CONCERT REVIEW! Roxette ROCKS Cape Town

Roxette spreading their pop rock magic

Swedish pop rockers Roxette certainly know how to heat up a cold Friday evening in Cape Town, South Africa. It's the last night of the group's South African tour and it's pouring with rain and freezing cold, but nothing could had damped the enthusiasm of the 6000+ fans that showed up at GrandWest's Grand Arena to catch Roxette live in concert. Honestly, I didn't expect that much people. The first time Roxette had us jiving on the dance floor was way back when I was at school (1988/1989 - yeah, I'm giving my age away) and the song The Look became a HUGE hit. I didn't see the band when they first toured South Africa in 1995, and neither last year when they had a series of sold out concerts. I really didn't think they would still draw the masses, but boy of boy, I was soooo wrong! DJ Paul Almeida got the evening started with groovy tunes from years gone by and more recent dance floor hits. As 21:00 came, the crowd was restless for Roxette magic and when band members and the two icons of the band, Marie Fredriksson (vocals) and Per Gessle (vocals and guitar), took to the stage, the crowd went nuts! The band ripped into all their classic hits, but it was It Must Have Been Love, Spending My Time, Fading Like A Flower, Dangerous and The Look, that were definite crowd pleasers. Per was enigmatic with his hop skip and jiving playful stage antics, but Marie was a bit more reserved. Although you could see she was blown away by the reaction, it seems if her recent cancer scare still had an effect on her. The truly stand-out moment of the night was when the lead guitarist started playing the Afrikaans folk song, 'My Sarie Marais and Suikerbossie ek wil jou hê', and the audience went crazy, singing and clapping along. Roxette definitely still haven't lost their spark and the show was truly piece of Joyride.

PS: So you have heard the rumours about Bon Jovi coming? Well well, a little birdy whispered it maybe sooner than later - especially after Friday evening when the hints were thrown from the stage! What's this space for more info. . .