Per Gessle about the Roxette tour with Lena PH

Today, Per Gessle and Lena Philipsson released the new song “Sällskapssjuk” together. They will perform it on their upcoming Roxettes tour.
Now Gessle tells how it feels to perform the Roxette songs without Marie Fredriksson.
– I have been brooding over the idea for many years, how to manage the Roxette catalog in a good way, he says.

Per Gessle and Lena Philipsson go on tour to South Africa and Australia under the name Roxette. It is at the beginning of 2025 that they will go out with, among other things, the fresh song “Sällskapssjuk” and Roxette’s old song treasure.

– I recorded “Sällskapssjuk” with Lena and dropped the token that she would be a good fit to make Roxette songs, says Per Gessle in Efter fem.

Philipsson is a big Roxette fan herself and Gessle co-wrote her hit “Love is eternal”.

– I contacted her afterwards and asked if she was interested, says Gessle about how the new Roxette tour came about.

Emotional to sing without Marie

The other half of the duo Roxette, Marie Fredriksson, passed away in 2019. Since then, Per Gessle has not performed with the songs.

– I have been brooding over the idea for many years, how to manage the Roxette catalog in a good way, he says.

This year marks 35 years since Roxette released their hit “The Look”.

– If Marie had existed, we would have been out on tour all the time, but that’s not the case. She no longer exists and you either put it down or move on, says Gessle.

He says that Lena Philpsson was initially hesitant to go under the Roxette name.

“You will be knocked out”

– “How can I replace Marie Fredriksson?” she said. Then I said that the idea is not that you should replace Marie, but that you should do it your way. This is about managing a song treasure, a catalog of songs, but I understand that she was stressed about it.

Gessle says that “you will be knocked out” in the countries where you have not seen Philpsson on stage before, but will do so for the first time during the tour.

– I think this will actually be fantastic, says Per Gessle.

There are still no plans for the tour to come to Sweden, but Gessle believes that he would like to do more gigs if the tour goes well.