Home   >   Entertainment   >   Gessle on Europe tour with his English song treasure

Gessle on Europe tour with his English song treasure

By on March 19, 2018

Good news for European and Swedish Roxette fans! The Swedish super group songwriter Per Gessle will perform on a European tour with Roxette’s powerful catalog of hits in focus and the final to Sweden. In Sweden there will be five concerts – Halmstad, Stockholm, Karlstad, Linköping and Gothenburg. The tickets are released.

As you know, the band’s singer Marie Fredriksson was for the sake of health forced to end her touring with Roxette in the spring of 2016, just before the group’s tenth studio album “Good Karma” came out. Faced with this fact, Gessle decided to channel his energy into writing new material for a Swedish solo project filmed in Nashville later that year. The recordings were made by a combination of his long-standing partners Christoffer Lundqvist, Clarence Öfwerman, Anders Herrlin and Helena Josefsson, complemented by some of Nashvilles best studio musicians.

After giving out “En vacker natt” – the first of two mini-albums from the Nashville tour – Gessle went on tour in Sweden in summer 2017 together with a mix of Roxette tour bands plus a bunch of new acquaintances in the Gessle context.

Malin-My Wall on violin and mandolin, Andreas Dahlbäck on drums and Ola Gustafsson on pedal steel, mandolin and guitar contributed an exciting American sound that complemented the experienced Roxett musicians Christoffer Lundquist (guitar), Clarence Öfwerman (keyboards), Magnus Börjeson (bass) and Helena Josefsson (song).

Both the tour and the Nashville-recorded mini-album “En vacker natt” were received with great enthusiasm and praised to bring new perspective and depth to Gessle’s music.

– I really loved playing with this band, and during the tour, I found it amazing to do something like that in Europe – with emphasis on Roxettela tracks. Because Marie can not tour anymore, the risk is great that all those songs just lay and collect dust and I felt that this band could have done something very special of them, said Per Gessle.

– Of course, Marie is irreplaceable in all contexts involved with Roxette. But she sends her blessing and we both think this could be a great way to keep the songs alive by playing them with a little new twist to all those wonderful people who have followed us over the years.

Gessle emphasizes that the partially new band already during the summer tour showed that they can handle all sides of Roxette’s music; from the following powerpophits to the majestic ballads, still played around the clock on the classic pop radio all over the world. And in addition, he promises to dig a little deeper into the song catalog to find some surprises.

– It’s actually one of the best things to put together such a tour, laughs Gessle. I love to play the big hits like “The Look”, “Listen To Your Heart”, “It Must Have Been Love”, “Joyride” and “How Do You Do!” but such an opportunity also gives you the chance to rediscover some of the best songs that may not have received the same attention, to see what we can do from them.

Under the name “Per Gessle’s Roxette”, a European Tour starts, reaching ten countries in Hamburg on October 11th. Before that, an English album – “Small Town Talk” will be released internationally. The album contains a mix of material from the Nashville visit (including a duet with the British popmaestron Nick Lowe) plus some new recordings.

Tour dates

11.10 Hamburg, Laeiszhalle (GER)
12.10 Bryssel, Ancienne Belgique (BEL)
15.10 London, Hammersmith Apollo (GBR)
16.10 Manchester, Apollo (GBR)
18.10 Wien, Stadthalle F (AUT)
19.10 Zurich, Halle 622(SUI)
21.10 Warszawa, Stodola (POL)
22.10 Berlin, Admiralspalast (GER)
23.10 Köln, E-Werk (GER)
25.10 Utrecht, Muziekcentrum Vredenburg (NED)
27.10 Halmstad, Halmstad Arena (in collaboration with Nöjet Konsert)
3.11 Espo, Metro Areena (FIN)
5.11 Stockholm, Waterfront
9.11 Karlstad, Löfbergs Arena (in collaboration with Great Event of Karlstad)
10.11 Linköping, Saab Arena (in collaboration with Visit Linköping & Co)
15.11 Oslo, Center Scene (NOR)
16.11 Göteborg, Scandinavium (in cooperation with Nöjet Konsert)

Helena Olofsson, Entertainment
MyGuide2Stockholm