European “Room Service” tour set to begin in September
Written by Lars-Erik_Olson on May 22, 2001 to Live.
TDR BREAKING STORY – Without even a press release – let alone a press conference – to formally announce that a tour is planned, tickets for certain venues of Roxette’s upcoming “Room Service” tour have already gone on sale!
As first reported in The Daily Roxette weeks ago, Roxette and EMA Telstar have decided to mount a European tour. Dates and venues for the autumn tour are being added – Per has said that the rest of the dates are 99 percent in place – and it is expected that a formal announcement will be forthcoming Tuesday, probably at a press conference in Stockholm.
TDR learned today (see story above) that the tour will begin in Germany in late September and that the concert date for Helsinki will be November 12th.
Last week, during an online chat session in Austria, Roxette announced these two dates: November 1, Innsbruck and November 2, Vienna.
Yesterday, tickets went on sale for an October 22nd performance in Brussels at the circular-shaped Forest National concert venue. The general admission tickets cost about $35 USD with fees included.
The “Room Service” tour will take Per, Marie and the band to most of Europe’s major cities.
EDITOR’S NOTE: TDR will, of course, publish additional tour particulars as soon as they become available (Peter Aspeslagh and Visa Kopu contributed to this article).
“Milk & Toast & Honey” becomes a #1 hit in Brazil
Written by roxettefan on May 22, 2001 to Sales & Charts.
As previously reported, “Milk and Toast and Honey” is included in the soundtrack of a Brazilian soap opera. The song was played for the first time on Saturday’s episode (May 19). The soundtrack CD goes on sale May 25th and is available for pre-order in a few “virtual stores” such as Som Livre.
Along with the Roxette song, the CD also features tracks by Lenny Kravitz, Coldplay, Dido, REM, Eric Clapton and others.
EDITOR’S NOTE: Roxette and EMI are contemplating a June promotional appearance by Per and Marie in Brazil, but a final decision has yet to be reached. “Milk and Toast and Honey” is getting a LOT of airplay on Brazilian radio stations, and has even reached #1 on some charts!
Ronaldo Mouro, who maintains the ’Pop Brasil Top 100’ airplay chart, tells The Daily Roxette that the reason M&T&H reached the top of the chart so quickly is that it’s being played in all parts of the country and that people still remember the other successes of Roxette in Brazil. “They have thousands of fans in all the cantos of the country,” he said. “In Brazil, Roxette is known and respected in the same way as ABBA, a-ha, Madonna, and Michael Jackson.”
- Som Livre (Internet retailer)
- Brazilian airplay chart (Roxette at #1 for third week)
Roxette criticized for not playing live
Written by mattias on May 21, 2001 to Live.
In the TV guide of last Thursday’s Swedish newspaper Nerikes Allehanda there was a short note on Roxette’s then forthcoming performance at Bingolotto. It said “After the massive critisizm of Roxette’s last boring playback performance on the Swedish music festival, we’ll see if they will finally do a live one.”
The thing is, that no one ever plays live at Bingolotto! In this reporter’s opinion, Roxette doesn’t perform using playback more than anyone else!
Roxette live on Swedish TV4
Written by dubacik on May 15, 2001 to Live.
Roxette will be performing live on Swedish TV show Bingolotto next Saturday. The show is broadcasted on TV4 at 7pm CET (UTC+1). Bingolotto is a Swedish competition where you can win money, cars, holidays and many other things. The show is hosted by Lasse Kronér.
Per invests in music publishing software
Written by roxeteer on May 14, 2001 to Per Gessle.
Per, together with ex-ABBA members Björn Ulvaeus and Benny Andersson, has become a shareholder in Swedish company NoteHeads AB. Björn Ulvaeus and Per Gessle are also joining NoteHeads’ Advisory Board.
NoteHeads is developing an “Internet-oriented music publishing software”. Their purpose is to transfer sheet music from paper to digital format, thus enabling easier access to sheet music.
“Real Sugar” puppets turn out to be real rockers
Written by Lars-Erik_Olson on May 12, 2001 to Video.
When Per, answering a question from The Daily Roxette, said that the “Real Sugar” video would feature puppets, many of our readers weren’t quite sure what to make of that. The concept could either be really great… or just plain stupid.
“We’re using puppets,” Per told our Visa Kopu at a press conference in Helsinki. “Marie and I are the only real people in the video. We have a puppet band looking like The Ramones. The video starts with two puppets watching ’The Centre Of The Heart’ video on TV.”
We’re pleased to report that director Jesper Hiro’s concept worked out well, as you can perhaps see for yourself in the publicity photo below obtained from EMI Sweden.
Roxette to perform at Popkomm opening gala in Cologne
Written by martin_nl on May 11, 2001 to Live.
“Stars 2001 - The Popkomm.Gala” on August 15th marks the official start of the European trade show for Pop Music and Entertainment that takes place in Cologne from August 16 - 18.
Acts besides Roxette confirmed to appear on stage at the Cologne Arena include Anastacia, Echt, Kylie Minogue, No Angels in a duet with Hear’Say, Ronan Keating, and Die Söhne Mannheims.
The large-scale show is being produced for the first time in cooperation with the German SAT.1 channel and VIVA music TV. The show will be transmitted on Friday, August 17, during prime time at 8:15 p.m. on SAT.1.
- Popkomm (Click on popkomm. 2001 > English > News)
Roxette climbs on MTV European Top20
Written by mattias on May 10, 2001 to Sales & Charts.
As of May 9th, Roxette climbed two spots from #14 to #12 on the MTV European Top20 chart with “The Centre of the Heart.” Is there enough momentum for them to rise even higher next week?
Gessle among Sweden’s most exported song writers
Written by tevensso on May 8, 2001 to Per Gessle.
STOCKHOLM - According to STIM, the people in Sweden who made the most money on their music in 2000 were Max Martin, Per Gessle and Benny Andersson, the “Swedish pop music giants.”
In total, STIM paid 910 million SEK ($91 million USD) to Swedish and foreign composers and publishers, which was an increase of 11% compared to 1999. 2000 was also the first year ever that fees for Swedish music played abroad exceeded fees for foreign music played in Sweden.
Billboard’s Bronson says “Listen To Your Chart”
Written by Lars-Erik_Olson on May 7, 2001 to Sales & Charts.
NEW YORK - 
TDR reader Michael Braatz thought it would be a good idea to write to Billboard columnist Fred Bronson and ask about Roxette and the U.S. record deal (or lack thereof).
Bronson, whose column is read by many in the music industry, has published the question and his answer in the online version of ChartBeat, and will probably include it in the print version this Friday.
Fred, who along with his “on-air” partner Chuck Taylor are both honorary members of RoxNorthAmeriFANS, have played “The Centre of the Heart” twice on Billboard Radio. Once as their “Pick to Click,” and once when it became the #1 single in Sweden.
“Wish I Could Fly” was also a Billboard Radio “Pick to Click” at the time that edel America started to promote it as an on-air single here in the U.S. Referring to Roxette, Taylor said “We love ’em around here.”
