Here are further details on Roxette’s US promotional tour. Arrangements are still being made, and all information is subject to change.

September:

23 WBMX - Boston, MixFest; Appearing along with many other acts, including Goo Goo Dolls, The Go-Go’s, Vertical Horizon. 35,000-50,000 people TDR’s article

26 New York City Virgin Records Megastore, Times Square. In-store appearance and performance TDR’s article

29 WMXB - Richmond, Virginia; Radio

30 WLNK - Charlotte, North Carolina; concert, details to follow, surrounding stations included?

 

October:

1 KPKQ - Omaha, Nebraska; Radio.

8? KPLZ - Seattle, Washington; Radio Concert

3 KMSX - San Diego, California; Radio concert (acoustic, stripped down show)

4-5 KIIS, KBIG - Los Angeles, California; Radio, press, retail

6 KDND - Sacramento, California; Radio

9 KDWB - Minneapolis, Minnesota; Radio, retail.

10 WZEE - Madison, Wisconsin; Radio

11 WKRQ - Cincinnati; Radio

This information was received from the Roxattaq USA team. (Thanks Judith!)

• Roxattaq USA

Edel America’s new website reveals that Roxette will have a site for promoting the band’s releases and mini tour in the States. The site will be located at http://www.roxetteusa.com/ but it is not yet online.

• RoxetteUSA.com

Roxette is going to have a 10-concert promotional tour in the USA next month. The tour begins with acoustic concerts at MixFest, Boston on September 23 and at Virgin Megastore, New York on September 27. After that, the band will perform live in eight different cities, e.g. Los Angeles, Seattle and Minneapolis. There has also been negotiations on visiting the popular NBC talk show “Tonight with Jay Leno”.

Roxette’s US comeback single “Wish I Could Fly” has received praising reviews in American media. “I don’t think we’ve ever had so exuberant reception before,” says Per. “Wish I Could Fly” will be included on their revised greatest hits album, “Don’t Bore Us — Get To The Chorus!”.

The rapid changes in Roxette’s US situation has forced them to postpone the release of new material. According to Per, 3/4 of the album is already finished. The band is still working on the album and it is due in March 2001.

• Expressen’s Swedish article
• Hallandsposten’s Swedish article

At long last, Edel America has updated their site, featuring a nice little section on Roxette and some great Flash stuff. There is mention of Roxette’s US promo tour, from September 22nd to October 12th, but no mention of the Boston MixFest appearance. Though it looks as though the site is still being worked on as some of the features aren’t working yet. For example, their artist page for Roxette is not yet online.

• Edel America

In early June, TDR reported about Per’s investment in a company specialized in Internet consulting, called Fame Studios. Per is one of the co-owners of the company, together with a few other Swedish pop celebrities. Now the company is seeking for publicity and the both biggest tabloid papers in Sweden have coverage on the company.

Aftonbladet writes about one of celebrity co-owners, Tomas Ledin. He is releasing a new album after four years pause. According to today’s Aftonbladet, Fame Studios will build the website for promoting his new album.

Today’s Expressen interviews one of the founders of Fame Studios, 24-year-old Internet expert Magnus Brynestam. His career started when he noticed that the Swedish hit musical “Kristina från Duvemala” didn’t have an official website. He contacted the authors of the musical, ex-Abba members Björn Ulvaeus and Benny Andersson, and they hired him to build the site.

Expressen also interviews Per. He is very enthusiastic on music on the Internet. “Just as artists make a video for a song they release, in the future every artist needs their own site on the Internet,” says Per.

• Fame Studios
• Aftonbladet’s Swedish article
• Expressen’s Swedish article

The U.S. release of Roxette’s greatest hits album will be launched at the Virgin Megastore in Times Square, New York, on Wednesday, September 27, and the record label, along with Per and Marie, want you to be there.

Roxette will make an in-store appearance and perform several songs from the CD, “Don’t Bore Us… Get To The Chorus,” including “Wish I Could Fly” which is currently being played on scores of American radio stations, with more being added every week.

Marie and Per will be arriving in New York from Boston following their appearance at MixFest on the previous Saturday.

Directly across the street from Virgin is the Viacom building, home of both MTV and VH1. The U.S. RoxAttaq, with the support of fans around-the-world, has been trying to get the “Wish..” video to be shown on these networks. According to Edel America (EAR), the RoxAttaq is having an effect, with VH1 in particular showing interest now. An EAR spokesperson said “We’re so happy with the support the fans have been giving us. This RoxAttaq you guys are doing couldn’t be more important right now, as we try to get even more radio stations to add ’Wish’ to their playlist.” EAR hopes to see Times Square overrun with Roxette fans that Wednesday. “We really want the fans to be there,” said the spokesperson. “Per and Marie are eager to connect with their American fans again.”

• U.S. RoxAttaq (NYC party for fans under development)

In an exclusive interview with The Daily Roxette prior to one of her last concerts, Marie indicated that she had been delighted with the friendly, enthusiastic crowds and thought that the concert tour was one of the highlights of her career.

Many fans remarked to this reporter that Marie really seemed to be enjoying herself onstage, and she confirmed this by saying “these songs are very special to me and I enjoy performing them. I’ve really enjoyed this tour, especially last night’s concert in Stockholm. It will be a little sad when it ends tomorrow in Uppsala.”

Marie went on to say that she had been especially delighted with the “Roxette fans” who had travelled to see her perform in Sweden. “It’s a good feeling for me,” she said.

Many of the concert reviews in the Swedish press mention how energetic Marie has been during this tour and how comfortable she seems to be at this point in her life. “Yes, that’s true, and now things are going to get very busy again,” she said. “The new Roxette album has to be done by Christmas, and we have the U.S. promotion to do.”

There are a couple of Websites in particular that have, or will have soon, plenty of photos from the concert tour. These pictures will show a happy Marie Fredriksson who, at certain concerts, ignored rain and buzzing mosquitos to give consistently suberb performances.

[Photos: Fans at concerts, including a mosquito-biten James from the UK]

Read more…

A streaming video version of “Wish I Could Fly” has been added to the Rolling Stone magazine website in the Videos section. The video stream is available in both Windows Media and RealPlayer formats.

• RollingStone.com (View the video!)

Twenty-eight states filed suit Tuesday against the five biggest record companies and two music retailing giants, accusing them of conspiring to fix CD prices.


“This illegal action by record companies and retailers has not been music to the ears of the public,” New York State Attorney General Eliot Spitzer said in a statement. “Because of these conspiracies, tens of millions of consumers paid inflated prices to buy CDs of artists including Santana, Whitney Houston, Madonna, and Eric Clapton.”

The lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court in New York, alleges that traditional retailers pressured the record companies to set minimum advertising prices after a price war brought by discount retailers dropped the average price of CDs from $15 to $10. Read more…

Mikael Bolyos, husband of Marie and the leader of her summer tour band, has revealed that the live recording of Marie’s Stockholm concert will be released on both DVD and VHS. If that’s not enough, the concert will be also broadcast on Swedish TV4 around Christmas.

Note that this information isn’t confirmed “officially”.