YEKATERINBURG - The set list for the evening:

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

First Encore (Extras)

16. Way Out
17. Spending My Time
18. The Look

Second Encore (Extra extras)

19. Listen To Your Heart
20. Church Of Your Heart

SAMARA - Yesterday's concert in Samara, Russia was a smash, according to Per Gessle. "The gig was super tonite! We cut 'Silver Blue' and 'Watercolours in the Rain' because the concert needed some momentum," says Per when talking to The Daily Roxette. Next stop is the Palace of Sports (capacity 5,000) in Yekaterinburg, Russia tomorrow Saturday. Get tickets here, there are merely 150 standing left.

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. How Do You Do!
14. Dangerous
Band presentation (performing Samara gorodok "Samara small town")
15. Joyride

First Encore (Extras)

16. Spending My Time
17. The Look

Second Encore (Extra extras)

18. Way Out
19. Listen To Your Heart
20. Church Of Your Heart

More great photos from Andyash here.

SAMARA, RUSSIA - Roxette, after opening the Charm School tour in Kazan, has travelled 181 miles (291 km) south to Samara and will perform at the CSK-VVS Sport Palace this evening. The arena has a capacity of 3,800. 193 tickets were still available at 11.00 CET.
TV Report (in Russian) | Arrival Video and Photos [KP.ru]

Roxette café contributed to this article.

KAZAN, RUSSIA - Reporters from the Swedish newspapers covering the premiere concert of the Charm School tour have both published stories quoting Per as saying that if all goes well, Roxette will include North America and Australia when the tour is extended this fall.

Jens Peterson of Aftonbladet wrote that Per said "We would really like to go to Australia, we would really like to do Canada and the United States and as much as possible. There are plans and sketches. We have said that this is a tour without end right now. Everything is subject to how it works for Marie. We are not like a normal band. She must think it's fun and stay motivated." 

And Expressen's Anders Dahlbom has Per saying "It's no secret that we want to play in North America and Australia. We say that this tour doesn't have an end." 

Aftonbladet article (in Swedish)| Expressen article (in Swedish)

KAZAN, RUSSIA (Updated) - It was a shaky at the beginning, with Per and Marie encountering audio problems during the first three songs… but Roxette mangaged to get through that and, according to reports from various fans amongst the approximately 7,000 in attendance, the rest of the concert went very well.

TDR's reporter in Kazan, Svetlana Kulalaeva, filed this report:

The audience seemed to be very reserved at the beginning. Also, because not many people speak English in the province, most people could hardly understand what was said. No welcoming applause to "Hello from Hollywood", though by the first chords of "It Must Have Been Love" the arena exploded with applause and noise.  But the guys were great! Really! They did their job and worked and enjoyed what they were doing, and it was like a fire for butter. Slowly, slowly the audience started to make noise, applaud loudly, shout and show signs of appreciation.

Roxette didn't ask the crowd to raise their hands (nothing like "raise your hands in the air" or this kind of cheap stuff), they inspired people, and after a few songs people started to move, dance, clap hands, behave somehow to show that they liked what they were seeing.

The arena where the show took place is the biggest in Kazan, and it was full… but mostly the seats. There was a lot of space on the dance floor and between the rows, so in the beginning it looked more like a symphony concert.  I suppose it's a display of the Russian character: we start slowly, we need time to pick up speed, but once we get going we can hardly stop. By the end of the show, people jumped close to the stage and danced in the gangways!

The band was great, they are professionals in the best meaning of the word. To start in a cold atmosphere without showing any disappointment, it costs a lot. They felt some disappointment I suppose, I could feel it by the behavior of Marie most of all, she was quite reserved too, but she was good… really good. Smiling, the voice was beautiful as always, and Per inspired everybody by the music and he did it very well.

It was a good mix of new and old songs, and we accepted everything, waiting for their old hits of course.  They did win over the audience and the cold Russian winter!  They made the snow melt, and spring has finally arrived to our place!

And one of our readers (gearshift) told us that “'Listen to Your Heart' was gorgeous. Half of the stadium was collected at the front of the stage and the other half was waving cell phones. It was a full magic moment. Marie was singing almost two hours in a row - FANTASTIC!!”

Video of the first three songs [KP.ru] (the audio problems had not yet been worked out) | Video of "The Look" [fancam] | Video of "Listen to Your Heart" [fancam] | Video of "Spending My Time" [fancam] | Video of "How Do You Do"/"Dangerous" [fancam] | Video of "Joyride" [fancam]

Fridapeeples and Roxtexanet contributed to this article.