Per is publishing official "En händig man" tour videos on YouTube. So far, two videos have been released: first one from the Halmstad premiere and the second one from the Linköping concert. The videos are 1-2 minutes long and consist of clips from backstage, soundcheck and live concert.

HALMSTAD - Before 17,800 people (out of 19,000 tickets available,) Per entered the stage at Örjans vall in Halmstad yesterday. Unfortunately there was a heavy drizzle over Halmstad during the evening. Per was in a great mood and exclaimed "This is the best band I've ever been in. It was also the best tour premiere of mine ever!" Per continues "This band is actually so tight that for the second week of rehearsals we only worked on switching the set list around…"

The concert itself was very Gyllene Tider oriented, with 10 out of 23 songs. The rest consisted of seven "En händig man" songs and six from "Mazarin." Per was a bit upset with the rain as it made it hard to move on stage. "Once with Roxette I ran into Jonas Isacsson when the stage was wet. I smashed into his guitar!"

The band was in top shape. MP was sharp, and looked sharp in his nice tie, Helena was cute (and sang well) and Clarence hit every key.

The stage was fabulous. A great light show with two rather big video screens that showed what was happening on stage with some effects added. The show started by the way with a 40 minute video showing Swedish artists over the years, and ended with Per's new "secret track" which I won't tell what it is. The video wasn't shown though.

Biggest song: Sommartider probably, the sing-a-long must've been heard for miles!

Many fans from all over the world attended the concert; Russians, Norwegians, Finns, Swedes you name it.

The set list

Juni, juli, augusti
(Hon vill ha) Puls
Pratar med min müsli (hur det än verkar)
En händig man
På promenad genom stan
Vilket håll du än går
Hannas kärlekspil
Det hjärta som brinner
En sten vid en sjö i en skog
När alla vännerna gått hem
Jag skulle vilja tänka en underbar tanke
Kung av sand

Band presentation

Här kommer alla känslorna (på en och samma gång)
Födelsedag
Fru Nordin
Spegelboll
Gå & fiska!

Extras

Om du kommer ihåg
Tycker om när du tar på mej
Ljudet av ett annat hjärta
Ska vi älska så ska vi älska till Buddy Holly

Extra extras

Sommartider
Min hälsning

HALMSTAD - The Daily Roxette is back at the crime scene - at Leif's Lounge in Halmstad. This time it's for Per's "sneak preview" of "En händig man på turné." There are several hundred people there, among them Freddie Ljungberg, Martin Dahlin and Börje Salming, or should I say as Per puts it "All the guys with their own underwear label is here!" There are also some 20 South American Roxette fans here. And The Daily Roxette of course!

The concert starts at 22:15, a bit fashionably late, it's Per. The whole place rocks with the opening number "Hannas kärlekspil." Per and the band plays 11 songs, and skips one. All of the songs are great, but one stands out; "Jag skulle vilja tänka en underbar tanke" which turns into exactly what I had imagined. A show stopper that keeps on going!

TDR meets Per after the concert, where he and the band are presented a triple platinum award for "En händig man." Per is very satisfied with the concert "It felt great, everyone tells me I should do more club gigs." Naturally TDR asks why he doesn't. "Actually it seems I will. I wanted to do this thing for SOAP down in Europe, but now 'En händig man' goes so well in Norway that we are planning a club tour there. We may even pop over to Finland and Denmark," Per says.

Everything seems set for the big premiere tomorrow.

The set list:

1 Hannas kärlekspil
2 Det hjärta som brinner
3 En sten vid en sjö i en skog
4 En händig man
5 På promenad genom stan
6 Juni, juli, augusti
7 Jag skulle vilja tänka en underbar tanke
8 Här kommer alla känslorna
9 Födelsedag
10 Gå & fiska!

Extras

11 Fru Nordin *
12 Sommartider

* They skipped Fru Nordin as an extra for reasons unknown.

Mikael Bolyos - A Family Affair (EMI MBM 3971032)

Mikael has (somewhat unfairly) come in for quite a bit of criticism from Roxette fans over the years, especially since he started collaborating musically with Marie, as some fans felt that he had moved Marie's music into a direction they didn't like.

The surprising thing is that many of the same fans who criticised Micke's influence on albums such as “The Change” have been very positive about his latest project “A Family Affair”. I actually have really liked the work that Marie has done with her husband, and he was indeed responsible for my favourite song from “The Change”….”Mother”.

Personally, although this album is not going to make as one of my all time favourites of Roxette related material, I like the album a lot. It is a very eclectic mix of styles and sounds incorporating old sixties pop, jazz, eighties pop, and even more modern sounds. I think that this diversity is both the key to the record's success, and its downfall. At times I think it doesn't work very well because it jumps between too many different sounds and lacks cohesion, but then I also think that this is one of the attractions of the album: because it is a very personal collection, almost a story of Micke himself and his family, hence the title “A Family Affair”. Indeed, I can almost imagine Micke, Marie and their friends jamming away in their basement to the songs, as we saw in the Marie's “A Second Chance” documentary a few years ago.

Here are my thoughts on the individual tracks .

Merry Go Round:
A mid-tempo, very Beatles-esque kind of track. A very catchy little number, and one of my favourites. My only slight criticism would be Micke's voice. It's obvious he is not a natural singer. He sings in tune, but it is quite monotone and lacks emotion. However, it doesn't really detract anything from this song, as it is the kind of number that just plods along nicely anyway.

On&On&On:
A slower, bluesier number. Another song with a great hook. Marie is on backing vocals sounding great as usual!

Me & My Guitar:
“Yeah-eah-eah-yeah-yeah”….the song starts with Marie in her best rocky voice that we've come to know and love! This is a faster track, and I don't really think Micke's voice is strong enough to pull it off, but still a nice track.

When the Lord is About to Come:
One of my favourites on the album. A very different sound, with interesting lyrics. A duet with Mats Ronander, though I can't work out who is singing what!

Read more…

STOCKHOLM - Per will perform at a "secret" gig in Halmstad, a sneak preview if you will, Monday July 9. Like when he did the "Mazarin" release at Leif's Lounge back in 2003, Per will now perfomr at the same club. The gig will feature special invited guests only, and winners from different contests. The gig starts at around 22:00.

"En händig man" stays at #1 on the album chart, for the third week in a row, in spite of heavy newcomers.

Swedish news service TT Spektra has interviewed EMA Telstar's CEO Thomas Johansson about the alledged poor ticket sales for Per Gessle's "En händig man" tour. "It's the best selling tour in Sweden at the moment," Thomas Johansson says.

Thomas also comments that around 80,000 out of 140,000 tickets have been sold to date, and that he's satisfied since the sales is going fine still. People say that the "Mazarin" tour sold 160,000 tickets in total, but Thomas says it was closer to 140,000. He also lets us know that normally a tour sells 50 % of the tickets before a big tour starts and that EMA counts on selling somewhere between 130,000 and 140,000 tickets. That makes an average of 7,000 people per concert, which is the same as "Mazarin."