VA - Bravo Hits 17 (2001)

It started out a little shabby, but then, with an audience of a few thousand, Roxette's concert in Budapest turned into a very family-friendly party. The band was revived 6 years after Marie Fredriksson's death, and on November 4th, they returned to the Papp László Sportarena with a new singer, where, in addition to their biggest hits, a Hungarian folk song was also included in the setlist, as a kind gesture. Report.

The Swedish Roxette really needs no introduction. The pop-rock band, whose songs have grown up on generations, was founded in 1986 by Marie Fredriksson and Per Gessle, and a few years later, their album Look Sharp! – with hits like The Look or Listen to your Heart – brought them their breakthrough. It Must Have Been Love, also known as the theme song for the film Pretty Woman, and then the album Joyride further strengthened Roxette's position on the global music scene: their albums released in the 90s sold millions of copies, while their fan base swelled enormously, not only in Europe, but also in Latin America and Asia. Unfortunately, Marie Fredriksson was diagnosed with a brain tumor in 2002, which forced the band to take a multi-year hiatus. They returned in 2009, but from 2016 they stopped touring completely due to the singer's condition. Marie Fredriksson died in December 2019, which ended the story of Roxette. That is why Per Gessle's announcement last year that the Swedish superstar would bring old songs back to life with the voice of Lena Philipsson was surprising.

The “Roxette in Concert” tour, which started in February 2025, also included Budapest as one of its stops: on November 4, the renewed formation performed at the Papp László Sportaréna. On the occasion of the event, Per Gessle and Lena Philipsson previously answered Blikk’s questions on Zoom regarding the revival of Roxette (you can read in detail about what they talked about here). The conversation was otherwise very pleasant, Per and Lena did not shy away from the more sensitive questions, and it seemed that they embarked on the joint tour with great enthusiasm and enthusiasm. That is why I was curious to see what it would be like to hear Roxette’s hits live without Marie Fredriksson in front of the microphone, and to see how much chemistry there would be between them. I would like to point out that I have never seen the formation live in its original lineup, but I know and like their songs very well.

The party didn't fill half the arena.As I approached the Papp László Sport Arena, I had a strange feeling, because compared to international concerts, there were quite a few people walking in the same direction as me. When I got to the hall, I was surprised to find that the doors leading to the seating sectors and the buffets belonging to them were closed, the reason for which I actually understood when I got to the arena. The stage was placed in an angle, meaning that half the arena was actually waiting for the audience, and the organizers only opened the seating sectors opposite the stage. This is something they do when they can't fill the venue, and in the case of Roxette, this time they couldn't even fill half of it. Even 20 minutes before the concert, there were still quite a few people in the hall, huddled between the mixing console and the stage.

I don't know if this was more embarrassing for the audience or the band, but it seems that many people don't find Roxette as exciting without Marie Fredriksson, which is understandable, since Marie is a very charismatic singer. Like others, I wouldn't break an arm or a leg to see the revived Linkin Park with a new singer instead of Chester Bennington. By the way, most of the people who came to the party were middle-aged and older, and I saw small Swedish flags made of paper on some of them, but this party spirit only came to mind for a moment in a small group.

The spring breeze is also blowing at the Roxette concert. The band, who arrived without an opening band, started the show at 8 pm relatively punctually, starting the concert with the song The Big L. I wouldn't necessarily have burst onto the stage with this song, because since it's not one of their best-known compositions, the production seemed pretty anemic at first glance. The visuals weren't too special either, actually a giant curtain provided the backdrop, onto which they first projected a Roxette caption, and later other shapes. I don't know how uncomfortable the performers felt about the sparse audience, but at the start it seemed like they couldn't find their comfort zone right away, but this situation passed pretty quickly.

Returning to the setlist, of course, hits like How Do You Do or Joyride were not left out, while the encore block was kicked off with Spending My Time, which Lena and Per performed with a guitar, two of them. Listen To Your Heart was also noticeably awaited by many people – Per told Blikk in September about how unhappy he was when Fidesz used this composition for its political campaign without consulting them – and at the end of the production, The Look and Queen of Rain were also included. So if someone could get over the fact that it wasn't Marie singing Roxette songs with Per, then they could have had a very pleasant evening in the Arena on Tuesday, but it is already clear that not nearly enough people are interested in the nostalgia train of the renewed formation to make it worth thinking about such large-scale parties, at least in Budapest.