Gessle tours Europe with Roxettes music!
Good news for European fans of Swedish super group and classic hit makers Roxette—the duo’s songwriter Per Gessle is embarking on a European tour focusing on the mighty Roxette song catalogue this autumn.
The group’s charismatic singer, Marie Fredriksson, announced her withdrawal from touring due to health problems in the spring of 2016, shortly before the release of the group’s tenth studio album, “Good Karma”.
When faced with this situation, Gessle decided to channel his energy into writing material for a Swedish solo project recorded in Nashville later that year. The recordings were made with long-time Swedish musical partners Christoffer Lundquist, Clarence Öfwerman, Anders Herrlin and Helena Josefsson, coupled with a long list of top-league American session players.
Mixing parts of the Roxette touring band with new musicians, Gessle in the summer of 2017 toured Sweden in support of the first of two mini albums from the Nashville sessions, “En vacker natt” (“A Beautiful Night”).
Violin and mandolin player Malin-My Wall, drummer Andreas Dahlbäck and Ola Gustafsson on pedal steel, mandolin and guitar added a fresh touch of Americana, which merged seamlessly with the seasoned Roxette musicians Christoffer Lundquist (guitar), Clarence Öfwerman (keyboards), Magnus Börjeson (bass) and Helena Josefsson (backing vocals).
Both the tour and the Nashville recorded album were enthusiastically received for adding new perspective and depth to Gessle’s music.
– I loved playing with this band, and then it hit me—what if we could do a similar thing dedicated to Roxette music. With Marie unable to perform, all those songs would just gather dust and I was thrilled by the idea of hearing this band performing them, Per Gessle says.
– Marie of course is irreplaceable, he adds. But she sends her blessings, and we both think that this could be a great way to keep the songs fresh by playing them with a slightly different twist in front of all those wonderful people that has been following us through the years.
Gessle emphasizes that the band is able to cover all aspects of Roxette music; from the hook-laden power-pop hits to the mighty ballads that still gets heavy rotation on classic pop radio all over the world. And he promises to dig deep in his song-vault for some surprises as well.
– Yeah, that’s really the fun part of it—I love playing the big hits like “The Look”, “Listen To Your Heart”, “It Must Have Been Love”, “Joyride” and “How Do You Do!”, but a tour like this is also a great opportunity to rediscover some of the great, but lesser played, songs and find out what we can make of them. Just wait and see…
Dubbed “Per Gessle’s Roxette”, a European tour covering ten countries kicks off in Hamburg, Germany, on October 11. An English album -“Small Town Talk”- featuring material from the Nashville sessions (including a duet with British pop maestro Nick Lowe) as well as new recordings with the touring band, will be released internationally to coincide with the tour.
The tour will include the following stops:
11.10 Hamburg, Laeiszhalle (GER)
12.10 Bryssel, Ancienne Belgique (BEL)
15.10 London, Hammersmith Apollo (GBR)
16.10 Manchester, Apollo (GBR)
18.10 Wien, Stadthalle F (AUT)
19.10 Zurich, Halle 622 (SUI)
21.10 Warszawa, Stodola (POL)
22.10 Berlin, Admiralspalast (GER)
23.10 Köln, E-Werk (GER)
25.10 Utrecht, Muziekcentrum Vredenburg (NED)
27.10 Halmstad, Halmstad Arena
3.11 Espoo, Metro Areena (FIN)
5.11 Stockholm, Waterfront
9.11 Karlstad, Löfbergs Arena
10.11 Linköping, Saab Arena
15.11 Oslo, Sentrum Scene (NOR)
16.11 Göteborg, Scandinavium.
More gigs to come!
/ Team Roxette
