STOCKHOLM - As reported previously Swedish TV1 will broadcast a documentary on Per called “Per Gessle - Ta en kaka till (Have another cookie)”. The makers of the film accompanied Per while travelling through Halmstad by local bus. Furthermore, we’ll meet Per’s friend, and famous photographer, Anton Corbijn, while Per himself will talk about his solo CD “Mazarin”.

  The documentary will be broadcast on Thursday, September 25th at 20:00 CET. Per will have to set his VCR though, as he’ll be in Helsinki performing. There are still tickets available for this, the final “Mazarin” concert.

STOCKHOLM - On Wednesday September 10th, Per will appear as a guest on Swedish TV show Ola 21:30. It’s a live talkshow where Ola Lindholm and a small audience interview famous Swedish people. The program will be on at 21:30 CET, as the name implies, on SVT 2.

  The show will be broadcasted simultaneously on SVT Europa.

STOCKHOLM (UPDATED) - The Daily Roxette mistakenly reported last week that “På promenad genom stan” wouldn’t be the next single from the “Mazarin” album. Our information was incorrect. While “Födelsedag” was being considered, the final choice for the second single is indeed “På promenad genom stan.”

  The new song will go to Swedish radio September 8th as “Här kommer alla känslorna” is still at #1 on the Swedish singles chart (for the 8th week in a row).

  Update Aug 25: The b-side of the single will be “Inte tillsammans, inte isär” (2 timmars T&A Demo 28 juni 2003). Release date is September 17th.

STOCKHOLM - In this month’s Premiär magazine (a free magazine) Per gives us the recipe for a perfect pop CD. Many of these songs were featured on the pre-show CDs that were played before the “Sommar-Mazarin” concerts. As you may know it’s usually Per who compiles Roxette’s, Gyllene Tider’s and now his own pre-show CDs. Per does this “…with a few bottles of wine and a stack of CDs…”, according to himself.



1. Balloon Farm - A Question of Temperature

2. Simon & Garfunkel - The Only Living Boy in New York

3. Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers - American Girl

4. Brainpool - Bandstarter

5. REM - The One I Love

6. The Buzzcocks - Ever Fallen in Love…

7. The Who - Dogs

8. Lindsay Buckingham - Trouble

9. The Beatles - Cry Baby Cry

10. The Troggs - Love is All Around

11. Bernt Staf - Familjelycka

12. Docent Död - Solglasögon

13. Blondie - Hanging on the Telephone

14. Ramones - Sheena is a Punk Rocker

15. T.Rex - Metal Guru

16. Israel Kamakawiwo’ole - Over the Rainbow/What a Wonderful World

17. Led Zeppelin - Immigrant Song

18. Joni Mitchell - Rainy Night House

19. ABBA - S.O.S.

20. Dusty Springfield - Son of a Preacher Man

21. The Kinks - Waterloo Sunset

HELSINKI/OSLO (UPDATED) - The Daily Roxette has now found out the dates and venues of Per’s first concerts outside Sweden, in Oslo, Norway and Helsinki, Finland.

  Although EMI Norway wouldn’t reveal the exact date, the music club Rockefeller confirmed to The Daily Roxette that Per will perform there and the date is September 23rd (d&d management has confirmed this). Tickets are available at billettservice.no for 270 NOK each. Rockefeller is the most popular live music club in Oslo. It has a capacity of about 1,000 people. Roxette performed in Rockefeller during their “Look Sharp!” tour in 1989.

  Meanwhile, EMI Finland Label Manager Ramona Forsström told TDR that Per is indeed coming to Finland. Later d&d management confirmed that Per will play the Tavastia rock club in Helsinki September 25th. The tickets are available at Tiketti for 25 EUR each.

  Please note that both of the concerts are for 18 years of age and older.

  The first hint of Gessle concerts outside Sweden was published in Aftonbladet on Wednesday. Per revealed that when the Swedish tour ends in Eskilstuna on August 17th, he will have concerts in Oslo and Helsinki. “After that I’m trying to relax and write some songs,” he told the Aftonbladet reporter.

  Ketil Nordgaard and Thomas Evensson contributed to this article.

• Aftonbladet article (in Swedish)

STOCKHOLM - On Sunday, August 17th, “Sommar-Mazarin ’03” ended. Over 155,000 people have attended the three-week long tour and only one word can best describe it… success!

  What will Per do now? First he will will take a break to rest and try and write some new songs, and after that he will take his Mazarin to Helsinki and Oslo. “Then in September, we’ll have a meeting with Gyllene Tider to see what we will do next summer. I think the audience is hungry for more,” Per said to Aftonbladet. There is also time for a new single, even though the first one is still at #1 in Sweden… just like the album “Mazarin”, which has been #1 for eight consecutive weeks.

  “We don’t want to do a Greatest Hits tour. If we do go on tour, it must be the best we’ve ever done, and for that we need new material as well,” Per says.

  Anders Nunstedt of Expressen, however, thinks Per shouldn’t take Gyllene Tider out again. The thought makes him yawn. Nunstedt thinks Per should keep up his solo career that has started off so well… or take Gyllene on a stadium tour.

  Expressen reports the Mazarin-project has had a turnover of 80 million kronor ($10 million) so far. 12,000 people have attended the concerts, on average, which gives about 53 million, and that’s not even counting the souveniers. “Mazarin” has sold about 180,000 copies so far — triple platinum — and the single “Här kommer alla känslorna” has gone gold, having sold 15,000 copies.

  The Eskilstuna concert didn’t stray from the set list, the only thing different was that a couple of roadies dressed up as Helena banging cow bells and wandered around stage during “Jag tror du bär på en stor hemlighet”. Per didn’t see it, but the rest of the band almost fell apart laughing. Also a film crew was there and shot mainly audience footage.

• Aftonbladet’s article (In Swedish)
• Expressen’s article (In Swedish)

STOCKHOLM (UPDATED) - Swedish Television will air a new half-hour long Per Gessle documentary on September 25 at 20.00 CET. “Per Gessle - Ta en kaka till (Have another cookie)” is the working name. “It’s a very personal and private image,” says producer Hans Engholm to Aftonbladet. Hans is in the process of creating the documentary together with Paul Möllerstedt and Anders Karlsson of Produktionsbolaget.

  Besides the trio’s own footage, the show will include some of Per Gessle’s personal videos. “He’s shot loads of film himself. From when the recording of ’Mazarin’ started a year ago,” Hans says. He’s followed Per through his victorious tour during the summer. Hans filmed the concert in Halmstad the other day, for instance. “Per is amazingly uncomplicated, and great to work with. I think everyone sees that,” Hans tells Aftonbladet.

  There are also plans to release the documentary on DVD after it has been aired. “Yes, we’re discussing this at the moment, but nothing has been decided at all,” Hans Engholm concludes.

• Aftonbladet’s article (in Swedish)
• SVT (In Swedish)
• Göteborgsposten’s article (In Swedish)

GÖTEBORG - Per Gessle will once again make a guest appearance on the popular Swedish television program “Bingolotto.” This time, he’s scheduled to perform on the new season’s premiere show on August 30th.

  It may be possible for some Swedish fans to be part of the studio audience. If you’re interested (tickets cost 250 SEK, but include a light meal), see the TV4’s Bingolotto website for details (Information > Contact Us > Studio Booking).

  Other artists slated to perform on the same show are Sarah Brightman and Lasse Stefanz.

  The last time Per appeared on Bingolotto was in April of last year when he sang his Ramones cover, “I Wanna Be Your Boyfriend.”

• Bingolotto on TV4 (In Swedish)

STOCKHOLM - Per Gessle’s summer tour has been a success in every town so far. In Gothenburg, the concert was moved to a bigger, 22,000-capacity venue due to the great demand for tickets. Now Aftonbladet is asking if the Stockholm concert should be moved to the Stadium from the Sjöhistoriska Museet. At least the place is vacant on the August 12th.

  “Of course it would be cool to perform at the Stadium, but we are still booked to Sjöhistoriska,” says Per.

  Per’s concerts and their attendace: Halmstad, Jul 7th (13,000); Helsingborg, Jul 30th (11,000); Skövde, Aug 1st (7,500); Finspång, Aug 2nd (8,000); Varberg, Aug 3th (12,000); Malmö, Aug 5th (11,000); Gothenburg, Aug 6th (22,000).

• Aftonbladet article (in Swedish)

HELSINKI - Per was interviewed this evening on Finnish TV in a weekly series called Popsmart where popular musicians are interviewed for a half an hour. During Per’s interview they also showed clips from Gyllene Tider movie “Parkliv” and from many Roxette videos, as well as the full “A Thing About You” video.

  Per was interviewed in an EMI Sweden conference room that had the walls covered with Roxette gold and platinum records. Per feels himself uneasy in that room. “I don’t have any gold records or MTV Awards at my home,” says Per. “I don’t want to be stuck with the past. I want to look forward.”

  According to Per, it’s hard to make good songs, but it helps to love your work. “Marie and I are the biggest fans of Roxette,” he says quoting ABBA’s Benny Andersson, who once said he’s the biggest fan of his own music. “Marie and I love Roxette and the music we make.” But it doesn’t come easy: Per says he writes maybe one good song a month and 50 bad ones.

  “It’s hard for me to listen to Top 40 music, the same music I write myself,” says Per. “I start to think about it too technically; ’this singing is too anemic’, ’this echo is strange’. At home I often listen to jazz. John Coltrane, Norah Jones… and I love Alison Krauss’ country music.”

  “I would love to make film music. There’s an almost instrumental song on the new album that would make good film score,” says Per. “People have asked me to write a musical, but I won’t. I hate musicals!”