www.facebook.com/RealPerGessle March 15, 2018 at 11:00 am
Good news for European fans of Swedish super group and classic hit makers Roxette—the duo’s songwriter Per Gessle is embarking on a European tour focusing on the mighty Roxette song catalogue this autumn.
The group’s charismatic singer, Marie Fredriksson, announced her withdrawal from touring due to health problems in the spring of 2016, shortly before the release of the group’s tenth studio album, “Good Karma”. When faced with this situation, Gessle decided to channel his energy into writing material for a Swedish solo project recorded in Nashville later that year. The recordings were made with long-time Swedish musical partners Christoffer Lundquist, Clarence Öfwerman, Anders Herrlin and Helena Josefsson, coupled with a long list of top-league American session players.
Mixing parts of the Roxette touring band with new musicians, Gessle in the summer of 2017 toured Sweden in support of the first of two mini albums from the Nashville sessions, “En vacker natt” (“A Beautiful Night”). Violin and mandolin player Malin-My Wall, drummer Andreas Dahlbäck and Ola Gustafsson on pedal steel, mandolin and guitar added a fresh touch of Americana, which merged seamlessly with the seasoned Roxette musicians Christoffer Lundquist (guitar), Clarence Öfwerman (keyboards), Magnus Börjeson (bass) and Helena Josefsson (backing vocals).
Both the tour and the Nashville recorded album were enthusiastically received for adding new perspective and depth to Gessle’s music. – I loved playing with this band, and then it hit me—what if we could do a similar thing dedicated to Roxette music. With Marie unable to perform, all those songs would just gather dust and I was thrilled by the idea of hearing this band performing them, Per Gessle says. – Marie of course is irreplaceable, he adds. But she sends her blessings, and we both think that this could be a great way to keep the songs fresh by playing them with a slightly different twist in front of all those wonderful people that have been following us through the years.
Gessle emphasizes that the band is able to cover all aspects of Roxette music; from the hook-laden power-pop hits to the mighty ballads that still get heavy rotation on classic pop radio all over the world. And he promises to dig deep in his song-vault for some surprises as well. – Yeah, that’s really the fun part of it—I love playing the big hits like “The Look”, “Listen To Your Heart”, “It Must Have Been Love”, “Joyride” and “How Do You Do!”, but a tour like this is also a great opportunity to rediscover some of the great, but lesser played, songs and find out what we can make of them. Just wait and see…
Dubbed “Per Gessle’s Roxette”, a European tour covering ten countries kicks off in Hamburg, Germany, on October 11. An English album -“Small Town Talk”- featuring material from the Nashville sessions (including a duet with British pop maestro Nick Lowe) as well as new recordings with the touring band, will be released internationally to coincide with the tour.
The tour will include the following stops:
11.10 Hamburg, Laeiszhalle (GER)
12.10 Brussels, Ancienne Belgique (BEL)
15.10 London, Hammersmith Apollo (GBR)
16.10 Manchester, Apollo (GBR)
18.10 Wien, Stadthalle F (AUT)
19.10 Zurich, Halle 622 (SUI)
21.10 Warszawa, Stodola (POL)
22.10 Berlin, Admiralspalast (GER)
23.10 Köln, E-Werk (GER)
25.10 Utrecht, Muziekcentrum Vredenburg (NED)
27.10 Halmstad, Halmstad Arena
30.10 St. Petersburg, The Great Concert Hall “Oktyabrsky” (RUS)
1.11 Moscow, Krokus City Hall (RUS)
3.11 Espoo, Metro Areena (FIN)
5.11 Stockholm, Waterfront
9.11 Karlstad, Löfbergs Arena
10.11 Linköping, Saab Arena
15.11 Oslo, Sentrum Scene (NOR)
16.11 Göteborg, Scandinavium.
More gigs to come!
På lördag spelar jag där igen, med Marie!
Here’s the XXX List! #roxxxette
But if you don’t do Spotify, here are the 100 tracks!
Paul Revere & the Raiders – Kicks
David Bowie – Let’s dance
John Mellencamp – Jack & Diane
Donkeyboy – Crazysomethingnormal
Janis Joplin – Me and Bobby McGee
Betty Everett – The shoop shoop song (It’s in his kiss)
Nick Lowe – American squirm
Air – Sexy boy
Lana Del Rey – Summertime Sadness
Tom Petty – You got lucky
The Who – Substitute
The Trashmen – Surfin’ bird
The Rolling Stones – Gimme shelter
Alma Cogan – Tennesse waltz
Meghan Trainor – All about that bass
Jefferson Airplane – Somebody to love
Shocking Blue – Send me a postcard
Dusty Springfield – Son of a preacher man
Depeche Mode – Enjoy the silence
The Who – Pictures of Lily
Kirsty MacColl – Days
Ramones – I wanna be sedated
The Beach Boys – Good vibrations
Tom Petty – Learning to fly
Gilbert O’Sullivan – Nothing rhymed
Paul Revere & the Raiders – I’m not your stepping stone
Blondie – Hanging on the telephone
Linnea Henriksson – Halmstad
The Byrds – Mr. Tambourine man
The Ronettes – Be my baby
Canned Heat – Going up the country
Tove Lo – My gun
Bee Gees – Stayin’ alive
Gloria Jones – Tainted love
Kim Wilde – Kids in America
The Supremes – You keep me hanging on
The Rolling Stones – Paint it black
The Beach Boys – Wouldn’t it be nice
Etta James – Something’s got a hold on me
The Zombies – She’s not there
Nick Lowe – I love the sound of breaking glass
Fleetwood Mac – Go your own way
Isaac Hayes – Shaft
Ian Dury – Hit me with your rhythm stick
The Flower Pot Men – Let’s go to San Francisco
The Kinks – Lola
The Lovin’ Spoonful – Daydream
David Bowie – Boys keep swinging
The Rolling Stones – Waiting on a friend
The Human League – Don’t you want me
Shania Twain – That don’t impress me much
Paul Revere & the Raiders – Him or me – what’s it gonna be?
Daft Punk – Get lucky
REM – What’s the frequency, Kenneth?
Chic – Le freak
Baccara – Yes sir, I can boogie
The Mamas & The Papas – California dreamin’
Nick Lowe – Marie Provost
Hot Chocolate – Brother Louie
Lily Wood and The Prick – Prayer in C
David Bowie – Sorrow
REM – Shiny happy people
The Rolling Stones – Dead flowers
Marc Bolan, T-Rex – 20th century boy
Shocking Blue – Venus
Madonna – Material girl
The Allman Brothers – Midnight rider
Four Tops – Walk away Renee
Fleetwood Mac – Dreams
Los Bravos – Black is black
Ramones – Beat on the brat
The Beach Boys – I get around
Buzzcocks – Ever fallen in love (With someone you shouldn’t)
Tom Petty – Refugee
The Who – Happy Jack
Four Tops – Bernadette
Shelia B. Devotion – Spacer
Canned Heat – On the road again
Dwight Tilley – Girls
Tom Petty – Too good to be true
Iggy Pop – Real wild child (Wild one)
Kristy MacColl – There’s a guy works done the chip shop swears he’s Elvis
The Supremes – Stop! In the name of love
T.Rex – Get it on
Christie – Yellow river
The Zombies – Time of the season
John Mellencamp – Small town
The Kinks – Set me free
Cher – Bang bang (My baby shot me down)
Mick Ronson – Billy Porter
Them – Gloria
The Move – Blackberry way
Mose Allison – Young man’s blues
Lobo – Me and you and a dog named boo
Fleetwood Mac – Never going back again
Hot Chocolate – Emma
Four Tops – Reach out I’ll be there
REM – Man on the moon
The Archies – Sugar, sugar
Elvis – Hound dog
A.i.r.p.o.r.t. + 8 days to go until the Rox opening show in Vladivostok. Do you know anyone who’s going? I’ll be there! /P.
Last day of Rox in rehearsal mode. Sounded good. Tomorrow = Dress Rehearsal! Always scary…… /P.
Great day today, the band sounds awesome and the new guitarpicks arrived. Praise the Lord! /P.
Lots of Rox rehearsing to do today! Shouldn’t be on the computer at all!
/P.
Enjoy these two master blasters! /P.
Tomorrow is the last day to pre-order signed copies of THE BOX OF THE YEAR!! Check out the website!!!
/P.
Back at the Chateau T&A with MP. Just had to record some more…. /P
Just heard I’m going to sign AT LEAST 1000 copies of THE PER GESSLE ARCHIVES-BOX. Phew!!
I’m gonna enjoy every minute of it!!!
a.n.d.
There’s still time to order your signed copy, dears!
Check out the homepage:
The Per Gessle Archives
/P.
Tyvärr blev det ingen Klunk på Systemet pga problem med rätten till namnet. Nu kommer dock de ädla dryckerna att heta det fabulösa och lätt självklara namnet FRU NORDIN istället.
Det fanns ju en låt på EN HÄNDIG MAN-plattan som hette så, remember? Nu är hon igång igen och bjussar på sej själv via denna goda alkoholfria dryck.
FRU NORDIN VITT släpps på Systemet den 1 oktober. Och har vi lite tur så kommer den att finnas på lite olika ICA Maxi ställen i Sverige inom kort också. FRU NORDIN ROSÉ och FRU NORDIN SKUMPA ligger på lur. Stay tuned, folks! /P.
On this brand new site Per Gessle Archives you can get all the info you want and possibly can handle regarding… the Archives! Volumes 3 & 4 are now out.