Now, this article has been written twice. One time in my head on the way to Halmstad and a second time after having watched both Halmstad shows. What happened? 

Well, when we TDR reporters write about a concert, we want to approach a different angle to the story. Everyone knows the setlist by now and if you don’t you’ll find it at the bottom of this page. There is no need to go into details and describe how the entrance procedure works when the hardcore fans arrive. Those who know know and those who don’t won’t ever need that. Nah, we’d like to transport a more general notion, we’d like to look closer at things and everything that’s going on. So usually, we come up with a brilliant idea regarding what the next article might focus on, check out the reality, write it down and there you have your piece of news. Unless it’s 2025 and Roxette’s tour band has a new female singer: Lena Philipsson. 

What was the first plan? Having watched some of the videos of the tour start in Australia and South Africa and not having attended one of the shows personally yet, I wanted to point out how carefully planned the stage setup was: Per in the front row, a meter (three feet for our American readers) behind him you’d find Lena behind her mic stand. No replacing Marie, we’d have a new singer for the female parts of the songs but it would have been made clear that she is not the lead singer, rather a more focused on background singer compared with Dea who really was the background singer. They had a similar setup when Helena was still the singer in PG Roxette. Good thinking, making clear who’s who. Then I’d rumble a bit about the poor stage backdrops, would suggest to use some of the many Roxette designs they had over the years to make things look a bit more pop out. Maybe some words about how the setlist did have some changes but all in all the songs still sounded the same. A bit about the audience, some new details I would find during the show here and there and whoops there you have a story. In fact, for the first time ever, I wanted to write the main part of the story the night before the first Halmstad concert, change a few things after the show, add five quick photos and publish. Good thing that I didn’t. 

Here’s the new story:

Roxette in Halmstad, this has always sounded special. I mean, Per grew up here, the infamous T&A studio was around the corner, everything smelled like Roxette here. Yet when you speak with Swedish fans they all talk like “Yeah, well, in fact I’m much more of a Gyllene Tider fan. Roxette in town is nice but actually we’re only seeing this because it’s still somehow part of the GT universe and maybe some of the GT boys may show up on stage at some point. Who knows? Are you writing this down? Don’t quote me!” Probably not quite true for everyone as there were plenty of cars nearby Brottet looking for one of the very rare parking spots that blasted out Roxette songs and people wore ancient Roxette tour shirts but still. I wondered if I’d find dedicated fans of Lena in the masses waiting at the entrance but they were almost impossible to identify. Is everyone team Rox now? Speaking with travelling international Roxette fans, the answers were a bit different. They were full about how good Lena performed and how much she had improved over the last months, much better than when she began. They were all looking forward to the show a lot.

Couple of hours later, the show begins. As a photo reporter, you get the chance to take photos during the first three songs which is usually quite an intense time. You are right at the edge of the stage, you never really know how high the stage would be and what lens you’d use best. Then there is a lot of action on stage, well orchestrated of course. Per would do his poses, sometimes alone, sometimes with Chris, today with Lena as well. If you watched some of the live videos beforehand, you usually know when to be in which place to get the best shots. Don’t forget to take some shots of Clarence, Dea and the new drummer and all would be fine.

Not this time. No. 

Lena owned the stage from the first minute on. She was not the quiet little background singer anymore, she is the new female lead singer, no doubt. She has been a professional solo artist in Sweden for ages, she has been in hundreds of tv shows. She loves the camera, she knows how to look best, how to draw the attention to her. She moves from left to right and back, she smiles, she throws her head back and her hairs up. Tough to follow her! Takes me a minute to remember not to forget to take some photos of Per at least. Seriously. For the first time in what feels like 20 years, Per is “that fake guitarist in an 80s band” again. Good old times! Don’t get me wrong, he was as active as ever, only nobody was used to a power engine like Lena anymore. In GT, Per was the main act on stage, all eyes on him. Solo tours anyway. With Helena in PG Roxette, he still was the person in the center of the stage and then he gave room for Helena to shine, stepped back for a song and then returned. Now, this with Lena was a new level. I began to understand what the international fans meant before the show. 

And not only Lena delivered. The whole band was on fire. I’ve never seen Chris bouncing around like a rubber ball that much and he seemingly had fun pulling faces with Per in their various guitar duels throughout the show. He even did his famous stage jump twice per show, always worth to see him flying from the drum stage up to what feels like the light beams and landing softly on the stage, killing a couple more tunes with his guitar while melting on the floor. Magnus was all over the place, played with Chris, had his own short part with Lena and Dea, he too was smiling all the time. Then we have Clarence back in the corner, usually out of sight. Surprisingly, Chris came and paid him a visit so they both could rock together. Have we seen this before? Beats me. Dea, who like anyone else on stage is an absolute pro, roamed all over the stage, danced, jumped, performed the hell out of her. Even Jonas, who always looks totally concentrated on what he’s doing shows his teeth from time to time. Oh, let’s not forget Jonas at all! His return to the band marks a new quality of sound. The guitar riffs are now as hard and clear as we were used to from the tours and the albums in the 1990s again. He was missed by so many and now you could hear why. Having him back was one of the best decisions in the recent years. Oh, and we have a new drummer. Norpan. One may assume he would only do his job and play his notes away but what he did there was amazing. He introduced a more complex drumming scheme with some extra beats here and a hefty beat there which perfectly fits that new rock energy on stage. 

Watching the whole show, it felt like being part of an alternative reality. I mean, Per had worked with Lena back in the 1980s already, they must have known each other for so long. Seeing the new Roxette tour band with Lena felt totally natural. And for a split second, this thought enters your head: What if she had been the singer in Roxette from the very beginning? Of course, this thought is highly blasphemous in regards to Marie and you’d push it away as fast as you can. But seeing Lena shouting out all the Roxette songs in such a quality and with that huge amount of power makes you feel like this is finally the real deal again. I take it as a huge homage from Lena to Marie that she performs the old hits with so much heart and so much voice. She’s earning her spot on this stage night by night again.

This whole show lasts about two hours, almost 20 songs are being played. It’s fun to watch it from the beginning to the end, the quality is amazing, not only for a band that for some time didn’t exist anymore. We see highly trained professionals performing totally live, “no click tracks” as Per always likes to point out. We see pure happiness on stage, this is not some choreographed nonsense, these people really enjoy what they do up there. Even the stage backdrops have vastly improved now, you see the elephants from the Joyride era and the Rox star and more. Only the Halmstad audience seemed a bit reserved. I’m sure the first rows were as loud as ever, but I would have expected to see more flashlights and usually you see people dancing in the audience.

The more interesting it will be to see the next leg of the Roxette tour where they will play indoor arenas all over Europe in November and December 2025. Indoor gigs are usually more powerful because what happens on stage gets immediately reflected in the audience and spirals up the whole show. We usually write “they blew the roof off” then or similar lines. Watch this place. And do get your tickets for the shows to come. I’m sure the band will find one or two things they still want to improve and blow you away this fall. 

Yes, you can quote me.

Find over 100 photos in this gallery, best viewed on a big screen probably. Enjoy!

The set list

1. The Big L.
2. Sleeping in My Car
3. Dressed for Success
4. Crash! Boom! Bang!
5. Wish I Could Fly
6. Opportunity Nox
7. Fading Like a Flower
8. Vulnerable/Milk and Toast and Honey
9. Almost Unreal
10. Stars
11. She’s Got Nothing On (But the Radio)
12. It Must Have Been Love
13. How Do You Do!
14. Dangerous

Band presentation

15. Joyride

Encore

16. Spending My Time
17. Listen to Your Heart
18. The Look
19. Queen of Rain