Dave Simpson 

Roxette – review

With a barrage of power-chord-laden hits to draw on, Roxette were one big sugar rush, writes Dave Simpson
  
  


Formed in 1986, the Swedish duo Roxette were one of the biggest pop phenomena of the 1980s and 1990s. In 2012, the vast arena isn't full, but the singing, clapping Roxette crowd are roaring along to what guitarist Per Gessle calls, in almost correct English, "yours and ours favourite Roxette songs". It's easy to forget just how many hits they had (33 in all). But The Look, Fading Like a Flower, She's Got Nothing On (But the Radio) and more are blasted back from a parallel universe where women wear power shoulder pads and men play power chords. Roxette offer one big sugar rush, with songs following a manifesto outlined by the title of their greatest hits album: Don't Bore Us – Get to the Chorus!

At 54, singer Marie Fredriksson is, as the song says, Dressed for Success in skin-tight black leather. The bleached-cropped singer is audibly thrilled to be fronting Roxette and fielding wolf-whistles again. A cancerous brain tumour, which put the band on hold for years, left her with side affects including blindness in one eye, but her voice has returned, and the poignancy she invests into their more wistful lyrics suggests this is part of her recovery.

Elsewhere, their use of English has that endearing clunkiness unique to Europop, not least Dangerous's tale of a vampish lady who's "got what it takes to make things meet", conjuring up a vision of sauciness with an eye for a bargain loaf of bread. The brutal efficiency of their hits and the dated keyboard sounds threaten to become wearying at times. But as beach balls bounce around the cheering crowd to Joyride and the rest, the words to It Must Have Been Love ("but it's over now") have never sounded more inappropriate.

 

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