Leipzig is a city that has experienced several milestones of history. Gustaf II Adolf, a famous Swedish king, fought his final battle nearby, Napoleon got defeated here and more or less lately, the Leipzig “Monday demonstrations” lead to the re-unification of Germany. Now we saw Roxette coming over here and join their part to Leipzig’s book of history.

The stage was erected right next to one of the city’s symbols, the famous “Völkerschlachtdenkmal” (anyone willing to pronounce this?), a monument comemorating the big battle after which Napoleon got banned thanks to the Swedish troops, among others. The place is surrounded by a huge park in which hundreds of people were sitting, grilling or playing. It looked like they come here regularily in order to enjoy the music from the nearby stage. 14,000 people with good taste in music had bought tickets for the show. Nice people, indeed.

Roxette’s performance can be described as solid this evening, technically perfect but a little less smiles than usual (certainly due to the fact that the guys in the band except Marie were arriving the same afternoon only) although this reporter felt that Per and Marie were interacting more with the crowd this time. And the people greeted this with an overwhelming response. The last time I saw people in motion like this was when Gyllene Tider played their “Sommartider” up in native Sweden. People clapping and waving hands even in the last rows to all the big hits, smokers (and there were many of them!) putting up their lighters when the ballads were sung. You get a good impression of the mood of this evening when you watch the video this reporter managed to take. The local tune Christoffer played this time has the name “Sing mei Sachse sing” (“Sing Saxon sing”) and is practically the local party anthem.

Thank you, Leipzig! 

(Video and photo gallery after the break)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oBLDkjk7SlU