I’ve been a Roxette fan since I was 13. When I was 17, I traveled abroad for the first time, and the purpose of that trip was simple – to see (and hear) Per Gessle.

Since then my friends and I have traveled a lot, following our favorite musicians all over Europe, and this concert today was really one of the best! (I didn’t think I would ever say this about a concert in Russia)

The first thing I saw when I reached the concert hall were young people selling the “photos signed by Marie and Per”. They were rather insistent and some people bought those fake pictures which is quite sad.

I arrived at the venue almost two hours before the start, and there were about 60 people in front of the gates. I thought I would only see the fans that I already knew, but a lot of people unfamiliar to me were standing there. That just shows again that Per and Marie have much more fans in Russia than we know about. And they must be true fans – who else would wait outside the concert hall for hours when it’s so cold?? Winter came to St Petersburg today and it’s just freezing…

The doors opened at 7 pm and the crowd rushed inside.
All the greatest Roxette fans were in the front row: and they didn’t come empty-handed. A lot of small flags, big posters, and even balloons – they had everything prepared!

Vlada

At 8 pm sharp Vlada Chuprova started to sing. Of all the supporting acts I’ve ever seen and heard it was probably the best one. The music was rather good and the girl was nice to look at. Check her out in the picture: the hair, the leather pants, how thin she is – kind of reminds you of someone, doesn’t she?

At 9 pm Roxette finally took the stage starting with “Sleeping in My Car” – and the audience greeted them warmly. I don’t know how to describe this, but today there was a lot of Gessle – and I liked it!
He was loud, he was dynamic, he was jumping all over the stage. He sang a lot – even the first verse of “Crash!Boom!Bang!” was performed by him, not by Marie. He made great intonations during the songs. I especially enjoyed his “questions” in “Dressed for Success,” and his “when I get old I will wait outside your house” – he pronounces each single word in such a sexy way that you just melt.

During the first two songs I was with the media people, taking photos  –  very close to the stage, but then I had to go and stand with the enormous crowd – and of course I was standing very far from the stage as I got there during the third song (which was “Stars,” by the way).

At first, being so far away bothered me (I had always been in the first row before and I got used to that). But then I realized something: now that I’m standing so far away, I can see the emotions of “ordinary” people not just the super-duper fans who follow Roxette everywhere. And those emotions appeared to be very interesting to watch. For example, the audience went crazy when they heard the first chords of “Real Sugar” and “How Do You Do!” as these hits can still be often heard on the radio here, while no one (only the first row) knew “She’s Got Nothing On (But the Radio).”

Also no real enthusiasm was shown by the general public during “The Heart Shaped Sea” or “Watercolours In The Rain.” The latter was wonderfully performed by Marie and Dea together – so tender and soft it was, that I liked Dea immediately, even though I missed Helena a lot!

While Per was introducing Real Sugar, he and Magnus had a funny little dialog. It went like this:
– This song is from Room Service album, which is Magnus’s favorite album!
– No, it isn’t.
– No?
– You are deadly wrong! My favorite album is Joyride. You know why?
– Why?
– ‘Cause it has “(Do You Get) Excited”!!

And then they started playing and everyone around me was singing along and dancing and  jumping and everyone knew the lyrics…  I didn’t expect that from our natives. The whole place was filled with amazing energy – people were really enjoying themselves and my heart was filling up with joy just watching them.

After the gig was over, when people were leaving, I heard them thanking their relatives and friends for bringing them to the concert. And they should be grateful: the band is the best in the world, the sound was fantastic today (I expected it to be much worse as it is usually pretty bad at this venue), the set list was also great.

But my adventures didn’t end when Per and Marie left the stage. I was invited to come backstage, and though I didn’t see Marie and Per, they were kind enough to sign some little posters I had with me (thanks, BoJo!).

When I saw the door with PER GESSLE written on it, my legs started shaking, ha ha!

And the final chord of this evening… While I was sitting and waiting for Marie and Per to sign my posters, the door opened and I saw Pelle. We talked a little and made a few selfies. He is the best!

Thanks for this evening full of surprises and excitement! I hope to see the band and my Rox-friends again soon.