BUDAPEST - In a story that began here in the pages of The Daily Roxette, a group of 45 Hungarian fans will be travelling by private coach to Vienna to see Roxette perform live.

  One of our subscribers, Coyote, started a topic called Jó napot, Magyarország! (Good morning, Hungary) to see if there were other Hungarian fans registered on the site. It turned out that, of course, there were. More and more Rox-lovers came online and the topic soon became one of the most popular threads on TDR.

  After the concert tour was announced, the idea to travel to Vienna together was proposed and adopted. Tickets have been bought together and, as the date of the concert got closer, this group of fans decided to hire a private coach for transportation.

  With a weak economy in Hungary, each fan had to decide for himself that the fun of travelling together and the fact that they will see their favorite band live was enough to compensate for the expenditure. The Hungarian fans have even designed a special T-shirt for the occasion.

  So – fans in Vienna – look for the white Eurolines coach as the Hungarians are coming and hope to meet as many other fans as possible.

VIENNA - UPDATED In their press release, Official Roxette Fanclub announces that with their help, four Roxette fans from Romania will be able to attend the band’s concerts in Vienna on November 1st and 2nd.

  The Romanian fans, Mi-Odin Muresan (26), his wife Anca Claudia Muresan (25), Andreea Istoc (20) and Robert Ecsedi (22) have all been dedicated Roxette fans since their breakthrough single “The Look” in 1989. After weeks of work and rejected visa applications, their dream of seeing the band live looks to become true.

  “This journey means the world to us. There are many dedicated and true Roxette fans in Romania, and I do hope that they will play there one day,” says Mi-Odin Muresan.

  Without fanclub’s help their journey probably wouldn’t have been possible. According to the fanclub, the average Romanian monthly income is only 95 euros (86 USD) and the four fans’ visa applications alone cost 180 euros (163 USD).

  Update: Stefan Schönhacker (aka alchemiste here in TDR), the Austrian division leader of the Official Roxette Fanclub, points out that the Romanian fans are paying their trips by themselves. The fanclub just helped them with the bureaucracy and visa applications.

MADRID - With the original venue lost due to fire, tonight’s concert here in was in La Riviera Club, a venue with a capacity of 2,500 people that seemed to be full of fans and only fans! Roxette played “Real Sugar” just after “Waiting for the Rain,” an addition to the standard setlist. It was a FAN-tastic evening!

HELSINKI - Hobby Hall Meklari, a Finnish online auction site, has an interesting Roxette VIP pack for their Helsinki concert on November 12th up for auction. The pack includes “the best possible seats, Absolut vodka shots for starter, a Swedish buffet and clothes deposit” for 2 people.

  The auction ends tomorrow, October 26th. At press time, the price of the pack is at 720 FIM (108 USD / 121.10 EUR).

• Roxette VIP pack at Hobby Hall Meklari

VIENNA - As previously reported, some weeks ago Austrian radio station KRONE HIT R@DIO and Rock-Production Ltd. began a search for a young warm-up band for the concert in
Vienna on November 2nd.

  From the many entries, three finalists have been selected. They are:

• “Alyssa” from Vienna
• “Sane” from Tyrol
• “XtraOrdinary” from Styria

 On October 24th there is a “Song-Contest” on KRONE where people have the ability to call for their favorite band. You can also visit their Web site, listen to their music, and vote for one of them.

• KRONE Hit Radio (In German)

BARCELONA - Entering at #30, Roxette appears on the Los 40 Principales Chart this week, the most important radio chart in Spain. You can vote for them at Los40.com (Las Listas + 30 Roxette + Votar).

• Los 40 (In Spanish)

EMI Electrola (and EMI Finland) have now confirmed that the first Roxette DVD will be released on November 19th. The DVD will be titled “All Videos Ever Made And More” and according to EMI Finland, its length is 240 minutes. The cover picture which resembles Room Service Tour posters can be seen on EMI Electrola’s website.

  Read on for the tracklisting!

• EMI Electrola discography

Read more…

UPDATED Per has answered fans’ questions on Roxette’s official website again. In one of his answers he tells that two of their next week’s concerts, in Brussels (October 22nd) and Barcelona (October 24th), will be recorded “for some use in the future.” He doesn’t give any further details.

  Per also mentions that the forthcoming DVD will include all of Roxette’s videos and not 1, but 2 documentaries. The release date is yet to be revealed, and a rumor has it that the release has already been significantly delayed from the November 5th which was the first release date given to the public.

  Update (10/22/2001): Our reader Starrox asked Per after Roxette’s Freiburg concert if they’re going to record both audio and video. Per’s answer, unfortunate to many, was that they will only record audio.

• Roxette.se

Following the success of “The Centre Of The Heart” and also the somewhat constant radio airplay of “Real Sugar” in most countries in Europe, “Milk And Toast And Honey” is getting fantastic airplay on some German radio stations. It has been #1 on some of their airplay lists for more than two weeks.

  Per has mentioned many times that “after a pop tune there is alway a power ballad…” and M&T&H comes close to being that. It’s definitely a “Roxette song” and people are loving it.

  The single is also on the top 100 singles charts at #59 and the “Room Service” album is climbing the chart again slowly. In this reporter’s opinion, this means that having a hit doesn’t truly mean that the song has to sell a lot but at least be recognized and appreciated when played on the radio and that is what is now happening to Roxette.

  Also, in Portugal, the ballad is now getting airplay due to its apparence on the soap opera “Um Anjo caiu do ceu” produced in Brazil. Hopefully, it will become huge there as happens many times with soap opera soundtracks. Interestingly, the three singles from “Room Service” are now simultaneoulsy getting airplay on radio stations in Portugal - quite an unusual situation.

ST. PETERSBURG - Both in commercial spots on-the-air and on the omnipresent blue posters appearing in Saint Petersburg (Russia), the upcoming Roxette concert is being promoted as the “most long-waited-for show of the year.” This, in spite of the fact that EMA Telestar and NCA have presented in St. Petersburg such stars as Depeche Mode, Rammstein, Alice Cooper, Garbage, Natalia Oreiro, Eros Ramazzotti and others.

  Box office reports of strong advance ticket sales give credence to the claim.

BERLIN - UPDATED German newspaper Berliner Zeitung reports that Roxette will perform at a charity gala for the victims of international terrorism in Berlin. The show, called “New York, New York,” will be Thursday, October 11th, starting at 9 pm CET. This is exactly one month from the now infamous 9.11.01 date.

  Other artists set to perform include Patricia Kaas, Nena, BAP, Sarah Brightman, Corinna May and Howard Carpendale.

  Update: According to our user Sandra, EMI Electrola (the German branch of EMI) has denied that Roxette would appear at the gala. A spokesperson at EMI Svenska confirmed that regretably, Roxette would not be there. (roxeteer, Oct 11)

• BerlinOnline article (in German)

VIENNA - In an unusual promotion, Austrian radio station KRONE is searching together with EMI for a warm-up band for the two shows in Austria on November 1st and 2nd.

  According to the station, they are looking for “young bands who want to warm up a huge audience with fresh, brand-new hit songs!”

• KRONE Hit Radio (In German)

An organization of Swedish record companies, GLF, together with TV channels TV3 and ZTV, is organizing a new music awards show. Swedish Hit Music Awards, as it’s called, will be hosted live at Scandinavium in Gothenburg on November 11th. The nominees have been chosen based only on their record sales. Roxette has been nominated for the “best Swedish group” category.

  The winner in Roxette’s category “will be chosen by record buyers,” reports Expressen. However, there are no further details on how votes can be casted. Expressen also notes that the winners will receive golden moose-shaped statues, designed by Ernst Billgren.

• Expressen article

STOCKHOLM - Per will record a Ramones song for an upcoming Swedish tribute album to Joey Ramone who died last spring of cancer.
Per will sing the ballad “I wanna be your boyfriend”, one of the songs from the punk band’s debut album.

German regional channel B-TV (Baden-TV) today showed “Crush on You” and “Dressed for Success” – recorded live at the Stuttgart show yesterday.
The on-air personalities said that it was an exclusive, and there may be more shown tomorrow on their daily call-in show “Bernie and Co”.
The entire concert was filmed yesterday, including the opening act. The channel can be seen across Europe via satellite.

• B-TV (In German)