KAZAN, RUSSIA - With the first concert of the tour now completed in Kazan, here is the full set list:

1. Dressed For Success
2. Sleeping In My Car
3. Opportunity Nox
4. The Big L.
5. Wish I Could Fly
6. Only When I Dream
7. She's Got Nothing On (But the Radio)
8. Perfect Day
9. Things Will Never Be the Same
10. It Must Have Been Love
11. 7Twenty7
12. Fading Like A Flower
13. Silver Blue
14. How Do You Do!
15. Dangerous
Band presentation (with Kalinka Malinka)
16. Joyride

First Encore (Extras)

17. Watercolours In the Rain
18. Spending My Time
19. The Look

Second Encore (Extra extras), and Marie is now wearing the official sweater of Kazan hockey club Ak Bars.

20. Way Out
21. Listen To Your Heart
22. Church Of Your Heart

Additional reporting by Joyrider2000

Fans have been hopeful in recent years that with Marie's recovery from brain cancer, that Per and Marie would reactivate Roxette: take the stage again… perhaps tour… and if all that wasn't possible, at least get into a recording studio and release new material.  We've known for months now that all of these wishes are coming true, and today marks another milestone in the duo's career with Roxette.

Per, Marie, and the band – along with a very small entourage – boarded what Per has dubbed the "Roxjet" late yesterday morning and flew to Kazan, Russia where, tonight, the first in a long series of concerts will take place in the large basketball arena there.

After a handful of successful concerts that Roxette performed this past summer (the results of which are an impressive addition to the deluxe edition of their new Charm School album), they've now set out on a full-fledged world tour that is expected to span at least five continents during the year (see below).  By all accounts, both Per and Marie are returning to the world stage full of renewed enthusiasm. While Roxette toured the U.S. in 2000 (Greatest Hits) and Europe in 2001 (Room Service), their last real world tour took place in 1994-95 in conjunction with the “Crash! Boom! Bang!” album.

“If you’d asked me a couple of years ago,  if there would ever be a new Roxette tour I would have very quickly said 'No!',” says Per. “Knowing what Marie had to go through in recovering from her severe illness, this is not only unbelievable, it seems almost magical to me. It will be wonderful to meet all our audience on Planet Earth again.”

Band member Christoffer Lundquist, speaking to The Daily Roxette after having arrived in Kazan, said “Roxette are back and it really feels like the world wants to hear Roxette again. Everyone really feels the difference compared to the last tour – 2001.  There's so much more enthusiasm and demand and curiousity about Roxette and it really affects all of us. And of course the obvious… I mean Marie's amazing comeback. It's really a miraculous recovery. And also, her personal strength… the way she has been fighting for this and not giving up. The whole thing is mind-blowing to me.”

About the tour, he says “We're playing really, really great songs and singing and playing live… with as much energy as we can possibly muster!”

MORE GOOD NEWS TO COME!

Additional concert dates, beyond those that are confirmed and appear on our concert calendar, are expected… both within the current time frame, and beyond it. Per, in an interview with German radio station NDR 2 for which readers of TDR were invited to submit questions, revealed that plans are underway to extend the tour into the fall with about 25 more shows. While he mentioned that some would be in Germany, it is expected that other dates will include stops in some of the countries that seem to be obvious omissions from the tour including, perhaps, a North American segment.  There has been speculation that that is why the Mexico City date was replaced with Montevideo, Uruguay.

HAPPENING IN KAZAN

TDR's reporter in Kazan, Svetlana Kulalaeva, has let us know that it should be possible to view the scheduled press conference over the internet (link below), and that the Mayor of Kazan (who by some accounts is a Roxette fan himself) is expected to officially welcome Per and Marie.

Coverage of Roxette's arrival in Kazan (photos and video) [KP.ru] | Press Conference (with LiveNation's Thomas Johansson)

Additional reporting by Michi1506 in Germany. The photo of the Roxjet is an artist's rendition of the actual plane (which LiveNation has leased from a company in Finland — thus the "OH"), with the addition of a Roxette livery.

COPENHAGEN - Tivoli in Copenhagen, Denmark is putting out a warning about fake Roxette tickets. Many sites, among them the infamous Biljett.nu, are apparently selling tickets to the Roxette concert on Friday, July 22, but the concert is free! So again, do not purchase tickets for the Tivoli show, as the performance is included in the price of admission to the historic amusement park. This entrance fee is 95 Danish kroner (about $17.50 USD or €12.75 EUR) before 8 pm.

Roxette has earned a mention in Billboard's look at the milestones in the history of its Hot 100 countdown. The group's name comes in the same breath as the Beatles, Michael Jackson, and Madonna.

"Listen to Your Heart," the 706th song to ever hit number one on the famed chart, was the first chart topper to be available only as a cassette single. All prior number ones had been available for purchase on vinyl.

The nostalgic look back was prompted when Lady Gaga's "Born This Way" became the 1,000th number one in the chart's history.

STOCKHOLM - As per usual Per Gessle stays up all night with a bottle of wine selecting nothing but the best songs for his audience to hear before the night's concert. The Roxette World Tour 2011, which starts on Monday, is no different. The Daily Roxette is proud to present the Official pre-show mixed tape 2011 by DJ Mr. Gee: (and for those of you who are fortunate enough to have Spotify, here's the list!)

Do anything you wanna do - Eddie & the Hot Rods
Birds And The Bees - Unkle Bob           
My girl - Madness
Rose garden - Lynn Anderson       
The model - Kraftwerk           

Read more…

TORONTO - Since Roxette's latest single "Radio" was officially released in Canada, Canada's biggest music network Much Music has added the video to its Muchmore playlist where it's at #10 at the moment. This is huge.

Regarding the Roxette World Tour that starts February 28 in Kazan, Russia; two dates have returned and one date is gone:

Mexico City, Mexico has vanished from the tour schedule, it may be back though, stranger things have happened.

June 24 Neckarsulm, Germany
June 25 Ingolstadt, Germany

Both dates are included in the Audi RockPop Festival 2011. Tickets go on pre-sale February 25 and can be bought at Eventim.

Charm School has entered the official German albums chart at #1! This is according to a press release titled "Roxette succeed in splendid comeback" by German market research institution Media Control which was published this morning. Charm School is the third Roxette album to top the German charts after Joyride (1991) and Tourism (1992). Also, "She's Got Nothing On (But the Radio)," has jumped 10 places compared to last week, now charting at #12.

The real surprise however is Charm School not hitting number 1 in Sweden, making it the only Roxette studio album alongside Pearls of Passion not to manage full chart control at home. Worse still, "She’s Got Nothing On (But the Radio)" has yet to make an appearance on the Swedish singles chart. Makes you wonder if Sweden even knows their biggest music export of the last 3 decades has returned.

eBay and Krischan contributed to this article.

STOCKHOLM (Updated) - Earlier this week Swedish TV4 Nyhetsmorgon visited Marie and Per at the rehearsal studio. The show will air this Saturday, 19th of feb in two parts – the first one at 09.37 and the second one at 10.18. This is one of very few interviews Marie gives, so be sure to tune in! After airing the interview will also be available on TV4 Play.

Part 2 of the interview will be aired on TV4+.

WARSAW - According to several sources, among them Per's own Facebook page, the concert in the Torwar Hall, Poland has been sold out making that the 12th sold out concert of the tour so far. Per comments "Hallelujah!"

Robert Lathi contributed to this article.

SYDNEY (Updated) - The good news is that the very popular music channel “Music MAX” has finally dedicated air time to Roxette with this morning’s “Superstar Top 20: Roxette” special. The program counted down their 20 biggest videos including the new release “She’s Got Nothing On (But the Radio)” coming in at #15. Also, in a first time ever for Australian TV, Music MAX played the videos to some of Roxette’s more obscure songs including 1986’s “Soul Deep”, 1995’s “She Doesn’t Live Here Anymore” and 2001’s “Real Sugar” (neither of which were ever officially released here as singles!)

Meanwhile, some less than positive news with regards to the new album Charm School with one of the nation’s biggest newspapers giving it “one star” out of five. The Sunday Telegraph review would go on to say "…the warning bell rings loud and clear with the first single ‘She’s Got Nothing On’. If old cheese is your preferred taste, then enjoy the retro feast…”

At the very least it lets the Australian market know that a new Roxette CD is available… despite the negative review.

Update:  Charm School is featured in the "New & noteworthy" section of the Australian iTunes store. (Like the single back in January.) Probably as a result of this the album is hovering around the top 40 mark which is nice. The deluxe version & the Hits are also in the top 200.

Hotblooded contributed to this article.

In the first weekend of its release, Charm School managed to reach the upper regions of the iTunes Album charts in Europe. The new album made it to the Top 10 in not less than 11 countries. Besides that, even A Collection Of Their 20 Greatest Hits! pops up in the charts in Germany (at #10) and Austria (at #8).  By anyone's standards, this appears to be a great comeback! Read more…

Roxette's perfomance this weekend on the German television program "Wetten, dass…?" was a high-energy medley of "The Look," "It Must Have Been Love," and the new single "She's Got Nothing On (But the Radio)."

The set designer had Roxette performing in an open tunnel lit mostly with blue spotlights. In the audience shots, several fans could be seen wearing "Charm School Girl" t-shirts, complete with graduation caps at the end. The host said "Welcome back!" to Roxette and presented Marie with a bouquet of sunflowers and yellow roses. Per said the show went "very, very well." 

Various fans recorded the show and have uploaded the segment to YouTube.  Here's one example.

STOCKHOLM - Two Swedish house music DJ/remixers, Adam Rickfors and Adrian Lux – both of them based in Stockholm – were commissioned to create remix versions of "She's Got Nothing On (But the Radio)" for Roxette and EMI Sweden.  Despite the fact that both of them are relatively young, their individual careers are well-established. They each have contracts with major electronic dance music record labels.

Sources tell The Daily Roxette that the remix EP, which will be released very soon, will have five tracks with Lux contributing two (the "original" at just over 5½ minutes and an edited "radio" version that's under three) and Rickfors' three tracks (the full "dub" version running 7¼ minutes and both a "power edit" and a "radio" edit that are each about  3½ minutes long).  

Rickfors and Lux were both given access to the master vocal and instrumental tracks, as is almost always the case with an "official" remix. The main reason the remixes were commissioned, as most of our readers already understand, is that a good remix – and our inside source assures us that these are indeed good – extends the viability of a single and serve as a form of promotion for both the single and the album and – in this case – a tour as well.

FT. MCMURRAY - Radioman and long time Roxette supporter Ian Seggie of Ft. McMurray, Canada has spoken to EMI Canada. According to Ian's sources Roxette will be making an appearance in Canada later this year, so far unclear as of when, but places like Montréal, Toronto and Vancouver have been named. Combining this with Per's hints in German interviews that the tour will be prolonged after August, maybe even into 2012, this surely sounds like good news.

COPENHAGEN - Roxette is getting nice promo for the new album next week on the Danish radio channel P4. The channel has selected Charm School as the "album-of-the-week" next week.

P4 is among of the biggest radio stations in Denmark with the entire country as listeners.

P4 will airplay several tracks from the album next week - for instance "Way Out", "Speak To Me", "Dream On", "In My Own Way" and "After All", besides the first single, "Radio," off the album.

Submitted by Anders Falck Tindborg.

BUENOS AIRES - Roxette Latinoamerica website, together with EMI Argentina, are throwing a pre-listening release party for Charm School on February 13 in Buenos Aires. The party is at Saint's Bar, Av. Cabildo 5451, and it begins at 18.00 sharp.
All the info for the event plus the flyer can be found on their website.

Submitted by Alejandro.

After selling out 3 shows of 4 in sunny South Africa, Roxette has added two more shows to their South African leg of the Charm School World Tour. According to Jacaranda FM, local radio station, the demand was so huge that they have added more shows.  The station, alongside other SA radio stations, have also started playing the new single "She's Got Nothing On (But The Radio)".

Grand Arena, Grand West, Cape Town - Western Cape
Sun 08 May 11 8:00 PM
Tue 10 May 11 8:00 PM  (SOLD OUT)
Wed 11 May 11 8:00 PM  (SOLD OUT)

Sun City Superbowl, Sun City - North-West
Fri 13 May 11 9:00 PM
Sat 14 May 11 8:00 PM  (SOLD OUT)
Sun 15 May 11 6:30 PM

Here it is - the traditional Daily Roxette team album review! Lars-Erik, Thomas, Judith, Colin & Paul gathered in the virtual TDR newsroom to write up this special review on Roxette’s brand-new album!

It’s been a long, long time (It’s been a while and lots of miles…) coming but here we are… a brand new studio album from Roxette. Years of speculation on Roxette’s future have ended with the release of Charm School and the upcoming World Tour.  As for the album itself, it has so many trademark Roxette sounds, yet is totally new and it feels great to have real instruments again on some of the songs. Most fans we're sure will love it, but obviously there will always be some who won’t.  Our review is quite lengthy, but it’s been 10 years since we've had a chance to do one of these. Anyway, song by song review time:

“WAY OUT”

Colin: A Roxette album that starts with a mouth harp - that must be a first! The first verse really has that Aerosol Grey Machine studio sound and then at the catchy chorus the heavier guitars kick in. The song has a really positive vibe to it and to me it feels like a sequel to “June Afternoon” – awesome!
Thomas: “We will we will rock you!” drums. Love those guitars. And it must be Per playing that first weee-wah-wah-wah-wa after the first chorus! They also used a mouth harp in “I Remember You” if you remember.
Colin: Oh I do remember! That was my first Roxette song - loved it!
Paul: This song reminds me more of “Stupid” from The World According To Gessle. The drum beat is very similar indeed.
Lars-Erik: You know you’re right! I thought this had a familiar sound to it and that was it!
Paul: Not a typical Rox-album-opener really. I was expecting something along the lines of “Crush On You” or “Real Sugar”, so this came as a surprise… a nice surprise. The song, as with a few others on the album, is too short though.  A Marie middle-8 would have fixed that problem Mr G!
Thomas: 2.46?? That’s barely longer than “Här kommer alla känslorna”.
Judith: Now that you mention this song, I keep having this one in mind when I listen to some of the tracks on this album. It must be the happy mood. This album has a lot of the Roxette sound we know, but yet we get to hear some new sounds we never heard with Roxette before. This is one example. Great guitars and opener! I am glad that Per realized he can use and experiment with his voice a lot more than he used to! I must say both sing wonderfully on this album. I think this is a wonderful album so you won’t get much negative points from my side, I am afraid. The only one is that the album is too short! I want more!! 2-3 more songs would have done it.
Thomas: Yes, what else is there to add? This is one of my favorites as well, maybe even “The Favorite” and I had hoped the whole album had been a bit more like this song.
Colin: Definitely one of my favorites too, after listening to the albums a few times this is the chorus that really keeps hanging around in my head!
Lars-Erik: Nobody’s mentioned the ending… I really like it! I think the distorted guitar there is cool!
Thomas: Yes we did! We all felt it came way too soon!

Read more…

MONTREAL - Roxette's Charm School will finally see the light of day in Canada on March 29, according to EMI Canada's website.  As yet, it is unclear whether the CD release will be the regular or deluxe version, but the vinyl LP will be released the same day - the first vinyl release for Roxette in Canada since Look Sharp! in 1989!  As everywhere, the lead single is "She's Got Nothing On (But the Radio)" which has already aired on Montréal's largest radio station, CKOI.  This is the first major Canadian radio station to play a new Roxette single since "Wish I Could Fly."  Listeners can vote for the song on the daily top 6 at 6 by visiting their website. "Radio" is also getting airplay on KIX 106 in Alberta. Can a Canadian tour date be far behind?!

"She's Got Nothing On (But the Radio)" enters the official German singles chart at #18!  This is Roxette's biggest hit in the third biggest music market worldwide since "Sleeping In My Car" hit #11 back in 1994.  

Per is doing a radio interview in Germany next week and the host of the show is interested in asking Per some more interesting questions directly from the fans and not that kind of stuff Per has already been asked 10,000 times.

Post your questions as comments to this article.

SYDNEY - The Australian TV Channel "MTV Classic" once again aired their "Roxette Live in Sydney Special" (basically a cut-down version Live-Ism) but then immediately after they debuted the video for "She's Got Nothing On (But the Radio)".

This Australian Roxer nearly fell off his chair when after the credits to "Live-Ism" ended and suddenly heard the thumping bass of the new single!

Also, the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC TV) aired the video too on their morning program "Rage" at about 8.30am on Sunday February 6!

This reporter is urging all Aussie Roxette fans to get in touch with their respective music channels and get requesting!

Also, an ad for Charm School appeared during the show "Video Hits".

Neilandkathie and Bwad contributed to this article.

NEW YORK - Citigroup, the U.S. banking conglomorate, has seized control of EMI Group Ltd. from troubled financier Guy Hands and his Terra Firma private equity firm, acquiring 100 % of the share capital on a restructuring that saw EMI's debt load cut to £1.2 billion from £3.4 billion.

The transaction reportedly ends a financial roller coaster ride that began with Hands's £4 billion buyout of the U.K.-based music group in 2007. That highly leveraged acquisition was financed with capital from Citigroup.

But declines in music industry revenue continued, and that coupled with the overall worldwide financial crisis left EMI struggling to meet their obligation. With Citigroup declining to renegotiate the debt, the conflict moved to a courtroom here in November. The jury decided Citi had not fooled Hands into paying too much for EMI.

"The recapitalization of EMI by Citi is an extremely positive step for the company," said Roger Faxon, EMI's chief executive, in a statement to the press. "It has given us one of the most robust balance sheets in the industry with a modest level of debt and substantial liquidity. With that solid footing, we are confident in our ability to drive our business forward," he added.

Besides Roxette, EMI is also home to a diverse roster of acts – from the Beatles to Katy Perry – and has a rich catalog of tunes to license. As a result, private-equity firms and rival music companies are reportedly jumping at the opportunity to buy some or all of it.  A Citigroup insider told Music Week the bank had little interest in keeping hold of EMI as a going concern. He said, "[Citi] has already been in talks with all the relevant majors about selling off the various parts of the company."

Additional reporting by Mathew James (onlywhenidream) in the U.K..