Per talks quite a bit about Roxette in this telephone interview conducted by Petr Vizina, audio editor for the newspaper HN in the Czech Republic.  Among many other things, he talks about Marie and how her life changed after her illness, but that she likes to sing on stage again and that he's sure — not now, but next winter or next year — that Roxette will be ready to come back.

Vizina, who comes across as being very knowledgable and seems obviously be a Roxette fan himself, speaks — in English — with Per for about 24 minutes. He eventually gets around to asking about the upcoming "Party Crasher" tour and Per readily admits that "people don't know who I am."

"This is my 50th birthday present to myself," he says. "I'm not going to plug 'Party Crasher' to death, I'm going to play a compilation of what I've been doing for the past 30 years." The interview appears on the newspaper's online edition (iHNed.cz).

(Updated) - The Party Crasher concert in Copenhagen has been moved from Vega to Pumpehuset. March 17 - London show has been moved to O2 Islington Academy (formally the Carling Academy). Per comments:

these venues were changed because i prefer to play smaller venues (500-800 ppl) on this tour of mine. that has been my intention since day 1. shepherd's bush holds 2300 (way too big for someone like me!) and "large" vega takes about 1300 incl the balconies. "small" vega wasn't available so we set our eyes on pumpehuset.

now i'm happy!

p

 

STOCKHOLM (Updated) - The upcoming Party Crasher tour has been expanded, with a gig in the Man's hometown Halmstad. May 8 Per will play Sporthallen in Halmstad.

"I'm really looking forward to this trip around Europe. I consider it to be some kinda birthday present to myself to be able to play my favorites from The Gessle Box Of Songs In English.
"My ambition is to put together a guitar-based power-pop-set specially designed for the club scene! There will be loads of Roxette songs I haven't sung since the demo days but also favorites from the Plum, World According to… and of course Party Crasher. And why not a jolly cover, or two?
"I love the fact that we've been able to squeeze in a gig in cookin' Halmstad before the band vaporizes after the two gigs May 9 & 10 in Cirkus in Stockholm (other duties are in the can for my eminent musicians). Friday May 8 we'll be ready to roll the dice in Sporthallen in my hometown, with guitars almost-in-tune and smiles on our faces. Playing in Halmstad always makes my heart beat just a little bit faster."

 says Per.

Tickets will be available at Ticnet Wednesday March 18 at 09:00.

The Swedish talkshow host Barbro "Babben" Larsson is back on TV with her show Babben & co. On the comeback show on March 21, Per will be performing live. Babben & co will be broadcast at 8pm CET on SVT1 and simultaneously on SVT World.

Reruns will be broadcast on March 22 (SVT1 and SVT24), March 23 (SVT1) and March 27 (SVT1). Check SVT World site for their program schedule.

STOCKHOLM (Updated) - Per's latest album "Party Crasher," or "Party Crash" as he himself calls it, has gotten quite a few release dates confirmed from EMI offices around the world:

Indonesia - February
Japan - February 9
Ukraine - February 9
Czech Republic - March 2
Russia - March 2
Hungary – March 4
Spain - March 3
Poland - March 9
Canada - March 24
South Africa - March
Portugal - End of March
Germany - First week of April
Austria - First week of April
Switzerland - First week of April
Brazil - April
Belgium - April

Per Gessle takes his new album on the road. And not just that. He takes a lot of other things on the road:  "I'll play a power pop set with tons of guitars and a snappy snare with very little technology," Per says to The Daily Roxette and continues "We'll do a glorius mess of Son of a Plum (yay finally!!!), Rox (there are so many songs I've written that I've 'never' sung. I sang them on the demos and then the songs 'turned Marie's…' Would be sweet to try out my own versions… plus others that I've sung, for instance '7Twenty7' and'Nox' would be great to try out some gray Tuesday.)

Per Gessle’s new band includes three former Roxette musicians; Clarence Öfwerman on keyboards, Pelle Alsing on drums and Christoffer Lundquist on guitar and vocals. Add to these Helena Josefsson on vocals and Magnus Börjesson on bass guitar and you get a sensational line-up. This band will sound f##king fab!! And Clarence is going to wear a Fez! How about that!" exclaims Per the-excited-Man-from-Roxette Gessle.

The Daily Roxette asks Per if there is a chance for "The World According to Gessle" on the tour… "'World According to'…? That's a bulls-eye for this band!! And of course 'Party Crash' - there are a few that I can't seem to stay away from." says Per, who also hints at the possibility for a longer tour. "The tour is too short I'd say, but Chris is a very busy man…" Per lets us all know, if the tour doesn't get extended this time, maybe later this year.

A splendid time is guaranteed for all.

Thursday 16 April HELSINKI, Finland, Tavastia Club
Sunday 19 April OSLO, Norway, Rockefeller
Monday 20 April COPENHAGEN, Denmark, Vega
Wednesday 22 April WARSAW, Poland, Stodola
Thursday 23 April PRAGUE, Czech Republic, Luccerna Hall
Saturday 25 April HAMBURG, Germany, Grunspan
Monday 27 April COLOGNE, Germany, Gloria
Tuesday 28 April ZÜRICH, Switzerland, Kaufleuten
Wednesday 29 April MÜNCHEN, Germany, Muffathalle
Saturday 2 May GENT, Belgium, Handelsbeurs
Monday 4 May LONDON, United Kingdom, Sheperds Bush Empire
Wednesday 6 May AMSTERDAM, Holland, Melkweg
Saturday 9 May STOCKHOLM, Sweden, Cirkus

Sunday 10 May STOCKHOLM, Sweden, Cirkus - extra concert

Update January 29: Tickets for the concert in Cirkus, Stockholm, were sold out this morning straight away, therefore an extra concert has been added to the tour schedule. The concert will be on May 10th. 

The radio show Nordic Rox, hosted by Per Gessle and music journalist Sven Lindström on the American satellite radio service Sirius XM, airs its 100th episode this month. To celebrate this milestone there will be a two-part special spotlighting the 50 best Swedish songs of all time.

"One hundred shows! Can't believe it! We started out as rookies with this simple mission to bring Scandinavian pop and rock music to the U.S. It’s been a blast," said Per Gessle. "We've had great response from listeners all over the country. The best thing, however, is to put these shows together. To dig out that special track we just know is happening and demands a bigger audience than just the tiny local radio station in the north of Sweden. That, to me, is what it's all about."

Sirius XM has been very satisfied with the show that first aired in April 2006. "Per and his team have built the artistic bridge between the music of Scandinavia and the music fans of North America," said Scott Greenstein, Sirius XM’s President and Chief Content Officer. Greenstein is himself a fan of Swedish pop music and was instrumental in getting Per to agree to do the show.

Nordic Rox airs weekly on Sunday nights at 8pm on The Spectrum on Sirius channel 18 and XM channel 45. The first part of the Nordic Rox special will debut on January 25 with part two following on February 1.

More good news is coming from the Czech Republic. Per's new album "Party Crasher" will be released also in the Czech Republic at the end of January and "Silly Really" will be added to radio playlists next week according to Czech music website MusicServer.cz.
No more details are known right now, also there's no news on the official EMI Czech sites, but it's quite normal.

STOCKHOLM - As previously reported, "Sing Along" will be the next Swedish single. It will be released in two colors on February 4.

The tracklist:

01. Sing Along (radio edit) (3:25)
02. Theme from 'Roberta Right' (3:05)
03. Sing Along (album version) (4:01)

A huge congratulations from The Daily Roxette and its readers to Per Gessle who turns big five-oh (50) today! Stay tuned…

Lars-Erik, Visa, Thomas & Judith featuring Colin and Paul.