STOCKHOLM - Gyllene Tider’s latest greatest hits album, “GT 25!,” climbs to #2 this week. The top spot is held by Anastacia’s new album.

  Meanwhile, “Mazarin” falls to #30.

STOCKHOLM - Micke “Syd” Andersson, Gyllene Tider’s drummer, was interviewed on the show “Kalas” broadcast on Swedish Radio’s P3 channel last Friday. During the interview, Micke revealed that in addition to “Återtaget,” the legendary “Parkliv” filmed by Lasse Hallström in 1980 and released in 1981 will be also released on DVD.


  Micke also told the reporter that they will surely record “a third Parkliv” – a documentary of the coming summer tour in order to have recorded concerts from three decades.


  “Kalas” asked Micke to write a tour diary and he answered he would start writing on the tour premiere, even though he has “never written a diary,” but he will have some months to practice before the show.


Jicko, Anna Hedqvist and Daniel Alvedahl contributed to this article.

• Interview at “Kalas” - SR P3 (In Swedish, file available until April 9th)

STOCKHOLM - Gyllene Tider’s new compilation album “GT25 - Samtliga Hits!” enters the Swedish official album chart at #3 this week, behind Marit Bergman’s and E-Type’s new albums, which enter the chart at #1 and #2.

  On the other hand, Per Gessle’s “Mazarin” leaves the Top 20 for the first time since its release in June 2003 and falls to #25.

  AnimalKingdom contributed to this article.

• HitListan.se (In Swedish)

NEW YORK - As Aftonbladet mentioned today, Per is currently visiting New York City. TDR is now able to reveal the real purpose of his visit. He is meeting Capitol Records’ management to prepare the record deal that Gyllene Tider will sign as early as next week. If everything goes as planned, this will mean that the new Gyllene Tider album, “Finn Fem Fel,” will be released in the major USA cities at the same time as it is in Sweden, on June 2nd.

  “The people here were enthusiastic about their new material,” says our anonymous source who is close to Capitol management and has followed Per’s career since the early 80s. “It’s a pity that their previous attempt to conquer the U.S. failed, but this time we feel we have a real winner on our hands.”

  The plan is to release a special “US edition” of the album with some, but not all, of the songs translated into English. “There’s a growing interest in foreign languages in the States, and we think the album will get even more attention because the songs are in a strange Scandinavian language.”

  There are also preliminary plans to continue the tour in the fall with club concerts in New York, Minneapolis and Chicago. All three are cities with a large Scandinavian population.

  Update: This article, of course, was our April Fool’s joke. Gotcha!

• Aftonbladet article (in Swedish)

GOTHENBURG (UPDATED) - According to an article published on Göteborgs-Posten’s web site the tickets to Gyllene Tider’s Gothenburg concert at Ullevi Stadium are already sold out. EMA will release some more tickets but with blocked sight.

  GP also writes that “Gyllene Tider’s web site” claims that the tickets were sold out in less than 40 minutes, but The Daily Roxette has not been able to verify that information, as there is no info at either GylleneTider25 or EMA Telstar’s sites. At any rate, this is a new Swedish record. The total amount of tickets sold are now 50,000. Ullevi’s limit is 53,000.

• GP’s article (In Swedish)

VÄXJÖ (UPDATED) - For those who appreciate nature, Evedal would have been a beautiful setting, situated as it is in a pine forest just outside this city. But… it just wasn’t big enough. The July 30th concert is moving instead to Värendsvallen, the local soccer stadium. Last Thursday, 7,000 additional tickets were released – and have since sold out.

  During the past few weeks, the local organizers of the concert in Växjö (Hovshaga AIF, an athletic organization) discussed the possibility of moving the concert in Växjö with EMA Telstar, the tour operator.

  With approximately 24,000 tickets sold, this concert easily beats Gyllene Tider’s own record achieved in ’96. Many believed this record would tumble, but nobody expected it to be by so much.

  “So many tickets have been sold… the response has been incredibly high. We have to try that as many as possible get a chance to see Gyllene Tider,” said Hovshaga AIF spokesman Roland Östberg to Smålandsposten last week.

  “With so many people, a place like Evedal can create safety concerns. Värendsvallen is a much better alternative,” he added.

Judith Seuma contributed to this article.

• Article in Smålandsposten

STOCKHOLM - “We want to do something nobody else has done,” says Per Gessle on Expressen. Per and his pals in Gyllene Tider want to break the record number of attendees in Ullevi Stadium, Gothenburg. The record was set by Bruce Springsteen on June 8, 1985 when 64,312 people saw “The Boss” perform there. “We want to draw the bow now that we have the chance,” says Per.

  In Göteborgs-Posten Per tells that even though it’s still months before the tour starts, he’s already working with it all day long. “But first we have to get the album done. It must be ready in the beginning of May. In June we’ll have the rehearsals, but I can already say it will sound great,” Per promises.

  Expressen also reveals that a Gyllene Tider documentary - probably the one that was shown to the press on Wednesday - will be shown to the fans before each concert during their summer tour.

  The fans who bought tickets to Slottsskogsvallen will automatically get a field ticket to Ullevi concert. The extra tickets - 25,000 of them - will go on sale on Wednesday.

  (Editor’s note: Our reader Christel Johansson noted that with the additional 25,000 tickets the attendance reaches 50,000 which is still a long way from the record. It wouldn’t be the first time Expressen misquotes people, but here at TDR we still hope there will be a need for another set of extra tickets so that Gyllene Tider would actually break the record.)

• Expressen article
• Göteborgs-Posten article (in Swedish)
• Ullevi attendance records

STOCKHOLM - As reported earlier today, Gyllene Tider is celebrating the release of “GT25 - Samtliga Hits” album today. The big news is that they are actually celebrating the release of two albums: June 2 they will release their brand new album with brand new songs, titled “Finn fem fel” (“Find Five Errors”). The album is being recorded in Christoffer Lundquist’s studio in Vollsjö, Skåne, the same studio that baked “Mazarin”.

  The first single out of this album has the working title “Sitter på en sten vid en sjö i en skog” (“Sitting on a Rock by a Lake in a Forest”). The sound of the new album is close to the debut album’s sound, or as Anders Herrlin - bass guitar, puts it “It sounds like how we wanted to sound in 1980…” Anders also adds that most of the songs (“16 so far”, Per interjects) were recorded in less than half an hour. “We also decided that no other instruments were to be used than our own. The synthesizer sounds are actually all made by the Farfisa, for instance.”

  Also, the documentary “Återtåget ’96” will be released on DVD this summer. Details are at this point unknown.

  All the Gyllene boys are very happy with the celebration of their anniversary. Micke “Syd” - drummer: “This is so big that we cannot comprehend what’s going on. We are truly overwhelmed.”

  It was also revealed that the opening acts during the GT25 Summer Tour will be Pugh Rogefeldt (the man who introduces Gyllene Tider on the EP “Swing & Sweet”) and rap group The Latin Kings. The Gothenburg gig will be moved to Ullevi Stadium, instead of adding another concert. Ticket sales at the moment are up to 225,000, compared to the 301,256 tickets Återtåget generated in total.

  The press conference opened with manager Marie Dimberg giving out the good news, after that Kjell Andersson and Lasse Lindbom talked about their memories of Gyllene Tider, and finally a short film was shown, showing Gyllene Tider during their career. “Weird that we even had a career looking like that!” Micke “Syd” Andersson said afterwards.

• Official Gyllene Tider Website (In Swedish)
• Official Pugh Rogefeldt Website

There are exceptions, of course, but most of the international fan base for Gyllene Tider is a result of Roxette fans discovering Per Gessle’s previous involvement with this group. The Daily Roxette takes great pleasure therefore in congratulating GT, on behalf of our readers, on 25 years of making great music - and great memories - for all of us!

  With sold-out concert dates already on the calendar, the members of Gyllene Tider have already had reason to celebrate, but the “official” start of the 25th Anniversary celebration is today. There’s a release party this afternoon, in Stockholm, for the GT25 Greatest Hits album. TDR will have a reporter in place to bring you the inside scoop.

  Interested readers should check back for updates to that story once it’s published. Look for a possible announcement of additional tour dates, along with other exclusive content.

HALMSTAD - As anticipated, The Daily Roxette has learned that EMA has indeed decided to add a second night in Halmstad to the Gyllene Tider tour schedule.

  The tour begins in Halmstad on Wednesday, July 14th, and when tickets were first released, this premiere concert sold out quickly. Örjans Vall had originally been reserved with an optional second night, and “due to the extremely high demand for tickets,” the Thursday night concert (July 15th) has now been added.

  “Fun!” said a spokesperson for the group.

  Tickets will go on sale tomorrow (Friday).

  Update March 19: This concert is now sold out, and was sold out almost faster than the first.