This gig, now featuring new vocalist Lena Philipsson, was part of a series of concerts held at an exquisite venue, the Noches del Botánico at the Royal Botanical Gardens of Alfonso XIII. This year’s lineup included both national and international acts such as Texas, Santana and Roxette. I joined the queue shortly after lunch, at about 2pm and was greeted by some familiar faces. As in most Roxette concerts, numbers for those waiting had been given out and the unbearable heat was somewhat lessened by the fact that organizers kindly allowed fans to wait under the shade provided near the entrance, beyond the usual time.

The festival gates opened at 19.30 and several food and drink stands were available then. We would have to wait for over an hour until the stage area could be accessed, but in the meantime to our surprise Christoffer Lundqvist walked up to the waiting area and spent the next 10 minutes posing with anyone who wanted a picture and talking to Patricia Perez for Roxetteblog. By 21.00 the stage area, now in the shade, was finally accessible and despite being told not to run, some late comers made it to the front row. Having secured spots for both myself and my sister in the front row, it was now time to wait for Roxette to start, as no supporting act was performing. Since I doubt they will release anything officially, I filmed pretty much the entire thing.

The crew were even kind enough to hand out front-row fans some Christoffer plectrums! Per, Lena and the rest of the band made their entrance at 22.05 and the party began. We were sadly treated to a shorter setlist, like the one in the previous concert in Munich. A total of 17 songs were included. Much to my regret, we didn’t get to hear Things Will Never be the Same, Wish I Could Fly or What’s She Like? and I can only wonder why they have suddenly taken those out from the setlist. Was it because of the heat? Only time will tell. Both ballads and up-tempo songs were eagerly sung along by the audience.

As a hardcore Marie Fredriksson fan, I didn’t get goosebumps on the ballads, but I was tearful during It Must Have Been Love, being aware one more time of the fact that Marie will never sing those hits again. Don’t get me wrong, Lena is doing a terrific job, but it’s hard not to think of Marie whenever certain songs are performed. My concert highlights were Dressed for Success, Almost Unreal and Dangerous. Lena certainly felt the love from the audience, even to the point of venturing out an unintelligible Spanish ‘Me siento genial = I feel great’ at some point. As for Christoffer’s nod to the local audience, it was Paquito el Chocolatero a popular party song dating from 1937, played right before Joyride.

The next concert, which I sadly did not attend as connections between Madrid and Mérida were appalling, was Mérida, where they were awarded the Via Musicorum Award a few hours before the show. The next Roxette shows for me will be Göteborg 2 on July 25th and in the autumn, Valencia on November 15th at the newly-built Roig Arena, so stay tuned for more concert reviews from me. I can’t wait!