Fans have been hopeful in recent years that with Marie's recovery from brain cancer, that Per and Marie would reactivate Roxette: take the stage again… perhaps tour… and if all that wasn't possible, at least get into a recording studio and release new material.  We've known for months now that all of these wishes are coming true, and today marks another milestone in the duo's career with Roxette.

Per, Marie, and the band – along with a very small entourage – boarded what Per has dubbed the "Roxjet" late yesterday morning and flew to Kazan, Russia where, tonight, the first in a long series of concerts will take place in the large basketball arena there.

After a handful of successful concerts that Roxette performed this past summer (the results of which are an impressive addition to the deluxe edition of their new Charm School album), they've now set out on a full-fledged world tour that is expected to span at least five continents during the year (see below).  By all accounts, both Per and Marie are returning to the world stage full of renewed enthusiasm. While Roxette toured the U.S. in 2000 (Greatest Hits) and Europe in 2001 (Room Service), their last real world tour took place in 1994-95 in conjunction with the “Crash! Boom! Bang!” album.

“If you’d asked me a couple of years ago,  if there would ever be a new Roxette tour I would have very quickly said 'No!',” says Per. “Knowing what Marie had to go through in recovering from her severe illness, this is not only unbelievable, it seems almost magical to me. It will be wonderful to meet all our audience on Planet Earth again.”

Band member Christoffer Lundquist, speaking to The Daily Roxette after having arrived in Kazan, said “Roxette are back and it really feels like the world wants to hear Roxette again. Everyone really feels the difference compared to the last tour – 2001.  There's so much more enthusiasm and demand and curiousity about Roxette and it really affects all of us. And of course the obvious… I mean Marie's amazing comeback. It's really a miraculous recovery. And also, her personal strength… the way she has been fighting for this and not giving up. The whole thing is mind-blowing to me.”

About the tour, he says “We're playing really, really great songs and singing and playing live… with as much energy as we can possibly muster!”

MORE GOOD NEWS TO COME!

Additional concert dates, beyond those that are confirmed and appear on our concert calendar, are expected… both within the current time frame, and beyond it. Per, in an interview with German radio station NDR 2 for which readers of TDR were invited to submit questions, revealed that plans are underway to extend the tour into the fall with about 25 more shows. While he mentioned that some would be in Germany, it is expected that other dates will include stops in some of the countries that seem to be obvious omissions from the tour including, perhaps, a North American segment.  There has been speculation that that is why the Mexico City date was replaced with Montevideo, Uruguay.

HAPPENING IN KAZAN

TDR's reporter in Kazan, Svetlana Kulalaeva, has let us know that it should be possible to view the scheduled press conference over the internet (link below), and that the Mayor of Kazan (who by some accounts is a Roxette fan himself) is expected to officially welcome Per and Marie.

Coverage of Roxette's arrival in Kazan (photos and video) [KP.ru] | Press Conference (with LiveNation's Thomas Johansson)

Additional reporting by Michi1506 in Germany. The photo of the Roxjet is an artist's rendition of the actual plane (which LiveNation has leased from a company in Finland — thus the "OH"), with the addition of a Roxette livery.