of seeing both Per and Marie on stage together.   Our prayers, after all, were answered once before.