Bag of Trix Returns …

★ Roxette+Marie – More Music from the Roxette Vault ★

Today would have been Marie’s Birthday, and in her honour, we’re releasing June’s Monthly Mock-Up a couple of days early, as it’s designed especially for her this month. Happy Birthday Marie

It’s been a while now since the original ‘Bag of Trix‘ was released, and it’s very quiet, peaceful you would say, on the Marie Fredriksson Catalogue front.  We did get the live album released in 2025 (thank you Mr Bolyos!), but of course we all miss Marie terribly, and long to hear recordings that remain unreleased or unavailable on streaming.

So here we have Roxette+Marie – ‘Bag of Trix‘ style.

We did think about doing this as ‘The Marie Fredriksson Archives‘ just like Per’s epic ‘TPGA‘, but we just loved the whole ‘Bag of Trix‘ boxset, and thought best keeping this to more of the English songs and celebrate Marie’s part of Roxette, plus a few extras.

The Original Album

‘Bag of Trix‘ was an epic release.  It was the first time Per had truly flung open the doors to The Roxette Vault, and dedicating a whole collection to Roxette.  We got demos, remixes, Spanish versions, alternative takes, outtakes and even some live cuts.  Many of which were previously unreleased or long out of print.  It was bloody brilliant! This one, focuses in on Marie as a tribute and as we already mentioned, for today, her birthday.

Our Mock–up Design

As always, our mock-up takes its lead directly from the original ‘Bag of Trix‘ artwork, designed this time by Pär Wickholm, with only minor updates here and there.  This time, we’ve only produced the LP Boxset version all pressed on black vinyl.

The tracklisting was the most difficult part.  So many songs, but also “we don’t know what we don’t know” – what else is lurking in The Roxette Vault?

To that end, we stuck to the narrative that Marie was a one in a million performer, both in the studio, and live on stage.  You’ll see lots of live inclusions.  We’d love to see these released one day.

What songs would you have picked?

We have of course done a Spotify Playlist, but please note, this is not the same as the mock-up, as obviously, not all tracks are officially available.

Happy Birthday Marie

Next Month

We’ll be back next month with another brand-new mock-up.
What could it be? Any suggestions?

In the meantime, go show Roxette+Marie some love, pop your fave song on, and play it loud!
Also worth a revisit is the massive The Per Gessle Archives such an awesome box!

This is a very serendipitous one, as it ‘nicely’ follows the latest 40th Anniversary surprise releases – ‘The Have A Nice Day Demos‘ and ‘Have A Nice Day! Extended Version‘,  here we have the perfectly themed/timed…

HAVE A NICE TOUR!

Picture it, 1999, Roxette have returned with album number six, their first in some five years, ‘HAVE A NICE DAY!‘

It’s an immediate hit, with the singles:

★ ‘Wish I Could Fly‘
★ ‘Anyone‘ / ‘Pay The Price‘ (in some regions)
★ ‘Stars‘
★ ‘Salvation‘.

Not all the singles we’d have picked, hey ho, but that’s another story.

The decision was made not to tour the album, instead, Roxette returned to the studio and recorded what would become ‘Room Service‘, released in 2001.  A Tour thankfully followed that one, albeit a short one.

For our May Monthly Mock-Up, we present the HAVE A NICE TOUR!

An Exclusive Vinyl EP, Posters, Programme, Merchandise, the Setlist and Stage Designs. Oh it would have been marvellous!

What do you think the setlist could have been? See our take on it below, and of course a Spotify Playlist.

Our Mock–up Designs

As always, our mock-ups take the lead directly from the original album design.  It was all very bright, neons, yellow, blue and pink.

‘Have A Nice Day!‘ was designed by Karl-Magnus Boske together with Roxette.  Photographs were by the late great, Robert Nettarp, taken the one day our very ownThomas E wasn’t at work at Wenner-Gren Center in Stockholm (always makes me laugh). Look Robert’s work up, some amazing stuff.

 The photoshoot is another stand-out amongst all the other albums.  Would love to see more from it being released officially – again, tired of saying this but… A proper Roxette Photobook is long overdue now, alas it’s unlikely to happen as “too many photographers involved” according to Per during our recent ROX40 Interview, sigh.

The album cover was very bold in design, but the cover remains a puzzle.  It’s certainly the weird one, but really cool at the same time? I don’t quite understand the children being there, are they supposed to be young versions of Marie and Per?  I think we need to revisit the interviews around that time to remind ourselves the story behind it.

The album was a welcome return too, some all time favourites featured, including ‘7Twenty7‘, ‘You Can’t Put Your Arms Around What’s Already Gone‘, ‘Crush On You‘, ‘Beautiful Things‘ and personal favourite, ‘Staring at the Ground‘.

Hopefully HAVE A NICE DAY! will get the 30th Anniversary treatment when we hit 2029, as there’s an awful lot sat waiting in The Roxette Vault, but again, that’s another story for another time.

We were however recently treated to the previously unreleased ‘The Monk Version‘ of ‘Wish I Could Fly‘ which is an eerie but super cool take on the classic, as well as some previously unheard demos from the era like ‘A Girl Like You‘ and ‘Only When I Dream‘ – very ABBA–ish, no?

We do love it when The Roxette Vault is opened. More to come in 2026 too.

The HAVE A NICE STAGE!

Taking our cue from the ‘Have A Nice Day!‘ and ‘Wish I Could Fly‘ sleeves – the ‘wonky window’ becomes the moving LED screen.

Lots of neon, but minimal, letting the screen graphics do all the heavy lifting.  One thing that’s always frustrated me about the Rox Tours – the lack of a really good backdrop, i.e. an LED screen.  Roxette have so much video material that they could be using, although seeing the South American leg they did look a lot better. I suppose using the videos though would cost?

The HAVE A NICE PROGRAMME! (including the SETLIST)

We opened up our own TDR Archives for this one!

The HAVE A NICE MERCHANDISE!

Who doesn’t love the Merchandise on Tour?  We love it!  Well, as long as it’s good quality (and not too expensive).

Here’s some very quickly designed Merch…

I’ll take a Crush On You T-shirt, a Yellow Hoodie, a Programme, a Vinyl, both Posters and a Mug. Thanks! 

The HAVE A NICE EP!

We couldn’t not have a VINYL! Designed to reflect the ‘HAVE A NICE DAY!‘ album, and more so the ‘WISH I COULD FLY‘ single sleeve.

Here’s a closer look at the Exclusive Vinyl EP, sold during the HAVE A NICE TOUR!  

Contains 8 Previously Unreleased tracks, and spooky that this was designed back in February

TRAVELLING IN STYLE!

The HAVE A NICE PASSES!

Are you a VIP?  Do you have AAA?  Or are you Crew?  Maybe even Press?  Cameras ready!

Don’t forget your TICKETS!!!

Some Live (and yes, playback!) Performances of Have A Nice Day! tunes from over the years…

Next Month

Next month, we have something to celebrate Marie and her role in Roxette. It’s a goodie!

Unit then, HAVE A NICE DAY!

TDR x PG ROX40 ★ 40 YEARS OF ROXETTE

40 years of Roxette isn’t something you can quickly summarise. It’s something you have to sit with.

So that’s what we did, we sat down with Per. Not to run through a checklist, but to talk about how it all started, the journey since, and what it means to reach 40 Years.

There are plenty of ways to mark an anniversary like this. Articles, ongoing features, countdowns, revisiting the history. We’re doing all of that throughout 2026 for ROX40. But milestones like this don’t come around often, so it felt only right to go straight to the man himself and hear how he feels, 40 Years on.

The adage goes, “never meet your heroes”. I can now firmly say with confidence, what rubbish.

It was my turn, and I’ll be honest, there was a little bit of nerves, but more so excitement, as it’s not every day you get to sit down with someone who’s been part of your life since 1988. Thomas (1) on the other hand, has known Per for years, but for me, Thomas (2), it was very different indeed.

What was Per like? Well, exactly as hoped. Chilled, funny, honest, and open. In fact, ‘straight outta Charm School’.

The puzzle was then, how on Earth do you squeeze 40 Years of success into one interview? What do you ask? What do you not ask? What are the pressing questions fans often wonder? It became obvious that we couldn’t cover everything. So we thought, OK, let’s have a really good chat and see what happens.

We managed to cover a fair bit of ground. We wandered through subjects like the same stormy weather outside our windows despite us being miles apart, to pre and the early days of Roxette, demos and song writing, forgotten notebooks, a broken piano stool, tours, ‘The Roxette Vaults’ and unreleased treasures, to negativity, the many proud moments, and making sense of it all as Roxette hits its 40^th Anniversary milestone.

It didn’t feel like an interview at all, more so some old and new friends catching up…

TDR x PG ROX40 ★ The Interview

★ STORMY WEATHER and ‘THE LOST YEAR(S)’ … ★

“Don’t know why, there’s no sun up in the sky, stormy weather.”

We sat getting ready for our interview, Thomas (1) in Ljusdal, myself Thomas (2) in Cheshire, UK (between Liverpool and Manchester for those wondering), and Per, all cosy at home on the coast of Halmstad.

Despite being miles apart, we shared our views of the weather outside, stormy! Hailstones, battering waves, not a crow in the sky. Where is Spring!?

With intros and pleasantries done, we kicked off the interview with a quick-fire series of questions to get us all warmed up. “First thing that comes to mind?” kinda style.

It turned out to be a neat way into the first chapter of the Roxette story, because the first Roxette song Per wrote was also a clue to how the band began, things we’d not heard before…

“Probably, the first song I wrote for Roxette was the only one that didn’t already exist on ‘Pearls of Passion’, before Roxette took place, which was ‘Secrets That She Keeps’. It was the first song I wrote specifically with Marie in mind for Roxette. ‘Neverending Love’ (Svarta glas) was written for another artist. Most of the other songs, ‘Goodbye To You’ (Farväl till dej), ‘Like Lovers Do’, ‘Soul Deep’ (Dansar ner för ditt stup i rekordfart), ‘So Far Away’ (Som i en dröm) and others were all written for the neglected ‘PG3’ that EMI didn’t want at the time. It’s an interesting question that I’d not thought of before”.

We had assumed, like everyone else, that it would be ‘Neverending Love‘, but now we know that’s not the case. That now takes things back further and to 1985 (even the years previous). 1985, specifically, though is what Per calls “the lost year”, and for good reason.

Nothing much was happening. Attempts for his third solo album were not going well. He’d written a lot, but EMI were not playing ball, they saw him as a ‘has-been‘, the cheek!

1986 became the year that changed everything. Per continued to struggle to get EMI onboard with ‘PG3’, his third solo effort. Songs had been written, but EMI continued to show little interest, maybe they were “missing a lead single?“. Instead, it was suggested that he team up with Marie to record a song, just to see how it might work.

The song was of course, ‘Neverending Love’ which used to be ‘Svarta glas‘ (‘Black Glasses’) written for Pernilla Wahlgren, who in turn didn’t want it and gave it to her brother Niklas, who actually recorded it but never got to release it. The newly recorded ‘try out song‘ with new English lyrics was a success over the summer in Sweden, and led to the opportunity to record a full album, which Per wanted very programmed in style.

However, the producer they hired, Clarence, wanted it very analog.

‘Pearls of Passion‘ came together quickly. The songs initially meant for the now scrapped ‘PG3’ were quickly translated and updated. Both Per and Marie spent time at the Montezuma Studios (owned by Marie’s then boyfriend) where they could both try things out, and in the end several demo recordings took place.

‘POP’ was released on Halloween 1986, spooky! It was an instant smash. Singles ‘Soul Deep‘, ‘Goodbye To You‘ and ‘I Call Your Name‘ followed, however nothing happened outside of Sweden. ‘POP’ was also released in Canada, with the 7″ version of ‘Soul Deep‘.

When we asked Per about those early Montezuma Sessions, his answer brought the album back down to what it really was at the time, a chance, an opportunity, a redirection, not a masterplan:

“I was grateful that I got the chance to work with Marie on an album. That wasn’t planned at all. It happened because ‘Neverending Love’ became a big hit during the summer. It was the first time we got to check out the songs, what keys, who should sing what”.

“All the songs were pretty much written in Swedish. I think there are a couple of songs from that session that were still in Swedish, like ‘Surrender’ and ‘So Far Away’ which I’d not yet translated by then”.

“There were other songs on that album too that we did there, Marie’s ‘Voices’ that she co-wrote with her boyfriend at the time, I think he played on ‘Secrets’ too, then ‘Call of the Wild’ and so on that were all in Swedish”.

Frustrated by the lack of movement outside Sweden, Per went on to write of all things, a Christmas song, specifically aimed at getting some attention in Germany which would hopefully lead to bigger things. EMI Germany requested it. And they refused it…

It was, however, another hit at home in Sweden. The intention was to re-release it every Christmas.

★ DRESSED FOR INTERNATIONAL SUCCESS… ★

With a domestic but successful album behind them, Per and Marie were determined that their follow-up would be bigger, better and a hit outside of Sweden this time. Work started quickly with Per writing all the time.

The album wasn’t as rushed and felt more cohesive a collection, as all the songs this time were written for it. Per was trying out new sounds too with his new synth, writing ‘The Look‘ and ‘Don’t Believe In Accidents‘.

The album, initially entitled ‘Paint‘, could have been far different to the 11+ million seller we all know today, indeed the track listing was rather different, with even ‘Listen To Your Heart‘ appearing not to have made the 13 tracks detailed in an early notebook.

With ‘Look Sharp!‘, and in particular ‘The Look‘, Roxette had their international breakthrough, all thanks to an American exchange student who took the album home to Minnesota. The story is well known now, so we won’t go through all that here again. In short, ‘The Look‘ became Roxette’s first US Billboard No.1. EMI USA were not initially interested in the album.

That soon changed, literally overnight, and Roxette became hot property with their record company divisions in other countries finally sitting up and taking notice. ‘Listen to Your Heart‘ became the second Billboard No.1, with ‘Dangerous‘ also hitting No.2.

Talking about the songs now, Per is very clear that his writing has changed over the years, but never because he purposefully tried to reinvent himself…

“I can see changes in my writing style. If you go back to the eighties and check-out how I wrote songs compared to 2015. There’s a big difference, it’s nothing planned it’s just the way I developed as a musician and a songwriter. I can now appreciate how I wrote in the eighties as I can’t do that style anymore, I’m beyond that. Pop music in general has also changed”.

“I come from this ’60s and ’70s legacy of song writing, where you have middle-8s, bridges that lead to the chorus, codas, and modulation, you don’t have that anymore. Most pop songs have four chords that go on and on. It’s become like that because of computers, 8 bars for this and move along and that’s a different style. When you play songs for real in a band situation, there’s much more room for inspiration”.

“If you check out the solos on a lot of songs like ‘Dangerous’, ‘The Look’ or even ‘Joyride’, the solo instrumental parts are totally different chords to the chorus and verses, and that’s on purpose, I wanted it to be a surprise, something should happen that you’d not heard before or expect. That’s not how it is today, it’s more about repetition”.

That led to a quick exchange about Tik Tok, songs sounding the same and our consensus to preferring the ‘old way’.

Per, unsurprisingly, knew exactly why Roxette had the room to sound like Roxette.

“That style of writing that I had really suited Clarence, he was more from the progressive rock style, ‘Genesis’ and ‘Yes’ who had songs that went on for 20 minutes. So, when I went in with something like ‘Listen to Your Heart’ or ‘Love Is All’ all those songs ended up really long. It fit him perfectly, he didn’t want ‘The Ramones’ and their 1:45 style at all”.

★ HOLLYWOOD CALLING ★

Heavy on promotion, and starting the writing and recording sessions for the next album, working title “Album Number 3“, Roxette were busy bees.

A request came through for Per to write, and for Roxette to record a key ballad for a Richard Gere b-movie, ‘3000 Dollars‘. Per didn’t want to pass on the opportunity, but also realised there just wasn’t enough time in the day, so he offered up an oldie but goodie.

Dusting off the almost forgotten Christmas ditty from 1987, and taking out the Christmas reference, the song simply became ‘It Must Have Been Love‘.

Garry Marshall, the late and great director of Pretty Woman, loved the song so much, that he featured it heavily in the penultimate scene of the movie, a full verse and chorus. He basically re-wrote the script!

America couldn’t resist, giving Roxette their third Billboard No.1. An amazing achievement for what was essentially, an almost forgotten and overlooked Christmas song.

Then came ‘Joyride‘. Technicolor. Everything about Roxette from this moment on was in full-on colour.

‘Joyride‘ hit the world, out of nowhere, and became their fourth and final Billboard No.1. The album was an even bigger success than the previous, and four singles followed, ‘Fading Like A Flower‘ (another Billboard No2), ‘The Big L.‘, ‘Spending My Time‘ and ‘Church of your Heart‘.

Roxette hit the road on their first World Tour: ‘Join The Joyride‘, playing to over 1.7 million people.

Per still lights up when talking about how the ‘Joyride‘ album looked.

“I think ‘Joyride’ is great artwork, I mean ‘Look Sharp!’ was cool with the newspaper, but ‘Joyride’ I remember telling Kjell Andersson the designer that I wanted the new album to be really really really colourful”.

“Because ‘Look Sharp!’ was almost black and white, I wanted Roxette to be a really colourful band, so from that time on I wanted us to be colourful, same with the ‘Crash! Boom! Bang!’ chequered flags, really in your face. It was a conscious decision. I really think the whole circus theme around ‘Joyride’ and the photo sessions were really good, we got amazing shots for that.”

And you can clearly see that when you look at the ten studio albums together, from ‘POP‘ and ‘Look Sharp!‘ in their greys and sepia tones, to then full-on technicolor…

We went on to talk about underrated Roxette songs, ones that perhaps still feel overlooked even now.

“A couple of songs that I really like myself that weren’t singles like ‘I’m Sorry’, ‘Lover Lover Lover’ and ‘Dream On’. I think the most underrated songs have to be the ones not released as singles, so I’ll go with those three.”

We didn’t venture too far from ‘Joyride‘ either, with the same period popping up again when we mentioned our ROX40 Countdown and Monthly Mock-Ups, he’d already seen what we’ve been doing.

“I’ve seen it, all looks really cool. You had ‘Knockin’ On Every Door’ I saw that one, it reminded me that when I wrote the ‘Joyride‘ album, I tried to write every song so that it could be a single. There wasn’t time or space to release all of them of course”.

“I always thought it was a mistake for EMI, and actually Gyllene Tider back in the day, they didn’t want us to release singles. We released something like only six singles from three albums, but it should have been twelve! We were a singles band, so it was crazy.”

Which led to one of those brilliantly nerdy Roxette exchanges that only this kind of interview can really hold. How did you pick songs for a full Gyllene Tider Greatest Hits if only six singles were actually released?

“Because all of the songs from those albums became hits anyway. So when it came to Roxette, I always wanted us to be a ‘singles album’, but diverse to allow releasing non-single material, but great songs like ‘Queen of Rain‘.”

We mentioned our Monthly Mock-Up for April, an imaginary double AA side single from the ‘Joyride‘ era, Thomas (1) picking rocker ‘Hotblooded‘ and me opting for ‘(Do You Get) Excited?‘, sleeves, cassette, vinyl, poster etc…

“That’s cool, ‘Excited’ was supposed to be a single. The big screw up in the States happened in the Spring of ‘92, the same week we started the Tour. The record company was sold, people got sacked, the new company didn’t want to work with Roxette. The whole ‘Spending My Time’ Campaign which was supposed to be our fifth number one, it all collapsed, and the whole Tour went so so. After that ‘Excited’ got scrapped. Those were the days!”

★ BUSY! ★

If there is one thing that comes through again and again, both in the timeline and our conversation, it’s this, Per does not like sitting still.

1992 brought ‘TOURISM‘. While on the ‘Join The Joyride‘ World Tour he had the idea of doing a Tour album. Not a Live album, not a Studio album, a TOUR album, all to capture the energy within the band while on the road. EMI weren’t too keen on the idea, but they still supported the album and, interestingly, it didn’t form part of their Recording Contract obligations.

‘TOURISM‘ was yet another success. ‘How Do You Do!‘ was a HUGE summer hit. ‘Queen of Rain‘ and ‘Fingertips ’93‘ followed. The album sold in the millions and remains a firm highlight within the Roxette catalogue. Hopefully, we might get that Vinyl re-issue one day.

Then 1993. Disney didn’t happen. A song meant for the 1993 movie Hocus Pocus was declined, more likely so because it starred the incomparable Bette Midler, who in the end sang herself, as En Vogue who Roxette were ditched for also ended up being binned, who knows.

‘Almost Unreal‘ eventually found a new home with the movie Super Mario Bros. The movie was a total flop, the song a huge hit. The video was played and played, featuring some really cool effects, and a heavily pregnant, glowing Marie.

The same year, Roxette became the first non-English speaking act to be invited to play the prestigious MTV Unplugged. Recorded at Cirkus in Stockholm, Roxette performed their biggest hits, some fan favourites and several covers. The show earned great reviews and remains a heavily sought after recording.

One of the planned ROX40 surprises coming up will in fact be the MTV Unplugged show, however, it could be delayed somewhat, as “they’re struggling to find the tape”. Can you believe it? The good news here though, is that it WILL be released!

Then came ‘Crash! Boom! Bang!‘ in 1994. After studio time in Stockholm, London and the stunning Italian island of Capri, Roxette had been busy again, getting their fifth studio album ready. On first play to EMI, the feedback to Per was that it was great, but they “couldn’t hear the first single“. Surprise.

Massively p*ssed off, Per went home and wrote ‘Sleeping In My Car‘. He got the gang together quickly, and it was recorded. The first single was a banger. EMI were happy. ‘Crazy About You‘ was dropped from the 15 track album, replaced by ‘Sleeping In My Car‘. In fact, the album was initially titled ‘Fireworks‘.

It was another super success internationally, alas, by this time, the USA record company support was in disarray following the earlier sale. The streamlined version of the album ‘Favourites from Crash! Boom! Bang!‘ was sold via McDonald’s along with other major artists including Tina Turner, Elton John and Garth Brooks. Regardless, the album went on to shift a million copies there alone.

Roxette ventured out on their second World Tour, and it was a big one. Stadiums and even China. Roxette became the second group to be invited to play there, following Wham! before them in 1986. Another amazing achievement.

★ DON’T BORE US – GET TO THE CHORUS! ★

By 1995 it was time to pause, but only briefly, and look back. What’s the saying? “Look back but don’t stare“.

After almost a decade, Roxette released their first Greatest Hits album, ‘Don’t Bore Us – Get To The Chorus!‘, with a huge promotional campaign.

14 hit singles were collected, as well as four brand new recordings. Roxette performed a one-off gig at Shepherd’s Bush Empire in London to a very lucky crowd.

“That gig was the sh*t!”.

High praise indeed from Per. He’s correct too. It was one of the better gigs Thomas 1 has seen. We even did our very first Monthly Mock-Up back in February for that very gig. Oh to have it available on streaming. We do wonder if Per realises the demand for live shows amongst the fans?



The Daily Roxette

★ Monthly Mock-Ups! ★ February ★

Kicking-off our brand new series 'Monthly Mock-Ups!' we have our very first edition, starting with a live album, because some gigs just simply refuse to fade quietly into history. Read the full story...

Feb 1, 2026 •

Details

Then came what was supposed to be a gap. Roxette were supposed to be taking a bit of a break in 1996 and 1997, however, they managed to release ‘Baladas en Español‘, a collection of their best ballads in Spanish. It sold over 2 million copies according to Per. Another success, and now being re-released for its 30th Anniversary, all part of the overall 40th Anniversary celebrations.

But Per, as we established, can’t sit still. We brought up a page from a 1996 notebook he’d posted recently on socials, one that contained the Roxette album ‘Up!’ that of course didn’t happen…

“When I found the ‘Up!‘ notebook entry, it never happened as Marie was on a break with her second child. The songs were more in the style of Gyllene Tider, which fit me very well, indeed in suited Marie very well too, look at ‘Sleeping In My Car‘. If you look at those songs like ‘T-T-T-Take It!‘ sung by Marie that would have been fantastic. It wasn’t meant to be, so I did it myself”.

“Roxette was very much driven by me. If I didn’t suggest that we went on Tour, it didn’t happen. If I didn’t suggest a new record, it didn’t happen. That was the biggest difference between myself and Marie“.

“After the success of ‘Joyride‘ I told her that we’re now one of the biggest bands on Planet Earth, now we have to work really really hard to become even bigger and to cement Roxette. Marie didn’t want to do that and wanted to take a break. I did say c’mon, it’s like an Athlete, between events you have to keep training and exercise, learn from what you’re doing. We were very different there”.

Which is exactly how ‘The World According to Gessle‘ enters the story.

“It turned out to be a great album, we worked on it everywhere, including London. It turned out heavier and raunchier than my previous ones.”

Which, for the record, is true. For us it’s THE car album. Any long car journey, ‘The World According to Gessle‘ is played. It’s tradition, and I can’t wait to play it in my new car!

By the time Roxette returned in 1999 with ‘Have A Nice Day!‘, they were doing what the best bands do when they’ve lasted long enough to know themselves. They changed again.

‘Wish I Could Fly‘ was rather different to what had come before, it was fresh, it was unexpected and it became a huge hit. Singles followed, ‘Anyone/Pay The Price‘, ‘Stars‘ and ‘Salvation‘. No Tour this time, instead, returning to the recording studio again to start on another new album.

That became ‘Room Service‘ in 2001. ‘The Centre of the Heart‘ hit number 1 in Sweden, the album was released, Roxette performed a couple of album launch gigs in Stockholm, Cologne and Barcelona. Everything was super cool. The album photography and video shot at The Madonna Inn by Jonas Akerlund and a European Tour followed. Roxette were back and riding high.

★ THE CHANGE ★

Roxette were to headline ‘Night of the Proms‘, an offer they couldn’t refuse. The Press Conference had been arranged and Per was travelling when the news reached him. Marie had been taken ill. The days and weeks that followed would change the course of Marie’s life forever. Roxette were understandably an afterthought.

Marie revealed her cancer diagnosis, and retreated into her treatment and convalescence. The fans waited patiently hoping that all would be well. We know now that the outlook at that time was frightening, and for Marie, her time could have been cut short back then. Marie didn’t give in. She overcame what was an incredibly debilitating illness. It took time, patience, resilience, but she did it.

It wasn’t clear what would happen to Roxette during the following years, however, several recordings were made allowing compilation albums ‘The Ballad Hits‘ and ‘The Pop Hits‘ to be released, including the beautiful new songs ‘A Thing About You‘, ‘Breathe‘ and the super-charged ‘Opportunity Nox‘. Which have to be amongst their best recordings ever, especially ‘Nox‘. We do have a giggle, remembering the original name for ‘The Ballad Hits‘ here being ‘Love Peas‘. We didn’t ask!

Fans had not forgotten Roxette and were patiently waiting, hoping for something to happen. In 2006 a new Greatest Hits was released, ‘Roxette Hits!‘ with a couple more new recordings ‘One Wish‘ and ‘Reveal‘. The ‘RoxBox‘ was released, giving fans a brief glimpse into The Roxette Vault.

★ THE ROXETTE VAULT ★

And the Vault, inevitably, is where the conversation turned next and what remains…

“I don’t think it’s anything special, the reason for me putting out all the demos is that I was a big fan of when Pete Townsend of The Who did it with his demos, and from a song writing point of view I thought it was interesting to hear how songs develop. Since I have all these demos, soooo many demos, I thought it was a cool idea to present them. For those interested, please listen, for those not, don’t bother.”

We commented that lots of artists seem to have jumped on the ‘demos‘ bandwagon, with even Madonna doing it now…

“Yeah, there’s a reason you make demos it’s because you’re on your way to create a song. The finished song, eventually and in most cases is superior”.

“However, when it comes to Roxette, since so many songs are sung by Marie, it’s interesting to hear them sung by me. I found some unreleased different versions from the ‘Room Service‘ album that will come out this year. I’ve also got some really terrible songs written in the early ’80s that will probably not ever see the light of day!”.

Thomas 1 interjects mentioning, the ‘Dance Away‘ demo by Gyllene Tider, which has a totally different melody to the Roxette version we all know, it remains firmly locked away…and for good reason, we don’t think it’s that bad though, it’s just ‘of an era‘?

“It’s not for human beings to hear!” laughs Per.

Then came the question I absolutely had to ask, because I’d never forgive myself if I didn’t…

Did anything exist in The Roxette Vault from the legendary ‘Look Sharp Live!‘ Gigs at Borgholm Castle in 1989? We even added that this is one of the most sought-after Roxette items…

“Are you talking about when we did the ‘Listen to Your Heart’ video?”.

“I don’t know, we did some footage here and there, we did ‘Dangerous’ there as well and some live recordings. Live video shootings, it was released I guess, on a VHS?”.

Borgholm, for those not aware, a quick reminder…

The ‘Look Sharp Live!‘ concert project, or more accurately the ‘Listen To Your Heart‘ video production, carried a considerable budget and was seen as very ambitious for its time. It was directed by Doug Freel for Propaganda Films and EMI, with the copyright held by EMI Svenska AB under exclusive licence to EMI Records Limited. Captivated by the grandeur of Borgholm Castle, Freel famously believed it looked as though it had been built specifically for the production! Hilarious!

With the huge level of investment, Freel and his American Production Team created what would become classic Roxette visuals. Two helicopters were even hired and brought in from the Swedish Air Force to capture the iconic aerial shots.

The final released footage wasn’t limited to just one video either. It was used for singles ‘Listen To Your Heart‘ and ‘Dangerous‘, plus the non-single, non-album track (at the time), ‘Silver Blue‘. Alongside the promotional videos, three live songs were also captured.

We confirmed with Per that the recordings took place on 25th and 26th July, 1989, not that we’re obsessed, and that the only live cuts released from the concert were limited to ‘Dance Away’, ‘Paint’ and ‘Cry’.

We went on to discuss our disbelief that the whole costly set-up was done without capturing the whole two nights, but looking back now, perhaps the b-roll leftover footage was turned into what became the video for non-single ‘Silver Blue‘? Who knows?

“I think we decided early on that these were the live songs that needed footage. It was done during the filming of the ‘Listen To Your Heart’ video where we were working with Doug Freel, who directed it. I think he also did the Sydney ‘Joyride‘ Live shows later on? That was a live VHS tape too I guess.”

“The audio for that has been mixed properly by Mats ‘MP’ (Persson), and it sounds fantastic!”

“It’s going to be released. It’s likely to be a triple vinyl thing because it’s really really wonderful. Marie and Jonas doing ‘Soul Deep’ is like an 8 minute treat, sounds so good.”

We went onto to clarify regarding Borgholm, as we believed Per is known to have recorded most gigs soundboard.

Over the years, there’s been ongoing debate too around what still exists and what remains unreleased. What else was filmed, and where is that footage now? Was a soundboard recording made? On that point, there must have been for the three live songs, which naturally raises the possibility that the full two nights of audio were recorded.

It’s something we’ve often questioned ourselves, especially when watching ‘Silver Blue‘, where multiple time-lapses of the full concert and additional footage are clearly visible. There have also been rumours suggesting SVT were responsible for the shoot. That isn’t the case. It’s more likely confusion with Badrock in 1987, which was an SVT production…

“I’m not sure, if there’s any leftover Borgholm footage, not sure. Audio, not that I remember, I’d have to check”…

Disappointed, we moved onto the Vienna Look Sharp Live! gig we had recently been sent by a fellow fan (thank you!), and in turn we sent on to Per. He’s not yet listened to it, but will when he gets chance. It’s a goodie!

Hopefully, one day we’ll get an official remastered ‘Look Sharp Live!‘ gig in FULL.
It might not be Borgholm, but ANY of them would be equally as awesome!

★ ROXETTE RETURN ★

Per remained busy through 2008 and 2009, releasing multiple albums, then hitting the road. In Amsterdam fans were in for a huge surprise, Marie walked onto the stage with Per, collectively Roxette. Performing ‘It Must Have Been Love‘, fans were emotional to say the least. Marie had returned.

Roxette made a triumphant return, fulfilling the Night of the Proms obligation. It was a huge success. They performed ‘Wish I Could Fly‘ as well as their 4 Billboard No.1 singles accompanied by a full orchestra.

In 2010, Roxette tried out some shows to see how Marie felt to be fully back on stage performing a full Roxette set. The shows went really well and became the springboard for something much bigger.

Way out, out of the blue, Marie called Per and suggested he write a new Roxette album, which became the wonderful ‘Charm School‘.

‘She’s Got Nothing On (But The Radio)‘ became a hit and the world welcomed them back to the world stage. A couple more singles followed too, ‘Speak To Me‘ and the amazing ‘Way Out‘.  A World Tour was announced, which quickly became known as ‘The Neverending Tour‘, fans couldn’t get enough. The band were in top shape and the set was electric.

The Tour continued, and we got what was essentially the follow up to ‘TOURISM‘. Album number nine, ‘Travelling‘ was released with lead single ‘It’s Possible‘. Both Per and Marie also managed to drop in some Swedish solo and Gyllene Tider projects in 2013 and 2014.

Then came 2015. Time for celebrations. 30 Years of Roxette! A new compilation album ‘XXX‘ was released and a new Tour that would be the final Roxette Tour.

It was becoming obvious that the touring life was taking its toll on Marie’s health and wellbeing. Much to her disappointment, they announced her retirement from Touring in 2016, cancelling any existing dates of the Tour.

The 10th and final Roxette studio album, ‘Good Karma‘, was released with lead single ‘It Just Happens‘.

Per has said previously that it was an extremely difficult album to record, due to the declining health of Marie, yet she was so determined to get it finished for the fans. The singles ‘Some Other Summer‘ and ‘Why Don’t You Bring Me Flowers‘ were also released.

Leftovers from the album, ‘Let Your Heart Dance With Me‘ and ‘Piece of Cake‘, would remain unfinished and hidden in The Roxette Vault unknown to fans for some time.

More solo projects followed, but it was understandably quiet for Marie.

AND I WISH YOU THE BEST THERE IS, BEFORE YOU GO TO SLEEP… 

It wasn’t unexpected, but it hit hard.

Marie left us, 9th December 2019. Per released a heartfelt statement confirming the news which left fans devastated. Marie had gone.

It’s one of those ‘do you remember where you were‘ moments. I do (Thomas2).

I was sat at home alone at my desk, the news popped up on my screen and literally within minutes my phone lit up, message after message. I can’t begin to understand the loss for Marie’s family, close friends, and for Per.

We didn’t talk about the loss of Marie, as we wanted to keep everything upbeat, respectful and pay tribute rather than focus in on the loss.

 Gone too soon, always remembered  

★ BAG OF TRIX ★

The ‘Bag of Trix‘ Collection was perfectly timed. Everyone was still in mourning. This box came as a welcome archive and look back at Roxette, from the very beginning, to the last ever recordings. So much previously unreleased material helped fans get through the loss. It followed the equally amazing box, ‘The Per Gessle Archives‘ that focussed on songwriting across Per’s many projects.

Since ‘Bag of Trix‘, we’ve been lucky to have had continued Anniversary releases and other surprises. Per took time out from Roxette to process what had happened, to grieve, and to then decide how life should continue.

Per was responsible for pretty much all of Roxette’s material as the main songwriter and driving force. He didn’t want to just let the catalogue fade. He made various attempts at keeping their legacy alive through PG Roxette, releasing the fun album ‘Pop-Up Dynamo!‘ and toured. It didn’t quite hit the mark for some fans, we liked it however, especially the demo set.

But 2026 is a year of celebrations. There will be numerous monthly releases, Anniversary Editions, Remastered Videos, Vinyls, Contemporary Remixes and other Surprises along the way.

When asked about the proudest moment across the 40 years, Per’s answer was of course bigger than a single event…

“Oh my gosh! Well the whole thing was a miracle. If you look back to the 70s it was amazing that I met Marie. Even further back than that, it was a miracle that I met Mats, I learned so much from him, I couldn’t even tune my guitar, but I had so many ideas, especially lyric ideas and I knew so much about pop and rock music. I don’t know that much about anything in life except pop music. Old school pop music, it ended at the end of 90’s But if you talk about ’60s ’70s ’80s I’m there!”.

“I think all these tiny bits and pieces linked together and led up to forming Roxette and having all this success in the world. It’s unbelievable”.

“There’s so many highlights and success in the States, playing in Beijing, the amazing Tour of South America in 1992 was fantastic, it just goes on and on. And also, looking back I’m really proud of the work, the songs I’ve done. I can see the evolution of songwriting, production and lyrics. There’s some in both English and Swedish that I’m really proud of, I’ve been very lucky to have that capacity to do that and I don’t know how it happened”.

Indeed, not many people have done what Per has achieved, successful careers in different languages, major hits in different markets, different bands, solo work, a hotel, a wine range, a musical, the lot! It’s unusual, it’s very unique.

When we asked which Roxette song had been the hardest to finish, the answer ended up being less about one title and more about the way songs keep moving until they arrive where they need to…

“Ah I don’t know, a song goes through different steps. When I write it and when I feel it’s almost finished I make a demo, sometimes a fully produced, sometimes just an acoustic, depends on the project”.

“I remember when I did the ‘Son Of A Plumber‘ album, both Clarence and Christofer didn’t want me to make demos at all. I just went into the studio and played them my songs and ideas. That’s one way to do it. The opposite way is like ‘Joyride’ which is fully produced”.

“It’s a hard one to answer. When you write the songs, do the demo, if I’m happy with the demo, I presented it to Marie and Clarence and we discussed where it should go, who should sing it. Most of the time I wrote for Marie. Most of the time it went very smooth”.

“When I did the ‘Sällskapssjuk’ album for instance, that wasn’t supposed to be a duet album with lots of singers, it was supposed to be sang by me. So, when I decided to do a duet album, I had to remake the recordings because of the keys. I actually had a list of 8-10 artists whose voices I liked, but Lisa and Amanda were the only two I could use as they could sing in my key, I didn’t need to re-record. When it came to Lena I had to re-record that song. The chorus is a little too high for me to sing, but I wanted Lena to sound fantastic. That’s why you do modulation all the time to find the best spot for vocal 1 and vocal 2.”

That mention of Lena naturally brought us right up to present day.

★ ROXETTE LIVE 2025/2026 ★

In 2025, Per invited guest vocalist Lena, and it all just happened.

Roxette were back on the road, 250,000+ tickets were sold, the world was ready to hear the Roxette songs performed live again.

The Tour will shortly be hitting South America, then back to Europe. North America is rumoured to follow, watch this space. And when asked directly about North America, Per was clear on the ambition:

“Yeah, we’re talking about doing a Tour in North America. Nothing written so far, but we’re talking about it.”

“Well we gonna start rehearsals Saturday, probably change a couple of tracks, but keep most of it the same as we’re playing new countries and venues”.

“We’ve only done 43 or so shows, so it’s too early to change what is a great setlist, of course it can be improved but I don’t know. I could feel how the band clicked after 30 gigs, I don’t want to mess with that. At the end of the day, let’s say 90% will be the same, with some changes”.

I (Thomas2) was lucky to catch the tour in London at Wembley. It was such a tight set, and I thought Lena did an amazing job, I really enjoyed her performance. I was gutted not to hear the full version of ‘Things Will Never Be The Same‘, but I got over it, understanding that it’s hard to get the setlist right for everyone. It was an impressive set, and the band were in top top shape.

“You can go different ways, we’re having a great time playing together, Lena is amazing. I can see this line-up going on for many years. We could do another Tour say next year or year after and we’d have to start from square one”.

“This time around, it’s all about playing the most obvious classic Roxette songs to show the world that the songs still exist on a live basis. Or you could go the other way around next time, playing 3, 5 or 10 songs that people don’t know as well, but the hardcore fans love them. We decided not to do that this time, I think that’s the right decision otherwise we wouldn’t have done it.”

“I’m really looking forward to the Tour, some new shows popping up in Europe too!”

★ THE ROXETTE LEGACY ★

Sales and Streaming aside, Roxette’s Radio impact has been equally remarkable. American Radio has played It Must Have Been Love the song, more than 7 million times!

Per received BMI Million Air Awards marking 3 million US plays in 2000, 4 million in 2005, 5 million in 2014, 6 million in October 2021, and most recently the 7 million milestone in 2024. Earlier this year, ‘Listen To Your Heart‘ celebrated its own 7 Million Air award.

One of the more delicate subjects had to be addressed. Some of the criticism around performing the Roxette catalogue with someone else other than Marie has been unnecessary, and quite frankly, disrespectful. Per was pretty direct on the subject.

“I don’t really care about that, when it comes to everything you do, from my point of view, you have to do it for yourself. Just because say you want to hear ‘Things Will Never Be The Same’ for example doesn’t mean I’ll play it. It goes with everything else, the production of the songs, the decision to bring Lena in, or they way we Tour, or who’s in the band, how you arrange the songs. I have to make all these decisions based on how I feel, and my tastes. If people don’t like it, go somewhere else”.

We mentioned that we did a TDR article last year because the unnecessary criticism was really getting on our nerves. Not everybody was reacting in the same way obviously. But it was there, and a lot of it crossed the line. Per’s view of it is bigger than one set of comments.

“It’s oh so easy now with Social Media and some people don’t really know what they’re talking about anyway. It’s the same thing when you write songs, when you’ve been doing it for a very long time, some people say ‘why don’t you sound like this as it’s the current style because what you’re doing sounds old school’, and I say yeah, because I am old and I love that kind of music. I can’t sound like 18/19/20 year olds today, their preference in pop is different to mine”.

“The only way I can create is to follow my own instincts and my own gut feeling all the time, when it comes to the lyrics, the production, the writing, the presentation, videos, photoshoots, so if I should listen to what everyone is saying around me I would be going crazy”.

Per, ultimately ‘speaks with gracefulness‘, and you can understand exactly why and how he’s survived in such a difficult industry like show business…

“It doesn’t bother me. The only thing I’d say when it started with Lena, was a lot of people commenting without actually hearing or seeing her, or understanding what we’re doing. Eventually, if they managed to come to the show they liked it, it is a good show. Lena is doing a great job. When it comes down to it, if I hadn’t have found Lena with her capacity and her professionalism, nothing else would have happened with Roxette at all. I would have buried it. All the Roxette songs are like my little kids, and it’s amazing that I can do to Buenos Aires, or Rio or Montevideo, it’s fantastic.”

It says everything about how Per sees his Roxette songs now. They’re not museum pieces. Not something to be shelved ‘out of respect’. But they’re living pieces of work that can still go somewhere. When asked if someone new discovers Roxette today where should they start, Per didn’t pretend there was one right answer, things are just not that simple…

“Roxette is a pretty ‘wide band’ if you compared it today’s pop acts. We have a wide range of styles. You have ‘Watercolours In The Rain‘, ‘The Heart Shaped Sea‘ type acoustic stuff, then you have bubblegum stuff like ‘How Do You Do!‘, ‘Real Sugar‘, and you have ‘The Look‘ which is again a bit different to that. Then you have power pop ‘Sleeping In My Car‘, then big ballads, you have the dance thing in ‘Stars‘, or ‘The Centre of The Heart‘. It depends where you come from”.

“That was intentional that we did that in so many different way. I always felt some bands got stuck. I mean The Beatles as you know and Tom Petty are my favourites and they never got stuck in a formula, and I didn’t want Roxette to be stuck in a formula”.

“If you look from the outside though, and you only know the hits ‘It Must Have Been Love‘ and ‘Listen To Your Heart‘, you think that’s Roxette, but it’s not. That’s also one of the reasons we were lucky we had two singers, when Marie sings ‘Queen of Rain‘, and I sing ‘How Do You Do!‘, it’s like two different bands”.

We didn’t get the chance to interject here, as Per was on a roll. We did wonder though, whether he knew that to us, he’s OUR Tom Petty, even The Beatles. He’s certainly more than fulfilled his wish that Roxette, or even across any of his many projects, that he never got stuck in a predictable formula.

★ ROX40 ★

That may be the neatest summary of Roxette at 40. What a joyride!

Not one sound, not one song or album, not one era, not one tour, not even one story. A catalogue that still stretches and achieves, indeed, ‘It Must Have Been Love‘ just passed the One Billion Streaming milestone!

The range of material and styles was always the point. And that, really, is why the songs are still here today. Still travelling. Still being played. Still being discovered. Still making sense to people who were there at the beginning, and to people only just finding them now. That part hasn’t changed at all.

It all begins again where it ends…Roxette at 40, Let’s Celebrate!

___________________________________________________________

Big Thanx to:
Per Gessle ★

Interview conducted 25th March 2026 by:
Thomas Lawrie-Clark ★ Thomas Evensson
with support from Kai-Uwe Heinze

Photography by:
Thomas Evensson ★ Kai-Uwe Heinze ★ Thomas Lawrie-Clark
All other photographs via Roxette Official Facebook
Copyright remains with original owners

Special Mention to:
Barry ★ for extra designs

Shoulda, woulda, coulda …

★ Hotblooded / (Do You Get) Excited?  ★  Double AA Side Single  ★

Let’s start with ‘(Do You Get) Excited?‘.  The planned sixth single that never was.  A promo video was shot, and everything was in place.  We do wonder if the artwork had been drafted for approval, all before the direction was changed and ‘Church Of Your Heart‘ instead became the final single?

We did discuss this very topic briefly in our upcoming ROX40 Interview with Per, which will be released on Saturday 4th April, so watch out for that one!

If anything, ‘Excited‘ should have been a double AA single at the time.  Oh, a double AA you say?  OK, then lets play…

‘Hotblooded‘ would have made a great single (picked by our own Thomas E).  Opener for the hugely successful Join TheJoyride and Summer Joyride World Tour 1991-1992, loved by fans, and absolutely nailed by Marie. What’s not to love here? Put it together with the equally charged ‘(Do You Get) Excited?‘ (picked by moi) and we have our mock-up for April. We’ll feature this one too on Friday as part of the ROX40 Countdown.

The Original Joyride Singles

Before we venture into mock-up territory though let’s have a look at the official singles.

Back during the Joyride era, it must have been extremely hard to pick from the 12 (or 15 depending on format) album tracks to release as singles.  The obvious lead was always going to be ‘Joyride‘ (which was a bit of fight with EMI, who in turn wanted ‘Spending My Time‘), but picking the follow-ups must have been a nightmare, but in a good way.

Every single song on the album, plus the outtakes were single-worthy. It was a huge triumph and a masterclass in pop perfection. This was another topic we discussed with Per only last week.

We ended up getting a whopping five singles, almost half the album, from well the vinyl version anyway:

★  Joyride [a Billboard No1!]
★  Fading Like A Flower (Every Time You Leave) [a Billboard No2!]
★  The Big L
★  Spending My Time 
★  Church Of Your Heart [always an odd choice we thought, considering it wasn’t even on the vinyl edition].

What would you have gone with had you been able to pick the five singles?  Would ‘Knockin’ On Every Door‘ that featured earlier in the countdown have made your list?

Our Mock–up Designs

As always, our mock-up takes its lead directly from the original album artwork, and amazing artwork it was too.  Photography was by Mattias Edwall and artwork designed for the original releases by Kjell Andersson + Roxette.  This is iconic photography, instantly recognisable.  It’s such a shame we never got to see more outtakes from the Joyride photoshoot.  There must be loads of photographs. We’d say we’re still hopeful for a Rox Coffee Table Book one day, but you’ll find out about that in the ROX40 Interview.

Anyway, we digress.  Mock-ups this time, 12″ and 7″, CD (Card Sleeve) and Cassette Singles.  Those were the days.  We miss proper single releases, especially with b-sides, outtakes, demos, live cuts, whatever, they were all great.  It was always a great surprise to hear something else that didn’t make the album for whatever reason.

We even found an “original” promo poster rolled up in a tube in the attic. Honest!

Next Month

We’ll be back next month with another brand-new mock-up.
What could it be? Any suggestions?

★ Thanx! A special mention and thanx to Barry Mieny for sharing the amazingly restored artwork for this one.
Check out his insta! ‘roxetcetera‘ and website www.roxette.nl ★

IKEA Launches Café Concept with PER GESSLE of ROXETTE

The café, named CINNAMON STREET, will open at Hotel Tylösand in Halmstad in Autumn 2026, with additional locations planned for Stockholm, Gothenburg and Malmö by Spring 2027.

The initiative marks IKEA’s first foray into music and entertainment-led hospitality and forms part of a broader strategy to extend the company’s presence into city-centre environments. The move follows the introduction of smaller-format high street stores in 2025 and builds on more design-led collections such as The Stockholm Range.

While CINNAMON STREET carries the ROXETTE name, the project is positioned as a joint venture between IKEA and GESSLE. Roxette celebrates its 40th Anniversary milestone in 2026, and GESSLE remains one of Sweden’s most internationally successful musicians, with over 80 million albums sold worldwide.

Interiors are designed by ÅSA GESSLE, known for her work at Hotel Tylösand. The space incorporates warm timber, stainless steel accents and marble detailing, with soft lighting and clean geometric lines intended to create a relaxed, intimate atmosphere.

The menu has been developed by EMMA BENGTSSON, Executive Chef at AQUAVIT in New York and the first Swedish woman to hold two Michelin Stars. Her approach blends Nordic tradition with subtle international influences.

By day, CINNAMON STREET will operate as a café focused on fika and open sandwiches. In the evening, it will transition into informal dining centred on sharing platters and seasonal dishes. Highlights include Swedish Meatballs with Lingonberry, a Scandinavian Smörgås Board featuring Gravlax and Rye, Pan-Seared Sea Trout with Brown Butter, and a Chicken, Leek and Dill Pie designed for sharing. Cocktails include Gin and Grapefruit, Whiskey Sours, Champagne selected by Gessle from his own range.

The Café will also feature a curated ROXETTE and Swedish music playlist, selected by GESSLE, which will be made available on streaming platforms.

IKEA says the initiative reflects its ambition to create immersive lifestyle environments beyond traditional retail, positioning Scandinavian design as both functional and social.

CINNAMON STREET will open at Hotel Tylösand in Autumn 2026, with further locations scheduled to follow in Spring 2027.

FULL PRESS RELEASE + MENU

We’ve been able to get hold of the full Press Release sent to media outlets, as well as the initial concept menu, which, we have to say looks AMAZING, but are told this will be updated before launch.  We can’t wait for this…

THE EXAMPLE MENU

More information to follow as it becomes available. For now, what would you pick from the Menu?

Spotify Playlist…

One Billion.

‘It Must Have Been Love’ has officially passed 1,000,000,000 streams on Spotify!

For a song that began life in Sweden 1987, as a mere Christmas single, that is something quite extraordinary.

“…and it’s a hard Christmas Day…”

Written by Per Gessle and with Marie Fredriksson on lead vocals, the track first appeared as ‘It Must Have Been Love (Christmas for the Broken Hearted)‘.

It reached the Top 5 in Sweden at the time, complete with its seasonal lyric. The original intent was to re-release it every Christmas.

Few could have predicted that only a few years later, with only a slight lyrical adjustment and removal of its festive references, it would become one of the defining power ballads of its era.

“This is Hollywood, what’s your dream?
Hey! What’s your dream?”

 PRETTY WOMAN, 1990
(do you remember this closing monologue?)

In 1990, the reworked version featured on the movie soundtrack to ‘Pretty Woman‘.

“Christmas Day” simply became “Winter’s day,” and suddenly Roxette were sitting at the top of the Billboard Hot 100 for the third time.

The single reached No. 1 in the US on 16 June 1990 and remained there for two weeks. It also topped the charts in Australia, Canada and Norway, cementing its place in worldwide pop history.

‘She’s Got Nothing On (But The Radio)’

Its Radio impact has been equally remarkable. American Radio has played the song more than 7 million times!

Per received BMI Million Air Awards marking 3 million US plays in 2000, 4 million in 2005, 5 million in 2014, 6 million in October 2021, and most recently the 7 million milestone in 2024. Earlier this year, ‘Listen To Your Heart‘ celebrated its own 7 Million Air award.

Now ‘It Must Have Been Love‘ is adding the Spotify Billion Stream Award to its long list of honours.

Reaching 1,000,000,000 streams confirms what fans have known for decades. This is not simply a hit single from the late 80s/early 90s. It’s a standard, Pop Ballad Royalty. A song that moved seamlessly from vinyl to CD to digital download to streaming playlists, without losing any of its emotional impact.

More than three decades have passed since its original release, yet Marie’s vocal still carries the same quiet power. The production still sounds timeless. And the lyrics still land.

Congratulations!

From ‘Christmas for the Broken Hearted‘ to One Billion Streams worldwide, it is one of the most remarkable journeys in the Roxette catalogue.

Congratulations, Per for writing such a timeless classic.
And Marie  your voice never fades and continues to reach new ears every single day.

Currently on Streaming

03 It Must Have Been Love (Soundtrack Album Version / LP Version)
04 It Must Have Been Love (Live from Santiago 1992)
05 It Must Have Been Love (LA Version 1992)
06 No Se Si Es Amor / ‘I Don’t Know if its Love‘ (Baladas en Español 1996)
07 It Must Have Been Love (Gessle Over Europe 2009)
08 It Must Have Been Love (Live St.Petersburg 2010)
09 It Must Have Been Love (Live Night of the Proms, Rotterdam 2011)
10 It Must Have Been Love (Live from Santiago 2012)
11 It Must Have Been Love (Symphonic Version 2018)
12 It Must Have Been Love (A Tribute to Marie Fredriksson 2020 – Live) by Per Gessle + Agnes

13 It Must Have Been Love (CFTBH) [T&A Demo – Apr 14, 1987] – In Conversation with Sven Lindström

Missing from Streaming

– It Must Have Been Love (Single Version / Edit)
– It Must Have Been Love (MTV Unplugged 1993)
– It Must Have Been Love (Instrumental)

We’re not aware of any official remixes, or any other official versions of the first iteration of ‘IMHBL’ missing, other than various (rare) live performances from, for example, the ‘Look Sharp!‘ Tour where Marie often performed the song solo, on piano.

Previous ROX40 Countdown Articles for It Must Have Been Love



The Daily Roxette

It Must Have Been Love (Christmas For The Broken Hearted)

‘It Must Have Been Love‘, before Hollywood came a’knocking! Currently on Streaming 01 It Must Have Been Love (CFTBH) [T&A Demo – Apr 14, 1987] 02 It Must Have Been Love (CFTBH) 03 It Must Have Been Love (CFTBH) [T&A Demo – Apr 14, 1987] – In Conversation with Sven Lindström Missing from Streaming We’re not aware of any other official versions of the first iteration of ‘IMHBL’ missing, other than various (rare) live performances from, for example, the ‘Look Sharp!‘ Read the full story...

Feb 11, 2026 •

Details



The Daily Roxette

It Must Have Been Love

Hollywood calling…pick up the phone! Read the full story...

Mar 8, 2026 •

Details

Double Vinyl
The tracklist differs due to timing constraints on each side of the vinyl, so quite an odd sequence…

Side A
01  Un Dia Sin Ti (Spending My Time)
02  Crash! Boom! Bang! (Spanish Version)
03  Directamente a Ti (Run To You)
04  Alguien (Anyone)

Side B
01  No Sé Si Es Amor (It Must Have Been Love)
02  Quisiera Volar (Wish I Could Fly)
03  Como La Lluiva En El Cristal (Watercolours In The Rain)
04  Cuánto Lo Siento (I’m Sorry)

Side C
01  Habla El Corazòn (Listen To Your Heart)
02  Tímida (Vulnerable)
03  El Día Del Amor (Perfect Day)
04  Quiero Ser Como Tu (I Don’t Want To Get Hurt)

Side D
01  Soy Una Mujer (Fading Like A Flower)
02  Lo Siento (Salvation)
03  Tu No Me Comprendes (You Don’t Understand Me)
04  Una Reina Va Detrás De Un Rey (Queen Of Rain)

As Per, Roxette’s main song-writer, didn’t speak Spanish, they opted for help outside of their usual Team. The lyrics were adapted by Luis Gómez-Escolar, and while the album became a huge hit, his translations were sometimes criticized by fans as “immature” or not perfectly representative of the original English meaning.

Fun Fact

Our very own Thomas E was in charge of the Switchboard at DHL.  He put the CD on as the ‘Hold Music‘.  When answering a particular call, the lady said “Oh no, don’t answer! I want to hear more of the music!“.  Another customer with good taste.

The Complete Collection

Released digitally in 2022, the album was updated to include the three tracks recorded as bonus tracks for the 1999 album, Have A Nice Day!  Additionally, the forgotten ‘You Don’t Understand Me‘ which was initially left off the original album release 1996 was finally included.

According to Per during the ‘BAG OF TRIX‘ interviews, the album went on to sell over 2 million copies, with the biggest successes being in South America and Spain.

The album was also the last Roxette album to be officially issued in the United States, released via EMI Latin. 

ROX40

The re-release is great timing, perfect in fact, as it coincides with ROXETTE LIVE 2026 – BACK AGAIN! as they travel back to South America.

We do wonder if the official video for Un Dia Sin Ti (Spending My Time) will get the 4K treatment?

Meanwhile, in an alternate universe …

★  ‘The World According to ROXETTE’   ★   and ‘UP!’   ★

In 1996-1997, Roxette were on a bit of a break.

Per, always the busy bee, started off with what was initially planned as a Gyllene Tider project. That didn’t happen, and we now know a Roxette album entitled “UP!” was drafted, which then also obviously didn’t happen.

Not to be defeated, Per stepped out with ‘The World According to GESSLE‘, his third solo album and the first entirely in English. Released 2 May 1997, it went straight to the top of the Swedish album chart.

It’s a firm favourite here at TDR, and an essential soundtrack for any long drive, and it just got us to thinking, what would ‘The World According To Gessle‘ have been like had it been a Roxette album, but first…let’s talk briefly about the newly discovered ‘UP!‘.

A spooky (yet timely) Facebook post from Per this time last week, 22 Feb 2026…

“Wow! Bumped into an old notebook and found this idea for a new Roxette album called ‘UP!‘ back in 1996. That, of course, never happened. Interesting choice of songs, don’t you think? Most of them wound up on ‘The World According To Gessle‘”. /PG 22 Feb 2026

So strange that should happen the week before we post ‘The World According to Roxette‘.  Talk about alignment as we’ve had our mock-up ready since January.

We couldn’t resist ‘UP!‘, so we produced something quickly last Sunday as an addition, the day Per posted about it.

See end of the article for the ‘UP!‘ mock-up bonus. Check out the Spotify Playlist too.

The Original Album

The Gessle album title was inspired by ‘The World According to Garp‘, a novel by John Irving.

Three singles were released to promote the album. ‘Do You Wanna Be My Baby?‘, ‘Kix‘ and ‘I Want You to Know‘ (now a rare CD single). It was a pretty big budget release at the time too, with all three singles getting the video treatment, all directed by Jonas Åkerlund.  Very abstract videos – one eventually being banned, we forget why, something to do with a golf ball was it, or an “inappropriate” kiss?  (Bonkers!)

Dig a little deeper and there’s a hidden track tagged onto ‘Lay Down Your Arms‘. Titled “Cha-cha-cha”, which is an alternate take on ‘Kix‘, performed in an ‘Elvis Presley‘ style. Japanese editions came with an additional song, ‘Love Doesn’t Live Here‘ (personal fave!). Which was later given to Belinda Carlisle, who recorded and included it on her ‘A Woman and a Man‘ album, which was kinda cool, but not as good as Per’s own original.

The album received the anniversary treatment back in 2008, with an expanded set including a whopping amount of bonus tracks, mainly demos and all rather cool too.

The Recordings

To give it a more guitar-driven edge, Per brought in support and was backed by musicians from Brainpool and Gyllene Tider.  A great combination that worked well.

Per even managed to persuade Marie to come into the studio and provide some vocals for ‘I’ll Be Alright‘.  Another album highlight for sure, only wish it had been a true duet rather than a backing-vocal feature as it’s a good tune.

Our Mock-up Designs

As always, our mock-up takes its lead directly from the original album artwork, designed this time by Karl-Magnus with thanks to Kjell A, and photography by Jonas Linell.

We did of course have to borrow some additional images of Marie for this one, as there are no official studio photoshoots of Roxette during 1997.  The borrowed images are from the 1996 album ‘i en tid som vår‘ which were taken by Hans Carlén and Mattias Edwall.  Together, we tried to re-image them collectively as Roxette.

We’ve stuck to an LP edition here.  It’s a real shame the original album was never released on vinyl. How come, Per?

So here we have ‘The World According to ROXETTE‘ in all its imagined glory.  It would have been an interesting continuation from the crashing guitar sound of ‘Crash! Boom! Bang!‘ for sure.  Oh and YES we know, it wouldn’t have been released on Per’s ‘fundamental‘ label, we just kept it as is because we like the logo here!  It’s intentional, it’s not real so it doesn’t matter, but we’re sure it’ll still be pointed out by the ‘critics’ regardless.

Our LP Tracklisting

We’ve taken ‘liberties’ here, as obviously, this album isn’t real.  It’s lovingly over-imagined… 16 tracks as ROXETTE:

SIDE A
★  Stupid (as per the Roxette version that was released, maybe a bit more true to the GESSLE album though?)
★  Do You Wanna Be My Baby? (re-imagined as classic Roxette duet – Marie on chorus duty, closer to the demo style)
★  Saturday (pretty much as is, but backing and additional vocals by Marie.  Love this song).
★  I Wanna Be With You (A cute summery pop duet very close to the demo)

SIDE B
★  Kix (we love this as is, but with backing and additional vocals by Marie)
★  I Want You To Know (Marie on lead vocals – a new imagined ballad)
★  Always Breaking My Heart (Another roaring power pop ditty sung by Marie and Per on backing)
★  Love Doesn’t Live Here (Marie ballad – another epic ballad, better than Belinda, sorry Belinda! We love you really!)

SIDE C
★  June Afternoon (And of course this must be on the album. It was likely a single even)
★  Elvis In Germany (Let’s Celebrate) (Duet – more summer time style Rox fun)
★  Wish You The Best (Marie ballad with Per backing)
★  I’ll Be Alright (Overhauled into a real Roxette duet as it always should have been in our view)

SIDE D
★  She Doesn’t Live Here Anymore (A roaring power pop ditty sung by Per and Marie on backing)
★  T-T-T-Take It! (Duet a la ‘Lies’ vibes – awesome! Marie on power chorus)
★  There Is My Baby (no changes as Per is great here, other than Marie backing vocals and support additions)
★  Lay Down Your Arms (another classic Per and Marie combo ballad duet here – a la Crash! Boom! Bang! perhaps?)

UP! A last-minute bonus mock-up!

Brand-new / original design by us, a bit pop-art, a bit of blue skies, and some familiar colours. Sitting comfortably between Don’t Bore Us and Have A Nice Day! We did take another little ‘liberty’ here in making this 12 tracks rather than the 10 posted by Per.

Track 9, “Krauss” as Per has since commented, is likely to be an early version of ‘Lay Down Your Arms‘. Additionally, it makes sense that ‘Every Day‘ refers to the demo ‘Every Day Outside My Window‘ which was from 1995, rather than the later version ‘Every Day‘ we all know from the Room Service era, which was demoed in 2000.   Hope you like the ‘UP!‘ artwork.

Want to know how it might have sounded? Ask no more…

Next Month

We’ll be back next month with another brand-new mock-up.
What could it be? Any suggestions?

In the meantime, go jump in your car, pop on ‘The World According to GESSLE‘ (or even UP!) and enjoy the open road.

No speeding!

Don’t Bore Us – Get To The Chorus!

★ Live from London’s Shepherd’s Bush, 16 November 1995  ★

By 1995, Roxette were not slowing down. They were ‘consolidating’.

‘Don’t Bore Us – Get To The Chorus!‘ had just been released as their first Greatest Hits collection, and it was being treated not as a retrospective, but as a major new campaign. Their UK record company invested heavily.

According to the full-page ad taken from Music Week Magazine UK at the time, over £500k was poured into TV advertising, with a further £150k committed to outdoor sites and national press. Retail marketing was extensive, a refreshed and new 1995 remix of ‘The Look’ was released as a single, and Roxette themselves were flown into the UK for an intensive run of TV promotion, interviews and performances.

This was not nostalgia. This was strategy.  

As part of the UK promotion, Roxette scheduled two very special performances:

On 15 November, they recorded an unplugged-style live session at Abbey Road Studios for BBC Radio, performing the hits ‘The Look’ and ‘Listen To Your Heart’, a Beatles classic, ‘Help’, and a brand new song ‘You Don’t Understand Me’.  All in one take!

The following night, on 16 November, Roxette walked onstage (slightly late) at the Shepherd’s Bush Empire for a one-off, invite-only live club show.

We recently asked Per what he remembers about the gig:  “That gig was the sh★t!”   We think he liked it!

So, it’s this very performance that opens our ‘Monthly Mock-Up‘ series.

Before we move onto that though, it’s worth mentioning that the ‘Don’t Bore Us…‘ album went on to sell over 300,000 copies in the UK alone, achieving platinum status by March the following year.

As we write this, the album has sold over 7 million copies worldwide. Amazing!

Live from London’s Shepherd’s Bush

The gig was everything a promotional show should be. Small enough to feel intimate, but packed wall-to-wall with hits. Confident rather than nostalgic. Focused rather than indulgent. Roxette sounded sharp, energised, and completely in control of a catalogue that by then had already defined what Per has since called their “golden years”, the late 1980s into the early 1990s.

And yet, somehow, this gig slipped through the cracks.

Despite its reputation, despite the obvious logic of releasing it, and despite occasional low-quality clips surfacing years later, the concert has never been officially released. No CD. No vinyl. No streaming release. Just stories passed between fans who were lucky enough to be there.

Our first Monthly Mock-Up imagines it as a missing live album.

A document of a band at full confidence, celebrating and distilling years of global hits into a tight, high-energy club-sized show. The kind of release that feels so obvious in hindsight, that now its absence is baffling.

The gig was intimate. Hit-packed. Electric. However, for the moment it remains locked away in The Roxette Vault.

Were you there that night? If you were, we would love to hear your memories.

The Setlist

The setlist was basically a greatest hits victory lap, but dropped into a sweaty London Club rather than the arenas and stadiums Marie + Per had become used to. Hit after hit, the songs that made Roxette successful, played with confidence and zero hesitation. A celebration.

Amongst the familiar moments sat ‘You Don’t Understand Me’, still brand new at the time, alongside another outing of The Byrds cover, first played during their one-off MTV Unplugged gig in 1993, and also appearing now and then during the ‘Crash! Boom! Bang! World Tour’ in 1994/1995. Both added something different to an otherwise hit-rich set.

It would have been amazing to see ‘June Afternoon‘ in the set, which interestingly still remains elusive in any Roxette live set to date. Regardless, it was exactly the kind of super-focussed show that fit the ‘Don’t Bore Us’ era so well, and a stark reminder of why all their hits still HIT!

★  Sleeping In My Car
★  Dangerous
★  Fading Like A Flower
★  So You Wanna Be A Rock ‘n’ Roll Star  [Byrds Cover]
★  Crash! Boom! Bang!
★  Listen To Your Heart  [Acoustic]
★  Dressed For Success
★  The Big L
★  The Look
★  You Don’t Understand Me  [Piano]
★  Joyride
★  How Do You Do!
★  It Must Have Been Love

Our Mock-Up Design

Visually, our mock-up takes its lead straight from the original ‘Don’t Bore Us…’ album artwork, designed by Kjell Andersson with photography by the late Jonas Linell. It’s a design we’ve always loved, and one that still stands out in the Roxette catalogue.

The approach is deliberately simple. Minimal layout. Summery typography with plenty of space. Letting the colour palette do the heavy lifting rather than crowding it with detail.

The goal was obvious from the start. This should feel like something you could have picked up in a record shop in late 1995, sitting comfortably alongside the ‘Don’t Bore Us…’ Greatest Hits album.

The finishing touch is the Sunflower Yellow coloured vinyl. A small but very deliberate nod to the warmth and confidence of that moment, and to the sunflower imagery that featured so heavily at the time.

Our first mock-up is dedicated to Marie, Pelle and Jonas
To Marie, whose voice carried these songs with power and grace.
To Pelle, whose drumming anchored the live sound so many fans still talk about.
To Jonas, for the amazing photography of Roxette over the years.

Bootleg

An unofficial audience recording of the Shepherd’s Bush show circulates online, albeit in low quality. It still offers a glimpse of what this night sounded like, but also underlines the point that this one certainly deserved a release. One day. Maybe?

Thanx! A special mention and thanx to Barry Mieny for sending over some old articles about the Shepherd’s Bush gig.  Also to the man himself, Per, for taking the time to comment (albeit briefly – he’s a busy bee!), about the gig.

Next Month

We’ll be back next month with a brand-new mock-up.
What could it be? Any suggestions?

Happy Birthday + Birthday Treat 2026!

Just like many other years, Per has decided to celebrate by releasing a surprise streaming album.

This time we’ve been treated to the ‘POP-UP DYNAMO!‘ demos, straight from The Per Gessle Archives.

Don’t know about you lot, but we really like this album.  Surprisingly, we like some of the demos even more.

Released on streaming platforms today, check them out!

Tracklisting:

01  Walking On Air (T&A Demo Oct 2019 + May 2020)
02  Me+You+Everything Inbetween (T&A Demo May 2020)
03  Headphones On (Sweetspot Demo March 2021)
04  Watch Me Come Undone (T&A Demo July 2020)
05  The Craziest Thing (Sweetspot Demo March 2021)
06  Debris (T&A Demo March 2021)
07  The Loneliest Girl In The World (T&A Demo March 2020)
08  Jezebel (T&A Demo Nov 2017)
09  My Chosen One (T&A Demo Dec 2019)
10  Walk Right In (T&A+Sweetspot Demo May+June 2020)
11  Sunday Driver, Yea (T&A Demo Jan+Feb+May 2020)
12  Sunflower (T&A Demo Aug 2020)
13  Necessary (T&A Demo Sept 2020)
14  Wish You The Best For Xmas (T&A Demo July 2022)
15  When She Needed Me The Most (T&A Demo Aug 2022)

Wishing Per a very Happy Birthday!  We hope you have a fab day whatever you’re up to.

Monthly Mock-Ups!

Is our new monthly feature where we’ll be sharing imagined Roxette releases.

They’re not official albums, singles or videos, not unreleased material, not ‘leaked’ projects, and definitely not for sale.

They’re simply visual ‘what-ifs‘, created purely for fun and curiosity. The kind of releases fans have been talking about for ages.

Did you ever ponder? …

★  What if that Tour or gig had a live album?
★  What if the b-sides had been pulled together properly into a compilation?
★  What if that solo album had actually been a Roxette album?
★  What if ‘The Ballad Hits‘ had been kept as “Love Peas” (shudder)
★  What if an Anniversary Edition had gone just that little bit further?
★  What if album track ‘x’ had been released as a single instead of ‘y’ …?
★  What if we had a power pop album for driving?
★  What if we had an acoustic collection, not just MTV Unplugged?

Each month, on the 1st, we’ll share a brand new mock-up concept across The Daily Roxette website and our social channels…

Some will be inspired by real moments in Roxette history. Others will lean more into the ‘shoulda, woulda, coulda’ territory that we all know so well.

And this is very much a two-way thing.

Readers are invited to send in their Roxette and solo suggestions. That could be a specific live album, a compilation idea, an anniversary edition, a single that never was, or something completely unexpected. If it sparks curiosity and fits the spirit of Monthly Mock-Ups, it’s fair game and we’ll design it.

All feedback and ideas are welcome as always, and discussion is encouraged. The only caveat remains simple.
Comments need to stay polite, respectful, and in good taste. Anything that crosses that line will be removed.

These mock-ups are not about rewriting history. They’re about celebrating it, poking at the gaps, and enjoying the creativity that Roxette has always inspired.
It’s all just a bit of fun, and not to be taken too seriously.

★ The 1st edition lands February 1st ★

Let’s see where the imagination takes us…it’s almost unreal…

Many fans, us included, carry a deep sense of protectiveness over both Roxette’s legacy and Marie’s memory. That’s only natural.

What’s been tougher to witness though, is how far some of the online commentary surrounding this new Tour has gone. We’ve deliberately chosen not to publish this piece until now, and not to quote specific comments, simply because much of it has been disrespectful, vitriolic and in very poor taste.

This sits in stark contrast to the reality of the Roxette 2025 Tour itself, which has been both a commercial and critical success, playing sold-out shows across South Africa, Australia and Europe, with further dates already confirmed for 2026. For many fans, the return to the stage has been a meaningful celebration of the Roxette catalogue and a respectful tribute to Marie.

With the 2025 leg now complete and the Roxette crew on a well-earned break, this feels like the right moment to pause and address some of the myths and misunderstandings that have taken hold. Not to argue opinion, but to clarify those myths with the facts, and to refocus the conversation on what this Tour is and was always intended to be.

Myths vs Facts

The Myth:  Marie Fredriksson has officially been replaced in Roxette.

★ FACT ★   NOT TRUE …

Per has been clear and consistent in interviews throughout 2024/2025 that Marie has not been replaced, nor could she ever be. Roxette was, and always will be, Marie + Per, together.

The current 2025/2026 Tour is not a replacement, new configuration or continuation of the original Roxette duo, instead it’s a live celebration of the catalogue.

Lena Philipsson has been welcomed as guest vocalist, brought in to help Per perform the songs on stage, not to replace Marie’s role in Roxette. Per has repeatedly described the Tour as a tribute to both the music and to Marie herself, indeed, something Marie supported and gave her blessing for, long before she passed.

The Myth:  Roxette will release new studio recordings soon.

★ FACT ★   NOT TRUE …

Per has confirmed that Roxette as a recording project no longer exists, and that no new studio recordings will be released under the Roxette name. The focus of the current Tour is on performing the existing catalogue live, not creating new Roxette material.

While Per has continued to write and record new music, including ‘Bad Blood‘ a new song recorded with Lena during the touring period, these releases sit outside the official Roxette catalogue and are not being presented as new Roxette recordings.

Just like before, Per continues to release his own Swedish and English solo projects outside of the Roxette name, nothing has changed on that front – it’s all business as usual for Mr G.

The Myth:  There won’t be anymore Roxette releases.

★ FACT ★   NOT TRUE … The Roxette Vault will continue to be opened up.

While we won’t see any new studio recordings, we will continue to be treated to Roxette releases.

For example, the ‘Room Service 25th Anniversary Editions’ have already been confirmed by Per for release in 2026.  Additionally, we’ll continue to see other previously unreleased Roxette material released in the future.  Ain’t we lucky!

★ THE FACTS ★

★  The 2025/2026 Tour is a live tribute, not a reboot.
★  Marie has not been replaced.
★  Lena is a superb guest vocalist for the live shows, and she’s doing a mighty fine job of it!
★  No new Roxette recordings will be released.
★  We’ll continue to see Roxette re-issues, anniversary editions + previously unreleased material from The Roxette Vault.
★  The aim of the Tour is to honour the vast Roxette catalogue, the memories, and Marie’s legacy, not to rewrite any of it.

LIVE 2025/2026…

Get your 2026 tickets here!

South America 2026

April 12 – Rio de Janeiro, Brazil – Vivo Rio – tickets
April 14 – Sao Paulo, Brazil – Espaco Unimed – tickets
April 16 – Buenos Aires, Argentina – Movistar Arena – tickets
April 18 – Montevideo, Uruguay – Antel Arena – tickets
April 21 – Santiago, Chile – Movistar Arena – tickets

Europe 2026

May 29 – Hanover, Germany – NDR2 Plaza Festival – tickets

June 5 – Olpe, Germany – Biggesee Open Air – tickets
June 17 – Fulda, Germany – Domplatz Open Air – tickets
June 25 – Sønderborg, Denmark –Mølleparken – tickets
June 28 – Coburg, Germany – Schlossplatz Coburg – tickets

July 9 – Gothenburg, Sweden – Slottsskogsvallen – tickets
July 18 – Kiel, Germany – Schleswig-Holstein Musik Festival – tickets
July 22 – Vienna, Austria – Donauinsel Open Air – tickets
July 24 – Liberec, Czech Republic – BENÁTSKÁ! s Impulsem – tickets
July 26 – Neu-Ulm, Germany – Wiley Sport Park – tickets
July 28 – Bremen, Germany – Seebühne Bremen  – tickets
July 30 – Schwetzingen, Germany – Schlossgarten Schwetzingen – tickets

August 1 – Ringsted, Denmark – Ringsted Festival – tickets
August 3 – Bonn, Germany – KUNST!RASEN – tickets
August 28 – Arbon, Switzerland – Summerdays Festival – tickets
August 29 – Spiez, Switzerland – Seaside Festival – tickets

Hopefully, more dates to be announced too… North America anyone?

This was the first time the Roxette Archives had been fully opened with a fully stand-alone boxset focussing specifically on Roxette rarities, unreleased and out-of-print songs (We’re not counting the RoxBox). Fans lapped it up, and quite rightly so.

A writer for Sweden’s largest newspaper at the time, Aftonbladet, said the boxset demonstrated how Marie + Per were “intensely passionate about the music they made, and had a lot of fun together…“.

Indeed, the newspaper gave it a very favourable and deserving  ★ ★ ★ ★ review.
For us though, it was without doubt, a highly deserved ★ ★ ★ ★ ★

Per has kept himself rather busy (understatement), and we’ve been lucky enough to have been let into the vast Roxette Archives through numerous Rox and non-Rox digital and physical releases ever since.

We’ve had well over 60 rare or previously unreleased tracks released (not even counting ROXRMX).

So, THANK YOU VERY MUCH, Per!

Our two BAG OF TRIX Articles at the time of it’s release discussed the various omissions from the series and we had some great discussions:



The Daily Roxette

Bag of Trix – Part 2 – Volumes 5 – 8 The Lost Songs

Now that the Bag of Trix is finally out in the world, it’s made me think about how lucky we are as fans, in the respect that Per is just as big of a geek as we all are when it comes to loving demos, alternative and live recordings, remixes and outtakes.   Read the full story...

Dec 17, 2020 •

Details

 



The Daily Roxette

A quick Trix 2 update

Thanks for all the comments on the article.  It’s been really interesting to read all of them. Read the full story...

Dec 18, 2020 •

Details

Rather than us do a retrospective review of the release, we thought instead, it would be a good time to recap and see what gaps have been filled since BAG OF TRIX, and more interestingly, what do we know of that remains elusive? What’s on our Wish List for future releases in 2026 and beyond…

JOYRIDE 30th Anniversary Editions

Released in a very similar format to BAG OF TRIX, 26^th November 2021.  This was an immense box collection for their biggest selling album. 11 previously unreleased recordings were included, namely:

Church of your Heart (US Adult Contemporary Mix)
Hotblooded (T&A Demo – Jan 23, 1990)
Small Talk (T&A Demo – Aug 30, 1990)
Church of Your Heart (T&A Demo – Jan 8, 1990)
Physical Fascination (T&A Demo – Jan 3, 1990)
Sweet Thing (T&A Demo – Oct 28, 1990)
Run Run Run (T&A Demo – Jan 10, 1990)
Thing Will Never be the Same (T&A Demo – Sep 17, 1989)
The Sweet Hello, The Sad Goodbye (T&A Demo – Mar 16, 1990)
Another Place, Another Time (T&A Demo – Jan 11, 1990)
I Remember You (T&A Demo – Mar 15, 1990)

Missing – We’re not sure what, if anything remains from the Joyride Recording Sessions.

LOOK SHARP! 30th Anniversary Streaming Edition (Updates)

An expanded digital-only version was released early 2022, with even more demo additions made in both January + February that same year:

Dangerous (T&A Demo – Feb 11, 1987)
In My Own Way (T&A Demo – Sep 15, 1987)
Love Spins (T&A Demo – Sep 15, 1987)
Love Spins (T&A Demo – Nov 18, 1987)
One Is Such a Lonely Number (T&A Demo – Aug 26, 1987)
Drowning in You (T&A Demo – Apr 17, 1988)
Silver Blue (T&A Demo – May 21, 1987)
The Thrill of It All (T&A Demo – Aug 26, 1987)
Physical Fascination (T&A Demo – Apr 17, 1988)
Never is a Long Time (T&A Demo – Nov 11, 1987) (recorded by Lena back then…)
Boom Boom (And Boom Boom Again) (T&A Demo – Sep 15, 1987)
Let’s Party! (T&A Demo – Jul 14, 1988) (B-side to Per’s ‘I Want You to Know’ single)
Start! (T&A Demo – Feb 19, 1988)
Night Wire (T&A Demo – Apr 9, 1987)
Pocketful of Rain (T&A Demo – Jun 12, 1987)
Rocket (T&A Demo – Apr 9, 1987)
The Voice (T&A Demo – Mar 24, 1987)
Silver Blue (Demo)
Here Comes the Weekend (T&A Demo – Mar 30, 1988)

We think that was them all, phew?!

Missing – A demo or even an acoustic take of Half A Woman, Half A Shadow remains elusive.  The acoustic rehearsal shown during The Roxette Diaries sounded cute.

TOURISM 30th Anniversary Streaming-Only Edition

Sadly, this was a late one (17^th February 2023) and limited to streaming, much to the disappointment of vinyl enthusiasts (like us). We’re still hopeful that Tourism is honoured and gets a reissue on vinyl, as it’s hard to come by these days, and for a reasonable price. That said, we were able to fill some gaps with another 4 previously unreleased gems from that period:

Never is a Long Time (Torsgatan Piano Demo – Sep 24, 1987)
Here Comes the Weekend (T&A Demo – Mar 30, 1988)
Fingertips (T&A Demo – Jan 28, 1992)
Cinnamon Street (T&A Demo – Jan 2, 1992)

Missing – The TOURISM Sleeve Demos 

Our original BOT2 article actually came from re-discovering the cassette on the artwork for the Tourism album and a few song titles. So, if you grab your Tourism vinyl or CD and look closely at the artwork you should be able to spot a couple of demos on one of the DAT cassettes…

“How Can I Take a Chance on You” (Demo Summer 1991)
“Don’t You . . .” (Eddie 1991) – we did wonder whether this is an early version of “I Love The Sound Of Crashing Guitars” from Crash! Boom! Bang!

The Heart Shaped Sea (Stand-Alone Version)
Remains unreleased on streaming.  This was a B-side to “Almost Unreal” in 1993, and then featured on the ROXBOX, its basically the album version without the crowd noise intro from previous album track, “The Look” (Live).  Hopefully, we’ll get this version added to streaming as an addition to the TOURISM30 collection soon.

ROX RMX – Remixes from the Roxette Vault

This was also a very welcome surprise, first back in June 2022 (Digital) and then later physicals followed September 2024.
Tonnes of remixes here, around 45 in total if memory serves?  We finally got some previously unreleased and hard to find mixes.

Highlights:

Chances (Dancehall Version).  Epic!
Crush On You (Almighty 7 Radio Mix)
Crush On You (Almighty Club Mix)
Opportunity Nox (Hard Act 2 Follow vs. Sharpshooter Extended Remix)

Missing – We’re not sure what unreleased remixes, if any, remain in the vault?  However, we’re still missing some others on Streaming:

Dressed For Success (Success Mix)
Dressed For Success (The Look Sharp Mix)
Dangerous (AC Mix)
Dangerous (Dub)
Dangerous (Power Mix Long Version)
Listen To Your Heart (AC Mix) – aka Saxophone Version. It’s the US Remix but with a Saxophone Solo instead of Guitar.  
The Look (Visible Mix)
The Look (Power Radio Mix)
The Look (Invisible Dub)
How Do You Do! (AC Mix)
Fading Like A Flower (AC Mix) – Mixed by Humberto Gatica
The Big L (The Bigger, The Better Mix)
The Big L (US Mix) – An edit of The Bigger, The Better Mix
Joyride (AC Mix)

I’m sure we’ve missed some here too?

The Per Gessle Archives – The Good Karma Demos

Although not labelled as a Roxette release, this was a great collection released for Per’s Birthday 12^th January 2024 on Streaming only. 14 previously unreleased demos, the entire album in fact plus a couple of others:

Why Dontcha? (T&A Demo – Sep 27, 2014)
It Just Happens (T&A Demo – May 5, 2014)
Good Karma (T&A Demo – Apr 3, 2015)
This One (T&A Demo – Sep 21, 2014)
You Make it Sound So Simple (T&A Demo – Jan 18, 2015)
From a Distance (T&A Demo – Oct 22, 2014)
Some Other Summer (T&A Demo – Jul 1, 2014)
Why Don’t You Bring Me Flowers? (T&A Demo – Dec 15, 2015)
You Can’t Do This to Me Anymore (T&A Demo – Jan 8, 2015)
20 BPM (T&A Demo – Sep 10 2015)
April Clouds (T&A Demo – Aug 3, 2014)
Let Your Heart Dance with Me (T&A Demo – Apr 19, 2015)
Piece of Cake (T&A Demo – Jan 15, 2015)
Everybody’s Jumping (T&A Demo – Sep 12, 2014)

Missing – “I Come Alive” – Rumoured as a track for Good Karma but has never seen the light of day.  It does exist (refer to the BMI website and there it is listed in black and white – with many many more!).  Most likely not written for Roxette though, therefore we had originally omitted it from the other tracks listed in the previous articles.

CRASH! BOOM! BANG! 30th Anniversary Editions

Now this was an epic anniversary edition, released 13^th December 2024. The vinyl (with exception of the horrendous paint splatter “art”) was just awesome.  We really enjoyed this collection, especially as five more treasures came out of the Roxette Archives, namely:

The First Girl on the Moon (T&A Demo –  Dec 20, 1992)
I Love the Sound of Crashing Guitars (T&A Demo Jun 27, 1993)
What’s She Like? (T&A Demo Jan 29, 1992)
Lies (T&A Demo May 14, 1993)
She Doesn’t Live Here Anymore (T&A Demo Dec 16, 1992)

Love Is All (Edit), Crazy About You (CBB Version) and Almost Unreal (AC Mix) were also added to Streaming later on too.  Great!

Missing – We’re not sure now what else, if anything, remains from the CBB recording sessions.  It’s possible that some have been held back for another BAG OF TRIX release in the future, who knows?

The Per Gessle Archives – The Lonely Boys (Non-Rox Project)

Although not strictly a Roxette project, we were treated to not only a digital release, but a very cool vinyl EP, released January 2025 for Per’s birthday.  We’ve included this one as some of the tracks were considered for Roxette at one time or another.

Indeed, one of the demos included here was considered for the DBUGTTC Greatest Hits album in 1995, as per discussed as part of his The Per Gessle Archives interviews.

We were treated to the following demos, we loved this EP:

Lonely Boys (T&A Demo July 4, 1995 – 2024 Mix)
Apple in the Mud (T&A Demo July 4, 1995 – 2024 Mix)
Keep the Radio On (This Is The Perfect Song) (T&A Demo July 5, 1995 – 2024 Mix)
Adam & Eve (T&A Demo July 4, 1995 – 2024 Mix)
Genius Gone Wrong (T&A Demo July 5, 1995 – 2024 Mix)
Stay (At Home, At Work, At Play) (T&A Demo July 5, 1995 – 2024 Mix) – considered for DBUGTTC

I Wanna Be with You (T&A Demo – Nov 2, 1994 – 2024 Mix) – digital edition only

Don’t Bore Us – Get To The Chorus! 30th Anniversary Editions

We do have mixed feelings on this one.  It was great to be able to celebrate the 30^th Anniversary with both digital and physical releases, but the attention to detail here was sadly lacking. Additionally, the inclusion of two songs outside of the 1988-1995 era represented, was an unfortunate decision misstep that ultimately ruined the slick, perfect original 1995 Greatest Hits collection.  Never mind.  We were very grateful to see reissues nonetheless, thank you Mr G.

Missing – We’ve still not heard “Only You” which was recorded the same day (30^th July, 1995) as the epic “You Don’t Understand Me”.  “Sounds like Bon Jovi” according to Per, but at their worst apparently?  I think the fans should decide, don’t you?  Not sure if this was intended for Roxette though?  YDUM wasn’t either, as far as we recall.

Digitally, we could have seen an accompanying “CD2” with collected demos for us hardcore fans, “The Look 95” mixes, Abbey Road, and demos of songs that were recorded for the compilation at the time.  Perhaps that’s still to follow? Who knows, as Per is known to make later additions.  Something like:

June Afternoon (Tits & Ass Demo, 17 July 1994)
You Don’t Understand Me (T&A Demo July 30, 1995)
She Doesn’t Live Here Anymore (T&A Demo Dec 16, 1992)
I Don’t Want To Get Hurt (T&A Demo – Jun 23, 1995)
Only You (T&A Demo July 30, 1995) * previously unreleased
Stay (At Home, At Work, At Play) (T&A Demo July 5, 1995)
Help! (Abbey Road Sessions November 15, 1995)
Listen To Your Heart (Abbey Road Sessions November 15, 1995)
The Look (Abbey Road Session November 15, 1995)
You Don’t Understand Me (Abbey Road Sessions November 15, 1995)
The Look (Chaps 1995 Remix)
The Look (Chaps Donna Bass Mix)
The Look (Rapino Club Mix)
The Look (Rapino Dub Mix)

OR, how about releasing the 1995 promo gig, recorded at London’s Shepherd’s Bush Empire on November 16, 1995.
Check it out – they sounded awesome!

Don’t Bore Us – Get To The Chorus! Live! London’s Shepherd’s Bush Empire November 16, 1995

Sleeping in My Car
Dangerous
Fading Like a Flower (Every Time You Leave)
So You Want to Be a Rock ‘n’ Roll Star
Crash! Boom! Bang!
Listen to Your Heart (Acoustic)
Dressed for Success
The Big L
The Look
You Don’t Understand Me (Piano)
Joyride
How Do You Do!
It Must Have Been Love

What’s Next?

Room Service 25th Anniversary Editions

Next year we’ll be getting Room Service 25 where we’ve been promised another flurry of previously unreleased songs from the Roxette Archives.  We’re very excited for these, as well as seeing this album on Vinyl for the first time (Red + Black Marble anyone?), hopefully a CD release and of course streaming too. Woo hoo!

We already have a fair few demos from the era via The Per Gessle Archives and BAG OF TRIX, but of course some are missing:

The Centre Of The Heart (RS Demo) – we already have the original HAND demo (via The Per Gessle Archives)
Make My Head Go Pop (Demo)
It Takes You No Time To Get Here (Demo)
Entering Your Heart (Demo)

Other rumoured titles also include (*not confirmed):
* Enter From The South (Demo)
* Rainclouds (Demo)
Easy Way Out (Demo) – this one as we know, eventually ended up on Charm School.

Our Wish List for Santa aka Mr Per Gessle!

Per+Lena Album

Following their first single together, “BAD BLOOD”.  An album together is surely the next step, and a very interesting one too.

Pearls of Passion 40th Anniversary Editions

The one where it all began!  Can you believe it?  It’s been a whopping 40 YEARS of Roxette.  Surely Per will want to celebrate this milestone and in style? We’re hoping to see 40th Anniversary Editions of this 80’s gem, alongside Dance Passion too – Double Gatefold Vinyl anyone…  That would be awesome!

Will we finally get to hear From One Heart to Another (1983, 1984 and 1985’s Reggae Version)

Included in the track-by-track commentary for Bag of Trix (found on Spotify), Per mentions that there were several demos for this one.  The first in 1983 which was guitar driven.  Another in 1984 that was more sequenced with a “touch of Duran Duran”.  Then surprisingly in 1985 it was demoed in a Reggae Version.  Per must have been having a reggae moment in 1985 do we think as that’s now two reggae genre demos we know of.

We’ve compiled a POP 40th Anniversary Spotify Playlist curating all the available Pearls of Passion related tracks, demos and remixes. While doing so, we did notice that previous vinyl only b-side Voices [Montezuma Demo] isn’t available yet on Streaming, hint hint Mr G.

Previously Promised Releases by Per… More Music From The Roxette Archives!

We’re patiently awaiting the release of the ‘rediscovered‘ live recordings of the Joyride Tour, the “newly remastered” Crash! Boom! Bang! Concert, and also MTV Unplugged that have all been teased for release by Per along the way, “soon“.  Hoping that some, if not all, of these promised gems see the light of day in 2026.

Live Album Series

We’d love to see a Live Album Series like Tori Amos did a while back, releasing a tonne of her Tours onto Streaming.  We’re sure that Per is sitting on a lot of their recorded gigs from all the Rox Tours + Live Gigs just collecting dust.  They’re no good left in a drawer…

Look Sharp Tour / Join The Joyride Tour / Summer Joyride Tour / MTV Unplugged 1993 / Crash! Boom! Bang! Tour / Don’t Bore Us Live in London 1995 / Room Service Album Launch Gigs in Cologne + Barcelona / Room Service Tour / Charm School + “Neverending” Tour / Roxette Live 2025 featuring Lena

Marie’s ‘ROX’ Vault – Music From The Roxette Archives

Last but not least, we have our dear Marie.  Fans have been delighted hearing previously unknown recordings from various studios, including her home.  They were definitely a BAG OF TRIX highlight, “Pocketful of Rain” and “Beautiful Boy” to name a couple.

We know of a few more demos that leaked on another bootleg a long time ago, but again no official release (or remastered quality) exists. They are “Beautiful Things”, “Bad Moon” (later released on Marie’s “The Change” album), “Remember” and “Do You Wanna Go with Me”.  We do have a soft spot for “Remember” – it’s a beautiful simple ballad that’s befitting of this time of year.  We hope to get an official remastered version of these one day, amongst others.

Bag of Trix 2 – More Music From The Roxette Archives Volumes 5-8

Hopefully Per will open up the Roxette Archives enough to fill another BAG OF TRIX release.  We remain hopeful as ever, to hear some other previously unreleased recordings and vocals by Marie.  Demos, outtakes, live cuts – whatever they maybe, they’d be amazing to hear.

Hopefully these, the live shows and other surprises will come our way during 2026 and beyond….

If you can’t wait for BAG OF TRIX 2, here’s another playlist of Rox gems that didn’t make it to the first BAG OF TRIX. Enjoy!

We’ve probably missed/overlooked some releases here and there, or some songs?  So please do comment below, and add to this.

As Per himself said, “So many songs, so little time…”

The joyride continues …

This was my second Roxette concert here and my sixth overall. I last saw them at The O2 a decade ago, which sadly became the final time I saw Marie perform. That still hits hard of course, but I’m not ready to say goodbye to the catalogue.

This time the return is in a different format, without Marie, and in turn a new ‘Roxette Catalogue Tribute Format’ featuring for the first time, headlining guest vocalist, Lena Phillipson.   I didn’t know much about Lena before, as to be frank, she’s doesn’t have the same level of fame Roxette achieved outside of Sweden, but that never mattered. I went in with an open mind, seeing this as a live tribute rather than any attempt at her replacing Marie.

So how was it this time around, 6th time a charm?

Truthfully, it felt a little strange at first. Front row centre with a mix of nerves, a touch of sadness, but mostly curiosity.

Then the lights dropped, the band kicked in, and within seconds it felt like coming home. For nearly two hours the concert was filled with emotion, celebration and pitch perfect pop craftsmanship. Per, Lena and the band brought the catalogue back to life with real care and conviction, offering a heartfelt tribute to Marie, while proving the songs still deserve to be heard on the biggest stages –  Rewriting nothing, but celebrating everything.

Lena was astonishing. Confident, charismatic and powerful. This isn’t an easy role by any stretch, yet she approached it with respect, individuality and a vocal strength that carried the room. She was able to honour Marie without imitation, and struck the perfect balance between delivering Roxette’s legacy and bringing in her own artistry. Any instinct to compare her to Marie disappears the moment you see her perform. She was superb and a lot of fun.

Per deserves real credit, as the magic is still here.

He’s been thoughtful and wise in the way he brought the Roxette catalogue back to the live stage. This Tour exists because both Per and Marie wanted their music to live on. When you see the show in person that intention becomes unmistakable. This is remembrance, not reinvention. A chance for fans old and new to celebrate a catalogue that still means a great deal.

That respectful intention was felt in every arrangement and every choice on stage. Per looked energised, grateful and genuinely moved to be performing his self-penned Roxette songs again. His connection to the material hasn’t dimmed, and the band played with tight musicianship. As a collective, they sounded phenomenal. For Lena, these were enormous stage shoes to step into, and she filled them with both professionalism and heart.

My only wish tonight would’ve been to hear the album version of fan favourite “Things Will Never Be The Same“, which featured earlier in the Tour. That’s just a personal wish from a long-time fan though.  Also great to see Matt Lucas and Jonas Åkerlund in the crowd.

This was a triumphant return to the stage.

A live celebration of one of pop’s most joyful and enduring catalogues. A beautiful tribute to Marie.
A magical evening where we all remain magic friends, and were reminded that music this good never fades.

Things Will Never Be The Same, but the Joyride continues…

Roxette, OVO Arena, London   ★ ★ ★ ★ ★
Highlights: Dressed For Success / Vulnerable / Fading Like A Flower / She’s Got Nothing On / Spending My Time / The Look
Lowlights: Milk And Toast And Honey

Hit after Hit!
My Setlist Commentary

The Big L, an odd opener I thought, but it did pack a punch and from then on it just got better and better.  Maybe The Big L would have been more suited elsewhere in the set, even as a funky acoustic number, who knows. Could be interesting?

Sleeping In My Car.  Now you’re talking.  POW!  Lena strutted, owned the melody, and showed exactly why she’s the right person for the role. The new drummer, Magnus “Norpan” Eriksson added real punch too, and the rest of the band sounded tight.

Dressed For Success.  I’ve always loved (the now defunct) Q Magazine’s review of this song (from the Crash! Boom! Bang! Tour) describing it as “The Trogg’s ‘Wild Thing’ with a little bit of Cyndi Lauper’s ‘Girls Just Wanna Have Fun’” – always thought that was spot on!  Much fun, and again, Lena nailed it.

Crash! Boom! Bang!  Per and Lena sharing vocals in this version which was lovely.  Very powerful live, as good now as when I first heard it way back in 1994.  (I’m still enjoying Crash! Boom! Bang! 30^th Anniversary Vinyl btw).

Wish I Could Fly.  I’ve always loved this song.  The live arrangement has drifted away somewhat from the original haunting feel of the studio version, but Lena carried it with conviction and warmth.

Opportunity Nox.  This is pop perfection.  I would have liked to have seen it swapped out for something else this time around though, but only because I’ve heard it live a few times now.  You can tell that Per enjoys performing it, so can see why it made into the set again. No biggie.  Still great, still packs.

Fading Like A Flower.  What a classic.  There’s nothing I can say about this one.  Amazing from start to finish, and where Lena hit her stride tonight.  I’m really impressed.

Vulnerable a gorgeous live debut for me. Hearing Per sing it felt special as I’ve always loved this song.

Milk And Toast And Honey followed with a gentle shift, although the transition could have been smoother. Lovely song, but not essential in a catalogue jam-packed with so many other classics far more worthy of inclusion.   I’m still patiently waiting for the return of Run To You, which deserves a modern revival.  Am I alone in missing this pop ditty?  It was never off UK radio back in the day (remember Atlantic 252 anyone?).

Almost Unreal.  Hooray.  A Top 10 hit here in the UK (No.6 if memory serves?) and I’m super pleased it’s in the set.  Sounded great – thank you Per for popping this one back in.  Very fond memories of the song, and especially buying the single at Woolworths in my hometown.

Stars to be frank, I thought would give me a chance to pop to the bar. It’s literally the only Roxette song I’ve never connected with, but that’s another story (I still bought the Star singles though – I am a fan you know).  However, this version was fun, and it was certainly a party pleaser.  Could it be finally growing on me?

She’s Got Nothing On (But The Radio).  Always loved this, and more so live.  Sounded awesome, just like in 2011.  One of my faves of the evening and would have made a great opener instead of The Big L I thought.

It Must Have Been Love brought a moment of remembrance. Lena handled the introduction with sincerity and sang with real heart. I have no doubt Marie would have approved. Beautiful. The crowd seemed to agree too.

How Do You Do, Dangerous, and Joyride created a full arena singalong. The crowd was loud, happy, and absolutely up for it!  I did have to laugh with the God Save The King intro by Chris (Same as 2011), as the crowd were singing God Save The Queen.  We have King Charles now people!

Spending My Time.  Acoustic, beautiful.  You could hear a pin drop, until everyone joined in for one huge sing-a-long.  Another highlight of the show for me, but always knew that would be the case as I think it’s one of Per’s strongest power ballads.  A masterpiece for sure. Lena was suffering from a cold, but you really couldn’t have noticed.

Listen To Your Heart.  I felt the ground shake.  Amazing to see Jonas perform his guitar solo here. My goodness, this was just epic from start to finish.

The Look.  The song that got me hooked on Roxette way back in 1988.  How can this still sound so fresh and new?  Timeless.  Utter joy.  I think this was one of the first singles I ever bought.

Queen of Rain.  I adore this song, but I think ending the gig on a high would have been more fitting of the catalogue.  Especially after the highs of The Look, this one seemed a bit of mis-step.  That said, the arrangement was great, and Lena truly shone.  It was a thoughtful ending to the show… “There’s a time for the good in life…”. Indeed, there most certainly is.

Time for a quick history lesson before you go?

OK, so Wembley Arena is the oldest Arena here in the UK.  It was built way back in 1934 as the ‘Empire Pool for the British Empire Games‘. It was then transformed from an Olympic standard swimming pool into a major events concert hall.

Alongside generations of world-class performers like The Beatles, ABBA, Queen, Beyoncé, Prince, Madonna, Kylie, and of course Roxette, the venue has also hosted everything from Ice Hockey Finals, Olympic Boxing to major Comedy Tours, X-Factor Finals (yawn), Dance Championships, and even Political Conferences (bigger yawn).

Fellow Swedes, ABBA, played a seven night residency here as part of their final major Tour in 1979. The shows were professionally recorded and released as “ABBA Live at Wembley Arena“. Check it out, as live albums go, it’s a goodie!

The hall was then renamed Wembley Arena in 1978 (the year I was born, spooky), and it’s now known as the OVO Arena Wembley. To this day, it remains one of the UK’s most iconic entertainment venues, thanks to its distinctive architecture and rich cultural history.  It’s one of my favourites venues here in the UK, alongside The Royal Albert Hall.

Roxette’s Wembley History

Join The Joyride World Tour 1991 (Broadcast on BBC Radio / Bootleg – ‘A Night To Remember’ Listen Here…)
19th October 1991
20th October 1991

Summer Joyride Tour 1992
25th June 1992

Crash! Boom! Bang! World Tour 1994
9th November 2011

Charm School Tour 2011 (Audio professionally recorded, or so we’re told)
15th November 2011   Check out Dressed For Success

Roxette Live 2025 Tour
1^st December 2025

Tempodrom Berlin is one of the venues in the world that you have to take a photo of before you enter. Just like the Sydney Opera House, only smaller and much less famous. It looks like a tent, the tops spike into the night sky. And although we are only a few minutes away from Potsdamer Platz, it rather feels like we’re in a middle-sized German town here. Roxette in their various settings have played many different venues in Berlin before, but it was their first time at Tempodrom. And it has been the most beautiful location so far. When sold out, 4,000 people fit in here. And it was packed when the show began. 

The audience appeared to be a bit older than in Halmstad this summer, thus the expecatitions regarding the energy in the audience were not very high intially. It took a bit before they warmed up. It did help a lot that the band played one hit after another from the very beginning. No experiments, just pure awesomess from the start. Didn’t take long before the crowd began dancing and chanting while slowly moving towards the stage. Hands were waved in the air, often equipped with a beer and once the beer was emptied phones were held to capture the moments. I could see people kissing each other to LTYH, others clapped their chest to The Look. Seems like many of them connect memories from their youth or even childhood with the songs. And while I sometimes said in earlier reviews of Berlin gigs that the audience looked a bit reserved this wasn’t the case at all this time. Why that is so? Well, look at the stage. We have Per, the cunning entertainer he is, we have Lena who added an extra gear to her already outstanding performance. Although she surprised us during the summer leg of the tour, she is now rocking the stage like never before. When we spoke about her progress between the very beginning of the tour and her form in the summer, what she delivers now is yet another level up. Can’t describe it, gotta see it. For real. 

Good thing also that the stage design adds to the experience. It doesn’t steal the focus, it’s just there and underlines that all you hear from the stage is hand made, “no click tracks” as Per likes to point out. You get almost two hours of power pop, people who are not hardcore fans were surprised that one band can fill a whole evening with their best-of hits only. There is a German word you need to learn when you speak about Roxette’s shows from now on: “amtlich”. Best translated as “legit”, we like to use it when we refer to something that really convinced. So if you still can, check the tour schedule to see if Roxette is coming to town and buy your ticket. No regrets, I promise!

 

 

 

 

 

NIKOND810

 

 

When you are a French Roxette fan, you need to love travelling. I went in Brussels in 2002 during the Room Service Tour for my first Rox Live Experience. Then, I went to London during the Party Crasher Tour, Antwerp for the Night of Proms and Palau Sant Jordi in 2011 for the Charm School era.

Fortunately, I could see Roxette in my home country at the Olympia in Paris.

I live in the south of France, Barcelona was the best option to see Roxette during this autumn tour. So with my wife we went to Catalonia for a magical weekend!

Even if like almost all the Roxette fans I saw a lot of videos from the previous concert, I didn’t know what to expect for this gig.

Sant Jordi Club is not a big arena as you can see in the name and the show wasn’t sold out but there were about 3500-4000 people inside. We arrived at the venue at 6.30 pm and it was a good indication; a lot of people were waiting outside the venue – we won’t be alone!

We saw the band and Per arriving and they cheered us. Nice.

Finally I was in the front row for a Rox concert, for the first time in my life! The band is Swedish but one would have thought they were Swiss: they came on stage at 9.00 sharp!

And the crowd went wild. Per said : «It’s Sunday after all, what do you do on Saturday?».

Funny.

The band was in top shape, even if Lena said wrong lyrics during “Milk and Toast and Honey” and “Queen of Rain”, but no one cared of course. «If you don’t know the lyrics sing along anyway. We do!»

My wife cried when Lena paid tribute to Marie. Even if she isn’t with us anymore, she was everywhere during this show and I think Per took a good decision to keep those songs alive.

I was very happy about the show and to hear “Almost Unreal” live for the first time which is one of my favorite Roxette songs. But I would love to hear the electrified version of “Things Will Never be the Same.

Next time maybe..?

The set list was the same of the Valencian gig. Christoffer played the anthem of fc Barcelona after the band presentation and the crowd went wild!

Entirely funded by the founder of beloved Spanish supermarket chain Mercadona, Juan Roig, this state-of-the-art multipurpose indoor arena opened in September 2025. The venue has a capacity for up to 20,000 people and was conveniently located barely 300m from my chosen accommodation. Unlike my previous concert experiences with Roxette, the arena provides seated tickets. Mind you, we didn’t remain seated for long, though. Upon arriving in Valencia by train, we spent the rest of the morning exploring the area, fairly close to the stunning City of Arts and Sciences cultural and architectural complex, designed by Spanish architect Santiago Calatrava and the Turia river Gardens. Before the gates opened at 19.00 some hardcore fans were waiting for them, and we saw their black van arrive at about 18.30 and greeted them. They didn’t stop or anything.

After the show we returned to the same area and this time Mikael Nogueira gave us a wave from the passenger seat. Nice! After the gates opened we had plenty of time to check out the stage and grab something to eat and drink. My friend spotted Clarence, Christoffer and Jonas behind the stage, so we waved at them. I told Jonas getting one of his plectrums would make my day and lo and behold, a couple minutes later he came out and threw a few. I will treasure that plectrum forever! My friend, my sister and I returned to our second-row seats and waited for the show to start. As with previous gigs on this autumn leg of the tour, there was no supporting act. Roxette was expected to start their show at 21.00. Three minutes after the designated time, they came on stage. My sister took the lovely pictures on this post. Be sure to thank her on her IG: @marianmontes48. I will be uploading several videos to my YouTube channel (marox79) as well.

The Roig Arena boasts a huge screen providing video from any any angle. It is Europe’s highest-resolution video scoreboard. Its four flat LED screens with faceted edges, designed by LG, allow for a continuous, uninterrupted image. According to some friends that were seated further at the back, no footage of the show was displayed. They were sightly disappointed not to hear them play “June Afternoon”, one of their favorite songs. After the show I mentioned they’ve NEVER played that banger live. Like ever. Another song that could be added to the summer shows. How about that? The band was in top form. You can see Lena feeling a lot more comfortable in her new role as Roxette’s lead singer. She gives it her all, and you can tell she truly respects the songs and the band’s legacy. She really rocks! No changes in the setlist, much to my regret. If only they played Things will never be the same again -with its electric guitars in full blast- like they did in South Africa and Australia… I had even prepared a banner asking for the song to be played -which I forgot at the hotel, just my luck, huh!

Hope they’ll take notice of our suggestions at some point and humor us with slight changes to the setlist. How about a new concert opener, or having What’s she like? back in, or “Fireworks” to the setlist, Mr. Gessle?

Setlist

• The Big L.
• Sleeping in My Car
• Dressed for Success
• Crash! Boom! Bang!
• Wish I Could Fly
• Opportunity Nox
• Fading Like a Flower
• Vulnerable
• Milk and Toast and Honey
• Almost Unreal
• Stars
• She’s Got Nothing On (But the Radio)
• It Must Have Been Love
• How Do You Do!
• Dangerous Band presentation – with Christoffer playing the Anthem of Valencia while locals proudly sang along.
• Joyride

Encore

• Spending My Time
• Listen to Your Heart
• The Look
• Queen Of Rain

Both Per and Lena greeted the audience in Spanish and thanked us for the continued support and our loud ‘Oé, oé, oé’ cheering. Per mentioned it was his first time in the beautiful city of Valencia. Hopefully it will not be the only one. He joked about whether Valencia was always that way on a Saturday night and hinted at moving there. During Joyride, hardcore fans on the first row had brought several heart-shaped ballons we waved. Some even made it to the stage and Lena played with those. Finally, Queen of Rain was performed and front row fans displayed several printed ‘Tack’ signs with a heart they had prepared. On our way out, my friend spotted Åsa waiting for a fan and we took the chance to take a quick photo with her, and I asked her to pass along the message to the band so they play “Things Will Never be the Same” again in Europe. She mentioned the arena had a curfew of 11pm and therefore they can’t play longer shows. Meeting her and talking to her was the icing to an already unforgettable evening. The merch stand was located outside the arena, and we did spend some money on the latest goodies.

Next stop on the tour was the very next day in Barcelona, at the Sant Jordi Club. I was unable to attend, as I had to work on Monday. Won’t say no to at least one of their summer gigs, though. No miracles took place in Barcelona, which got the same playlist they’ve been doing since Halmstad in the summer. Have you attended any of the autumn shows?

Share your thoughts below.

The 1995 original edition became the holy grail for collectors, partly because it was barely pressed on vinyl, and because it captured the duo at the height of their global reign 1988 to 1994.

So when the 30th Anniversary Editions were announced in October, complete with promises of new photos, expanded notes, and a deluxe gatefold vinyl and CD presentation, it felt like a proper celebration and perfectly timed with Per heading back out on the road under the Roxette name, with guest vocalist Lena Philipsson.

Now the honest truth …

The care and detail that made LOOK SHARP! 30 such a brilliant benchmark has unfortunately not carried through here.  The DBUGTTC30 Press Release promised exclusive new photos, although what we actually get are images we’ve seen before, nothing new at all.

The two “bonus tracks” are terrific songs in their own right, no question about that, but they feel completely out of place on this collection. They break the natural flow of what was originally a tight, well-judged Greatest Hits album, which makes their inclusion a real head scratcher.  All down to streaming statistics no doubt, and not a human-led, nor artistic decision.  It’s also wasteful to have 2 x 10 track CDs – they’re not EPs.  A wasted opportunity.

The artwork (by Pär Wickholm) mostly recreates the original 1995 editions; however, the inaccuracies jump out fast if you have an eye for this stuff.

The cover font is not the same, the typography across the labels and sleeves do not match, and the inconsistencies break the illusion of an authentic reissue. It all feels a little casual and clumsy. Per is a self-confessed detail person, so how the sleeves got by him for approval is a mystery.

Then there is the error that really stings. Clarence Öfwerman has been a core member of the Roxette family since day one, so seeing his name printed incorrectly on the back cover is more than a tiny slip. It comes across as careless when the man deserves nothing but respect. I’m sure a completely innocent human error, but c’mon.

Here is the thing though…

I am thrilled that this album is back in print. I bought every edition and without hesitation, all because this music shaped entire chapters of my life and it still sounds phenomenal.

None of these points come from a place of negativity. They come from a place of love.

Roxette fans have always valued quality. We want the legacy handled with care. We want reissues that feel thoughtful rather than rushed or a matter of routine.

LOOK SHARP! 30 proved it can be done. ‘Joyride 30’ delivered. Crash! Boom! Bang! 30 at least showed ambition, even if the paint splatter artwork missed the mark (what on earth was that?!).

So Per, if you happen to hear us, here is the hope for the Room Service 25th Anniversary next year …

Keep the artwork true. Bring in genuinely unseen photos. Give us liner notes that add something new. Give the gatefold vinyl a proper booklet as seen in the major 30th editions before this one. Room Service deserves that level of respect and so do the fans.  We’re super excited for its release, especially as it’ll be it’s vinyl debut.

Don’t Bore Us – Get to the Chorus! remains a classic.

The music still outshines the flaws. It always will. This 30th anniversary edition simply needed a little more love and attention, all to match the brilliance of what it celebrates – pop perfection!

ADDITIONAL ERRORS UPDATE:

We’ve been advised by fellow ‘it’s in the details‘ fan, Chris, who noticed that some track timings on the Anniversary Editions are incorrect.  The biggest being How Do You Do! Additionally, Dangerous differs on the physical releases compared to streaming, i.e. edit vs album version.

No biggie of course as most people won’t notice, but if you’re a fellow detail person, then it just further impacts the overall ‘quality‘ of the Anniversary Editions.

June Afternoon – 4:11 and should be 4:15
Joyride – Different version used to 1995 edition, so can’t compare
Fading Like A Flower – 3:50 should be 3:53
Spending My Time – 4:35 should be 4:38
How Do You Do! – 4:35 should be 3:12
Almost Unreal – 3:52 should be 3:59

Borrowing the phrase from Motown founder Berry Gordy — a man who knew a thing or two about hitmaking — Roxette’s 1995 compilation is both a victory lap and a masterclass in melody.  Released at the height of the duo’s fame, it’s a glittering reminder of how two Swedes conquered global radio with choruses that could level stadiums.

A chorus-driven legacy

By the time Don’t Bore Us – Get to the Chorus! arrived on 23 October 1995, Per Gessle and Marie Fredriksson had already cemented themselves as pop royalty.

Four U.S. Billboard No. 1s — “The Look,” “Listen to Your Heart,” “It Must Have Been Love,” and “Joyride” — headline the collection, while “Dangerous” and “Fading Like a Flower” round out their American chart dominance.

Each track is a precision-tooled slice of melodic genius: Gessle’s hooks sparkle, Fredriksson’s vocals soar, and every chorus lands like a sunbeam.

“Every song’s a gem… a comprehensive collection of great contemporary music from overlooked and underrated pros.”
— AllMusic, 1995

The album hit the sweet spot between reflection and reinvention, adding four new songs to the mix: “You Don’t Understand Me,” “June Afternoon,” “She Doesn’t Live Here Anymore,” and “I Don’t Want to Get Hurt.”  Three of them became singles, proving Roxette weren’t just trading on nostalgia — they were still crafting hits worthy of their own anthology.

Commercially, the compilation was a juggernaut — two million copies sold in two months, and over six million to date. Not bad for a “greatest hits” that somehow left out half a dozen or so singles.

The hits that missed the cut

For all its brilliance, Don’t Bore Us was also an exercise in selective memory.

“Roxette’s back-catalogue was bursting with chart material by 1995. Even with 18 tracks, choices had to be made.”

The 1986 debut single “Neverending Love” — a summer smash in Sweden — is nowhere to be found, as is the entire Pearls of Passion era.

Fans also scratched their heads at the absence of “Church of Your Heart,” “Queen of Rain,” and “Run to You” — all very strong singles, and arguably more deserving at the time than for instance “Vulnerable,” which limps along where “Queen of Rain” might have soared.

Omitted singles from the period 1986 – 1995:

Neverending Love
Soul Deep
Goodbye to You
It Must Have Been Love (Christmas for the Broken-Hearted)
I Call Your Name
Chances
Church of Your Heart
(Do You Get) Excited? (The scrapped final single from ‘Joyride’)
Queen of Rain
Fingertips ’93
Fireworks
Run to You
The Look ’95

Should it have been a double hits album?  Accurately recording the entire singles?
Regardless, what remains is a lean, radio-ready experience that fires hit after hit, living up to its title in spirit if not in completeness.

New gems among familiar jewels

The newly recorded material was far from filler, and now considered Roxette classics.

“You Don’t Understand Me,” co-written with Desmond Child, marked the first time an “outsider” had co-written a Roxette song.

Originally intended for another artist, it blossomed into one of their most soulful ballads — a haunting blend of American pop craft and Scandinavian melancholy. Fredriksson’s vocal is vulnerable yet powerful, her delivery proof that emotion doesn’t need volume to make an impact.

“June Afternoon” – a The World According to Gessle left-over – and “She Doesn’t Live Here Anymore” saw Gessle reuniting with his Gyllene Tider bandmates, injecting the songs with a breezy, jangly joy that recalled Roxette’s earliest roots.

Meanwhile, “I Don’t Want to Get Hurt” quietly became a cult favourite in Brazil thanks to a primetime telenovela — proof that Roxette’s reach was truly global.

Pop without apology

The album plays like a sugar rush:

 The Look struts in early

 Listen to Your Heart swells with emotion

 Joyride bursts with technicolour pop

 Spending My Time aches with bittersweet polish

Even soundtrack standouts — “It Must Have Been Love” from Pretty Woman and “Almost Unreal” from Super Mario Bros.— feel perfectly placed.

“By the mid-’90s, their shiny, radio-friendly aesthetic was out of step with grunge and Britpop, but Don’t Bore Us was unapologetically glossy.”

Listening now, that refusal to follow trends makes it feel timeless rather than dated. Even more so, with “It Must Have Been Love” having now been played on US Radio a staggering 7 million times!

Roxette didn’t chase cool — they defined it on their own terms.

Critical notes

Contemporary reviews at the time praised the duo’s effortless pop craftsmanship.

Sweden’s Aftonbladet admired the new songs’ melodic strength, even if some felt some of the older songs and production had “aged badly.”  AllMusic’s Bryan Buss hailed it as “pop perfection,” while Billboard, reviewing the delayed 2000 U.S. version, reflected:

“It’s ironic how some acts rack up hit after hit under the radar of pop culture. During their early-’90s heyday, no one took Roxette seriously — and yet the masses happily consumed one tasty treat after another.”

The U.S. edition dropped five years later with reshuffled tracks and a new cover, reminding American listeners what Europe already knew:  Roxette were masters of melody hiding in plain sight.

“The Look ’95” and Other Curiosities

In the UK, EMI attempted some ill-thought out promotion with “The Look ’95.” A remixed single that didn’t quite connect — peaking at No. 28 in the UK and quickly fading.

The remix’s absence from the album only reinforced what Don’t Bore Us already proved: Roxette didn’t need updating. Their pop was already engineered for eternity — bright, bold, and bulletproof.

Roxette went on to further promote the album in the UK, hitting the famous Abbey Road Studios in November 1995, recording four acoustic songs that captured the duo at their most organic – “The Look,” “Listen to Your Heart,” “You Don’t Understand Me,” and The Beatles classic “Help,” this time as a sad ballad.

The set was broadcast on BBC Radio in the UK, with the three Rox classics going on to be included as B-sides to singles at the time.

The Joyride that never ends

Three decades later, Don’t Bore Us – Get to the Chorus! remains one of the definitive greatest hits collections of the CD era — right up there with ABBA Gold and Queen’s Greatest Hits.

Every track a solid single; every chorus feels familiar; every listen is a reminder of how effortlessly Per and Marie turned emotion into melody.

“The definitive greatest hits record to own above all others.”
— Renowned for Sound, 2016

In an era ruled by algorithms and short attention spans, Don’t Bore Us stands as a reminder that true pop brilliance doesn’t age — it just keeps playing.

A 30th-anniversary encore  

Now, as the album approaches its 30th anniversary this very month, fans can celebrate in style. Don’t Bore Us, Get to the Chorus! will be reissued in November 2025, bringing one of pop’s finest collections back into the spotlight.

The anniversary release will arrive in both double-vinyl/double-CD and digital editions, expanding on the original with long-awaited bonus material.

While the final tracklisting of bonus material remains unknown, listeners are likely to hear the four original demos of the four new at the time songs — “June Afternoon,” “You Don’t Understand Me,” “She Doesn’t Live Here Anymore,” and “I Don’t Want to Get Hurt” — offering another glimpse into Roxette’s creative process at the time.

Will we finally get to hear the other Desmond Child demo “Only You” that was recorded at the same time as “You Don’t Understand Me”?  Doubtful considering Per’s major dislike for the “bad Bon Jovi” sounding track.

The reissue could also include the Abbey Road Sessions, although, these were recently issues as part of the Bag of Trix – Music from the Roxette Archives compilation.

Perhaps best of all, this re-release finally solves a long-standing frustration for collectors: the original 1995 double vinyl has been notoriously hard to find, commanding eye-watering prices on resale sites.

The 2025 edition ensures fans old and new can once again own a physical slice of pop history — without needing a second mortgage.  It’s a fitting celebration for an album that never bored us, never stopped delivering the chorus, and never really left our hearts.

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

As with most Roxette shows, a line had been neatly organized by Daniel W., with him and others taking turns taking attendance at regular intervals. My sister and I arrived at the venue shortly before 10 am and got numbers 19 and 20, respectively. However, I didn’t get a great spot towards the center as was my intention, courtesy of a mad woman who would stick her hand out on the fence multiple times in the hopes of securing a place, despite the fact that she didn’t even have a number on! The nerve of some people, jeez!

As a result, I could barely see Norpan, Jonas and Clarence. I had to stand on tiptoe to get a glimpse of them… It was a warm day, perfect for a concert. Gates opened at 18.30 and the supporting artist for the Gothenburg shows, Norwegian pop sensation Dagny, took the stage at about 20.00. She definitely succeeded in keeping the crowd entertained and made time go by really quickly. You should definitely check her out! Shortly after 21.00 Per, Lena and the rest of the band took the stage to the new intro music of the ‘60s Swedish talk show  Hylands hörna.

After the first two songs, Per greeted both the domestic and international audience, with fans coming from countries all over the world: Hungary, Spain, Australia and Brazil to name but a few. My previous show, Madrid, had a shorter setlist -with 17 songs-, so I was glad to see the band treated Gothenburg 2’s attendees to a few more songs, bringing the setlist to 20. To my surprise and delight, “Wish I Could Fly” made it back, as did “Vulnerable” and “Milk & Toast & Honey,” even if not as full songs. I can only wish they bring “Things Will Never be the Same” back, so those of us only attending their European concerts can have a chance to enjoy all those guitar riffs and licks in their full glory. I wonder whether they will wait until the autumn concerts to play it, so Valencia will be the last chance for me so far.

The band was in top form, with Christoffer entertaining us like he always does with his antics while shy Jonas Isacson hides in the back of the stage. I almost had to go on tiptoe to see him. Lena seems more confident in her skills and this new role as Roxette’s lead singer as the tour progresses. She does remind me of Marie Fredriksson, as both seem to struggle with the lyrics every now and then. Not that us fans really mind. Lena’s stage presence is undeniable. She really seems to be having a great time on stage in songs like “Dressed for Success” or “Dangerous,” she’s in full party mode! I also appreciate the fact that she leans on Dea in “Stars,” creating a very special moment. I’d say Lena and Dea get on like a house on fire! While queuing up before the show, fans shared their thoughts about the tour, hoping for longer setlists – if Paul McCartney can manage 3 hour-concerts so does Roxette- and for some rare songs to be included. I, for one, would love to hear “June Afternoon” being played live. I can understand Per’s take on the tour, i.e. the fact that fans want to hear the hits, but especially in cities where Roxette plays more than once, they could spice up the setlist a bit and give fans something to look forward to. There were rumors of upcoming releases as well, so they might surprise us with a digital live recording from this tour or with another tour book. Who knows? But then again, we’re still waiting for that promised live concert from Joyride Mr. G. mentioned a while ago, which he seems to have forgotten about. I’ll believe it when I see it.

And here are a couple videos I’ve uploaded to my YouTube channel. Enjoy!

Video 1: “Vulnerable” & “MATAH” https://youtu.be/GD_pNbeLA14?si=JmLS_S_e1e4hApGs

Video 2: “Queen of Rain” https://youtu.be/jel7xAx-crA?si=RLRl1lwQFfLc2hz6

Next show for me will be Valencia, at the newly-built Roig Arena in November. Really looking forward to it. Hope they play a longer set… A girl can dream, right?

Roxette, Per and Marie have been decent releasing vinyls over the years. It’s just when the CD was supposed to “take over” when a few albums were overlooked. Vinyl record lovers/collectors have always claimed that vinyls have a superior sound to them. Could well be. The resurgence of vinyl records continues to revitalize the music industry, blending nostalgia with a tactile listening experience that digital formats simply cannot replicate.

For iconic bands re-issuing missing albums on vinyl and celebrating their milestone releases with limited edition colour variants and gatefold packaging is vital in reconnecting with both long-time fans and new collectors. These special editions not only honour a band’s legacy but also enhances the collectible appeal, making each release a treasured artifact.

With all this in mind, further releases could reinforce Roxette’s enduring influence and celebrate their musical milestones in a format that continues to captivate audiences…sitting alongside the Roxette Live in 2025 rather nicely don’t you think?  We thought it would be fun to see what we’re missing from Roxette & Co.

What could the future hold in terms of vinyl releases from what’s come before?

Don’t Bore Us … Get to the Chorus!

DBUGTTC will be 30 years young 30^th October 2025.

Thomas Clark (T1):  It would be amazing to see this epic release re-issued on Vinyl, especially considering the original pressing is now such a rarity.  Original copies sell for silly amounts of money highlighting its demand and rarity, that is, if you’re lucky enough to find one in decent quality.

https://www.discogs.com/sell/release/3207193?ev=

I think this is probably top of my list of re-issues – it was such a great release, everything from the artwork to the track listing just hit the mark.  Perhaps we’ll see this in October 2025, Per?

Thomas Evensson (T2): A very nice album including my favorite Roxette song ever – “She Doesn’t Live Here Anymore”. There were also a few different video versions out. LD etc. A new vinyl would not hurt.

The World According To Gessle

T1: My third favourite solo album from Mr G (behind SOAP and Small Town Talk).  This was my summer album of 1997 and never out of my car, played constantly.  This long player turns 30 years old 2 May 2027.  Would be great to see the album on a gatefold vinyl – it’s more than worthy don’t you think?

T2: Yes oh yes, this was never out on vinyl. A smashing album! Love almost every track on it. I don’t love the artwork but still we need a vinyl.

ROOM SERVICE

2^nd April 2026 marks 25 years since release.

T1: Such a shame this europop gem wasn’t released on vinyl, as the format is crying out for a glossy release in all it’s glory.  The artwork would have been immense!

T2: Artwork yes, but the production of this album was sooo boring. There are a few tracks on it that stand out, but in general you can hear them being bored recording it. Not saying they were, but it sure sounds like it. This with a gatefold is a must.

TOURISM

28 August 1992

T1: I can’t help but feeling a bit cheated with this one.  Yes, we had the 30^th Anniversary thank you very much Mr Per Gessle, however this was limited to digital. It was such a missed opportunity for such a wonderfully rich album.  I know fellow fans also greatly missed this one being re-issued.  My original pressing is rather worn now – as such, it’s not played often as I want to preserve it as much as possible.  If only there was a re-issue, hint hint hint…

https://www.discogs.com/sell/release/1647232

T2: Another very nice album. Did well too to be semi live and not. As far as I understand it that was a new angle back then. This is another piece of artwork I like much.

T1: I did a “studio” version of TOURISM on Spotify calling it “STUDIOISM” cutting out the live tracks.  Was a little bit different and I have to say, it really stands up as a studio album.  One of my faves.

https://open.spotify.com/playlist/1CbJUapDNU711TJgYGfwJf?si=d716f0e695004f23

T2: Oh I will check it out!

Äntligen – Marie Fredrikssons bästa 1984–2000

T1: I don’t understand why this one wasn’t issued on vinyl from the offset?  Again, such a great hits package, this time from Marie’s solo works.  Probably my favourite photo sessions of any of her releases.  Hopefully, this one will see the light of day on vinyl.

T2: Vinyl was dead at the time. Very nice collection and very nice photos, as you say.

HAVE A NICE DAY!

T1: Yes, I know I know, we’ve had this one, however, it was a limited release.  The inner sleeves were of terrible quality, so would be good to see some care and attention on a re-issue and make it more widely available.  I did love the double yellow vinyls though.

https://www.discogs.com/sell/release/13473587

T2: I cannot disagree.

THE BALLAD + POP HITS

T1: Aaaw, I loved these compilations.  Especially as we were treated to some rather epic new Rox tunes – “A Thing About You,” “Breathe, “Opportunity Nox” and “Little Miss Sorrow.”  Great artwork, although I thought the photoshoot was awesome and should have been used as the covers in my ever so humble of opinions.  Would be cool to see these both on vinyl rather than Hits! that came later with the original Rox Box.

T2: Very nice compilations. I prefer Pop over Ballads but who needs to choose? “Sorrow” is amazing.

TRAVELLING

T1: Not their best album (by far), but oh my goodness, some of my favourite Roxette gems are hidden here (“Easy Way Out,” “It’s Possible,” “Lover Lover Lover,” and “See Me”).  I did have this on Red Vinyl and was a FOOL to sell this one.  Instant regret and struggling to get another copy as just like DBUGTTC this one goes for silly amounts of money.  We need a re-issue.

https://www.discogs.com/sell/release/3551604?ev=

T2:  What can I say? Dense? Ha ha! Not a favorite here either. I still have my red one though. Yes I really like about half of this album.

CHARM SCHOOL

T1: Another hard to find one on vinyl, and for an affordable price.  Needs a re-issue.

https://www.discogs.com/sell/release/2722605

T2:  I think I have a few copies of this. Anyways, also a really weird album. I made a collection of this and Travelling named Charming and sent it to Per. He agreed that it sounded much better.

https://open.spotify.com/playlist/4xLIB6nGgQ7qhdzzawekjc?si=9e17d4d837f740ea

GOOD KARMA

T1: The final album was available on a limited edition orange vinyl (with a cool poster).  I have to say I HATED (still do in fact) the album art work for this one.  It was a difficult album to make, but I’m glad it was made as there are some gems here.  Would be good to get this back as a re-issue vinyl, with alternative artwork PLEASE!    (plus the outtakes as bonus tracks)

T2:  The artwork was hideous. I mean reeeeally bad. At the time I loved the songs though, we gave it 5/5. It hasn’t held up over the years I must sadly say, but some songs are still great, as you say.

THE ROXETTE STUDIO ALBUMS

T1: Actually, come to think of it….  All 10 Rox studio albums in a boxset?  That would be awesome!  I have the ABBA one and it’s awesome.  Surely it’s time for Rox to have the same treatment?  I’m sure even a limited run would be successful.

T2: Wouldn’t hurt. Would it sell? I dunno… A nice idea anyway.

RARITIES

T1: Almost forgot about this one.  Nice little collection pre-dating both The RoxBox and Bag of Trix.  Would be nice to see this one, more over for completeness?

T2:  Yes a compilation made all by Per. Not at all bad I must say.

Baladas en Español

T1: Released on CD in 1996 and only issued in Spanish and Portuguese-speaking territories…of course I bought it here in the UK on Import.  It’s nice to see all the other HAND Spanish versions added, and also “You Don’t Understand Me” from Bag of Trix being added to the digital version.  Wouldn’t it be awesome to have the full set released on double vinyl?  I think the original release has sold over 1.2 million copies – not bad at all!  What did you think of this Thomas?  Would you welcome a vinyl re-issue?

https://www.discogs.com/sell/release/464111

T2:  I don’t habla but I hear from the Spanish speaking people that the lyrics are terrible. The mixes were nice and all but no I don’t really see the point of a re-issue of this one.

‘ LOVE PEAS ’

T1: Now, this one is just a bit of FUN….  Remember how The Ballad Hits was supposed to be called ‘Love Peas’ but the record company didn’t like it or something?  Well here’s the name used for a Record Store Day exclusive – a collection of other ballads.  I’m sure fans would have their own tracklist suggestions, but here’s mine with a design in keeping with The Ballad and Pop Hits collections for a bit of fun…

(P.S. For those wondering, the “Cry” (Edit) is something I found online many moons ago, with a completely different intro to the album version – probably fan made, but still a goodie).

T2:  Ha ha yes I have that CDR. Per was supposed to write “Love, Peace and Understanding” on a suitcase with the letter that came with it. But he didn’t have enough of them, so he stopped at Peas…

DANCE PASSION

T1: Last but not least, and more for fun – where is the Dance Passion re-issue?!   I know Thomas 2 is dying to get this one playing on his decks at home so he can bust some of his eighties dance moves!

https://www.discogs.com/sell/release/464111

T2: Uck, a horrible horrible album. A friend of mine took the photos though so there’s that.

T1: Aaaw, and I was really looking forward to seeing some of your dance moves!

Currently and easily available on vinyl:

• Look Sharp! (30^th Anniversary Edition)
• Joyride (30^th Anniversary Edition)
• Crash! Boom! Bang! (30^th Anniversary Edition)
• ROX RMX
• Fading Like a Flower EP
• Small Town Talk (Standard Black Edition)
• Pop-Up Dynamo!

Harder to Find on Vinyl:

• Pearls of Passion
• Dance Passion
• Have a Nice Day!
• Good Karma
• Bag of Trix
• Party Crasher
• Small Town Talk (Limited White Edition)
• Travelling
• Small Apartments soundtrack 

Almost IMPOSSIBLE to find on vinyl (in good condition and reasonably priced):

• TOURISM
• Don’t Bore Us… Get to the Chorus!
• Charm School
• Travelling
• Son of a Plumber
• Gessle Over Europe

I was interviewed last year by Halmstad.nu. They asked me what my opinion was about adding Lena Philipsson to the Roxette family. My answer was short:

“It’s probably a good thing that Per doesn’t let Roxette fade away in some dungeon, but it’s also important that it turns out well and not just another cover band touring around sounding almost like Roxette. Jonas is back and Lena is probably great, so I’m looking forward to a date here in Halmstad next summer. Even if it always rains when I’m in town…”

I was right. It works fine. No it works more than fine. They sound like Roxette, not trying to sound like Roxette. I do not like “Stars” on the album but live here in Halmstad it was truly great. Lena does what she’s supposed to do and then some. Per was in a very happy mood. Not that it helped his banter much but he was all smiles and jumping around. I forgot my camera when I jumped in my car so most of the photos are Kai’s. I tried to get some decent ones with my phone.

Anyway, the concert was top notch as I said. The best tracks in my opinion were “Opportunity Nox,” “Fading Like a Flower” and “Almost Unreal,” with “Stars” coming really close. I thought I’d never say that! I wish “What’s She Like?” and “Things Will Never be the Same” will re-enter the set list. The band was fantastic with Jonas being the special star in my book. It felt out of this world to hear his guitar solos and licks again. And also a few more words about Lena Ph. She was awesome. A stage presence I haven’t experienced with her before. She’s grown a lot since South Africa and Australia. With Per’s plans for North and South America and Asia in 2026 I’m sure this will be a huge success worldwide.

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

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!

To Tour or not to Tour, now that has been the eternal question.

When a band faces the sad loss, or even departure of a key member, it sparks a complex debate over whether to preserve their legacy through continued live performances, or to let their catalogue ‘rest in peace’ so to speak.

Many bands in this situation opt to continue touring after a member’s death or departure – simply to honor their legacy, to keep their music alive, or to fulfill fan demand, all sparking ongoing debate about authenticity and respect for its original members.

Many iconic acts, such as Queen, which famously replaced Freddie Mercury with Adam Lambert for live performances, argue that carrying on honors their fans’ love and keeps their music alive, allowing new generations to experience the band’s enduring music legacy in a live situation – immortalising Mercury even further. Another example would be Dave Stewart of Eurythmics, who has toured numerous times with other vocalists in place of Annie Lennox.

Conversely, some argue that replacing key members diminishes the original essence and emotional impact of the music. The hesitation among fans and artists alike stems from balancing the desire to celebrate the music and keep it relevant against the risk of betraying the original group’s integrity. Ultimately, whether to carry on or retire depends on the band’s identity, the legacy they wish to uphold, and the fans’ sentiments—making this a nuanced, often divisive issue within the music community.

The industry is of course divided—some argue that replacing original members dilutes the authenticity of the band’s original sound, while others believe it keeps the spirit and music alive for future generations.

It’s indeed a tough one. Per has been quoted numerous times that he didn’t know what to do, and ultimately as the creative force behind Roxette having written the bulk of their massive catalogue, he should have the opportunity to play his songs.

“The first leg of the tour has been an incredible experience. It’s been really emotional and powerful to reconnect with the fans and bring Roxette’s music back to the stage. The response has been overwhelming. Marie will always be irreplaceable, but I’m lucky to have found an amazing voice and brilliant performer in Lena Philipsson. I co-wrote Lena’s first major hit (Kärleken är evig) back in 1986, and she’s one of Sweden’s brightest stars.” – Per Gessle

“The first part of the tour has been absolutely amazing! Working with Per and performing these iconic songs has been a true joy. I’m so excited for what’s to come next.” – Lena Philipsson

The successful tours like Queen + Adam Lambert, which have sold out arenas globally, demonstrate that with thoughtful arrangements and talented replacements, bands can thrive beyond their original line-ups, proving that honoring the music often outweighs the loss of the original members in the eyes of fans and performers alike.

The success of such tours suggests that many fans accept and even embrace these continuations, viewing them as tributes rather than replacements, which is a healthy outlook and how I like to view this situation with Roxette. Lena is paying tribute, not replacing.

I’ll be the first to admit, I wasn’t sure how Per’s decision to tour as “Roxette” with Lena would turn out. I miss Marie, and for me she can never be replaced. However, that doesn’t mean we should forget, or have the opportunity to come together as fans and celebrate the Roxette catalogue and thus pay tribute to Marie, who I’m sure would have welcomed Roxette’s continued success on the world stage.

Having now seen Lena perform together with Per and the Rox band, I’m confident that the right decision was made. Through these live performances, the Joyride continues…. The music lives on, and we get to both remember and pay tribute to Marie, who will never be forgotten.

The first leg of the tour has proved this format has not only been popular, but more importantly it’s breathed life into Roxette in keeping the vast catalogue alive for new and old fans alike.

I’m looking forward to cheering on Per, the Rox band, and of course Lena who has the biggest shoes to fill, and I think she’s doing great.

Get your tickets here…

APRIL 2025 – Roxette fans worldwide are in for a major treat, or two rather! Lost footage from the iconic Look Sharp Live! concert at Borgholm Castle has been rediscovered, meticulously restored, and is finally set for release in its entirety.

Preorder links and a digital-only single will be released Friday 4th April and the release date is set for Friday 25th July, which ironically will be 36 years to the very day that the first Borgholm show took place.

Filmed over two electrifying nights at the historic Borgholm Castle, the concert was originally shot for the legendary music videos Dangerous and Listen to Your Heart – and an unexpected third promo of fan-favorite, Silver Blue.

Now, this mesmerizing performance is fully reconstructed, featuring Roxette at the height of their Look Sharp! era, complete with their Billboard #1 hits The Look, Listen to Your Heart, and the original It Must Have Been Love before it’s Pretty Woman fame.

The Look Sharp Live! Tour took Roxette across Europe in 1988-89, playing 36 dates in Sweden, Finland, Norway, Germany, Denmark, Switzerland, Austria, Italy, Belgium, France, and the Netherlands. The tour’s success helped propel the duo to international stardom, showcasing songs from Look Sharp! and their debut album, Pearls of Passion.

Directed by Doug Freel and his American production team, the original filming was an ambitious project for its time. Captivated by Borgholm Castle’s grandeur, Freel famously believed it had been built specifically for the production!

With a substantial budget, the team crafted what became classic Roxette visuals, even enlisting two Swedish Air Force helicopters to capture breathtaking aerial shots featured in the music videos.

Taking a break from the massively successful South African and Australian leg of the Roxette Live 2025 Tour, Per Gessle shared his excitement:

“This footage is like a dream. Seeing and re-living these performances is just incredible. The sound of an ’80s band in full force is amazing. The care and attention put into piecing this together, combined with the remastered audio, ensure the magic translates seamlessly to the digital (and vinyl) world. MP is the Master! I really should dig into the Roxette Archives more often—this footage and audio were mistakenly overlooked for so long!”

 Iconic Borgholm Castle Videos – Over 520 Million Views!

• Listen to Your Heart – 465M views Watch here
• Dangerous – 49M views Watch here
• Listen to Your Heart (Remaster) – 6M views (since Feb 2025) Watch here

With Look Sharp! selling well over 10 million copies worldwide, the album cemented Roxette’s place in music history—and now, for the first time ever, fans can experience the full Look Sharp Live! concert.

What’s the other treat you wonder? There will be another concert at Borgholm this summer. It will also be recorded. More about that later.

Formats & Editions

The complete concert will be released in multiple formats, each featuring a 16-page booklet with never-before-seen photos, vintage tour posters, and brand-new liner notes from Per Gessle and the Roxette band. Per also unearthed additional live recordings, included as exclusive bonus tracks.

Standard Black Vinyl

Side A:

• Dance Away
• Dangerous
• Dressed for Success
• Cry
• Paint
• Neverending Love

Side B:

• Chances
• Sleeping Single
• The Look
• Goodbye to You
• It Must Have Been Love
• Listen to Your Heart

Limited Edition “Silver Blue” Double-Colored Gatefold Vinyl (1,000 Copies Worldwide)

Side A:

• Dance Away
• Dangerous
• Dressed for Success
• Cry
• Turn to Me

Side B:

• Paint
• Surrender
• Neverending Love
• Chances
• Sleeping Single

Side C:

• Joy of a Toy
• Soul Deep
• The Look
• Goodbye to You

Side D:

• It Must Have Been Love
• Listen to Your Heart
• Half a Woman, Half a Shadow (Live in Östersund, Sweden – Dec 1, 1988)*
• Silver Blue (Live in Hamburg, Germany – Nov 16, 1989)*

CD/DVD Edition

CD1:

• Dance Away
• Dangerous
• Dressed for Success
• Cry
• Turn to Me
• Paint
• Surrender
• Neverending Love
• Chances
• Sleeping Single
• Joy of a Toy
• Soul Deep

CD2:

• The Look
• Goodbye to You
• It Must Have Been Love
• Listen to Your Heart

Bonus Tracks:

• Half a Woman, Half a Shadow [Live in Östersund, Sweden – Dec 1, 1988] *
• Silver Blue [Live in Hamburg, Germany – Nov 16, 1989] *
• I Call Your Name [Live in Oslo, Norway – Nov 14, 1989] *
• Shadow of a Doubt [Live in Vienna, Austria – Nov 22, 1989] *
• The Look [Live from The Globen Arena Opening, Stockholm 1989] *
• Half a Woman, Half a Shadow [EMI Demo 1987] *
• The Voice [Look Sharp! Album Outtake]
• Chances [Dancehall Version]
• The Look [Remix]

DVD/Blu-ray:

• • Full Concert Performance *
  • Promo videos: The Look, Dressed for Success, Dangerous, Listen to Your Heart, Silver Blue, Chances, It Must Have Been Love (Christmas Version), Soul Deep, Neverending Love, I Call Your Name, The Look (Remix)

• Blu-ray Exclusive Extra: The 2025 Interview – Per & Clarence talk about Borgholm and the Look Sharp! Tour *

*Previously Unreleased

This long-lost concert is a must-have for Roxette fans and music lovers alike.

Stay tuned for further updates.

Play Loud!

Some additional comments by Thomas 1 (Clark) and Thomas 2 (Evensson) here at TDR:

T1:  Originally released as a “Live” Video, Look Sharp Live! was released on 2^nd October 1989 on VHS.  The contents a mix of promo videos and actual live footage from the now legendary concert, alas only three live songs made the cut at that time, the rest confined to the Roxette Archives to collect dust.  Did you have a VHS copy, Thomas?

T2: Of course I did, and still do. I also have the LaserDisc of Look Sharp! ’88. Don’t forget – also included as bonuses to the original release were the Look Sharp! album outtake “The Voice” that played through the credits, and a great remix video of “The Look” which mixed the song with footage from two pre-existing music videos directed by Peter Heath.  Both were unlisted on the original release. Rather cool really!

T1:  This is the ULTIMATE item on my ROXETTE WISHLIST and after all these years waiting, wondering, waiting some more, wondering some more – we can finally see and hear this now legendary concert in full and in all its glory.  The glory of the ‘80s!  I did wonder when watching “Silver Blue” where all the footage ended up – as you can cearly see multiple time-lapses of the concert, plus other footage.  I can’t wait to hear the opening of “Dance Away”, that bass, Miss Marie doing her thing, and Per rocking that classic hair do and banging out the hits!

Thomas, did you see this Tour live back in the day?

T2:  I certainly did. Saw it in Ljusdal July 12! Over 8,000 people joined me. I don’t remember much of it but it was a great night indeed. I still have the tank top, of course. They actually had lots of nice merch this tour but I couldn’t afford much of it at the time. Should’ve gotten the umbrella, it still annoys me…

T1: I see the setlist varied throughout 1988 and into 1989.  Amazing to see “Half a Woman, Half a Shadow”, as well as “Shadow of a Doubt”, which I’m sure will sound amazing live!  What are you looking most forward to on this release Thomas?

T2: It’s been a while since I saw this tour, but I’m pretty certain they didn’t perform “Half a Woman” in Ljusdal so that’s what I’m looking forward to the most.

T1:  I’m pleased Per has given the fans something they’ve been asking for, for a very long long time indeed.  What a day for Roxette fans around the world.  A true gem from the Roxette Archives – thanks Per!

T2:  It’s about time!  36 years?

VHS sleeve

1988 tour poster

1989 tour poster

1989 German tour poster

Original VHS Tracklisting:

The Look (Promo Video)
Dressed For Success (Promo Video)
Dance Away (Live)
Dangerous (Promo Video)
Cry (Live)
Paint (Live)
Silver Blue (Promo Video)
Listen To Your Heart (Promo Video)

The Voice (Credits) – Unlisted
The Look Remix (Promo Video) – Unlisted

For the history geeks among us, do visit the Borgholm Castle Official Website, featuring our very own Roxette among others.

As a staunch Sydney-sider, it pains me to admit that the Melbourne crowd absolutely delivered! This was a hot audience who were here to blow the roof off – and that they did! For the next show in Sydney, the locals are going to have to step it up – Melbourne has set a high benchmark! 

Firstly, let’s discuss the elephant in the room and the unenviable position that Lena Phiipsson finds herself in. No one wants to be in Lena’s shoes. No one!

Tragically, the main star of Roxette, Marie Fredriksson passed away in late 2019 – and now Lena Philipsson is stepping into some enormous shoes as does her best to honor the extraordinary catalog of Roxette hits. 

Per Gessle has re-iterated many times that Lena is not there to “replace” Marie – this tour is all about keeping those evergreen Roxette songs alive! Roxette is a peculiar band, in a huge chunk of the world, their songs are far more famous than its members – despite Marie’s iconic singing, the songs have always been the band’s legacy, a true testament to the duo’s song writer, Per Gessle. You can ping off the names; John, Paul, George and Ringo without even having to mention the band that they played in – and you know exactly which group is being referred to. However, ask anyone under the age of 40 what they think of “Hall and Oates” and they’ll guess it’s some type of breakfast cereal. However, fire up your Spotify and play their songs and most people will be shocked as to how many recognizable tunes that group had – from what they heard on the Golden Oldies playlists on FM radio – to movie soundtracks to modern day samples. Roxette sort of fit into that mold… sort of. Although, It’s not just a couple of ‘popular songs’, it’s more of a gallery of infectious tunes that have shaped the lives of so many fans – or as most people might be too shy to admit, a true “guilty pleasure”. 

So, it’s either invest in some kind of AI/Avatar/Hologram project – or get the live band back together and take the songs on the road and give Lena Philipsson a chance to sink her teeth into these epic songs. Per Gessle has chosen the latter. Not everyone will agree – but this can’t be an easy decision for any of the parties involved – fundamentally, the power of the songs being kept alive is the true winner here! 

The band kicked off their 2025 Tour in South Africa before venturing into the twilight of the Australian Summer. Performing for the first time at Margaret Court Arena, approximately approximately 7500 fans turned up to hear some of the finest crafted pop/rock songs ever created! And boy, did this crowd bring it! 

So. How did Lena do? She did well, very well, bloody well – she was truly excellent. Lena sings like a fan of Roxette and their songs. She is absolutely singing from her soul up there delivering the high standards that fans have become accustomed to. Lena is doing a fantastic job – she sings with so much passion and so much respect for the true stars of the show; the classic songs! Anyone still not convinced, would surely be by the end of the night! 

The band kicked off with “The Big Love”, the 3rd single from their 1991 Joyride album, the glistening guitars crept in over the darkened crowd and before long, the lights were up and Per was swinging his arm around, swaying his guitar – getting the crowd warmed up for a night of mega hits. Next up, the guitars turned a little grittier for the power pop ditty, “Sleeping in My Car” – the first true test of the evening, as Lena Philipsson took over lead vocals on a signature, “Marie-rocker”. How did she do? She did an incredible job! Lena absolutely held her own, not only on this track but on all the hits that followed! “Dressed For Success”, a huge hit here in Australia got everyone in comfortable territory – before a nod to the die-hards with a rare deep cut in “What’s She Like?” A truly epic song, sophisticated lyrics, a melancholy theme and this version felt even rockier than the album version – in fact, most songs had more grunt in the guitars. Christoffer brought a prog-rock vibe to the strings of “Crash Boom Bang” before Jonas “Should Never Have Been Removed from the Band” Isacsson let it rip in “Fading Like a Flower”. 

“Opportunity Nox” kept the energy going and to the crowds’ credit, even the songs they weren’t too familiar with, they let go of their trusty seats and kept the energy going! 

“Wish I Could Fly” was next, far more grittier – but curiously, this song took the place of “Things Will Never be the Same” which was omitted from the setlist?! Will it be back? Watch this space! 

Can’t say I was ever a fan of “Vulnerable” but this stripped down, acoustic version definitely won me over – even more so because it’s now in a medley with “Milk and Toast and Honey” – easily the best song from the Room Service album. “Stars” was never a favorite of mine – but it’s taken 26 years and they have finally delivered the ultimate version of this song. They have untethered themselves of the 1999 techno elements and it’s a pure, unapologetic balls-to-the-wall rocker – intensified by the rib crunching guitars, Jonas adding some extra licks in there, and my gosh, when Lena and Dea launch that key change, the song just hits the stratosphere! A definite highlight of the show, forget everything you thought you knew about this song, the Euro-Dance and dreaded singing robotic ducks are gone, this is pure rock! The rock theme continued with “She’s Got Nothing On” – Christoffer even added a little tribute to AC/DC in the intro which was a nice local touch. 

Finally, the big one! Before Lena sang her favorite Roxette song, she dedicated it to Marie Fredriksson – of course, it was “It Must Have Been Love”. If I’m being honest, a few more nods to Marie throughout the night wouldn’t go astray, it would further ingratiate Lena to the already welcoming crowd – but perhaps some projection of Marie up on the screen through this song or others? Just a thought. 

The guitar driven freight train carried the band to the end of the first part of the show, “How Do You!”, “Dangerous” and “Joyride” re-affirmed that this is a live band that knows how to elevate songs from the studio to the stage!

Per and Lena performed “Spending My Time” – this tour sees it return to its intimate acoustic version that was played during the Room Service Tour. Lena really delivered some deliriously high notes in “Listen to Your Heart” before Jonas kicked off that classic riff to “The Look”. The song proved to be the musical highlight of the night – the band let loose, Christoffer ensured his chiropractor and physiotherapist would still be in a job as he released his inner wild child, while Jonas and Dea went fishing for some reason – don’t ask, but everyone was having fun! 

“Queen of Rain” closed out the show – and all in all, this is a fun band who clearly had a blast on stage as did the crowd!

The setlist remained mainly unchanged since South Africa, with the exception of them dropping “Things Will Never be the Same”,  

Roxette’s legacy is their songs – and this tour is all about re-living those glorious melodies and catchy hooks – this is a band that is standing the test of time. This band are the songs – no funny business, no scandals, no controversial headlines – just good, infectious hits! And if the biggest controversy that this band triggers in various online debates is arguing over which album deep cuts they should play amongst their plethora of hit singles, well, it’s not a bad problem to have. 

RESTAURANT GONDOLEN, Slussen (Katarinahissen), Stockholm
On April 11th, there will be the worldwide release of Roxette’s album “Crash!Boom!Bang!”. We’re celebrating it at a restaurant that, in its current state, perfectly suits the album title… There will be Per & Marie, there will be their album, there will be food prepared by Erik Lallerstedt, and there will be drinks. We hope you’ll be there too!
Please call or fax to confirm your attendance by Thursday, March 31st, to EMI, phone 08-764 38 00, fax 08-29 74 07.
Welcome!
EMI Svenska AB

T1: 1994.  I’d have been what, 15 approaching 16, still at school, rather spotty and I still had hair.

I vividly remember going to my local Woolworths to purchase the “Sleeping in My Car” CD single and getting super excited having spotted the “Taken from the upcoming album” note in sleeve.  OMG another Rox album!  Relieved as I’d read following Marie having her first baby that it was likely Roxette would split. 

I hadn’t heard “SIMC” on the radio or any promo pre-release in fact, so it was literally a blind purchase for me.  It wasn’t at all what I expected, however the CBB era was well and truly off to a banging start!

Thomas, do you remember the single coming out?

T2: I certainly do! I was working extra (for free) for Radio Ljusdal and we actually got the single in advance, even a few extra copies to raffle out. I really liked it.

CRASH!BOOM!BANG!  The album…

T1: First off, I absolutely loved the photoshoot, the graphics.  It looked great – I bought the CD as I was heavily into CDs and not vinyl at that time (how stupid of me).   I do remember reading the song titles and wondering what to expect.  The one that popped out for me initially was “The First Girl on the Moon.”  Odd title I thought.

Q Magazine here in the UK interviewed Marie and Per during the CBB Tour – they teased them for being early “bless them” and described “Dressed for Success” live as being a cross between “Wild Thing” and “Girls Just Wanna Have Fun” which I thought was such a good description.   Anyway, back to the album…. They gave it 3 Stars out of 5 which I still think is pretty mean, it’s worthy of a 4 at least.

T2: I agree. I loved everything about it, except for Per’s haircut… One of my most beloved Roxette albums. Also a funny anecdote: I was still working for Radio Ljusdal and I was in a broadcast and this guy comes in and says “Do you have Roxette’s new album?” I answered I don’t, since it’s not out until next week. “Oh?” he says. “They have it at the gas station outside…” I put on a CD and ran to the gas station. And surely, on the counter, there was Crash!Boom!Bang! by Roxette. I grabbed a copy and ran back. I turned off the CD and did a live review of the album, reviewing what I heard… Good? No idea. Thrilling? Oh yes! And British reviewers are usually mean, to get back to your comment somehow. The original name of the album was Fireworks by the way. The photo of the back of the single was meant for the sleeve apparently.

T1: Is there a recording of your live review Thomas?!

T2: Ha ha I doubt that… It’s been 30 years.

So, this was out in 1994. 1995 they toured the world, 1996 Gyllene Tider came back, 1997 Per recorded The World and I would assume they used ’98 to record Have A Nice Day which was out in ’99.

HARLEYS & INDIANS (RIDERS IN THE SKY)

T1: What an opener.  An uplifting rocker that I frequently play to this day, especially driving.  It’s quite atmospheric and I can see why it was chosen to as the opener and could have easily been a single.

T2: One of my favorites to this day. It was performed, lip-sync, on TV4 here in Sweden. Cool. A good opener, as Roxette actually usually has.

CRASH!BOOM!BANG!

T1: I remember reading a review of this single in Smash Hits magazine here in the UK.  They had some UK boy band as guest reviewers (they didn’t last long) and they were actually very positive of the song, but labelled it as “very country”.  I don’t agree with that, but I do agree with the vocals as Marie sounds amazing here.  As for the song itself, it quickly became a Rox classic.  The strings did it for me.   I loved getting the card photographs as part of the CD single here in the UK too – one of which I see will be included in the CBB30 vinyl sleeve.

T2: Country?? No way, an awesome ballad is what it is. Even if Per lies about Elvis and “Jailhouse Rock” or not, who cares? Someone (Per?) said that if it had been in a movie, it would have received an Oscar. Right, the postcards, I’d forgotten about them.

T1: Oh and we must mention the video  – a rather expensive f*ck up with the first cut lost if I’m correct.

T2: Yes indeedy, they erased all the tapes if I remember correctly. A very nice video where you once again can see what a great actress Marie were and Per never will be!

FIREWORKS

T1: First listen I thought OMG this is gonna be huge.  So much fun, “Joyride” with a mix of “The Look” and “Dressed for Success” thrown in somehow.  Playful lyrics and it just bumps along unapologetically.  The bridge is probably my favourite bit and I always thought it would have been a great intro to the CBB Tour “They’re coming to get you….” then blasting into “SIMC.”

T2: I agree, I had that feeling too, but the single sort of flopped. Poor promotion? I know Per never liked this one.

T1: The video was pretty cool too, especially seeing London. Alas, I didn’t get chance to see the CBB Tour.  The closest gig to me was Scotland or Sheffield and despite begging, my parents wouldn’t take me.  I’ve never forgiven them! Ha ha!

T2: Even the remix was nice for once. And the video. I saw that tour twice! A very very nice sounding band, as you may have heard from the recordings.

T1: We’re hopefully getting the South Africa gig remastered according to the man himself.  “Soon”…

T2: Yes I hear they’re working on it. (Means “looking for the masters”.)

RUN TO YOU

T1: Not to sound rude here at all, but Roxette were never “cool”.  I say this as I had an older sister, heavily into The Cure and James etc.  She was cool and frowned on my Roxette addiction.  In fact, I remember her initially refusing to buy me the “How Do You Do!” CD single on one of her weekend shopping trips to the city, as I couldn’t get a copy in our local town.  She did reluctantly tell me that she’d told the salesperson that it wasn’t for her, ha ha.

Anyway I digress, “Run to You.”  I saw this on Top of the Pops – not the best vocal performance.  I thought Marie sounded a bit off/nervous?  However they looked great and the song is one of my favourites from the album.  It was played on Atlantic 252 (old radio station) all the time which I loved.    I loved the tour video for this having missed out myself. Wasn’t too keen on the updated Rox logo for the single artwork as thought should have stayed consistent with the album and other releases.

T2: Cool? Never! I have gotten crap about that for around 40 years…  And I agree about the logo; it should stay consistent; however this logo is amazingly nice! I have a crew Tee with it on.  Not a bad song, not a great one. I like it sometimes, sometimes not.

SLEEPING IN MY CAR

T2: A very nice first single. A classic statement from EMI “We’re lacking a single!” so Per wrote this in a hurry and did all too well, again. And the video in that garage, amazing!

T1: The drums into the chorus does it every time for me. Brilliant. Joyful. Again, another instant Rox classic.  I remember watching Zoe Ball interview Per and Marie here in the UK for The Ozone.  They both looked so cool (regardless of what my sister thought!), the video is super-cool to me.

VULNERABLE

T1: I love this song.  I’d have loved to have heard it live – Charm School or XXX shows.   I don’t think it should have been a single as there were stronger contenders in my (humble) opinion.  Nevertheless, a great song and video.  It’s stood the test of time for me and I do play this one often.

T2: A cute one. I like the Spanish version, not knowing basically a word in Spanish. I know the title means “Shy” or “Timid” in Spanish. But no, not single material.

THE FIRST GIRL ON THE MOON

T1: This is where Roxette comes to life for me – their simple, no fuss, acoustic offerings.   My goodness, I must have played this to death.  Probably in my top three songs from the album.  I don’t know why; it just has so much character.  The lyrics of course are a bit silly, but Marie delivers.  Per wrote something special here.

T2: Ah yes, the fake vinyl thing, to make the album appear to have two sides! I don’t hate these two tracks, but they also never did anything special for me. I usually skip them. Isn’t that what they’re there for??

PLACE YOUR LOVE

T1: Again, acoustic, simple.  Another one in my top three…oh hang on, how many should be in a top three?!

I play this one a lot too – Per sounds great.  It reminds me of being young and of that time.  It could have easily sat alongside some of the TOURISM songs like “Fingertips” and “The Heart Shaped Sea.”  I’d have welcomed an all-acoustic Rox album – that would have been great.  In fact, I do have a Rox Acoustic Playlist somewhere.

T2: An all-acoustic album would have been nice yes. This song I’ve never liked though. I prefer “First Girl” over this.

I LOVE THE SOUND OF CRASHING GUITARS

T1: I will be honest here, I really didn’t like this song to begin with.  It was one I would often skip when listening to the album.  It’s really only in recent years that I’ve revisited and grown fond of it.  I think I misunderstood it back then maybe.  Needless to say, I don’t skip it now, it’s a goodie.

Thomas, you probably loved this one from the offset?

T2: How’d you know?? One of my cherished ones off this album. It’s rocky but still sort of mid-tempo. And I like the lyrics. “The six string kick inside…”

WHAT’S SHE LIKE?

T1: As much as I do love this song, I always thought it lacked something.  I can’t quite put my finger on it, but it just never reached the highs for me like other Rox ballads.  It sounds a bit clunky and cold feeling – maybe the production here?  Don’t get me wrong, I do like it, I just find it an odd one and never quite understood why Per loved it so much? 

T2: No I like it a lot. You’re just wrong here. She’s very upset with him being unfaithful. I wonder where that “new version” ended up. I would guess it’s out “soon”…

DO YOU WANNA GO THE WHOLE WAY?

T1: This one used to make me laugh.  The production is great, however the lyrics, erm, but part of its charm of course.   Could have been a single as it is pretty epic.  Who knows.

T2: I like it. I was never a lyrics person as you may know. The melody and rhythm and production are all swell.

LIES

T1: Great, simple, rocker.  They both sound great and the song packs a fun punch. 

The “do do do’s” are brilliant.

T2: Now we’re cooking! Probably my biggest favorite of the album. Hard, heavy guitars (well, to be Roxette) and nonsense lyrics to just blast away. I think this should have been a single, maybe even the first, or maybe not.

I’M SORRY

T1: “The first time we met, time stood still” ooooooof, what a lyric. Another album gem for me and could have easily been a single replacing Vulnerable?

T2: So sorry, I keep thinking of Basil Fawlty when I hear that (joke). But yes another awesome track. Again, with perfect production and performance. As far as I recall this was never performed live?

LOVE IS ALL (SHINE YOUR LIGHT)

T1: This will always remain an oddity for me.  A bit of an unexpected twist and for me never quite fit the rest of the album?   Not overly keen on the vocal delivery (accent trouble on “laughter” anyone with a Ffffff?).  I don’t skip it, but it’s just not one of my favourites from the album.  I’m not overly keen on the ending.  Very indulgent and unnecessary.  Am I allowed to say that?   The Xmas Edit was better.

T2: Well barely no one has that edit so… I love it, and yes the accents could be better, but it is what it is. This was supposed to be a “LTYH” kind of power-pop song, if I remember correctly, but apparently they changed that. Ahhh the guitars!! I also love the key changes between Per and Marie. Some days I can actually play this on my guitar.

GO TO SLEEP

T1: A theme that continues through a few songs…. This is probably the best incarnation, no?  The Marie demo is also great to hear (shame it’s not on CBB30 though oddly).  

You do visualise when listening to the song…. “the shadow on the terrace” etc.  Marie sounds genuine, direct, kind.  Another one of Per’s best offerings on the album lyric-wise.

T2: Per’s demo is horrifying so I understand why he gave it to Marie. This is likely the best song Marie has ever written, or at least among her top 3. I don’t recall her demo at the moment, but yes, I find it rather strange that her demos aren’t on the new release. Single material? Yes!

ALMOST UNREAL

T1: I have such fond memories of this song. I loved it on first listen and more so that it was a Top 10 hit here in the UK. The video was pretty damn cool and was on heavy rotation on MTV. The CD single gave me my first listen to “Fingertips ‘93” as that wasn’t released in the UK, oh and it was great to get “The Heart Shaped Sea” as a standalone track without the fade in from “The Look” on the Tourism album. We need this on digital platforms too btw.

Back to the single, shame the movie was a dud. The song did better! Also kinda liked the single artwork. Always thought it would have been a funny song for “Hocus Pocus” had it worked out.

To me though, the song doesn’t really fit CBB and can see why it was left out.

Thomas? I actually can’t make my mind up whether you like or dislike this one, shock horror!!!

T2: Yes this is from that movie, not your favorite “Hocus Pocus” though? “Super Mario Bros” a total flop. Nice song though, and a nice video. I do like it, even though the day it was released we were supposed to have an after work party at DHL Express at a club here in Ljusdal and I was the DJ. So I put this song on, unheard, to blast the dance floor away. That didn’t happen! Ha ha. Still a nice song as I said. It was actually included on the Japanese CD.

CRAZY ABOUT YOU

T1: I still can’t quite believe this was considered as the first single from CBB.  Madness.  I think things would have been quite different had it been.  I mean, it’s a cute enough song, but I don’t think it’s single/lead-single material.  The CBB version is superior to the DBUGTTC version.

T2: While I do find this song majorly cute, I don’t see it as a single. I did when I heard it in 1996, but I was of course wrong. I also don’t remember the DBUGTTC version right now. But I’m sure you’re right.

SEE ME

T1: Roxette meets ENYA!  But, in a good way.  This was another unexpected twist when I heard this.  Totally out of sync with the rest of the album, yet amazing on it’s own.  A song originally written in the early ‘80s was it Thomas?  I prefer this version to the Travelling take, but both are great to be fair.  Marie’s vocals are like butter.

T2: I never liked this song, any version. But yes I have an unreleased Gyllene song with these lyrics. It’s possibly named “I’ve Got Nothing to Hide.” Marie’s vocals are indeed very sweet, still does not help me.

T1: To wrap up CBB, my highlights from the album will always be:

“Place Your Love,” “The First Girl on the Moon,” “Run to You,” “Harleys & Indians” and “Vulnerable.”

Of the Outtakes – it has to be “See Me.”  Such an usual song for the CBB era.

T2: Ah, uh, hard so hard let me tell you. I like the album as a whole, as an entity, but my big ones are likely “Harleys,” “Crashing” and “Lies” followed by “Fireworks,” “Love is All” and “Do You Wanna Go the Whole Way?”

Too bad they messed up the US with that silly McDonald’s deal. This album is fairly unknown over there due to this.

THE CBB DEMOS

T1: Well, in the main we already have the majority that’s included on the CBB30 bonus CD.  Nevertheless, it’s great to have this Anniversary Edition.  We do get five previous unreleased treats this time around, well four as we have already heard the “What’s She Like?” demo that leaked as part of the Myths bootleg (remember those?).

There’s been some speculation of a “Sleeping in My Car” demo sung by Per, but because of the history and timing when the song came about, it’s highly unlikely that this exists as there’s only so much time in a day.  Following the initial album playback to EMI, they’d advised that they couldn’t hear the lead single.  Disgruntled, Per went off and wrote SIMC basically to order.  Marie was in town, so they recorded the first demo of the song together the following day – The Stockholm Demo version.  There we have it, and a mighty fine demo it is.  I still prefer the Single Edit to the Album Version of the final track though.  It’s punchier, no?

Highlights from the demos – way too many to choose from!  Probably “Sleeping in My Car” as we have Marie on lead vocals (no offense Per!), also “Vulnerable,” “Harleys” and the clunkier “Fireworks.”

Thomas, any comments on the demos?

T2: Well now that you mention it. One I really look forward to hearing is the “lame” (according to Marie) version of “She Doesn’t Live Here Anymore”, one of my most beloved Roxette songs ever. Of course, recorded by Gyllene Tider! I also want to hear “Lies” and “Crashing”. I’ve heard the rest already. And this was a period Per recorded real demos, which I prefer, not the acoustic basic tracks. I can understand why he stopped; it was hard for Clare to have input when everything already was done you know?

There are also a few demos I miss here, would be interesting to know why they were left out. I’m thinking mainly the Marie demos from the Bag of Trix, such as “Pocketful of Rain” and “Go to Sleep”. There’s also the demo of “Sweet Emotions”. What do you say, sir Thomas?

T1: Mmm, well, for the ones we know of I do miss the Marie demos from BOT merely from a completist perspective.  Also, the “Go to Sleep” demo Marie recorded is superior to the version that’s made the CBB30 cut, but perhaps omitted here as it’s too close to the final album version?  Who knows.  As for other unknown demos from that period – again, who knows.  Hopeful that we will hear more (if there is more) as part of another Roxette Bag of Trix, or PG Archives collection as I’m sure there’s ample in Per’s vast archives.

Speaking of which, I know I know we didn’t get a physical Tourism 30 release, but I’m still hopeful for at least a Tourism vinyl re-issue as mine is pretty worn out now!  Any chance Per? 

It’ll get pretty quiet now 30th Anniversary Edition-wise following CBB30.  Unless, we get something for Don’t Bore Us – now a re-issue of that on vinyl would be awesome.  I mean, have you seen how much that baby goes for these days, madness.  Then we have The World According to Gessle – that is long overdue a vinyl release.  Absolutely love love love that album – it’s like a sibling to CBB. 

To wrap-up, CBB30.  Awesome Anniversary Editions.  The vinyl looks top-notch so bravo to Per and Team (Johan).  Excited to read the updated notes from the booklets and see what other photo outtakes are included.

As for the original album itself, it’s always going to be one of my favourite Roxette long-plays.  A solid 9 out of 10.  Such happy teenage memories for me, especially “Sleeping in My Car,” “Run to You” and the two acoustic masterpieces – “The First Girl on the Moon” and “Place Your Love.”  Sublime.  Five million+ people can’t be wrong!

Thomas?  Final thoughts? 

T2: Sure. Nothing much to add. You nailed it well. A great album which should have gotten more attention. A not at all bad 30th re-release. It will be interesting to read the album booklet to see if we get any more neat little secrets. All in all, very very nice, except for Per’s hairdo. Ha ha!

T1: I’m sure Per is just grateful he still has hair.  I’m not jealous, honest. 

Videos and other stuff

Other favorites from 1994:

Thomas 1:

Confide in Me – Kylie Minogue

Zombie – The Cranberries

Stay (I Missed You) – Lisa Loeb & Nine Stories

Cornflake Girl – Tori Amos

Secret – Madonna

Return to Innocence – Enigma

Crazy for You – Let Loose

Anytime You Need a Friend – Mariah Carey

Always – Erasure

7 Seconds – Youssou N’Dour and Neneh Cherry

Thomas 2:

Ace of Base – Don’t Turn Around

Green Day – Basket Case

Aerosmith – Amazing

Bon Jovi – Always

Mariah C- All I Want for Xmas is You

All-4-One – I Swear

GES – När vi gräver guld i USA

Bon Jovi – Prayer ‘94

Rednex – Cotton Eye Joe

Wet Wet Wet – Love is All Around

Thomas: Per Gessle’s latest album, Sällskapssjuk, presents a collection of Swedish-language tracks that lean heavily on lyrical intimacy but, unfortunately, lack the spark that fans have come to expect. While Per’s songwriting craft remains intact, delivering thoughtful and emotionally charged lyrics, the overall musical execution feels restrained, resulting in a set of songs that are pleasant yet slightly underwhelming.

The album’s strength undoubtedly lies in its lyrics. Per’s ability to express deep feelings of longing, connection, and reflection shines through in every song. For listeners fluent in Swedish, the wordplay and emotional depth will resonate, offering a gentle exploration of themes that feel both familiar and personal. His storytelling is as vivid as ever, which will delight long-time fans who appreciate his knack for turning everyday emotions into lyrical gold.

However, Sällskapssjuk doesn’t quite reach the level of musical excitement that one might hope for. The songs, while melodically sound, blur together in their mid-tempo arrangements and lack a definitive standout track. It’s clear that this album doesn’t aim to produce an obvious hit; instead, it leans into a more introspective and subdued vibe. While this is a valid artistic choice, it may leave some listeners wishing for more dynamic highs or moments that break through the album’s overall calmness.

The production is sleek and professional, by Per himself, but there’s an air of safety about it—Sällskapssjuk doesn’t push any boundaries, and the result is a set of songs that are pleasant to listen to but don’t linger long after. It feels like Per is leaning into a comfortable groove here, perhaps at the cost of creating something truly memorable.

For fans who enjoy Per’s quieter, more reflective side, Sällskapssjuk will be a soothing, lyrically rich experience. However, those hoping for the kind of melodic punch that sticks with you after the album ends might find themselves a bit underwhelmed. While the words carry weight, the music itself remains a bit too safe to truly leave an impact.

In the end, Sällskapssjuk is a solid, if unspectacular, entry in Per Gessle’s catalog—more of a soundtrack for introspective moments than a collection of hits. It’s a pleasant listen, but it’s unlikely to be one that fans will return to as frequently as his more dynamic albums.

Kai: Thank you for this insightful review—it touches on a lot of the core elements that stood out to me as well about Sällskapssjuk. I think you’ve captured the album’s reflective, mellow tone and its departure from Per Gessle’s more hit-driven past quite accurately. There’s a noticeable shift here, both in mood and musical ambition, which, while commendable for its artistry, may not fully satisfy fans who are looking for that signature, hook-laden sound we’ve come to associate with Per over the years.

One point I particularly agree with is the strength of the lyrics. Per’s songwriting on this album is as poignant as ever, marked by a maturity and emotional depth that feels deeply personal. His reflections on love, connection, and the human experience are beautifully crafted, and this will undoubtedly resonate with fans who appreciate his ability to weave intimate narratives. The lyrics are arguably the heart and soul of Sällskapssjuk, giving the album a rich, reflective layer that complements its gentle soundscape. For Swedish-speaking listeners, there’s a lot to savor in the clever wordplay and emotional nuance—Per’s penmanship has always been one of his strongest assets, and it shines here.

That said, I feel like the album’s overall musical delivery doesn’t quite live up to the strength of its lyrics. While the soft, slightly acoustic-driven sound creates a calm and intimate atmosphere, the arrangements can feel a bit too safe and uniform. The album, as you noted, has a mid-tempo pacing that never really breaks out into something more dynamic or varied. The polished production is clearly a testament to Pere’s experience and attention to detail, but at times, it feels like it restrains the music rather than enhancing it. This results in a collection of songs that are pleasant, but ultimately lacking in the kind of memorable, standout moments that Per is so well known for. It feels almost as if the album is content to linger in its comfort zone, offering a consistent tone but without pushing the boundaries musically.

One of the album’s undeniable highlights, as you rightly pointed out, is the inclusion of duets. The collaborations here, particularly with artists like Albin Lee Meldau and Molly Sandén, bring a fresh dynamic to the album, with their voices blending harmoniously with Per’s. These duets add an extra layer of warmth and texture to the tracks, elevating what could have been overly restrained compositions. There’s a sense of genuine collaboration here, and the vocal interplay offers a richness that might otherwise be missing. However, even with these moments of beauty, there’s still a lingering feeling that the album could have benefitted from a bit more risk-taking or a few surprises to break up the prevailing softness.

Where I think we both agree strongly is in the absence of any real hit material. It’s clear that Sällskapssjuk isn’t aiming to produce the kind of infectious, radio-friendly tracks that have been a hallmark of Per’s career. While this, in itself, isn’t a flaw—artists evolve, and it’s refreshing to see Gessle embracing a quieter, more introspective side—it does mean that the album doesn’t quite have that immediate, ear-catching quality. There’s no “instant classic” or track that you find yourself humming long after the album ends. For fans who have followed him through his pop-heavy eras, this might be a bit of a letdown. The album flows consistently, but without a true high point or a song that demands repeated listens, it risks becoming background music rather than a memorable artistic statement.

To sum up, while Sällskapssjuk is a well-crafted and lyrically rich album, it does lean heavily into its mellow, introspective tone at the expense of more dynamic or adventurous songwriting. The lyrical content and the warmth of the duets give the album an emotional depth, and fans of Per’s more reflective side will find much to appreciate here. However, for those looking for the catchy, infectious hooks that defined his earlier career, this album might feel a bit too subdued. It’s a pleasant, understated work that’s perfect for quiet moments, but it’s unlikely to leave a lasting mark in the way some of his previous albums have.

The tracklist:

1. 1. Hoppas

Per plays the organ, electric and acoustic guitars, piano and the saxophone on this mid-tempo track!

2. 2. Henry väntar på en chans

Now here’s a little surprise. This song was released in 1984 the first time and back then, it was called “Break Another Heart”. Henry does not get the chance he is hoping for it seems. By the way, this is Henry’s third appearance in Per’s songs after Henry dansar inte disco and Henry har en plan på gång. We really wonder what Henry is up to!

3. 3. Plåster (feat. Amanda Ginsburg)

The first duet of the album. Amanda Ginsburg, known in Sweden for her jazz writing and singing. She has received quite a few prizes for that. This is one of the singles from the album and is a 4/6 beat song.

4. 4. Jag är regnet (feat. Lisa Miskovsky)

Lisa Miskovsky, a Swedish singer known for her pop songs, her snowboarding her hockey playing and being an expert reporter on TV regarding sports! One of the poppier songs on the album.

5. 5. Nyper mig i armen (feat. Albin Lee Meldau)

Very famous among the younger crowd in Sweden. Also a single with a video recorded in Per’s garden by Fredrik Etoall.

6. 6. Hjärtats vackraste rum (feat. Helena Josefsson)

Helena needs no introduction! This album was recorded while they were still working together. Another mid-tempo track.

7. 7. Det tar den tid det tar

A country-inspired song. Malin-My on background vocals.

8. 8. Beredd (feat. Molly Hammar)

Molly, famous for Swedish Idol and also the Eurovision Song Contest. She was also the Swedish voice of Nala in The Lion King in 2019.

9. 9. Har på känn (feat. Uno Svenningsson)

Uno is back! Famous for the ’90s band Freda, and since then he’s become a solo artist, opening for Gyllene Tider in 2023.

10. 10. Ingen kan som du (feat. Helena Josefsson)

Here’s the second surprise of the album. This song was recorded by Gyllene Tider and Marie Fredriksson in 1983 but has so far not been released. The music is written by Marie.

11. Sällskapssjuk (feat. Lena Philipsson)

Yet another single. Lena has been famous since 1986 where she performed “Kärleken är evig” in the Swedish leg of the Eurovision Song Contest. The lyrics were written by Per and for some weird reason translate to “Neverending Love”…

12. 12. Ingen annan

More of a ballad than the rest of the tracks. Per plays the keyboards, and among them the Hammond organ.

13. 13. Utan din humor (feat. Helena Josefsson)

The music is written by Linnea Henriksson. Maybe the only true ballad of the album. And maybe the last time we will hear Helena on one of Per’s albums?

Per Gessle’s Sällskapssjuk is a mellow and introspective album that showcases his lyrical strength but falls short of delivering the spark fans might expect. Recorded between 2022 and 2024 using local musicians, this Swedish-language collection leans heavily on emotional depth, with Gessle’s songwriting offering vivid reflections on love, connection, and the passage of time. The lyrics are undoubtedly the album’s highlight, filled with thoughtful wordplay and heartfelt emotion that will resonate with Swedish listeners.

However, musically, the album feels a bit too restrained. While Per’s melodies are pleasant, most tracks blend into a mid-tempo, soft soundscape that lacks dynamic variation or a clear standout hit. The result is a cohesive but somewhat underwhelming musical experience. Per Gessle seems to lean into comfort here, crafting an album that’s soothing but not particularly memorable.

One of the strengths of Sällskapssjuk is its duets, featuring collaborators like Helena Josefsson, Molly Hammar, Lena Philipsson, and Albin Lee Meldau. These partnerships bring a layer of warmth and variety to the album, with the artists’ voices blending beautifully with Per’s. Yet, despite these bright spots, the album as a whole feels too safe and doesn’t quite push any creative boundaries.

For fans who enjoy Per’s more reflective and quieter side, Sällskapssjuk will be a rewarding listen. But for those hoping for the infectious, hook-laden songs that defined his earlier work, this album may feel a bit too subdued. It’s a lyrically rich but musically cautious project, offering gentle introspection but lacking the punch to make it truly stand out.

Pix by Kai

Pix by Kai

July 25 Marie Fredriksson’s final memoir, Listen to My Heart: Life, Love & Roxette was finally released in English. To celebrate that we held a little contest together with 1984publishing raffling out three deluxe versions of the book. With over 100 participants it is with great pleasure to present the three winners:

Ryan Cameron, San Diego, USA. His favorite three songs are Tro, What’s She Like andThe Rain.

Hanna Sherman, London, United Kingdom. Her three favorites are Mellan sommar och höst, Dangerous and (Do You Get) Excited?

Ashley Buchanan, Sherwood Park, Canada and her three favorite Marie songs are Love is All (which she got married to), Dance Away and Silver Blue.

We thank you all for participating! Also 1984publishing lets us know that the limited edition version of the book is temporarily sold out in Europe. More copies will be shipped soon. Bengans in Sweden still seems to have a few copies.

Dalarna is the region in Sweden where the wilderness begins. You can enter huge dark forests and can get lost for hours or even days. You find a huge lake here, lake Siljan, having been created by a meteorite impact 377 million years ago. Crazy to think about it. A few miles away from the next bigger town, you find an old limestone quarry, basically a 60 m deep hole in the ground, at its deepest point there is a small pond, in the middle of it you find a huge stage, in front it around 4.000 seats (Per claims they hold 6.000 seats and he is the boss) like in an old Roman amphitheatre. During the summer time, a lot of concerts take place here, bands come and go, this week, they will perform here Mamma Mia, the ABBA musical.

Gyllene Tider performed here twice this summer, and personally, I have for years been very keen on going to this venue. It’s said to have a special atmosphere, a special acoustic. Concerts here are different from a Swedish folkets park or a stadium. You are surrounded by high walls of rocks, these rocks reflect the sound in a way you rarely find somewhere else. So once the show starts, you become a part of the scenery. 

Also, this would be my first concert after a two week break from the tour. What is different now? Let’s see.

First of all, the show has stayed the same basically but there had been some changes. The setlist differed a bit from the shows before. Billy is on vacation but Chrissie came to pay us a visit. Vill ha ett svar made its debut and people loved it. The band, this being the third show in a row, has found their routine. Whatever happens on stage now looks very much like second nature. Thanks to the fact that Dalhalla is, to a great extent at least, a seated venue the people in the audience have a great view on the stage, so the interaction with the band is more crucial. As always, Gyllene Tider’s performance always gains this little extra bit when the audience goes wild and despite the audience this evening being a bit more on the older side, did not disappoint. People clapped and stomped, in the end they even stood up. And as a foreigner in Sweden, there is one thing in a Gyllene Tider concert that you must see once in your lifetime. This is Sommartider being performed in a special venue like Dalhalla or Ullevi. This kind of power you only find here. To prove the point, you find a video of it here under the article, and underneath there will be almost 50 photos. 

Next stop will be Karlstad on Wednesday. There are now just a few shows left. If you ask me if you should still go and buy a ticket, then yes, by all means do it. Satisfaction is guaranteed!

Pics by Kai. 

Marie Fredriksson’s final memoir, Listen to My Heart: Life, Love & Roxette, will see a worldwide English-language release from 1984 Publishing on July 25, 2023.

The 260-page hardcover is the fully candid and compelling life story of one of rock music’s most resilient lead singers. Given only a few months to live following a harrowing diagnosis in 2002—Marie boldly forged ahead into a life with newfound courage and inspiration. She continued as both a solo singer and with Roxette, where she performed over 550 concerts to millions of fans, sold 75 million records, and released over 50 singles including several global hits. Stateside, the duo had four #1s with “Listen to Your Heart,” “It Must Have Been Love” (from the film Pretty Woman), “The Look,” and “Joyride.” In all, Roxette is Sweden’s biggest music group—second only to ABBA.

Heart-wrenching yet winning, and told with exceptional energy and sincerity, Listen to My Heart sheds new and revelatory light on the life and work of one of our generation’s most talented and courageous artists. Marie passed away in the aftermath of her diagnosis in December, 2019.

Marie wrote her memoir in tandem with author Helena von Zweigbergk. “I was so deeply moved by the enormous amount of love that Marie both gave and received over the years, and I know how much this release would have meant to her. It’s a book about strength, love, a remarkable career and a woman who gave life her all, each and every day,” says von Zweigbergk.

Marie’s family continues, “We know Marie would have been very excited seeing her biography in so many different languages, reaching ans in so many countries. This English version makes her life story available to even more people in the world, keeping her legacy alive.”

Filled with behind-the-scenes stories involving everyone from Tina Turner and Elton John to The Rolling Stones and Frank Sinatra, Listen to My Heart also explores her humble family beginnings, an early tragedy in the sudden loss of Marie’s sister, her transition into the music industry as a solo artist, and the formation and challenges of being in one of the world’s most successful pop groups. All while trying to maintain a strong marriage and be a mother to two young children in the face of a life-altering illness.

A book foreword was penned by acclaimed director Jonas Åkerlund, Marie’s longtime friend and colleague. “Marie was my first true break in the industry,” says Åkerlund. “I’ll always be grateful for that—not only because of the projects that followed, but more because of the integrity, focus, and creative generosity that she taught me . . . this book is but one testament to the boundless creativity she exuded throughout her life.” Åkerlund directed Marie and Roxette in nearly twenty music videos and documentaries, and later worked with Madonna, Beyonce, Lady Gaga, and U2.

A limited special edition of the book will contain Marie’s celebrated English-language solo CD The Change (2004), its first physical release in North America, along with Marie’s final recording “Sea of Love” (2017) as a bonus track. Along with the newly remastered music, the limited edition hardcover will contain silver foil gilding and a blue satin ribbon marker.

Book cover photo is by Mattias Edwall, with additional design by Midnight Marauder. Marie Fredriksson created the artwork for The Change album cover.

Both physical editions (plus an ebook) will be available worldwide at local bookstores, plus on-line retailers including Bengans, Amazon.se, Amazon.co.uk, and many more. 

And as a special bonus you may now enter a contest to win a copy of the limited edition of the book.

1984publishing is giving The Daily Roxette no less than three copies of the limited edition of Listen to My Heart to raffle out!

What are your three favorite Marie (or Roxette) tracks?

Mail your answer and your postal address to contest@dailyroxette.com before August 1. The three winners will be selected randomly from the entries.

It’s hard to describe how this happens and even harder to explain how this came but the shows are constantly getting better and better. I mean, they had never been anything close to bad or so. It’s just so that you think “Yes, now, this is cool, this can stay like this” and the next night, they just add that little more to the show and you go again “Yeah, but now, now this is perfect” until you see the next show and so on. A bit of a miracle how the boys and girls on and off stage are doing it. Is it that the band needed to find trust in themselves after the years of hiatus? I mean, Gyllene Tider is a project that is being sent to sleep ever so often and then when you expect it least, like this year, they just come back and act like nothing happened. Cool stuff. 

So, what is it that makes the shows get better? The songs? There had not been that many changes lately except that Billy seems to be MIA in Copenhagen or Cologne now. While it is a nice song, it certainly interfered with the continuity of other uptempo songs meaning it may have been too slow for the show. The band? Yes, every night, there is a bit more of action going on on the stage. Everyone moves more, everyone interacts more. Especially the girls are now moving more often, I think. Anders comes to MP, MP dances a little. Syd stands up from his drumset, Per is walking all the stage anyway. I also think the light show has improved, I see more and more colors in the photos. But I could be wrong. Of course, the band now knows that their setlist works, that the audience loves the performance, you can see they are testing new things here and there, but it is all based on the confidence that this tour, this show is a great one. For real.

Eskilstuna was no exception, the performance was solid, the audience was happy and active, many hands were up in the air. The venue is the park of Sundbyholms Slott, a castle now being used as a hotel nearby a marina by the water, surrounded by fields. Lovely place. Anyway, this tour leads you to spots that are worth to be visited again with more time at hand. Maybe next summer?

While TDR is taking a small break from the tour due to real life duties but will be back early enough to report about the ongoing progress of the show, the band will now make their way through all of Sweden. We hope that the weather which had until now always been a topic for itself will remain pleasant. Of course it will be interesting to see if more songs will be exchanged or added. It’s good to see all the good old songs getting played as well as some newer ones, maybe even one more from the new album will not do too much harm. 

Personal favourites so far: Gammal kärlek rostar aldrig, Det är över nu and Leva livet.

See you soon again!

Pics by Kai

So, yes, it’s actually getting harder and harder to write something new and refreshing about each show of the HUX FLUX tour. The setlist has stayed the same for the last few gigs, of course there is still hope that Sanna mina ord or even Chans are getting played at some point. Or if this isn’t possible, play Gammal kärlek rostar aldrig twice, I’m not the only one who can’t get enough of this song. And yes, there was an incident in the audience that caused the show to be stopped for 2 minutes and both band and officials handed it beautifully. But apart from this, it’s just pure joy to see the show having gotten in shape and making its way through the country now. It’s just beautiful now.

There is just something I would really like to point out. The girls. You know, the background singers, Dea Norberg and Malin-My Wall. We know both of them from the last GT tour as well as from various other tours with Per and Roxette. Dea is a very, very experienced background singer, has worked with several international artists, had been singing backing vocals for the Eurovision Song Contest for many years and has played in musicals, even in the USA. She has the ability to keep the band together even from the last row. Unforgotten how she always supported Marie on stage when she didn’t feel good. Every move she does is precise, every note she sings is perfect. Also, did you know that she had recorded her own songs? And then there is Malin-My, she is THE surprise of the tour. Usually, she stands behind the mic with Dea, swings her arms, legs and hips and for a song or two she may come to the front of the stage playing her violin or accordion which is usually a highlight of the show. But did you notice how professionally she moves now? I mean, this is a huge step up compared to the last show. At times, she even steals Dea the show and this is really tough to achieve. Is there some magic going on? Did she drink a sip from Per’s secret stage brew in the black bottle? Or is it much easier and Dea showed her a few techniques? Anyway, next time you see the tour, keep your eyes on the left and enjoy the show inside the show. Marvellous.

Next stop will be Eskilstuna. No break today. Yeah!

Pics by Kai

First things first: The setlist has not changed. Although we (T and K) in our mobile TDR office would prefer to have Sanna mina ord added to the list. Well, now we said it out loud, let’s see what happens. I’m sure if we asked Per why this song hasn’t made it yet, he will say it’s too similar to some other song. Sir? We don’t care! Give it a try. Thanks!

Well, Malmö. One of the three big cities in Sweden, it has some very nice places by the sea, modern architecture and a small historical part. Many artists live here, Copenhagen is not far, Berlin isn’t either, all these cities are some sort of triangle for the local art scene. Concerts in cities have a different atmosphere than those on the countryside. When you arrive, you have made it through the city djungle. The people who live here are less relaxed than small town people. But they know how to party. Really, there is a completely different energy in the air when you compare the audience in Malmö to let’s say Kalmar (no offense). Mölleplatsen is situated somewhere in the middle between the old city center and the sea, next to Malmöhus, the ancient castle. At the corner of Mölleplatsen, there is an old wooden windmill, hence the name of the location. If you arrive early, you can stroll through a park on the backside or just walk to the water. Yes, right, you’re here for the concert and not the tourist attractions…

So, the part that happened on stage gets tighter and tighter. There’s more action going on, I cannot really put my finger on it what it is but I think the girls are moving across the stage more often. Also Per is doing a splendid job entertaining the masses, it seems the acoustic tour has left some good memories. The audience of course is happy to have their money invested wisely so whenever possible, arms are raised in the air, some even brought small flashlights. When Sommartider came on, a lot of phones were held up, I wonder how the people can record and dance at the same time. Just one thing to notice is how calm and relaxed the guards on site are. Very professional. 

So believe it or not, the whole set takes two hours. I mean, come on, the gentlemen on stage are not 20 anymore and can you imagine hitting the drums or holding a guitar for such a long time, plus playing more than 20 songs correctly in front of some 10,000 people. Every other night! This deserves some respect!

Oh, the weather… It had rained most of the day, very badly even. Still half an hour before the show started, there were heavy clouds hanging over the venue but at least the GT show stayed dry. A cool thing happened when the sunset put a pink shine on one of the big clouds visible behind the stage. You could only see it from further away, or if you watch the photo gallery under the article. Oh, and since we know that many of the hardcore fans read here and they like to watch the concert from one of the front rows, here’s a service presented by TDR: This time, we included more photos of the whole scenery from the rear of the audience area so you get an impression of what the stage really looks like when lit up. Enjoy! By the way, the sound is excellent even far away from the stage. If you’re going to more than let’s say three shows, really give it a try to watch one show from a different angle one time. It’s worth it.

Next stop will be Linköping. 

Pics by Kai

Sofiero is a very nice park, famous for its rhodendron collection. You can walk in the park for hours, you can see Denmark from here. And now Gyllene Tider played here again. They’ve done this a couple of times before so there’s a certain routine in it now. Third show for this tour. No surprises. The Chrissie setlist was played. Yes, these reports are getting shorter, haha. The show was great as always, it seems everyone got a bit more relaxed on stage by now. There was more stuff going on this time again, a pleasure to watch!

There was just one concern before the concert: Would that rain stop? It had been drizzling and pouring half the day. Which is amazing as TDR’s Thomas who is infamous for bringing bad weather to the west coast was sitting safe and sound at his home. Anyway, just half an hour before GT entered the stage, the clouds opened up and the rain ended. What a nice thing.

Let’s make it short, we know you’re not here for the text anyway. Here are the photos from Helsingborg. These are not all. More will pop up here and there. Gotta catch some sun now. Enjoy!

Pics by K

Halmstad. There is no other place in the world that smells more like Gyllene Tider than Halmstad. Here’s where it all began, where all the music was made (not counting this little trip to France some years ago) and here is where you can experience their lyrics first hand. Small hint to the local tourism industry: Liverpool actually has guides showing you Beatles places, what have you? 

Anyway.

So, this here is about Halmstad #2, apparently the gig after Halmstad #1 of which my dear colleague Thomas said it felt as if GT 40 never ended. We shall see. First of all, Brottet, an old quarry now turned into a swimming and relaxing area is directly by the coast but embedded in trees, so it feels like summer and holiday and fun. People here are happy, some are tipsy, no one is here cos they’re bored. They know what they are here for. And of course, Halmstad is the secret world capital for all Roxette fans, so it’s no surprise to see familiar faces (some of them I failed to recognize, I’d been up that day and busy since 4 a.m., sorry for that). 

What’s new? There is this shiny new stage, it has HUX FLUX in huge letters written on top of it. What you don’t see from the first row is that they can shine in various colours. And they do shine once the sun has set. 80s pop galore! Then instead of the split screens four years ago, there is now a huge video wall behind the band. Sometimes it shows live feeds from the stage, switching between the band members showing them up close so that people in the rear of the audience can see who plays there. There are video clips to almost each song playing in the background, there’s a girl walking through a field, there are old movie scenes of people dancing when you’re supposed to dance, and there was footage from GT’s Parkliv movie from 1981. Actually, at least for me, this was the first time I enjoyed a show from further away more than closer to the stage. Don’t ask why, we will have to find this out still.



The Daily Roxette

Gyllene Tider “Hux Flux”: The review

Gyllene Tider came up with an unexpected new album and it was officially released today. The title: "Hux Flux" which roughly translates to Just like that. Enjoy the TDR tastebuds at work reviewing the album. Read the full story...

Jun 30, 2023 •

Details

As Per often said, people do not only come for the new album but they want to hear the good old hits. So we get everything Gyllene Tider is famous for, from Billy to Sommartider, from Leva Livet to Tuffa Tider, there is Kung av Sand as well as Juni, Juli, Augusti. Micke Syd, the infamous drummer you can book for private mind tapping courses (true thing!) must still know things about Per that latter prefers to remain hidden from public so once more he was allowed to sing his one hit wonder Min tjej och jag. 

Second tour in a row, and hopefully many more to come, Dea and Malin-My are with the band again and add wild movements to the performances while the five boys (read: men in their best ages) prefer to stick to the safe zones around their mic stands. Always a pleasure to watch. In one of the following tour reports, I shall praise Malin-My a bit more. You’ll see.

Next stop will be Sofiero near Helsingborg. Keep fingers crossed that the rain will have passed before the show begins!

The set list

Gyllene Tider igen
Juni, juli, augusti
Det hjärta som brinner
Skicka ett vykort, älskling
Gammal kärlek rostar aldrig
Flickorna på TV2
Vandrar i ett sommarregn
(Hon vill ha) Puls
En sten vid en sjö i en skog
Flickan i en Cole Porter-sång
Tuffa tider
Min tjej och jag
Kung av sand
Ljudet av ett hjärta
Ska vi älska, så ska vi älska till Buddy Holly
Medley of:
(Kom så ska vi) Leva livet
(Dansar inte lika bra som) Sjömän
Tylö Sun

Billy
Det är över nu
Gå & fiska!

När vi två blir en
Sommartider
När alla vännerna gått hem

/Pics by K

And there’s really not much to say. The boys were in good spirits, laughing like nothing had happened. They seemed very pleased to be back together on stage again. Per stated that every rumor in the media that they quit again are to be considered false. Over all Per talked much more than he used to, hopefully that continues. It could be something he learned from his acoustic tour. Good, Per!

They opened with Gyllene Tider igen, since they are back… again… A few songs later they played Gammal kärlek rostar aldrig and that’s that from the new album. We got the same old 20 songs we always get, but hey, at least we can sing along! Chrissie was still there from the last tour, as well as Cole Porter-sång and that’s nice. What was new was that they performed a medley of a few songs and that we haven’t seen since 2004. Micke reinstated Min tjej och jag together with the girls.

The weather was almost excellent (could have been a tad warmer but details). The audience of around 11-13.000 (guessing, Aftonbladet says 9500) was in a great mood, sang along from the first song. I predict a good summer. 

The best song: Chrissie, hur mår du? which missed MP’s superb intro, but still.
The song that’s not that great anymore: Flickorna på TV2.

The set list

Gyllene Tider igen
Juni, juli, augusti
Det hjärta som brinner
Skicka ett vykort, älskling
Gammal kärlek rostar aldrig
Flickorna på TV2
Chrissie, hur mår du?
(Hon vill ha) Puls
En sten vid en sjö i en skog
Flickan i en Cole Porter-sång
Tuffa tider
Min tjej och jag
Kung av sand
Ljudet av ett hjärta
Ska vi älska, så ska vi älska till Buddy Holly
Medley of:
(Kom så ska vi) Leva livet
(Dansar inte lika bra som) Sjömän
Tylö Sun

Billy 
Det är över nu 
Gå & fiska! 

När vi två blir en 
Sommartider 
När alla vännerna gått hem

Paul: So, here we are again! After 2019’s ‘farewell’ tour and album, we’re welcoming back the GT guys with another collection of new tunes before a summer tour kicks off. Something good came off the back of the pandemic it seems. 

Kai: Nja, we will see. First of all, 2019 was not their only “farewell” but 2013’s Dags att tänka på refrängen album and tour was their first (luckily failed) attempt to leave. Glad it didn’t quite work out as planned. Now, this album came as a bit of a surprise though, at a time when everyone was wondering what to do next summer with their money and their time. Yeah now we know, we all are going to meet in a summery Sweden once more, enjoying Gyllene Tider in cozy sunsets. Let’s have a look at what they have released this time although I really doubt we will get to hear a lot of these songs performed live.

Thomas: Bah, 2013 wasn’t a goodbye, that was just a hint that it’s getting late…

1. Gyllene Tider igen

Paul: Kicking off the album with a nice little up-tempo number. Should this have been the first single off the album? Possibly. Catchy, definitely GT-esq. Could this be the opening track on the tour?

Kai: Good thinking, on tour this would be a great opener to get the audience’ attention after they had been waiting in front of the stage. Also, there is another song in it that I fail to put my finger on really… Marie i växeln, maybe? Anyway, this one has a lot of the original GT 1970s sound to it.

Thomas: Very Marie i växeln in that chorus yes. Speedy track that worked well live I can say. I don’t like the drum computer here, but as mentioned, it works well live.

2. Dagar att dansa

Paul: Micke Syd’s favorite on the album apparently. This sets the tone of the album much more than Gyllene Tider igen. Some good drum work from Syd, as usual!

Kai: Yeah, nice song and true, this sounds more like the current GT. Would be great to have this song on the setlist for the tour. 

Thomas: Also one of my favorites, it’s a classic mid-tempo Gyllene thing. The chorus has some vibes from Orup’s Då står pojkarna på rad I think. And of course, the master of the Middle-8 strikes again… A masterpiece.

3. Chans

Paul: The actual first single. Hearing the complete album and I can see why this was chosen as the lead single. The most typical GT song on the album perhaps? Or maybe more Per’s Garage? Got a nice summertime vibe to this song which will sound great during the tour. Surely this will be on the setlist? 

Kai: Oh yes, this would be a shame to be left out. This is a perfect song for a live concert, having people sing along and wave their arms. But knowing our usual luck… Reminds me of the good old GT times with melodic tunes, some “ohoho” and of course (how could we live without her) the Farfisa organ singing her song.

Thomas: Also a nice one, good three singles in a row, albeit one digital, when did that ever happen??

4. Gammal kärlek rostar aldrig

Paul: I like this one, possibly my favorite track on the album. It’s not a usual type of Gyllene song – well, apart from the instrumental – but it’s got a good vocal from Per. Actually, Per is sounding great on this album. His voice never seems to change these days.

Kai: Oh, this is what they call “dänga” in Sweden, a hit. Wonder why they did not have this as a single. It’s so catchy. And then the Farfisa with a riff that would make both Scooter and Avicii blush a bit. Would really like to see this song performed live this summer but I …ahem… guess the… ahem… “elderly men” are not up to the game anymore? Or? Or? Challenge accepted?? Haha!!

Thomas: This also worked very well live, Syd was banging those drums like never before! I assume Per wrote this while working on that actual album with that name.

Kai: Not too far-fetched, Captain Obvious…

5. Har lite kärlek kvar (och kan resa)

Paul: Going down a different path here. I can’t think of anything else in the GT-back catalog that sounds anything like this. Thomas, can you? Turn up the bass on this to get the full effect.

Kai: Thomas is busy checking out the new Pepsi collection so I may take over for the moment. And no, I can’t remember any similar GT song either. You’re welcome. A nice build up, with its roots in 1970s and 1980s rock, down to the basics. Which is always a good thing if you ask me. Could use even more drums maybe.

Thomas: No nothing. I got nothing. Not a bad song, but it’s not so much Gyllene to me.

6. Jag har en vän

Paul: With a different arrangement, this could be on a solo album from Per. Just doesn’t sound anything like Gyllene to me. 

Kai: Yeah, totally agree here. Again. A pretty tune but fails to get stuck in my ears. Is this what they call a filler, maybe?

Thomas: I started out not liking this, but after a while the pieces fell together, it’s neat to start every line with Jag har en vän. It has potential.

7. Hux Flux

Paul: For some reason I imagined the title track to be an up-tempo track, but it’s something quite different. This reminds me of Don’t Fear The Reaper by Blue Oyster Cult from the late 1970s. 

Thomas: Never heard that one so I can’t say, but I believe you. Not a very Gyllene song I must say, and it frankly just sounds weird to me.

Paul: Check it out Thomas, it’s worth it! 

Kai: They get us again and again. Do you remember CBB!? Everyone thought of an uptempo and then… We’re having a beautiful pop song here, it does not necessarily sound very GT again but it has its certain vibes here and there. Love the guitars. 

Paul: Yes! CBB! also came to my mind!

Thomas: Stevo (remember him?) loves this one by the way.

8. Finns det någonting?

Paul: I keep coming back to this song. I love the chorus to this one – another nice PG-melody that grows on you with each listen. 

Kai: First, I didn’t really know what to say about this track. Yes, it’s nice and lovely but somehow… arrghh. It’s just too… “kind” maybe? I mean, give it this thought: Increase the bpm by (let’s say) a lot and make it a rock song. Now we’re talking. 

Thomas: Not one of my favorites, it confuses me too.

Paul: Seems I’m on my own here then.

Thomas: How very unusual…

9. Ebenholtz Café

Paul: Another mid-tempo song that doesn’t sound much like anything else the guys have recorded before. 

Kai: Could as well have been another solo song from Per. Great vocal performance here again, and also great production. 

Thomas: Very unlike Gyllene in my opinion. Like you say, sounds more like a solo song. It however grows after a few spins.

10. Sanna mina ord

Paul: These days my Swedish has gone a bit rusty. I haven’t visited Sweden since before the pandemic so I was pleased when GT released Sunday Driver Yeah as a b-side. Yes, the lyrics are very different here, but I got the ‘vibe’ of the song. One of the strongest tracks on the album, those drums are great! 

Kai: Power pop at its best. Catchy melody, great singalong potential. Makes you wanna stomp your feet until they hurt. And then some more. I’ve had the English version on repeat for a few days. Literally. 

Thomas: Of course you know that this was a leftover from Pop-Up Dynamo!. It didn’t fit that format so they decided it was a Gyllene song. And it was. When it was all finished and assembled Per added the English lyrics to it as well. Great results I must say.

11. Det perfekta svaret

Paul: Another one of my favorites on the album. It’s got a great melody to the chorus, nice backing vocals and MP’s jangling guitar is lovely. Another one which would be great to hear during the tour. A nice album closer. 

Kai: The last couple of times, the album closers had a farewell touch to them, come to think of Final and Dags att tänka på refrängen. Not so this time. Correct me if I’m wrong. Again, a nice little song, but nothing special to me.

Thomas: Yes, Gyllene always has ballad closers on their albums, but not this time. I just heard this one is from “GT 5”, that elusive album which was never recorded in 1985. A very nice song indeed. Possibly my favorite too.

Paul: Yet another interesting fact with GT Geek Thomas. 

Conclusions/Rating

Paul: If anyone is expecting an album full of Swedish Power-Pop bangers, they could be disappointed with Hux Flux. This is not that kind of album. Here we have an older, wiser GT and it feels like more of a continuation of Samma skrot och korn rather than Dags att tänka på refrängen. An album with nice melodies that adds something different to the band’s collection. 

Kai: No, right. The era of songs like Gå & fiska! etc. is gone. We’re getting more adult music here. If this is what you’re looking for in GT is up to everyone else. While the album in itself makes sense, it actually sounded more like a typical solo record from Per with the help from some friends we know from Gyllene Tider. Still, whenever Per writes for GT, he comes up with his best songs nonetheless. So enjoy an album that sounds a bit different, if you like there are more releases with other styles in the band’s rich back catalog.

Thomas: You are both correct. It’s not a Sommartider album, which would have been nice, but it is what it is. What concerns me more is that it does feel like a Per album with help from some of his good friends. I’m happy they made it though and it makes me feel there may be more coming out in the future. Just saw that the track list is different on the vinyl, and that order makes the album better. Just so you know. Now it’s time for the tour!

Photographer Anders Sällström shot portraits of Gyllene Tider in 1996. Now he’s selling a limited edition of 99 copies of the contact sheet for those sessions. The size is 30×40 cm (12″x 16″), no frame, signed by Anders. The original price is 1700 SEK (about €146) plus shipping, but if you give Anders the code TEVENSSO you will get it for 1450 SEK (about €125), plus shipping. Not bad at all huh?? Contact Anders at anders@sallstrom.se

Anders Sällström fotade Gyllene Tider 1996. I år säljer han “Contact Sheet Approved” i 30×40 cm i begränsad upplaga av 99 st, signerad av Anders, utan ram för 1700:- plus frakt. Uppger du rabattkoden TEVENSSO får du bilden för 1450:- plus frakt! Inte så illa va! Kontakta Anders på anders@sallstrom.se

Five weeks left until the Hux Flux tour starts. Get your tickets while you can.

On Tuesday, May 30, Marie Fredriksson would have turned 65. In the series of jazz and blues singles that were very close to Marie’s heart and that have been released, both before and after Marie’s passing, here comes a cover of the Ike and Tina Turner song ‘Crazy ‘Bout You Baby’. The song was recorded in 2003 at Polar Studios after the recording of her solo album “The Change”. As a tribute to Marie and as a thank you to all the fans, the song is now being released – 20 years after it was recorded. It is a reminder of Marie’s versatility and greatness as an artist and how her musical legacy continues to live on. 

On her birthday, May 30, SVT will broadcast the tribute concert from Stora Teatern in Gothenburg, which was recorded in January 2020.

Vi söker: Killar 17-24 år, bra om du spelar ett instrument

Vi söker även: Tjejer 17-22 år

När: Lördag 22/4 kl. 10-14

Plats: Dramalogen, Larsfridsvägen 9, Halmstad

Ingen förberedelse krävs!

NEVIS
Vid frågor kontakta sofie@nevisproductions.com

In 1983 all of the guys in Gyllene Tider were drafted and had to do their obligatory military service at I16 in Halmstad. The draft was long overdue due to their constant touring. Per said he had issues that made him a bad fit for the army (he didn’t look good in green, he stated) and got a green card (the irony). Knowing Per he can’t not work for periods longer than 6 minutes, so he decided to release a solo album, his first.

He wrote “På väg” with Niklas Strömstedt and ruffled up another 12-15 tracks to be recorded at EMI Studios in Stockholm, with other musicians than his normal four besties. A challenge indeed. He, or more likely Lasse Lindbom, brought in loads of session players. The major ones on the album were Hasse Olsson on Hammond organ, Magnus Persson on drums and Backa-Hans Eriksson on bass guitar among many others such as Kjell Öhman accordion, Niklas Strömstedt backing vocals & keyboards, Kjell Johansson banjo, Janne Bark guitars and of course Marie Fredriksson vocals.

Per wanted a more grown up sound on this album, therefore they changed the Farfisa to a real Hammond and also lowered the keys of the songs to not make him sound like the teenage hitmaker he was. The lyrics also feel “older”, “wiser”, not the same as Gyllene’s lyrics. I mean he was 24 after all! Overall the album feels rather introspective, sound and lyric wise. Per says it has a “Halmstad spirit” over it.

Now, were these good decisions? Hard to say, the album didn’t really sell as well as the Gyllene Tider albums for sure, but easily passed the gold record status (50,000 copies) in a couple of months, which is way better than most artists back then.

It is a good album and somewhat underrated in my opinion. I don’t remember the reviews, but I can imagine they weren’t top notch knowing the Swedish reviewers and how they felt about Gyllene. The best track by far is “Regn” but also “På väg” and “Syrenernas tid” are nice little gems. “Syrenernas Tid” was by the way the original title of the album. “Regn” was recorded in English in 1984, a demo which Per hates but isn’t nearly that bad. It’s called “Run to Me” in English. Rumors have it you can find it on YouTube. It was also recorded by German-American artist Christopher Barker a few years later.

Per covered two tracks; his longtime idol John Holm’s “Den öde stranden”, a song Gyllene Tider would play for a short while on the 1996 Återtåget tour, and also John Sebastian’s “Stories We Could Tell”. Per and Anders (Herrlin) met John Sebastian in Los Angeles late 1981 and eventually stayed with John and his family for a week up north in Woodstock. Per also wrote “Timmar av iver” in the States while Anders was watching Japanese horror movies on the TV in the next room.

A single from the album was released (or wasn’t if you ask EMI) – “Om du har lust”, a duet with the then rather (totally) unknown singer Marie Fredriksson. This single had two new tracks on the B-side; the country inspired “Överallt” and another Strömstedt collaboration “Man varnade för halka”. I can’t recall ever hearing the single on the radio. It was performed on TV however, also available on YouTube!

“Tända en sticka till” which was written while in the studio in Stockholm was re-recorded for Gammal kärlek rostar aldrig in 2020, this time featuring Helena Josefsson. “Tända” was also the other of the two songs on the album which weren’t written in Halmstad,

EMI’s Kjell Andersson (who else?) designed the sleeve, with its tasteful black and white photos by Calle Bengtsson. The cover photo was taken out on what looks like a really chilly Tylösand beach, while the first edition gatefold shows Per in a hotel room playing the guitar in front of an ancient TV set, at the Hallandia hotel, nowadays Scandic Hallandia situated close to Stora Torg in the center of Halmstad.

All in all, Per Gessle is a nice album which should by no means be forgotten. It has been re-released a couple of times, but it’s very doubtful there will be a 40 box. Here’s to hoping though!

The original 1983 track list:

På väg
Hjärtats trakt
Om du har lust
Timmar av iver
Regn
Indiansommar
Historier vi kan (Stories We Could Tell)
Ledmotiv från “Indiansommar”
Den öde stranden
Fiskarnas tecken
Rädd
Tända en sticka till
Syrenernas tid

There has been talks and discussions for years and this topic had the potential to discourage many people to go and see live shows with stages in parks or on soccer fields: Hardcore fans who wait in front of the venue for hours just to be the first in front of the stage. The issue is that when you watch multiple shows of the same tour, you always find the same faces in the front row. This leads to a number of problems; families with kids or even casual fans of the artist rarely have the chance to see their idol up close because they just cannot come closer than so many meters to the stage. The press photographers complained that wherever they shoot pictures with the audience, the people all look the same, no matter if you’re in a huge stadium or in a town park. Readers of newspapers regularily call in and blame the editors that they never actually were to that concert they wrote about. And lastly, the artists themselves don’t feel good about it because there is the risk that casual concert-goers will lack fun and won’t buy tickets anymore.

So Live Nation, Sweden’s biggest tour booking company, along with the Luleå University of Technology are testing a new procedure this summer that is meant to solve all these problems. Under the slogan “En magisk kväll med din magiska hatt” (A Magic Night with Your Magic Hat) they have developed a face recognition system which scans the faces of the first few rows at each concert and saves them in a database (GDPR safe of course). According to project manager Andreas Kvarnström from Luleå UT, the cameras will scan an area of approximately 5 meters into the audience and 30 m wide, the so-called pink zone. This is important information for the next gigs as you will see.

Kvarnström: “The next day, in the first 30 minutes of the venue gates being open for the audience, we activate our face recognition system again. During the entrance procedure, when the concert tickets are read, we also scan faces. If our system signals that this person had been in the pink zone the night before, we kindly ask the person to step aside and wait until the pink zone is crowded up. After that they may proceed and find a spot in the crowd they like. We think this is fair towards everybody and Live Nation even provides a workaround for those who really craves to be in the front row.”

The solution Live Nation promotes is the above mentioned Magic Hat. You can buy your Magic Hat at the merchandise stand right next to the entrance. It allows you to jump the waiting procedure and proceed to the stage immediately even though the system has told you to stay put. Each gig will have its individual Magic Hat color so you cannot use your hat twice, and you can only buy the Magic Hat the same night the concert takes place. If you wear the Magic Hat during the concert, the cameras will skip your face this time and you will be able to be in the front row not only the same night but also the next night as you won’t be stored in the database. From Live Nation’s press release: “The Magic Hat gives you invisibility, just like in fairy tales – it’s magic!”
Live Nation: “The Magic Hat will come in individual styles, each night will feature a unique color and the band logo. You will have a rare collectors item at the end, a wonderful memory to a wonderful evening with happy people. Prices will vary depending on the artist but they will be around 300 to 500 SEK each.”

This may also mean the end to the infamous numbering systems introduced by fans waiting outside the venues where you get your individual waiting line number written on your hand by another fan with a pen. They will render useless with the new system.

Gyllene Tider’s Hux Flux tour 2023 will be among the first ones where the Magic Hat system will be tested this summer. If all goes according to plan, it will be expanded to other countries as well.

We think that there will only be winners here. Normal people will have the chance to come closer to the stage again. Each night will see fresh faces in the front rows and hardcore fans have another item to collect and swap. What’s your opionion? Let us know in the comments!

Suddenly it was Gyllene Tider again. The new single “Chans” is here as a sunny teaser of the upcoming album “Hux Flux” and the summer tour.

Per Gessle, Mats “MP” Persson, Göran Fritzon, Anders Herrlin and Micke Syd Andersson reunited last summer in the Sweetspot studio in Harplinge and when they were done they came out with eleven new Gyllene favorites.

The reunion started mostly by chance. In the winter of 2021, Gyllene Tider was in the middle of its Sleeping Beauty sleep, which began after the farewell tour two years earlier. At the same time, Per was out on a solo acoustic tour, which had to be postponed when new Corona restrictions hit. Then he bought a new guitar, played a fuzzed chord, got a feeling and wrote some pop songs about which had “Gyllene Tider” written all over them.

The first example of that is “Chans” (Chance), which has a classic Gyllene Tider sound with Göran Fritzon’s Farfisa organ as a guide. And as if that wasn’t enough, it is accompanied by another genuine pop sprinkler: “Sanna mina ord” (Mark My Words), also taken from “Hux Flux”.

But how was it that a bunch of new and catchy Gyllene Tider songs could pop up in the middle of a quiet acoustic solo tour?

– It’s probably a bit typical of my temperament. When I’ve played too much acoustic it gets on my nerves and I just want to play power pop after a while. And a quick check with the rest of the band made it clear that everyone wanted to re-evaluate the decision to call it quits, says Per.

– I think the pandemic changed everything. After it, everyone longed for a little security again and it is easiest to find with friends and family, so starting to think about Gyllene Tider again wasn’t that difficult. We realized we weren’t done yet. And once we decided to do another tour in 2023, I started writing.

“Chans” will be released on March 31st and is part of the upcoming album ‘Hux Flux’ which will be released on June 30th. Once again, Gyllene Tider show that they are the band that takes the opportunity when it presents itself. Congratulations, Sweden – summer 2023 came early this year.

Hi Per, we haven’t spoken in a while. Maybe you remember us? We have a lot to talk about, are you ready?

– Si si, ready steady go, meine Damen und Herren!

Are we catching you in the studio or on the beach? What are you doing these days? How are you doing these days?

– I’m good thankuverymuch! I was on a beach a couple of weeks ago with my family and burned my nose a bit but now I’m back in the coalmine recording and sipping coffee with MP. Also I’m preparing loads of Gyllene Tider stuff that you’ll notice shortly. Everything from creating the summer set list to vids, merch and record sleeves etc. And I just finished a new PG Roxette EP that will see the light of day in April. How about that? Took you by surprise, right?

Oh yes, that’s even more than we anticipated… OK, let’s go back a few months. PG Roxette, as you just mentioned, released its first proper album, the response was overwhelming as far as we could see.

– Yes, I’m so thrilled by the response I got on this album. Actually I didn’t expect that at all. THANK YOU! I’ve been a little bit put off by how the music biz works these days. It’s really hard for people like me with a touch a gray sideburns to get into the Top 40 format. But that’s the way it works. All I want to do is to make music I love and to be as creative as possible. And to get that kind of feedback from you guys while doing that means a lot.

So the obvious question is: when is the next album coming?

– Next album? Hahaha I dunno. I’ll take it step by step. I might want to go on the road a bit first. I’ll let you know!

Danke. Usually when a new album comes out, it is followed by a tour, among other things to get the production expenses covered. Now we know this album had been sitting around on your shelf for a while and then COVID came and then after many moons it finally got released… without a tour attached. We know there was one planned and canceled, how do you feel about this?

– It was a shame, we all lost momentum a bit and also found other projects that changed the focus. But… you’ll never know what’s gonna happen down the line. I’m still eager to take PG Roxette on the road.

Good to hear. Would it take another album release first?

– I haven’t decided yet. I have to stay in Gyllene Tider-country until September.

We really feel for you now… Well, when an album like P-UD! is done and you go on with other projects in the meantime, do you sometimes feel like you could still do some minor or major tweaks to the songs, just to make them that tiny tad better still? Isn’t it tempting, or are you all done?

– Always. But I’ve learned over the years to let it go. When you’re done you’re done. But then again a song is never really finished. Every time you play it or sing it something new pops up.

That’s what we guessed. When we heard the songs, they sounded so much “Roxette” that you could basically hear Marie sing the vocals although it was of course Helena and Dea performing superbly. There were some complaints that the production could use more real drums and even more guitars.

– Well, the idea behind the album was to create something in the late ‘80s, early ‘90s Roxette style. Magnus and Clarence did most of the programming and neither one of them are very guitar driven so most arrangements were based around cool vintage keyboards and drum machines. We actually recorded more guitars on the album but removed them in the end ‘cos we felt it sounded better without them. “Headphones On” excluded.

How hard is it for you to write songs for PG Roxette without having Marie to perform the vocals in your mind?

– I didn’t really think that much about Marie or her voice while writing. I know that won’t help me. It’s better to focus on what’s available and Dea/Helena became an amazing tool to “use” on these songs. But, you know, Marie will always be around one way or another when it comes to my music. Looking back on Pop-Up Dynamo! now I can definitely hear her singing on most of the tracks.

You know, Roxers are really into harder stuff. Maybe there is a chance we will get to hear more of Jonas the next time?

– More guitars on the next album? Maybe.

These days, you released the Tourism 30! collection. About one year late, ahem. How come? Glitch in the matrix? Forgot to set your alarm clock? Too busy with all your projects? What happened?

– Yea, I hear you. It’s been silly season around here for a while, we’ve all been too busy with other stuff. The streaming world has changed everything. I would have loved Tourism to have become a vinyl/CD-box but then again, neither Warner nor myself had the time or energy to pull it off in time. We’re trying to shape up a bit when it comes to “Crash goes 30” next year. Promise.

(And Puls…) Good to hear. Now, when you went through all your archives and drawers from those years and you listened to all the recordings you found, what did you feel then?

– Sometimes a bit impressed ‘cos I wrote a lot of good songs during that era. Sometimes a bit bored because it feels like I’ve heard these songs too many times. But generally, I’m very proud of what we achieved. Those early Rox years 1987-1995 were truly amazing both personally and musically.

Agreed. 30 years later, with the knowledge you have now, what would you have done differently about Tourism had you had the chance?

– Hahaha, you know everyone including Marie hated me for dragging her and the band into studios and hotel rooms all over the world to make that album. They all wanted time off on those few free days when we didn’t perform. But I didn’t want us to lose momentum. That’s why I wrote “How Do You Do!” to keep the summer of ‘92 alive for the band.
I was really surprised that Tourism actually became what it is, the odds weren’t really on my side. If you check the songs a lot of them were just lying around or had been used before; “Here Comes the Weekend”, “So Far Away”, “Silver Blue”, “Come Back (Before You Leave)”, “Never is a Long Time”, “Queen of Rain”. And there were the live tracks as well. Only a few songs were written for “Tourism”; “Fingertips”, “How Do You Do!”, “The Rain”, “Keep Me Waiting”, “The Heart Shaped Sea”.

Yes, lots of already used material, by you or someone else, but also the new and great tracks. Recently you gave us a few more new demos and we appreciate this a lot as we understand that these pieces were actually never meant to be heard by a wider audience. Since we consider you to be a perfectionist in your job, how is it for you to share these unfinished tracks with the rest of the world?

– Well, to tell the truth I have doubts about it. Just like you say the demos were never made for the public to hear. But I know, being a music fan myself, that it’s quite interesting to listen to demos and to find out a little bit more about the birth and work-in-progress of the song.
I’ve done it myself with Pete Townshend, Tom Petty, The Beatles and Dylan. Writers I admire and can learn from. If my demos can encourage anyone to feel good or write a song of their own it’s all worth it, isn’t it?. And… most people don’t really listen to the demos anyway. They‘re out of the closet for the nerds. Like you.

Pffft! Do you have plans to release more of these collections? What would be next if so?

– Oooops so many questions. I have plans to release the Good Karma demos as well as the Pop-Up Dynamo!-demos. And why not the Hux flux album? Those demos are very cool. There might be another Archives box down the road as well. I still have lots of unpublished stuff under the mattress.

We understand that having a physical box for every single of these collection releases will not make sense financially anymore.

– Regarding Roxette we hopefully can get a nice CBB 30th Anniversary box out next year. And there are other things we have in the can, like the MTV Unplugged-recordings and various live stuff. We just have to locate the master tapes!

Indeed, good to hear that the future is bright and golden. Speaking of; Gyllene Tider is back and we are very much looking forward to this summer. But first there will be a Hux flux album and a couple of singles. Can you reveal a bit more of the schedule you planned?

– The first single will be out end of this month. Then probably another single before the album is thrown delightfully through your window early summer. Fasten your seatbelts, all you young ones.

Whose idea was the GT revival? We feel like we want to send a big box of chocolate to that person…

– It just happened. I wrote a couple of up-tempo ditties and felt like making a Per’s Garage single. But then, after I talked to MP and Micke about it, we all decided it should become GT instead. Micke was happy and in the mood for GT again.

Also tell us something about how you sound on this epic record?

– It’s a fun and really catchy album, loads of guitars and even more Farfisa organ. Basically I just wrote and recorded eleven demos with MP in the style of GT and badabam – we had an album. Most of it was done during the break I had to have with my acoustic tour. And it became an amazing record. Anders called me up a week ago after he heard the final version and said –“How did this happen?”.

At a later point this year, we will certainly have the chance to speak more about GT but there is one question we’d like to ask now: What is it like to write the music and lyrics for what is supposed to be the very last album of such a dear thing as Gyllene… and then again. And yet again?

– I don’t think like that. GT will never be over for me.

Nor for us. Last question: Are you aware this might be the last chance to make millions with Gyllene Cider this summer? We’re counting on you!

– Thanks for the tip! Appreciate it. Cheers.

It’s on the house. See ya!

Initial thoughts

Per:

 
Kai: Expectations were high. We were promised the missing link between Look Sharp! and Joyride. I mean, it’s not like I ever missed anything in between those two albums. Every Roxette album had its distinctive sound and this was a good thing. Most of the time anyway. So here we are now. By now, we have heard two singles. If they were to set the mood of the album, we were tricked in my opinion. Yet in a good way. The true gems are on the album, not in the radio rotation… yet. Must admit the first time I got the complete album I wasn’t impressed. This changed after the second listening. What had happened? Very simple: This is a record that needs to be listened to with good audio equipment. While I had first heard it on the small speakers of my phone, the second time was on big speakers with decent bass. Guys, this makes a ton of a difference, more than with most releases before. You are getting crisp sound, deep bass and clear definition of the tracks. Give it a try. It’s awesome.

Thomas: I agree, it’s not even closely related to these albums, in my opinion. Maybe his songwriting style, but not much else. I still don’t know how to feel about the album as a whole. While I do like almost all tracks separately I still, after a fair amount of spins, am not sure about the package. I will continue listening. And about the speakers, it’s a must. Listening to the songs on my surround system it feels like I’m standing in the middle of the studio. The mix is amazing!

Paul: Yes, that sound mix is epic. Please don’t listen to it on your smartphone speakers, you will lose at least 50 % of the experience! For me this seems like an album of two halves with the first half being my favorite. The second half is by no means bad, but I just prefer how the album kicks off. I’m impressed by Helena and Dea’s voices working so well together, with some of Dea’s ‘louder’ backing vocals really standing out.

#1 Walking on Air

Per:

 

Thomas: As Per have mentioned, written for Top Gun: Maverick but wasn’t used for reasons unknown. Probably the fax didn’t arrive on time. It was supposed to be sung by Helena in the movie had it been accepted. Anyway, the song is nice with good efforts from both Per and Helena and Dea. I don’t love the drums here though. The second single as I’m sure you know.

Paul: Such a catchy opening tune to the album! I loved this from the first listen and it always gets stuck in my head everytime I hear it. Shame there wasn’t an actual video released rather than a lyric edit, but you can’t win them all. This would not have been out of place as the opening track of any Roxette album, so it definitely makes sense to have this as the track number one on this project too.

Kai: They’re going full in here. An up-tempo song, probably meant to set the tone for the album but like I said, the gems are still to come. Nice little tune for the radio, no big surprises here. What’s next?

#2 Me and You and Everything in Between

Per:

 

Thomas: I just love the line “it could have been us, on a bus”! Per says this sounds like a hit single from a different era and I have to agree. I just can’t put my finger on whose. The Pet Shop Boys? A mid-tempo pop song which easily could have been a hit in 1987. Hard to say what it can do in 2022. There’s even a tad guitar in it.

Kai: It has its good points when an album is produced by the bass player of the band. You can hear it in this song. The bass line is a world of its own. The song is cheeky and melancholic at the same time. A hit in 1987? Sure but it would have sounded differently, not so sophisticated as it is now. Sometimes it has its advantages when time goes by.

Thomas: No it’s definitely upgraded but you know what I mean.

Paul: If “Walking on Air” is this album’s “Real Sugar”, then this track is “The Centre of the Heart”. It doesn’t really sound anything like “TCOTH” but there is just something about it that gives me that vibe. Nice track, nice vocals.

#3 Headphones On

Per:

 

Thomas: Now we’re talking! This was the last song written for the album, and Per included some The Cars and some Blondie into it. And the intro screams Blondie. And for the first time we hear Jonas! Yes! If there’s a third single, this should be it. An up-tempo track we can compare to maybe “Chances”? It doesn’t sound like it but that’s the feel I get from it.

Kai: It’s 1991, your Sony Walkman sits safely in the pocket of your pink running suit and you do your morning lap in the city park. The TV image is blurry and soft, someone dressed in colors that are forbidden today speaks into the camera. This is the good mood song of the album. You want to listen to it forever. Loud. Louder. Louder than the knocking on the wall from your neighbor. Hit single material? Oh yes. I’m just afraid that today’s radios would prefer Dua Lipa anytime for no reason.

Thomas: I got almost nothing of that, but sure.

Paul: Is Kai okay? This song is the best uptempo track on the album. Hands down. Jonas’ guitar still sounds great and that chorus is just so catchy! This is the one that has been on repeat since receiving the album. A lot of the production sounds like it’s a continuation of the Good Karma sessions but in a more organic way. Yes, the songs are VERY produced, but you feel more warmth to the music, which was always part of Rox’s trademark sound. This would be the song that I would play to someone to introduce them to this project – it’s everything that I want in a PG song.

#4 You Hurt the One You Love the Most

Per:

 

Kai: This is THE surprise of this album. In the beginning you expect Phil Collins sneaking around the corners and hit those iconic drums in “In the Air Tonight”. This is hit material and Per reveals in his comments that it was meant to be this way. The song begins innocently but gains power by every line. Helena with one her most angelic performances recently. The only thing I would have asked for was some proper drums to shout out the full potential of this song. It is powerful the way it is now but it would have been much more superior with a powerful drum track. Anyway, this song is on repeat here. Good stuff that digital music files don’t wear off.

Thomas: Written together with Giorgio Tuinfort, unknown to me but Per mentions him working together with David Guetta. A mid-tempo track, or possibly even ballad, Per says it reminds him of “Listen to Your Heart” and maybe it does. It’s a gorgeous song, with awesome vocals from Helena. Sad lyrics. Powerful. Like Kai says, hit material. Oh wait, that was the song before… Oh well, this is also hit material! It grows from moment one to the end, then you wonder what happened. Another single contender, I’d say.

Paul: I’m going to be the first one to say it during this review – I can only imagine what this would’ve sounded like with Marie singing the chorus. Helena and Dea both do a fantastic job, but I can really hear Marie giving it her all. This is a beautiful song that, in typical Roxette fashion, starts off quiet and builds up and up towards the ending. Just fantastic. Be sure to check out Dea’s backing vocals as the song progresses! Maybe this song should be the one that I play to introduce this album?

Thomas: Yes I have wondered too, and the album is dedicated to Marie by the way.

Paul: A lovely touch!

#5 Watch Me Come Undone

Per:

 

Thomas: Funny trivia: both the verse and the chorus use the same chords. Another mid-tempo track. This song is probably the only one which gives me the Roxette vibe. I can’t place it, but it does sound very Roxette. I would have preferred better drums. (Read: real.)

Kai: Roxette vibes, yes. But this isn’t the 1990s Roxette filling the gap between LS! and Joyride, this is a sound we never got to experience yet. Somewhere after Good Karma, back to the roots, laid back but modern.

Paul: I sort of agree, Kai. Not 1990s Rox, but also not Good Karma either – somewhere in the middle. It reminds me a little bit of “Speak to Me”, especially the verses. Nice bit of classic Jonas guitar on the outro.

#6 The Craziest Thing

Per:

 

Thomas: The chorus is borrowed from an old ‘80s demo written by Per’s old friend Eddie Jonsson. This song is to me 100 % Kylie Minogue 1987! Isn’t it the craziest thing? It could easily have been produced by SAW.

Kai: Stock/Aitken/Waterman… You know one song and you know them all. Or the stuff they called Europop back then…. Luckily for us, this track here does not have much to do with that. Fine, there are those distinctive synth drums that scream “1980s” so loudly. And the lyrics… oh well… there are rhymes in there… Let me put it like this: In ancient times, people got in jail for less. But apart from this, this is a very catchy pop song of the good kind. Not very deep but it makes you smile and this is what pop has always been good for.

Thomas: It’s the weirdest thing?

Paul: This is the one that I’m getting Pet Shop Boys vibes from! Not sure what, if anything, could make this song sound more ‘80s.

Thomas: Are you deaf?? And no, maybe some tape hiss.

Paul: There are so many PSB songs with these synths, but I guess SAW really nailed that sound back then. A big part of my childhood growing up – the less said about that the better!

Kai: Paul, you are so right about PSB! It’s so easy to imagine this song sung with the voice of Neil Tennant and then hitting the charts all over the world.

#7 Debris

Per:

 

Thomas: At first I wasn’t too impressed with the lyrics, but then suddenly realized I was wrong! “Sunday Monday Tuesday I don’t know what to do/Wednesday comes so quickly I never have a clue/Thursday morning my breakfast tea is blue”. I think this is one of my favorites on the album. Per says the keyboards remind him of the keyboards on the TV show The Persuaders’ intro song, and he’s correct. A mid-tempo track again. Also good lyrics.

Kai: Ha! Greetings from the 1990s with Nick Cave and Kylie Minogue. Remember “Where Wild Roses Grow”? Or even “Cooper – Closer to God” by this famous Swedish band? This is the kind of song they don’t play anymore these days but they really should.

Thomas: It doesn’t feel like that one to me but I see what you mean.

Paul: Yes Kai, I get the Cooper connection, especially with the baseline. For me, this doesn’t sound like a PG song. It’s a nice enough song with interesting lyrics, but didn’t really do much for me at first, but after a few listens, I like it.  It grows on you and gets under your skin. Another mid-tempo track before we kick up a gear with the next one.

#8 The Loneliest Girl in the World

Per:

 

Thomas: To me this is what I thought the album would be, seems I was a bit off. This is Per at his best I think, a very good synth riff with bouncy drums and bass. The only thing I miss here is a drrrry Jonas-guitar licking all over it. I would really be interested in hearing the “guitar-driven” demo!

Paul: Great way to kick off this PG Roxette project. Very typical Gessle and a super-catchy chorus. A very nice video too. I agree with you Thomas, I thought the album would have a few songs like this. Seems we were both off.

Kai: Tough one. Very tough. I didn’t really like it in the beginning. For me, this is the same attempt to sound “modern” as for instance in “One Wish”. Catchy but without heart really. No idea how to describe it. Now, with the other songs on the albums sitting right next to it, it makes sense. It fits the flow when you play the record but doesn’t really stick out for me.

#9 Jezebel

Per:

 

Thomas: Was a country song when Per wrote it in 2016. Per brought it to Christoffer Lundquist to make it fit the album. When he heard the results he wasn’t sure he’d put it on the album, but he did after all. “Cause that’s the things I do!” The first real ballad on the album. Probably also one of my least favorites too.

Paul: I’d call “You Hurt the One You Love the Most” a ballad? This is the most ‘acoustic’ song on the album and I can imagine Per & Helena sat on a small stage performing this with just one acoustic guitar. This may grow on me, but at the moment, it’s the one I reach for the skip button the most.

Thomas: Yes maybe it is, but it’s faster than this one at least.

Kai: This song is different to all the other songs, especially soundwise. You can hear that CL had more influence here again, it’s… basic. In a good way ‘cos sometimes this is what is needed.

#10 My Chosen One (featuring LÉON)

Per:

 

Thomas: One of the first songs written for this project. An early idea Per had was to include guest singers on the album, so on this he got Swedish singer LÉON, someone he had never heard about, and neither have I. She has a good voice though, and seems huge on YouTube. Yet another mid-tempo track. No drums, no guitars. It also reminds me of Roxette.

Kai: One of the first songs? Interesting in the sense that it resembles the sound of the Vacker… albums. A trace of Nashville here and there. LÉON has a strong voice and I’m sure she could have added a notch or two if the production had permitted her to do so. On the other hand, why overdo songs if they can stand on their own legs. Really nice tune.

Thomas: Very. LÉON impresses me.

Paul: This reminds me of an outtake from the Have A Nice Day-era, production wise. LÉON has a nice voice and she definitely adds something extra to the track. Like Kai mentions, this song could’ve aimed for something higher towards the end, using LÉON’s vocals to elevate it more.  This is another song that has grown on me after a few listens.  There is a theme here.

Kai: Just found out that LÉON has two big idols: ABBA and Marie Fredriksson. Imagine the goosebumps she must have gotten when she got the chance to sing with Per…

#11 Walk Right in

Per:

 

Thomas: Per is very proud about this song, he plays E minor then G minor instead of G major which is what you normally play. I’m sure he’s right! He couldn’t sing it, because the sentences turned out too long for him to sing, so who was he gonna call?? Ghostbusters? No, Helena! She was up for the challenge. It starts very innocently with Helena singing the chorus over a slow keyboard, then BAM! One of the fastest songs on the album, and it ends with it, which never happens in Per’s world! Not really a favorite of mine but the synth hook is hot. Per isn’t anywhere to be found. I think it has an ABBA sound to it.

Kai: Oh wow. This is good. This is so good someone needs to shoot a Netflix series and want a theme song for the intro, only to give this song the platform it deserves. Something with 4 dimensions, under water and high above the clouds, fairy creatures and adventures with plot twists that make sense only in season 2 or 5 or even never. I’d watch this, just for the sake of the music.

Thomas: Ha ha! You make less and less sense.

Paul: The pandemic has definitely affected Kai! Although that series synopsis just sounds like a regular Saturday night for me. That synth really is channeling Donna Summer’s disco classic “I Feel Love”, although it really wouldn’t sound out of place on Kylie’s Disco album from 2020. What an odd track to end the album with, of course I was expecting a ballad and then this kicked off. That synth would make an excellent opening to a gig in the similar way to the Room Service tour. The storyboard for a video basically writes itself – a sweaty nightclub, lots of dancing, lots of lights. Make it happen!

Conclusion

Thomas: Hard to say what I want to say, I can’t find the words. When I first heard the album I was not blown away. Having heard it a few times it has grown exponentially. Yes it lacks guitars and drums to some extent, but it offers so much else. It wasn’t the album I was expecting, as Per did tell me this spring, but I still think this is more than a solid effort. The album is very keyboard oriented, probably Per’s most keyboard heavy album ever. So my advice to you who listen to it and don’t take an instant liking to it; give it a second spin. It’s well worth it. 3.5/5

Paul: This is one of the trickiest reviews that we’ve had to do I think. It definitely didn’t grab me on the first listen, apart from a couple of songs, so it takes a few listens to get into it. This could’ve easily been released as a Per Gessle solo album, rather than PG Roxette, and it probably would’ve made more sense. It feels more connected to Party Crasher than Good Karma for example. I still prefer the first half of the album and “Headphones On” is one of the best songs that Per has released in the last decade! Album rating: 3.5/5

Kai: Well, no skipped songs for me this time. It may have sounded different when you read my reviews but I really enjoy the album as a whole. It makes sense as it is, it’s pop of the good old kind, I could play the album forever. Like I said, it’s the sound of Roxette and yet it isn’t. The songwriting is from a time when you could still sing along songs, with witty moments here and there. Could have lived with more harmonica or just some whistling. And I miss real drums here, they would have given some of the songs another level. But I’m sure Per is listening to us and our ideas will find their way into the next album. Who knows, maybe they’re already recording it at this moment? 4.5/5

Let’s leave the last word to…

Per:

 
 
Photos: Fredrik Etoall
Artwork: Pär Wickholm

All profits will go directly to the Swedish non-profit organisation Stockholm City Mission’s work with improving the lives of people in social and financial exclusion. The auctions, which will take place on the circular platform Tradera between October 28th – November 27th, were initiated by Fredriksson’s family to honour her memory and support causes close to her heart.

Marie Fredriksson (1958–2019) is one of Sweden’s most celebrated and beloved artists,
famous as lead vocalist in the pop rock duo Roxette consisting of her and Per Gessle. In addition to the international success of Roxette, Fredriksson achieved noteworthy accomplishments through her solo career as a singer-songwriter. Fredriksson sadly passed away in 2019, following a longer period of illness.

Marie Fredriksson’s iconic style, with short blonde hair and close-fitting rock attire has inspired several generations. A selection of her off-duty garments and clothes worn on special occasions are now to be auctioned off. The auctions are initiated by Fredriksson’s family, to support the work carried out by non-profit organisation Stockholm City Mission in Sweden. The family elaborate on their decision in an official statement:

”Throughout her life, Marie was committed to improving the conditions of people living in vulnerable circumstances. In her biography Listen to My Heart, she shares her own experiences of growing up in a family with modest means. Marie’s strong social commitment is the reason we as a family have decided upon letting part of her possessions benefit others through this collaboration with Stockholm City Mission. We are certain that this is something Marie would have wanted, and our hope is that the auctions will be a helpful contribution to Stockholm’s City Mission’s important work aiding those in need.”
Mikael Bolyos with family

Selected Pieces to be Displayed in Central Stockholm

Approximately fifty garments from Fredriksson’s private collection of clothes will be auctioned off via the circular market Tradera between October 28th and November 27th. The garments consist of a range of items she wore in her day-to-day life and a few festive gems that she wore on special occasions, including the dress worn during her performance at Princess Madeleine of Sweden’s wedding in 2013. Selected pieces will be displayed at the department store Nordiska Kompaniet in central Stockholm from the beginning of the auction up until October 5th. All raised funds will be donated to the non-profit organisation Stockholm City Mission’s efforts to create a more humane society through social care, work training and education. 

“We are honoured to be entrusted with this task by Marie Fredriksson’s family, and with managing and celebrating her fashion legacy. It is a beautiful initiative, where all funds raised will be an important contribution to helping us improve the lives of people living in social and financial exclusion.”
Åsa Paborn, CEO at Stockholm’s City Mission

Read more about the auctions and see pictures on Stockholms City Mission’s website: stadsmissionen.se/ge-stod/auktion-marie-fredriksson

About the auctions

·       Approximately 50 garments from Fredrikssons’s private collection, that she wore in her day-to-day life and on special occasions will be auctioned off via the web based circular market Tradera. The auctions will be open for international bidding. The auctions will launch on October 28th via https://www.tradera.com/en/charity/mariefredriksson and close on November 27th.

·       The funds raised will be donated to Swedish non-profit organisation Stockholm City Mission’s efforts to create a more humane society through social care, work training and education, as per Marie Fredriksson’s family’s wishes. Stockholm City Mission is a non-profit organisation, independent from State, Church and Municipality working to eradicate social exclusion in Stockholm, Sweden. Stockholm City Mission’s social activities are aimed at children, youth and adults living in social or financial exclusion. The organisation offers open meeting places, housing, social rights support, and individual guidance, with the ambition to empower people in need and strengthen their sense of belonging and stature in society. www.stadsmissionen.se

Garments in the auction include:

FADI EL KHOURY
Ball gown
2010’s

Extravagant, creme-coloured dress with pearl embroidery, golden roses, and a voluminous skirt with a tulle train. The dress was tailor-made for Marie Fredriksson to wear at the celebration of Princess Madeleine of Sweden’s wedding with Chris O’Neill, which took place on June 8, 2013, in Stockholm. During the ceremony, Marie Fredriksson performed her ballad “Ännu doftar kärlek”.

TOMASZ STARZEWSKI
Evening gown
1990’s

Champagne-coloured gown lined with pearl embroidery and gems – a creation on par with Marie Fredriksson’s star quality. The dress is designed by British designer Tomasz Starzewski, a favourite among many celebrities in the 1990’s, Princess Diana and Margaret Thatcher included. This dress was worn by Marie Fredriksson during the celebration of her 40th birthday.

AZZEDINE ALAÏA
Bodycon dress
1990’s

A slim fitted dress worn by Marie Fredriksson during the Polar Music Prize-ceremony in ‘92/’93. For all its glamour, the dress might best be advised to wear with a ‘no pain, no gain’-mindset, as it allegedly required more than one tiny step on the red carpet due to its tight fit.  

JASPER CONRAN
Black evening gown – silk with pearl embroidery 
1990’s

An elegant, yet savvy dress worn by Marie Fredriksson during Roxette co-star Per Gessle’s 40th birthday celebration.

GIORGIO ARMANI
Cashmere coat
1990’s

Double-breasted coat in the softest of cashmere wool. This particular coat is described in Marie Fredriksson’s biography Listen to My Heart (2015), written together with Swedish journalist Helena von Zweigbergk. In her biography, Marie elaborates on how growing up with modest means affected her, and that the ability to buy whatever she wanted as an adult filled her with a wonderful sense of revenge. “My fantasies turned into reality; I could actually afford things.” The story about the Armani coat is mentioned in the book:

”It has been so unreal. I remember when my husband and I visited an Armani store in Milan. I tried on two coats, both with a price well over 20 000 SEK, with one being slightly more expensive. I couldn’t make up my mind about which one to choose. I consulted the saleswoman who recommended that I’d buy the more expensive coat. ’Heck, I’ll buy them both’, I said. You should have seen the faces on the people in the store!“

Earlier this year, PG Roxette released the first single “The Loneliest Girl in the World”, which got an amazing reception from fans all over the world. On September 23, it’s time for the second one, “Walking on Air”.

PG Roxette is back with the new single “Walking on Air” five weeks prior to the Pop-Up Dynamo! album release.

Per explains: “Walking on Air” was the very first song written for Pop-Up Dynamo! I got a request to write something for the “Top Gun: Maverick”-movie in the fall of 2019. So I wrote “WoA”.

It was actually made for a particular scene in the film where someone was going to dance on a beach hence the lyrics “oh I’m sure you love to dance on the beach”. However, the movie people involved didn’t use the song. Maybe they didn’t like it as much as I did? Or maybe they took away the scene? I don’t know. I haven’t seen Top Gun yet.

So I kept it to myself and started writing more stuff in the same ’80s-’90s style that reminded me of Look Sharp! + Joyride. That’s how the whole new PG Roxette album came about.

It’s Helena and Dea combined that sing the lead vocals in the choruses. Helena is the driving force but Dea is overdubbing her and also sings harmony vocals. And they share the “wailing duties”. They have such different styles which I love to work with.

This is the sound, combined with my own voice, that shines through the whole new album. Together they create almost a “third persona”, it’s hard to say who’s who.

There’s no doubt the new PG Roxette single “Walking on Air” is keeping the Roxette sound alive. The classic and familiar Roxette ingredients of a smart production with great hooks and a “don’t bore us, get to the chorus”-attitude shine through the entire song.

“There are millions of people out there who still love Roxette so of course I want to keep our music relevant. At first, I wasn’t sure which way to go but as time passed by it became clear that I want to continue this fantastic joyride. I want to keep the legacy of Roxette alive.” says Per Gessle.

“Walking on Air” will be released on September 23 and is followed by the Pop-Up Dynamo!-album on October 28th.   

Limited edition

Marie Fredriksson’s final memoirs, Listen to My Heart: Life, Love & Roxette, will see a worldwide English-language release from 1984 Publishing on April 25, 2023.

The 260-page hardcover is the fully candid and compelling life story of one of rock music’s most resilient lead singers. Given only a few months to live following a harrowing diagnosis in 2002—yet surviving for 17 more years, until 2019—Marie boldly forged ahead into a life with newfound courage and inspiration. She continued as both a solo singer and with Roxette, where she performed over 550 concerts to millions of fans, sold 75 million records, and released over 50 singles including several global hits. Stateside, the duo had four #1s with “Listen to Your Heart,” “It Must Have Been Love” (from the film Pretty Woman), “The Look,” and “Joyride.” In all, Roxette is Sweden’s biggest music group—second only to ABBA.

Heart-wrenching yet winning, and told with exceptional energy and sincerity, Listen to My Heart sheds new and revelatory light on the life and work of one of our generation’s most talented and courageous artists.

Marie wrote her memoirs in tandem with author Helena von Zweigbergk. “Ever since co-writing Marie’s memoirs in Swedish, I’ve always been asked about an English-language version; after all, Marie sang primarily in English with Roxette. I’m glad that we finally have that answer,” says Helena. “I was so deeply moved by the enormous amount of love that Marie both gave and received over the years, and I know how much this release would have meant to her. It’s a book about strength, love, a remarkable career and a woman who gave life her all, each and every day.” Helena wrote a new afterword for the book in August, 2022.

Marie’s family continues, “We know Marie would have been very excited seeing her biography in so many different languages, reaching fans in so many countries. This English version makes her life story available to even more people in the world, keeping her legacy alive.”

Filled with behind-the-scenes stories involving everyone from Tina Turner and Elton John to The Rolling Stones and Frank Sinatra, Listen to My Heart also explores her humble family beginnings, an early tragedy in the sudden loss of Marie’s sister, her transition into the music industry as a solo artist, and the formation and challenges of being in one of the world’s most successful pop groups. All while trying to maintain a strong marriage and be a mother to two young children in the face of a life-altering illness. A new book foreword was penned by acclaimed director Jonas Åkerlund, Marie’s longtime friend and colleague. “Marie was my first true break in the industry,” says Åkerlund. “I’ll always be grateful for that—not only because of the projects that followed, but more because of the integrity, focus, and creative generosity that she taught me . . . this book is but one testament to the boundless creativity she exuded throughout her life.” Åkerlund directed Marie and Roxette in nearly twenty music videos and documentaries, and later worked with Madonna, Beyonce, Lady Gaga, Paul McCartney, U2, and Metallica.

A limited special edition of the book will contain Marie’s celebrated English-language solo CD The Change (2004), its first physical release in North America, along with Marie’s final recording “Sea of Love” (2017) as a bonus track. Along with the newly remastered music, the limited edition hardcover will contain foil gilding and a satin ribbon marker. Both physical editions (plus an ebook) will be available worldwide at your local bookstore, plus on-line retailers including Amazon and many more.

Book cover photo is by Mattias Edwall, with book design by Midnight Marauder. Marie Fredriksson created the artwork for The Change album cover.

This was Gyllene’s Big Thing. This is where they turned “adult” without the Farfisa and with a bigger production. This time around they got to record it in EMI’s big studio, which made them move all the microphones 10 meters away and make it sound more live. And I love the sound of this album still, so good job! Puls was supposed to be recorded in Abbey Road studios, but that was canceled, can’t really remember why, but I seem to recall it was too costly. Too little time for the money, so they stayed in Skärmarbrink.

Puls gave us hits such as “Sommartider” (on demand from EMI, “not enough hits on the album!”) and “Flickan i en Cole Porter-sång”, Gyllene Tider’s only #1 in Denmark. There were other good ones on the album but as always EMI released two singles and that was it. Period. Per commented back in the day that he wrote so many songs this should have been a double LP. Well, it’s time to dig these gems up then? I don’t know if there will be a box, but I’m counting on it.

In 1990 there was a CD release with many of the missing tracks. Tracks such as “Hej!” which was supposed to be the lead single off the album, but when the album was out it was nowhere to be found. Another track was “Skäl att tvivla”, another single contender but they got sick of it during production so it was also scrapped. Many (or at least a few) of these songs were recorded in English for the promotion album that never happened. “Summer City”, “Excited”, “Girl in a Cole Porter Song”, “California Sun” and a few others. “I Go to Pieces”, a Peter & Gordon cover, was released as the B-side of “Flickan”, with the Modern Times logo attached to it. Cute if nothing else. Oh right, on Halmstads pärlor from 1995 they actually did find one of these gems (“in the attic of EMI”) and put it on this album – “Du är en gangster älskling!”

What else can I say? I loved the sleeve. Very elaborate photography by Calle Bengtsson. Aftonbladet hated it, it was the worst sleeve they’d ever seen. Oh well.

Interesting trivia:

MP’s second recorded feedback loop during a solo – “Kustvägen söderut”.

Per reuses titles from time to time – “Som regn på en akvarell” – “Watercolors in the Rain”.

Guest singer on ”Vandrar i ett sommarregn” is Eva Dahlgren, who was too shy to be on TV performing the song live so Marie Fredriksson stepped up.

“Honung och guld” has recently been picked up by Per being played acoustically.

So far it’s been released five times. Here’s to many more!

Happy B-day “Puls”!

This was Gyllene’s Big Thing. This is where they turned “adult” without the Farfisa and with a bigger production. This time around they got to record it in EMI’s big studio, which made them move all the microphones 10 meters away and make it sound more live. And I love the sound of this album still, so good job! Puls was supposed to be recorded in Abbey Road studios, but that was canceled, can’t really remember why, but I seem to recall it was too costly. Too little time for the money, so they stayed in Skärmarbrink.

Puls gave us hits such as “Sommartider” (on demand from EMI, “not enough hits on the album!”) and “Flickan i en Cole Porter-sång”, Gyllene Tider’s only #1 in Denmark. There were other good ones on the album but as always EMI released two singles and that was it. Period. Per commented back in the day that he wrote so many songs this should have been a double LP. Well, it’s time to dig these gems up then? We don’t know if there will be a box, but we’re counting on it.

In 1990 there was a CD release with many of the missing tracks. Tracks such as “Hej!” which was supposed to be the lead single off the album, but when the album was out it was nowhere to be found. Another track was “Skäl att tvivla”, another single contender but they got sick of it during production so it was also scrapped. Many (or at least a few) of these songs were recorded in English for the promotion album that never happened. “Summer City”, “Excited”, “Girl in a Cole Porter Song”, “California Sun” and a few others. “I Go to Pieces”, a Peter & Gordon cover, was released as the B-side of “Flickan”, with the Modern Times logo attached to it. Cute if nothing else. Oh right, on Halmstads pärlor from 1995 they actually did find one of these gems (“in the attic of EMI”) and put it on this album – “Du är en gangster älskling!”

What else can I say? I loved the sleeve. Very elaborate photography by Calle Bengtsson. Aftonbladet hated it, it was the worst sleeve they’d ever seen. Oh well.

Interesting trivia:

MP’s second recorded feedback loop during a solo – “Kustvägen söderut”.

Per reuses titles from time to time – “Som regn på en akvarell” – “Watercolors in the Rain”.

Guest singer on ”Vandrar i ett sommarregn” is Eva Dahlgren, who was too shy to be on TV performing the song live so Marie Fredriksson stepped up.

“Honung och guld” has recently been picked up by Per being played acoustically.

So far it’s been released five times. Here’s to many more!

Happy B-day “Puls”!

Please say you have because it’ll be awkward otherwise. Well, even if you haven’t, Gessle, Per Gessle has the answer in a new episode of Apple Music’s Pure Throwback Radio. The hitmaker was tapped to play some of his all-time favorite “Movie Hits Essentials.” There are quite a few surprises in the 1-hour 40-minute special. If you’re a Roxette fan, you can probably predict some of the artists who appear based simply on Per’s musical influences. So yes, there is a song from the Beatles. Sir Elton John, Blondie, Kenny Rogers (!!) and Jeff Bridges (?!) also make appearances.

There is also a track from one of the best-selling duos of all time. No, not that one – Simon and Garfunkel. The song played was originally titled “Mrs. Roosevelt.” Think you know what it is? SPOILER ALERT: There are some Roxette songs among the hits. One of the songs is pretty easy to figure out, but another might require you to find a special “power up” mushroom to come up with its title. So if you are looking for the perfect soundtrack to play while you’re sitting poolside or just want to listen to some cool Per-approved hits, be sure to check it out!

PS: The answer to the James Bond question is at the very top of the episode, so you won’t have to wait too long to learn the answer!

Here’s the link.

In the following years, Per staggered back and forth about what he would do next. Marie is irreplaceable, but he also wanted to pay tribute to her life and the musical treasure she left behind with the fans who made their journey to what it has been. He finally chose to reunite Roxette’s classic live band – Jonas Isacsson, Clarence Öfwerman, Magnus Börjeson, Christoffer Lundquist, Helena Josefsson and Dea Norberg.

This new era begins with PG Roxette releasing their debut single, “The Loneliest Girl in the World” along with an official video. The song is the first taste from the forthcoming album Pop-Up Dynamo!, which follows in September.

“The Loneliest Girl in the World” feels like a natural next step for Per Gessle. With its bubbling energy, strong melody and the group’s addictive “don’t bore us, get to the chorus” attitude, it is a song that would sit comfortably anywhere in the group’s juicy back catalog. Whether you see it as the most poppy rock, or pop with a bit of a rock edge, you can not miss that it is Roxette.

Per: “I had a lot of fun when we made these recordings. I was really trying to go back to the way I wrote in early Roxette and it was a lot of fun. Some of these songs are among the best I’ve ever written and working with all my Roxette friends again was great.

We stick together like glue ”.

Tracklist:
The Loneliest Girl in the World
Sunflower

Release June 3

Three more gigs, and Per Gessle’s Unplugged tour is over, for now. It’s a sad fact but at the same time it was a great thing while it lasted, and hopefully later on as well. I’ve seen quite a lot of concerts, not only with Per and his various projects. Most of the time, you go there, they play their set of songs, sometimes they vary their setlist, and then you go home, more or less happy. Even when a band is performing an unplugged show, like many of the “good old” bands (even Roxette yes) did on MTV in the 1990s when MTV was still all about music (and music was still all about music… well, you know what I mean), they more or less “translated” their songs into an acoustic setting and on they went. Interesting to watch but not very entertaining to be honest.

Per’s recent tour was different. It took me a while to find the right term for it. What about “musical play”? It would fit at first sight but this term is already taken and describes a form of the musical theatre in the 1920s with a more serious background and a more dramatized plot. What about “acoustic concert”? Nah, that would not even half cover it. “An Evening with friends”. Hmmm, maybe. Then I remembered a line I used in my earlier concert reviews sometimes: “Per Gessle’s Flying Circus”, obviously referring to the famous British comedy group Monty Python. They were famous for their absurd comedy, great accuracy at performing their sketches, regularily interrupted by the line “and now for something completely different”. This is what we could find on this tour: Perfectly performed songs, inbetween the songs well planned anecdotes, a lot of jokes, some running gags, nothing makes sense on its own but everything falls in place when you see the big picture. It’s a pleasure to watch Per and Chris ranting about the AGM studio and its facilities. It’s with awe you hear the story how Roxette had quite a loud conversation with Tom Petty through a hotel window. It’s with a tear in your eye to see the band dedicating a song to never forgotten Marie and Pelle.
The whole evening is an emotional rollercoaster. Mostly on the funny side, sometimes it drags you down a bit. The way Disney used to write their movie scripts, by the way.

Sometimes you feel like you sit in a movie theater and on the silver screen, a movie is shown. A movie about Roxette and Per and their story. The script is really good, the sound is superb (and this is thanks to Mats MP Persson who is obviously not only a gifted guitar player and producer for Gyllene Tider but somehow also a very talented live sound engineer. (Why did they not come up with him earlier, you wonder?) and the picture a dream. Well lit stage, colors fitting each other so much you want to cry a little, stage props that push you into another dimension already before the show even starts. But then you realize that this movie is not something prefabricated but it’s performed live in front of you. The band reacts to your emotions. If you stand up, they know they did their thing right and put in a higher gear then. It’s with huge audiences Per shows his full capacity as a professional in the business. But it’s with small audiences when he really shines. The man knows how to pull the right trigger and he really seems to enjoy the direct contact with his audience. This had been obvious for the first time really during his 2009 “Gessle over Europe” tour where he performed in small clubs in front of a standing audience and it comes forward in this tour again, even though people had to sit. Just like the band, funnily enough.

You really need to think this through to grasp the full weight of this tour. We’re talking about the most creative stage design they had in years (by Åsa Gessle). I don’t really care about fancy video animations being projected onto curtains in the background or expensive stage light programmings. (Fine, that ring of stage lights suddenly being lowered during the 2003 Mazarin tour version of “Spegelboll” is still stuck in my head and I still love it.) It was certainly not expensive to put a ladder, some boxes and pallets on the stage and then add some light bulbs to it but it shows how much creativity went into the planning to make it look that great in the end. We have a full band on the stage, we have an unbelievably crisp sound (yeah, this was mentioned before but I really want to stress this) Per must have taken some time to change his usually well produced songs into something five people can perform live on a stage properly. He must also have taken some more time to come up with all these stories and anecdotes he would want to share between the songs, and I know how hard it is for him to be this “personal”. It even turned out to be funny. The band then had to sit down and learn their texts. Hmm! And you should not forget that one gig is almost two hours long. All that and most probably even more for a tour with venues for most of the time less than 1,000 people. You need to see the financial aspect of this. Per’s so well-loved 2009 solo tour was anything but a financial success. He loved it anyway because he enjoyed it so much (and he liked to call it a birthday gift to himself as he turned 50 that year). Yes, they traveled a lot but the overall concept was simple. It was really very basic but it turned out that this is what his fans actually wanted. Now, with the same kind of small venues meaning little potential turnover compared to huge summer tours with thousands of fans each night but much more love put into the planning, you will find out how special this tour really was. To Per, to the band, to all of us.

What started out as a gap filler for the Covid-19 ridden hotel of Per’s in Halmstad has turned into the what I would call most personal show he has done so far. There is hope we will get to see another tour worth being compared to this one. Seeing that almost every gig was sold out although most international fans could not really travel, I could imagine that this show, performed in English, might attract more audience in the future if the will is there to continue. Time will tell. I’m sure everyone involved (except for the financial department) was intrigued so let us hope this will lead to the right conclusions some day.

If you’re sad now that you did not have the chance to attend one of the shows, be told that the Karlskrona gig was recorded so there might be something under your Xmas tree this year again. Ho ho ho. Anyway, like I said above, there are three shows left to go to. If you have any opportunity to go and see one of the shows, do everything to do it. Trust me, it’s worth it.

Photos are from the Malmö show

In preparation for an interview we did with Per last week (to be published soooon [meaning later today]), The Daily Roxette were allowed to listen to some snippets from the album and we considered it a brilliant idea to post this information for you in a separate article. The official press release is still to come so please stay somewhat quiet about this.

PG Roxette’s new album, which has been finished since 2021 is finally to be released in September and will have the title Radio Revival. We think there couldn’t have been a better title for a band that ruled the radio stations of the world for years, then didn’t exist anymore (a tiny bit of GT feeling, anyone?), but now comes back in a new shape to be played on the radios all over the planet again. What can we expect? We’re speaking of typical Gessle melodies. Fresh music, modern pop rock, great sad ballads, a mix of styles borrowed from the good old times but spiced up with a taste of Mono Mind maybe. Of course, without Marie it does have a totally different feeling. Dea and Helena are not even trying to replace Marie, they rather act like true background singers, supporting Per who has the lead vocals on most of the songs. And Per is not lying when he says this is the hidden sibling of Look Sharp! and Joyride.

The tracklist is here, and let us add a few words to each song. We only heard a snippet of each track but here’s our take on them:

Another Place, Another Time: The known GT song from Heartland, only this time acoustic. Sounds nicer than it should.
Pear Tree: A song originally written by Helena for her album Kyss Mej. Uptempo song sung by Per
Radio Revival: This one should be a single. Remember “SGNOBTR” or “SIMC”?
I O U (So Much): Another ballad with Per, nicely supported by the girls. Funny lyrics on this one.
Loneliest Girl in the World: Mid-tempo number á la “I Wanna be with You” by The Lonely Boys (ironically).
Fire: A never before released Gyllene song, think “Man blir yr”. Jonas owns this one.
One for You: This is two songs, but really one. The first half (this) is more of a build-up to the next. Great choirs by the gals.
One for Me: The second part is more of a pop song than the ballad part, hard to say, and it’s not a correct comparison but it does remind us of “Love is All”.
Leggy’s Leg: Ah yes, our hero Leggy Mountbatten, and his leg. Crazy song, makes us think of “I Remember You” crossed with “Paint”. Intriguing.
Surfin’ on my Board: The first single, to be released in May. 

To conclude – if this doesn’t blow the charts in more than a few countries, we will be sorely amazed. Keep an eye out for the major interview to show up on this site this very afternoon.

– Since the ’80s, my whole life has been spinning around Roxette and to this day it’s still what excites me the most. There are millions of people out there who still love the band so of course I want to keep our music alive, says Per Gessle.

Years have passed and Per Gessle has been torn between different visions. The Roxette we once knew no longer exists, but Per strongly felt he wasn’t ready to bury Roxette for good. He still has so much to give, so many more songs to write. Most of all, Roxette brings him nothing but pure joy and energy. 

– After all there are only two options with Roxette: Either to put the lid on or to continue in some shape or form. At first, I wasn’t sure which way to go but as time passed by it became clear that I want to continue this fantastic joyride. I want to keep the legacy of Roxette alive. I’ve written almost every song Roxette has recorded over the years and they mean the world to me. Hence, I feel this is the right decision. I’m so proud of this body of work and I love working with these people.

Because even if PG Roxette surely marks the beginning of a new era, there’s also a lot for the fans to recognize; both in the new music and in the people who’ve created it. For the recording of the upcoming album, Gessle gathered the classic Roxette band – Jonas Isacsson, Clarence Öfwerman, Magnus Börjeson and Christoffer Lundquist with the aim to make a classic Roxette record.

– When I started to write, my ambition was to try to create a sibling to ”Look Sharp!” and “Joyride” – and that’s actually exactly how it sounds. I’ve wanted to create a modern production, but with the typical Roxette trademarks. 

In 2016 Roxette did their very last concert. Three years later Marie Fredriksson passed away, after her battle with cancer for 17 years. 

A Roxette without Marie sheds light on a burning question: Who can fill the shoes left by one of the greatest pop singers of our time? 

Simple answer: No one can.

Instead, Per is joined by two other singers very well known to most of the Roxette fans; Helena Josefsson and Dea Norberg. Both have been in the inner circle of Roxette for years. 

– It’s impossible to replace Marie and that was never my intention. Our Roxette era was an unbelievable fantasy that we got to share together. I’m excited to be able to continue this journey, but in a different way. Needless to say that if Marie was still here, we’d be doing this together.  

Next up is the release of the PG Roxette album and eventually a tour with both new music and old Roxette material in the setlist. 

– I’m super proud of all the amazing recordings Roxette did and the new material really feels incredible. It’s not always that easy to re-invent yourself when you’ve been doing this for as long as I have with a huge body of work as a result. Sometimes you feel you repeat yourself, but then suddenly you tread on unfamiliar ground and you get curious in a wonderful way. That’s when I feel this is my life, this is what I do best, this is where I belong.

The PG Roxette album is set to release mid September, with a first single out end of May. 

Per is working with PG Roxette alongside his upcoming unplugged tour in Sweden, which starts April 21. 

(Pic by Fredrik Etoall.)

Mer info kommer inom kort.

First of all thank you for taking your precious time for this interview. How are you doing, how is your voice?

– Good afternoon. Thanks for asking.

My voice is OK now but it’s been a bit on the Beelzebub-side for some time. It’s slowly getting back to normal. Being the Furet crooner, that’s where I belong!

Yes, who has forgotten “Då går jag ner i min källare”? Per, it’s been another “peculiar” year. In hindsight, have you accomplished your goals for 2021?

– Oh yea. I didn’t have any other plans than to finish my English recordings which I did in the late spring. Everything else has been out-of-the-blue decisions like doing the acoustic shows in Tylösand + the autumn tour + the Metallica-cover.

Also I worked on the anniversary editions of “Joyride” and “Moderna Tider”. Lots of fun but it took forever!

All in all, it’s been an interesting year. Haven’t been able to travel as much as I wanted but I’m not the only one.

Certainly not. Traveling is sorely missed by us as well. Did you have other stuff planned for 2021 that we will get to see/hear later?

– The English recordings will pop up via Warner Music. It has taken longer than expected to find a good partner in this project. I forgot about how slow the music biz actually is working.

When was the idea born to do concerts in your own hotel this summer? And why?

– Because Hotel Tylösand needed something special for the summer and I volunteered to do a couple of shows. The regulations due to Covid-19 were very strict so we had to find a way to make things work both for the crowds, the authorities and from our own musical point of view.

In the end it became amazing to step out of my dear old comfort zone playing not only hits but songs that mean a lot to me and the few braincells I have left.

MP from Gyllene Tider did the foh (front of house)-sound, my boss Åsa did the stage design. Only the inner circle was involved. I can’t see myself stopping doing shows like these in the future. Smaller crowds, intimate, personal, no drummer. A delight.

The summer concerts in the sun were indeed a delight! So did you plan a full Sweden tour in the back of your mind already back then?

– No no. It just happened. Because we enjoyed it so much. The band and crew as well.

And what about Europe or even the world later on? We know, costs etc. but apart from this… you did have 2021 locked for a European tour, electric style though.

– Well, the world is still in a bit of a mess so I don’t have any plans at all at the moment. I’m releasing new music internationally in 2022. Let’s take it from there.

While we feel it would be ”interesting” to perform your internationally less known Swedish songs for an international audience abroad, what is your take on this idea?

– I think that’s a great idea and I welcome everyone to come to Sweden to experience it!

No one will demand “Sommartider” in London or Berlin, this is a good thing no?

– If you play London or Berlin you need to do a different show. Unless you’re gonna play in an old telephone booth.

Of course. Should it work it would be amazing. No not the telephone booth thing! Acoustic, small venues, do you feel this is the way to go in the future or are you longing for the big arenas? We certainly are.

– I don’t know. Right now, with the Covid-19 thing still growing, I feel pretty comfortable playing small places with a tweaked mindset than I usually have.

It’s sooooo different doing these acoustic shows compared to bigger theatres or arenas or stadiums. But I’m sure there’s a time and a place for everything.

Yes, “Bruce Springsteen on Broadway” was a very similar concept to your Unplugged concerts. He speaks about his personal life and the story of his songs. Was this an inspiration for you?

– I loved that show. He is such a master on stage! His show was based on his biography presented chronologically. I don’t do that, I just mention some stupid anecdotes that happened along the way. And try to irritate Chris and Magnus as much as possible.

It doesn’t seem to work on Magnus at least. Would you, like Bruce, be able to run a full concert all alone, playing and talking?

– I guess. But I prefer playing with people. My music sounds better that way. And he’s a much much better singer and player than I am.

We have noticed that the banter on the stage has become a central point of the performance, and this is a new thing. This isn’t the Per we know, more being the “We’ll play some new songs, some old songs, we’ll see what happens!!” The banter part is very appreciated by everyone. How did you develop this part of the show?

– Well, like I said earlier there wasn’t any proper idea behind the show. I just went into the studio in the summer with MP and started to record songs live on my own to see what felt good and what felt like crap.

I recorded almost 50 songs. Like always some songs “kill each other” because they turn out the same, others surprise you and you just have to embrace them.

I have a wonderful band, I cherish them a lot. I can lean upon them with my ideas and musical whims and I know they will always deliver and support me. It’s such a treat.

Almost everyone on stage is sitting during the show, at least most of the time. Don’t you miss the rocker poses sometimes?

– I do. And my back hurts from sitting down for so long. The original idea for the summer was to play 60 minutes including encores. But that turned out to be impossible.

You mentioned you were working on an English language album (for the tour). When is it out?

– It’s an amazing record, I’m really proud of it. First single will be out in the spring.

It’s probably too early to reveal details but nobody reads this anyway, so maybe you can at least give us a hint of what to expect?

– Hahaha, the production is basically made by Magnus Börjeson and Clarence Öfwerman and it sounds just like you suspect: to have been recorded in 1988.

Magnus is amazing with sounds from that era and Clarence still got those magic fingers. It’s very uptempo. Jonas Isacsson is there a lot, Chris is there, Helena and Dea and some other surprises will pop up.

Exactly, you’ve mentioned it being the missing link between “Look Sharp!” and “Joyride”. But was anyone really looking for that?

– I was! That’s the most creative era in my songwriting, I really enjoyed going back to that way of thinking.

It does sound intriguing. And you also have another English project going on – Mono Mind. Does it clash with the other project or can we expect news from this branch of your creative tree anytime soon? Or has Doctor Robot succumbed from the Corona?

– Mono Mind will outlive us all. The Doc has got all the answers.

Recently, you have released several boxes like “Moderna Tider” 40, “Joyride” 30. Are you really putting all the available material in there or do you keep stuff reserved for the next release 10 years later? There’s also “Room Service” 20 and “Charm School” 10 this year… and just a few days left of 2021!

– Even though I’m a pretty organized person I still find alternative versions and mixes and sketches of songs from the past. I’m sure I will find even more from “Joyride” and “Moderna Tider” as well down the line. But you have to stop somewhere!

It’s certainly been a while… and you have more or less been “hot” during all this time, how do you reflect on that?

– Hot? Like hot? Or like hot?

Steaming hot! Hot as in… nevermind. So what other boxes are you working on?

– There are a few, “The Per Gessle Archives, volume 2” might pop up any year. It always makes me laugh when I listen to those songs! I think there are 100+ unreleased demos that scream for your attention. I’ve been definitely doing this for too long!!!!

GT’s “Puls” next year maybe? Or not. “Crash! Boom! Bang!” Could be fun! When is that? 2024? Still plenty of time for a cappuccino.

Yes 2024. Regarding “Puls”, you know we have to ask this: Gyllene. You keep mentioning it like you want to convince the other band members to give it another go. What are the real odds right now? We’re not talking a tour here, but an album at least. Nothing was said about that.

– GT is a beast of its own. You never know. As long as everyone stays alive there’s always a chance we could share a carrot juice together.

Fine, we have asked a lot of silly questions and probably missed one point or another you are now very relieved we didn’t mention because it’s still too early to talk about them today.

Anyway, tell us a secret!

– There will be a tiny Xmas present for y’all on the streaming services dec 24. Just for fun. Ho ho ho! Merry Xmas everyone!

There you go! Thank you Per Gessle and a very Merry X to you!

So, yes, there have been reports about this tour already. You know the setlist by now, it should really surprise me if there will be changes there. You basically know the concept of this tour. Or maybe you don’t, so let me summarize what happens.

We’re in Halmstad, you know, THE town for everyone in the Roxette sphere. It’s where Per grew up and made music with Marie. GT was born here. If you stroll through Halmstad, you are surrounded by Per’s lyrics and stories. Halmstad’s theatre is just around the corner of the Picasso statue, for instance. It’s already the second show here, and someone told me that Per had invited some of his Ferrari pals tonight to sit in the audience and see what he actually does for a living. The audience in general is older than what you see at the summer tours. You would not expect them to have red balloons in their backpacks, blow them up during the concert and then push them onto the stage. Here come the people who paid for their ticket and now they want to have a good time watching the events developing on the stage. The venue was constructed in 1954 and although Wikipedia claims that the house was refurbished in 2010 and 2012, it kept it’s “ancient” atmosphere. You’re entering the house through a small foyer, walk up some stairs, then comes a long hall with cloakrooms on both sides, you spend some time in the café before the wooden doors open and you may enter the big hall, an auditorium with rows of red comfortable seats, lights on the ceiling they don’t make today anymore and again a lot of wood. Yes, it’s cozy, before you ask.

The stage resembles motives from Per’s latest album “Gammal kärlek rostar aldrig”, you see a barn door in the background, old wooden barrels  and boxes equipped with light bulbs and all sorts of decorations. Per’s wife Åsa who worked as the stage designer this time has really done a good job here. It’s messy but at the same time structured and funnily enough, it also feels a bit like Christmas is not so far away anymore. Yet I can imagine it takes a lot of time every afternoon to arrange all these many small details in the same way again and again. The light setup was done very thoughtfully, there is some brighter warm light between the songs in front of a background in cool colours. It’s the way modern blockbuster movies are coloured to please the eye. During the songs, the mood changes from a Joyride-ish green with orange to a dark red or a cool lilac setup that makes the light bulbs and old floor lamps on the stage stick out nicely. Also, like in the good old times, white beams are pointed at the person on stage that acts at the moment, and when it’s over, the light goes off. To say it all in one line: What you see feels more like a theatre stage than a music concert. And that’s very, very unique in a good way. 

The cast: Per sits in the middle, and this time he keeps sitting most of the time. There is no posing with fancy guitars, no jumping. On his right side (audience’ left) is Christoffer fully dressed in white but without shoes, on the opposite side you see Helena, behind her Magnus and next to him Clarence. Right, there are no drums and no second guitar player. Per plays an acoustic guitar most of the time, then he swaps it for a ukulele. 

The plot: We’re taking a drive through Per’s life. He sits there in a very relaxed way and tells stories and small anecdotes from his life. And he has a lot to tell. We learn about the good and bad points of Christoffer’s AGM studio (which are extremely similar to what you can find in a lengthy interview TDR held with Chris a few years ago), we look back at the beginning of his career with the boys from GT, how everything began with Marie, the funny encounter with Tom Petty at the hotel window and some other things you should hear yourself. I’m not sure but maybe in this show, Per talks more than he sings. No, he doesn’t but he should. This man has been in the business for longer than most of us are alive, and he really nows stuff that we’d like to hear, too. And whenever a story ends, he plays a song to it, also in this very relaxed manner. You can hear songs from Roxette, Gyllene Tider and his solo work in new arrangements and you will find that uptempo songs like “Födelsedag” don’t need to be played by a huge band with a lot of electric toys to sound good. You get the essence of Per’s work here, unfiltered and raw. Not raw like a demo but stripped down to it’s core and then performed with heart. 

It’s rare to have a pop superstar telling you background stories in front of such a small audience. When you came here to learn more about his music and his life, this is your place. I think this is the most personal show Per has ever done and if you should have the chance to attend, do it. Seriously. With him, there sit more than 40 years of music history on this stage. I do hope that at some point there will be cameras recording this show so that more people have the chance to listen (well, the chances might be high). I do hope this concept can be adapted to English and then be carried out to the world (or at least Europe). Yes, maybe the audience in Berlin, Madrid or London will never have heard of “Sommartider” and you will not experience this chilling feeling when everybody stands up and sings along. But wouldn’t you agree that more people should get the chance to learn that Per is much more than the “fake guitarist  in a 80’s band”. This show is for those who are interested in music, the stories behind it and want to learn while being really well entertained.

To answer the question that still stands on top of this article: Yes, this might be the best show Per has ever done. 

Here are some photos of the show, more will pop up on our Facebook site some of the next days.

Nordic drama production company Nevis Productions has secured a deal with Sweden’s national treasure, Gyllene Tider to make a theatrical movie and a TV-series based on the band’s incredible rise to fame and success.

In 1978, Per Gessle and Mats Persson formed Gyllene Tider with Micke Andersson, Anders Herrlin and Göran Fritzon. Having conquered Sweden, Gyllene Tider broke up in 1984. Frontman Per Gessle went on to form Roxette with singer Marie Fredriksson and took on the world.

The warm, feel-good movie – which is being developed in full collaboration with the band – will tell the inspiring story of how five teenagers captured the heart of the Swedish nation. Acclaimed Swedish scriptwriter Pernilla Oljelund (“Miss Friman’s War”, “Wallander”, “The Restaurant”) will pen Nevis’ first feature film which will start shooting in 2022. Nevis principals Anni Faurbye Fernandez, Moa Westeson and Cindy Hanson will produce.

The biopic charts the story of Per, a small-town, ambitious misfit who dreams of pop stardom and finds a brotherhood through music with MP, Micke, Anders and Göran. Defying ridicule and rejection, the band works hard and relentlessly to achieve success. The band quickly shot to fame with its power pop, catchy choruses and lyrics about life in a small, southern town. Gyllene Tider is a story about dreaming big and making it bigger, and then the highs and lows of experiencing the impossible: overnight stardom and fan hysteria, which neither the teenagers nor their families are prepared for.

In this coming-of-age story, success brings joy and fun, but also pressure, conflicts and tragic events that challenge the band and force them to grow up in the spotlight. Ultimately, it is their friendship and music that carries them through, up to the incredible last chapter, when the group not only survives but becomes bigger than ever.

In the following years, a number of Gyllene Tider reunions and tours took place. When Gyllene Tider celebrated its 25th anniversary with its first new album in 20 years, their GT25 tour in 2004 became the biggest tour in Scandinavia ever and the third largest in Europe. More records and tours followed, and by retaining their popularity for over 40 years, Gyllene Tider has earned legendary status in Sweden.

Per Gessle says: “The story of the guys in Gyllene Tider could be the story of any young small town person. The shaky possibilities after finishing school, the uncertain prospects of the future. However, inspired by the new wave and power pop scene of the era, bonding in our tiny rehearsal shack, we found a very unusual way to grow up. The early and crazy Gyllene Tider years changed our lives forever. And it seems we might have changed some other people’s lives as well along the way. The lads and I are all excited to be part of this production.”

Moa Westeson at Nevis adds: “We have long dreamed of dramatising the exceptional, inspirational story behind legendary Swedish pop band Gyllene Tider and are excited to bring the audience along on this fun, uplifting whirlwind celebration of music, friendship and coming of age that captures the zeitgeist of a bygone era.”

https://www.svt.se/kultur/gyllene-tiders-resa-blir-film

The Konserthus was sold out, sold out in hours really, Sweden is hungry for music, touring, Per, after the Corona lockdowns and restrictions.

Everyone seemed to enjoy the concert to the fullest. The audience was sort of a bit older than the normal Per-crowd, not that it mattered whatsoever. Per himself seemed to be in a good mood, even for being in Norrland! His banter fell on good soil, and he was funny. Most of it was reused from this summer’s concerts in Halmstad, but it had been improved and built upon. People laughed as planned and that’s what mattered.

As far as I could tell the set list was basically the same as the previous two concerts. “Födelsedag” was missing, and so was “Om du bara vill” but “Vandrar i ett sommarregn” was added. Gävle concert hall is what it’s called – a concert hall, so the sound was amazing, crystal clear. Thank you MP! You could hear every lyrical mistake Per made! Per however, mentioned before the concert that the audience should sing along “even if you don’t know the lyrics”, Christoffer then casually said that’s what Per does. After that Per reminded the audience that Christoffer’s place is filthy so…

Helena was radiant and sang like the little godess she is. Per was in great spirits and also sang his heart out. Clarence watched soccer games on his iPhone, Christoffer had dirty feet and his white outfit while Magnus was dressed for success. Magnus once again threatened to leave the band, but was convinced to stay yet another time. After playing “Det hjärta som brinner” the band would leave the stage if Per insisted on playing another Gyllene-song, which he did, so they left. He performed “Ljudet av ett annat hjärta” alone, together with Clarence. After that the band rejoined and Chris suggested they play one of his songs. Someone in the audience (probably, but not verified, the author of this article) shouted “Noooo!” Per said, smiling “Did I hear a no?”. They did not play it.

The best songs were “Juni, juli, augusti”, “Vandrar i ett sommarregn”, “Ljudet av ett annat hjärta” and “Vid hennes sida”, but really, all the songs fit like a glove in Gävle. When “Sommartider” came up Per had to get on his feet, because it “felt wrong to sit during that song” (which he inititally refused to play, but still did). The audience gave Per and the band standing ovations. Well deserved too.

1. Kung av sand
2. På promenad genom stan
3. Flickan i en Cole Porter-sång
4. Småstadsprat
5. Min plats
6. Tycker om när du tar på mej
7. Det hjärta som brinner
8. Ljudet av ett annat hjärta
9. Varmt igen
10. Tuffa tider
11. Juni, juli, augusti
12. It Must Have Been Love
13. Vilket håll du än går
14. Här kommer alla känslorna
15. Min hälsning

Extra 1
16. Vandrar i ett sommarregn
17. Listen to Your Heart
18. När vi två blir en

Extra 2
19. Vid hennes sida
20. Sommartider
21. När alla vännerna gått hem

The answer to all these questions is no. Pearls of Passion, Roxette’s debut album (not counting Heartland) was released on vinyl today in 1986. It was a huge success – in Sweden, with more than 200,000 copies sold. That is a lot – in Sweden. It was released in Germany and Canada as well, but later. Supposedly Germany and Canada’s sales amounted to around 25 copies… The Canadian release included the 7″ version of “Soul Deep”.  

No, the important thing about this album is that it was the start of something wonderful.

Pearls of Passion‘s original name was Pearls and Passion, but Kjelle Andersson at EMI read it wrong and started calling it Pearls of Passion. “I’ve always hated album titles with the word ‘of’ in the middle, because it sounds so pretentious and makes one think of awful album titles like Wings of Tomorrow. But I agreed to it.” says Per and continues “One of the reasons was that those initials formed the word ‘P.O.P.'”

Per and Marie, as Roxette, had a major hit with “Neverending Love” in Sweden the summer of ’86 so naturally an album came into talks, and it probably was Per’s plan all along. So on August 18, a Monday, they went into the studio and started recording “I Call Your Name”. Per wanted it machine-based, but Clarence wanted it organic, and Clair won. The same thing happened with Look Sharp! two years later, by the way, but then luckily Alar Suurna broke his leg and Anders Herrlin took his place – hence machines!

Anyway, they put 12 tracks on the album, one track too many according to technical rules which make the album’s sound less powerful if it’s too long. A problem that would disappear with the CD. Per wanted to remove “Voices”, Marie’s only contribution to the album, or “From One Heart to Another” but after discussing it with Kjelle the songs stay. A song that doesn’t stay however is the title track “Pearls of Passion”, a decision the band members find weird. They all think that’s the best song on the album. It reappears as a B-side to “Soul Deep” later.
Pearls was filled with translated songs from PG III, Per’s halted solo album. “The material consisted mostly of songs I had written for what would be my third solo album. ‘Soul Deep’ was called ‘Dansar ner för ditt stup i rekordfart’ and there were demos of a lot of songs with Swedish titles: ‘Farväl till dej’ (‘Goodbye to You’), ‘Jag hör din röst’ (‘I Call Your Name’), ‘En känsla av en kvinna’ (‘Call of the Wild’), ‘Som i en dröm’ (‘So Far Away’) and so on. Only ‘Secrets That She Keeps’ and ‘Surrender’ were written directly for the album. ‘Voices’, Marie wrote the music and I wrote the lyrics.” says Per.

Pearls of Passion yielded four singles; “Neverending Love”, “Soul Deep”, “I Call Your Name” and “Goodbye to You”. The 12″ remix single of “Goodbye to You” was scrapped for unknown reasons, and “I Call Your Name” was only released in Germany and Canada. None of the singles made any noise abroad whatsoever which must have been frustrating.

“Along the way, ‘new’ versions of ‘Neverending Love’ and ‘I Call Your Name’ were made with a European producer (Frank Mono). All according to the wishes of Roel Kruize who was head of EMI Europe and who was a huge fan of both GT and Rox. Without him, nothing would have happened. It was Roel and I who went to London to meet different UK producers who would produce three songs for the Look Sharp! album the year after. The choice fell, as we all know, on Adam Moseley.” Per says to TDR, and adds:

“By the way, Staffan Astner played the guitar on the new version of ‘I Call Your Name’. I wasn’t in the studio (EMI Stockholm) for some reason and never met Frank Mono. I also thought his versions were lousy!”

The album has since been re-released a few times, in 1997 it came out as The First Album for instance.

I loved the album, I still do. I listened to it back to back, over and over again, so happy to be able to hear Per’s music again. Gyllene Tider broke up, I moved to the US (and still tried to get “Teaser Japanese” played on the radio there, without success), got a letter from my best friend in July ’86 saying Roxette has a new song out. I told him it’s BS, Roxette quit last year. But when I got back to Sweden July 16, 1986, there was indeed a hit out – “Neverending Love”. I didn’t like it (at first), it sounded forced and weird, but hey, it was music from Per! When the album came out I bought my first CD player, but that was later, in November. There are so many nice songs on the album, still. “Call of the Wild”, “So Far Away”, “From One Heart to Another” and many more. The only song I never really liked is “Joy of a Toy”.

With that I wish the album a very Happy 35th birthday, even if it feels more like… 10 years?

Hats off to… Larry!

To help with the celebration of their release, the band’s frontman, J.C.Hollywood, sat down for a lengthy chat with our very own feature writer, Stevo, to chat about the history of “The Look” and most everything else Roxette!

Who are the Never Ending 80s? One of Australia’s most in demand live acts celebrating all their favorite ’80s hits. The band has been touring for years all across Australia and performs up to 120 shows every single year, before 2,500 people. The band has developed a reputation for its high production values based live shows.

Who is this Stevo character then? He’s the annoying TDR member that pesters us with overly verbose and flowery articles, secretly hoping that one day “From a Distance” will enjoy a belated breakthrough and the world realizes what they’ve missed out on… also he has offensive “Covid lockdown hair” in the video, he claims. But what else is new?

This year marks 30 years since Roxette released their third album Joyride, which followed up the band’s record global breakthrough with the album Look Sharp! in 1989.

Roxette had in record time turned into a global hit phenomenon thanks to the three US hits “The Look”, “Listen to Your Heart”, “It Must Have Been Love” and other big hits such as “Dressed for Success” and “Dangerous”.

Joyride was the album that would cement the unlikely successes of Marie Fredriksson and Per Gessle. Which it certainly did. The album not only became Roxette’s bestseller, the title track swung on May 1, 1991 to the top of the US charts – giving Roxette their fourth US number one. Thus, the group set a record that no Scandinavian group or artist has managed to surpass.

Massive box with unique material.

The Joyride anniversary is celebrated with a vinyl box consisting of four LPs and a 3-CD box, which in addition to the original edition contains lots of unreleased or hard to find material that paints a larger picture of a piece of Swedish music history: demos, alternative versions and leftover material.

In addition, a richly illustrated 32-page booklet is included, which in text and with unique images from Roxette’s archive tells the story of how a classic Swedish pop album came to be.

Twelve previously unreleased songs.

Twelve of the songs are previously unreleased, including the first recording of “Hotblooded”, which for a while was intended as the album’s opening song before “Joyride” pushed it to second place. Interestingly enough, there are also two Gyllene Tider songs here, which in January 1990 were candidates to end up on the upcoming Roxette record.

– We’re talking about “Run Run Run” and “Another Place, Another Time”, which Gyllene released on our English album  The Heartland Café in 1984. And when I was looking for material for the new album in the autumn of 1989, I got hooked on these two. We made new and more “Roxified” demo versions of them – and especially “Run Run Run” I think could have been a strong contender, Per Gessle remembers.

However, the recordings were shelved – in the Rox HQ there was a tiny but strong taboo against Roxette and Gyllene Tider being mixed together, so therefore they have been collecting dust in the archive. Until now.

Candy for all Roxette fans.

Other 1990 demos that can now be heard for the first time are “Small Talk”, “Church of Your Heart”, “Physical Fascination”, “Things Will Never be the Same”, “I Remember You” and not to mention the upcoming single B-side “The Sweet Hello, The Sad Goodbye ”- one of the strongest songs that never managed to take a place on the album, later a big favorite among many Roxette fans and recorded by several other artists, including American singer Laura Branigan.

“Sweet Thing” is also one of many candidates which never managed to elbow its way onto the “Joyride” album, but who now sees the light of day for the first time.

In addition to the LP box with four vinyl albums, the original album is also released for the first time with a gatefold cover and pressed in marbled or black vinyl.

LP #1
A
1 Joyride
2 Hotblooded
3 Fading Like a Flower (Every Time You Leave)
4 Knockin’ On Every Door
5 Spending My Time
6 Watercolours in the Rain

B
1 The Big L.
2 (Do You Get) Excited?
3 Small Talk
4 Physical Fascination
5 Things Will Never be the Same
6 Perfect Day

LP #2
A
1 Soul Deep
2 I Remember You
3 Church of Your Heart
4 The Sweet Hello, the Sad Goodbye
5 Fading Like A Flower (US single version, Humberto Gatica mix)*

B
1 Joyride (US single version, Brain Malouf mix)
2 Soul Deep (Tom Lord-Alge mix)
3 Church of Your Heart (US AC mix)*
4 Hotblooded (Live Sydney Dec 1991)
5 Fading Like a Flower (Every Time You Leave) (Live Sydney Dec 1991)

LP #3
A
1 Joyride (T&A Demo – May 23, 1990)
2 Hotblooded (T&A Demo – Jan 23, 1990)*
3 Fading like a flower (T&A Demo – Aug 31, 1990)
4 Knockin’ on Every Door (T&A Demo – Aug 15, 1989)
5 Spending My Time (T&A Demo – May 24, 1990)
6 I Remember You (T&A Demo – Apr 1, 1990)
7 Watercolours in the Rain (T&A Demo – Jan 24, 1990)

B
1The Big L. (T&A Demo – Apr 1, 1990)
2 (Do You Get) Excited? (T&A Demo – Aug 19, 1989)
3 Small Talk (T&A Demo – aug 30, 1990)*
4 Church of Your Heart (T&A Demo – Jan 8, 1990) *
5 Physical Fascination (T&A Demo – Jan 3, 1990)*
6 Things Will Never be the Same (T&A Demo – Jun 17, 1989)
7 Perfect Day (T&A Demo – Aug 23, 1990)

LP #4
A
1 Sweet Thing (T&A Demo – Oct 28, 1990)*
2 Seduce Me (T&A Demo – Aug 22, 1990)
3 Run Run Run (T&A Demo – Jan 10, 1990)*
4 Things Will Never be the Same (T&A Demo – Sep 17, 1989)*
5 Love Spins (T&A Demo – Jan 3, 1990)
6 Come Back (Before You Leave) (T&A Demo – Apr 8, 1990)
7 The Sweet Hello, the Sad Goodbye (T&A Demo – Mar 16, 1990)*

B
1 Hotblooded (T&A Demo – Dec 13, 1990)
2 Things Will Never be the Same (T&A Demo – Dec 13, 1990)
3 Another Place, Another Time (T&A Demo – Jan 11, 1990)*
4 I Remember You (T&A Demo – Mar 15, 1990)*
5 Queen of Rain (T&A Demo – Jan 2, 1990
6 The Big L. (T&A Demo – Mar 29, 1990)
7 Joyrider (T&A Demo – May 22, 1990)

* Previously unreleased

Despite being recorded on what appears to be a VHS Home Recorder, the sound of this concert is extraordinary. The vision is pretty good too considering the circumstances in which it was captured, not to mention that it’s nearly 30 years old. 

The truly significant fact about this upload is that in Roxette’s glorious career, we never really had any substantial documentation of their concerts in the dubious US market. More than just wanting to hear the band’s classic songs performed by the original (and best) line up, I was curious to hear what the audience energy would be like – and I was blown away. Perhaps not of the intense “South American” crowds who have always been the benchmark for enthusiasm, but this American audience were eating it up and not just the big hits, they were responding in a deafening and passionate way to all their songs. It’s incredible. This crowd was on fire!

The other take home, and this is what hurts the most, is that Marie’s performance is the best she’s sounded. The recorded Zürich show in 1991 always felt a bit… a bit “not Marie’s best”, the Sydney 1991 Live-Ism was more of a glorified music video – but this performance in St. Louis is raw, unedited and it’s glorious! Why was this not recorded by the band for generations to see what a true rock diva at the peak of her powers sounded like. 

Marie is the show in this video. There’s this one moment where the fan flicks the camera over to Per in the midst of Marie riffing with the audience in the middle of “Soul Deep” and Per had this look on his face, almost deep in thought, almost in awe of her presence, it was like he was thinking “wow, this woman is a weapon, she is a missile, I can do anything, I can write anything in the world that I want because of this insane woman belting the crowd from one vocal range to another!” 

In terms of vocal standouts, “Soul Deep”, “Perfect Day” and “Listen to Your Heart” are next level – and even if you think you know Marie’s intensity, think again, this upload will blow you away! 

Heartbreakingly, Roxette skipped “Dance Away” that night… I have an appointment with my shrink in the morning to deal with that trauma, but otherwise, this incredible rock concert is not one to be missed. The band are in fine form, Jonas is meticulous as ever and it’s concerts like this that really remind you just how much more “rock” this “pop/rock” band was! 

A marvellous piece of Roxette history that needs to be watched and celebrated. A big thank you to Alan Martin Guzman for finding and uploading this incredible moment of Roxette at their very best. 

His European tour had been postponed, and with that his totally fresh power-pop album. Per needs to be busy, always has been and likely always will be. This is usually good, but Roxette’s US business manager, his name eludes me right now, did say “how can we miss you when you never go away…?” This time however, it is good. The band is cracking, Per is happier than I’ve seen him in years. He even talks! Yes he has his little monologues. Scripted yes, but he talks! And no, you aren’t really supposed to see more than one show…

Once again we got the picnic bag with the shrimp wrap spiced with basil and lime in a beet flavored tortilla, with that potato chips from Halmstad and a lovely bottle of Gancia prosecco and something sweet for dessert.