LONDON - EMI Group reported a wider loss in the six-month period ending September 30th compared to the same period a year ago. The company says that conditions in the worldwide music industry went from bad to worse. According to news agency AP, EMI had a net loss of 74.5 million USD compared to 39.3 million USD a year earlier. Revenues fell to 1.53 billion USD from 1.63 billion USD. EMI has 70 labels and 1,500 artists, including Roxette.

STOCKHOLM - Fans from all around the world came to three towns in Sweden in order to watch the shows and meet each other. Many hoped to find some rare or new Roxette stuff in record stores. Unfortunately, in Stockholm, there were only “standard” albums, compilations of old songs, or CD-singles available.

  You could not get, for example, the maxi version of the M&T&H single, and it was nearly impossible to find the maxi version of other singles. Each store gave answers like “already sold out” or “sold out yesterday.” It seems that due to the high number of fans in the capital of Sweden, only the first few were able to get something special.

In an exclusive interview by roxettenews.com, published by the Official Roxette Fanclub, Per reveals that Roxette is going to re-record “Stupid” for a forthcoming movie, directed by Jonas Åkerlund. The song was previously released on Per’s solo album “The World According To Gessle”.

  The director of the movie, Jonas Åkerlund, has directed several Roxette videos. He has also worked as an art director for both the “Room Service” tour and the album.

  In an interview by Hallandsposten, Halmstad’s local newspaper, Per says he would love work with his old band Gyllene Tider again. “It’s been a long time since I recorded anything in Swedish so I have had time to gather some Swedish songs. A lot of them, actually. I don’t know if they’re most suitable for a solo project or Gyllene Tider as they’re rather mature pop, a little like “Kung av sand”,” says Per.

• roxettenews.com
• Hallandsposten article

On Friday Much Music Canada, the largest music video channel in Canada played Roxette’s latest video “Milk And Toast And Honey” for the first time. This was a surprise, since EMI Canada has not promoted the “Room Service” album or any of its singles at all.

STOCKHOLM - As previousy reported here on TDR, Per chatted with fans this Friday on Swedish newspaper Aftonbladet’s website. A lot of people were there, asking interesting questions.

  Among the funny ones, someone asked if Per had already bought any Christmas presents, and he said that he had bought “Absolute Music” compliations for his relatives! He also revealed that sushi and Italian food were his favourites, and that he doesn’t like when there are journalists in front of his house.

  He also told us that Gabriel always leaves the arena after they’ve played “Real Sugar” and that he has no plans to write a book about his life.

  Per, at the end, said he was going to the soundcheck, and thanked the participants for the “intelligent questions”.

Click “More” to read the entire chat (translation is just about complete now — check back one more time): Read more…

Paris performed on a TV-show called Sone2 in Norway on Monday afternoon. She gave a brief interview, in which she reveals being a huge Roxette fan. You can listen to the interview yourself, or read the English translation of it.

  On the same show, she performed “I Do Believe” in an acoustic version. You can listen to it yourself and read a brief history of “I Do Believe” on the Norwegian charts at the Chuch of Our Hearts website.

• Church of Our Hearts

KARLSTAD - According to Hallandsposten, three Argentinean Roxette fans were caught by the police after walking on a motorway in the middle of the night, outside Karlstad, Sweden. With a small map in their hands, they were heading for the icehall in Karlstad where Roxette were going to have their concert - almost 24 hours later.

  “We wanted to be the first,” Maximiliano Alfaso said to the local newspaper Värmlands Folkblad.

  He and two other fans from Argentina had paid 900 USD to travel to Europe and see Roxette live. “We’re crazy,” said one of the fans, Lionel Zaragocin, with a big smile.

• Hallandsposten article

2 out of 5 in Aftonbladet, 1 out of 5 in Expressen… “Roxette is over,” say the Swedish tabloids. Both Aftonbladet and Expressen have almost identical reviews of yesterday’s Karlstad concert, their first “Room Service” tour gig in Sweden.

  Aftonbladet’s review is written by Per Bjurman, who’s been long known for his negative attitude towards Roxette (see TDR’s old articles 1, 2). Both Aftonbladet and Expressen say that Roxette is boring and lame and they’re playing the same old songs again and again. According to Bjurman, Roxette still hasn’t gotten over the 80s. (Even though most of their hits have been in the 90s… - Ed.)

  It seems that it’s still the same old problem of not gaining critics’ respect in their home country. To gain some perspective, Finnish papers had only positive reviews of their Helsinki concert and the Swedish public still seems to love one of their biggest exports; all their three concerts in Sweden are sold out.

  Hallandsposten was the only Swedish paper with a positive review. Hallandsposten is published in Halmstad area where Roxette is from and the review was written by Jan-Owe Wikström, the co-author of “Roxette The Book”.

• Aftonbladet article
• Expressen article
• Hallandsposten article

Per will be doing an online chat with fans tomorrow (November 16th) afternoon. The chat will be hosted by Aftonbladet and it will start at 2.30pm CET.

• Aftonbladet

HELSINKI - TDR had its own reporter and photographer on location when Roxette visited Finland’s capital Helsinki on Monday. In their press conference, Per and Marie shared the unfortunate news of not releasing a live DVD and the fortunate news of new recording session and additional concerts. They were also presented a double platinum record for “Joyride” (100,000 copies sold) and a gold record for “Room Service” (15,000 copies sold) by EMI Finland just before the concert began in front of a multitude of photographers from the Finnish newspapers.

  These exclusive photos were taken by TDR News Editor Lars-Erik Olson. Read on for more pictures! Click the pictures to see them full size in a new window. Read more…