Crash! Boom! Bang! Tour

The "Crash! Boom! Bang! World Tour" was the fourth concert tour by Swedish pop music duo Roxette, launched in support of their fifth studio album Crash! Boom! Bang! (1994).

Crash! Boom! Bang! Tour

World tour by Roxette
Promotional poster for 15 November 1994 concert at the (now-titled) Royal Highland Showground
Associated album	Crash! Boom! Bang!
Start date	6 September 1994
End date	2 May 1995
Legs	6
No. of shows	48 in Europe 14 in Asia 9 in Latin America 8 in Australia 4 in Africa 81 total
Roxette concert chronology

Box office and commercial recordings

The "Crash! Boom! Bang! Tour" saw the band performing to over one million people during its eighty-plus concerts throughout Europe, South Africa, Australia, Asia and Latin America from September 1994 until May 1995.[1] It saw Roxette becoming one of the first international acts to perform in territories which, in the mid-90s, were not seen as touring markets, including Indonesia, Singapore, Thailand, the Philippines and China, as well as Costa Rica, Venezuela, Chile, Peru and Russia. These concerts attracted some criticism from the European music press – particularly in Sweden – who accused the band of exploiting the people of those countries for financial gain.

Per Gessle dismissed these claims, saying: "There's been some irritation over us going to Beijing and Moscow but, I don't know, we have lots of fans everywhere—we do this for our fans, we don't do it for the money because there's no money there", conceding: "We're not going to be the generation of artists that's gonna, you know, 'cash-in' from the Chinese people. That belongs to the future [generation of artists]." Marie Fredriksson argued: "I get so pissed off with all these people who don't understand that this is a really good thing we are doing. It's for the fans, of course it's for us too, because we learn so much. It's not like 'We have to go. It's a big market. We can sell a lot of albums there.'"[2]

They became the second act to tour in post-Apartheid South Africa, playing four shows to 65,000 people in stadiums throughout the country in January 1995. Whitney Houston was the first act to tour there, and her shows the previous month had been plagued by organisational issues: thousands of ticket holders were unable to find their seats and, due in part to poor security, hundreds of concertgoers were openly robbed outside Johannesburg's Ellis Park Stadium. In contrast, Roxette's four concerts in the country passed off without incident, which was instrumental in other international acts deciding to perform there soon after—specifically The Rolling Stones and Phil Collins.[3] Their 14 January 1995 show at Johannesburg's Ellis Park Stadium was filmed for the live video Crash! Boom! Live!.[1]

Rarities, a compilation of previously released b-sides, demos and remixes, was issued exclusively in Latin America and Southeast Asia, with its release timed to coincide with dates of the tour.[4] On 19 February 1995, Roxette performed to over 15,000 people at the Workers Indoor Arena in Beijing. The procedure to get permission for this concert had taken over a year, and included self-censoring the lyrics of "Sleeping in My Car",[5] of which Gessle said: "We agreed, but didn't change them in the end."[6] This made Roxette the first Western act to be allowed to perform in China since Wham! in 1985.[7]

Two months later, on 8 April, they performed the first of two scheduled concerts at Buenos Aires' Estadio Ricardo Etcheverry – then called the Ferrocarrill Oeste Stadium – to a sold-out crowd of over 30,000 fans.[8] Approximately 150 attendees were treated for minor injuries at the venue, however, after a reported crowd rush toward the stage during the concert. The second concert the following night was cancelled over security concerns.[2] The tour concluded on 2 May 1995 in Moscow, with Roxette becoming the first act since 1917 to hold a concert on that date—a public holiday in Russia.[1] In 2008, the duo were ordered to pay SEK 4.5 million (approximately US $500,000) in unpaid taxes to the Swedish Tax Agency, for money earned during the German dates of the tour. In court papers, it was alleged that Gessle and Fredriksson paid the revenue into their joint production company, instead of declaring it as taxable income.[9][10]

Set list

This set list is representative of the tour's second show on 9 September 1994 at the Globen Arena in Stockholm.[11] It does not represent all dates throughout the tour.

1. "Sleeping in My Car"
2. "Fireworks"
3. "Almost Unreal"
4. "Dangerous"
5. "So You Want to Be a Rock 'n' Roll Star" (The Byrds cover)
6. "Crash! Boom! Bang!"
7. "Listen to Your Heart"
8. "The First Girl on the Moon"
9. "Harleys & Indians (Riders in the Sky)"
10. "Lies"
11. "The Rain"
12. "I Love the Sound Of Crashing Guitars"^[a]
13. "It Must Have Been Love"
14. "Fading Like a Flower (Every Time You Leave)"
15. "Dressed for Success"
16. "The Big L."
17. "Spending My Time"
18. "Cry"
19. "Hanging on the Telephone" (The Nerves cover)
20. "The Look"
21. "Love Is All (Shine Your Light on Me)"
22. "Joyride"

Notes

• ^{^[a]} "I Love the Sound of Crashing Guitars" was played up until the end of 1994. From the South African shows onwards, it was replaced on the set by "Run to You".

Tour dates

List of concerts, showing date, city, country, venue and opening act

Date	City	Country	Venue	Opening act
Europe
6 September 1994	Helsinki	Finland	Jäähalli	Brainpool[12]
9 September 1994	Stockholm	Sweden	Globen Arena
10 September 1994	Norrköping		Himmelstalundshallen
12 September 1994	Copenhagen	Denmark	Valby-Hallen
13 September 1994	Halmstad	Sweden	Halmstad Arena
14 September 1994	Oslo	Norway	Oslo Spektrum
16 September 1994	Karlskoga	Sweden	Nobelhallen
17 September 1994	Jönköping		Jönköping Concert Hall
18 September 1994	Gothenburg		Scandinavium
20 September 1994	Rotterdam	Netherlands	Rotterdam Ahoy
21 September 1994
23 September 1994	Kiel	Germany	Sparkassen-Arena
24 September 1994	Bielefeld		Seidenstickerhalle
25 September 1994	Bremen		ÖVB Arena
6 October 1994	Berlin		Deutschlandhalle
7 October 1994
8 October 1994	Halle		Eissporthalle
10 October 1994	Cologne		Sporthalle
12 October 1994	Munich		Olympiahalle
13 October 1994
15 October 1994	Mannheim		Maimarkthalle
18 October 1994	Frankfurt		Festhalle Frankfurt
19 October 1994	Memmingen		Eissporthalle
21 October 1994	Stuttgart		Hanns-Martin-Schleyer-Halle
22 October 1994
24 October 1994	Hamburg		Alsterdorfer Sporthalle
25 October 1994
26 October 1994	Prague	Czech Republic	Tipsport Arena
27 October 1994
9 November 1994	London	England	Wembley Arena
11 November 1994	Dublin	Ireland	Point Depot
14 November 1994	Sheffield	England	Sheffield Arena
15 November 1994	Edinburgh	Scotland	Royal Highland Showground
17 November 1994	Birmingham	England	National Exhibition Centre
18 November 1994	Brussels	Belgium	Forest National
19 November 1994
21 November 1994	Zürich	Switzerland	Hallenstadion
22 November 1994	Lausanne		Halle des Fêtes
25 November 1994	Innsbruck	Austria	OlympiaWorld Innsbruck
26 November 1994	Vienna		Wiener Stadthalle
28 November 1994	Dortmund	Germany	Westfalenhalle
29 November 1994	Hanover		Hannover Messe
1 December 1994	Barcelona	Spain	Palau Sant Jordi
2 December 1994	Madrid		Palacio de Deportes
3 December 1994
4 December 1994	San Sebastián		Velódromo de Anoeta
South Africa
6 January 1995	Durban	South Africa	Kings Park Stadium
9 January 1995	Port Elizabeth		St. George's Stadium
11 January 1995	Cape Town		Green Point Stadium
14 January 1995	Johannesburg		Ellis Park Stadium
Australia
18 January 1995	Perth	Australia	Perth Entertainment Centre
21 January 1995	Sydney		Sydney Entertainment Centre
25 January 1995	Newcastle		Newcastle Entertainment Centre
27 January 1995	Brisbane		Brisbane Entertainment Centre
29 January 1995	Canberra		National Convention Centre
31 January 1995	Adelaide		Adelaide Entertainment Centre
1 February 1995	Melbourne		Melbourne Entertainment Centre
2 February 1995
Asia
6 February 1995	Jakarta	Indonesia	Jakarta Convention Center
8 February 1995	Kallang	Singapore	Singapore Indoor Stadium
10 February 1995	Hong Kong	Hong Kong	Queen Elizabeth Stadium
12 February 1995	Bangkok	Thailand	Queen Sirikit National Convention Center
14 February 1995	Manila	Philippines	Folk Arts Theater
16 February 1995	Taipei	Taiwan	Taipei County Stadium
19 February 1995	Beijing	China	Workers Indoor Arena
22 February 1995	Tokyo	Japan	Nakano Sun Plaza
23 February 1995
24 February 1995	Sendai		Sendai Sun Plaza
26 February 1995	Tokyo		Kōsei Nenkin Kaikan
27 February 1995	Osaka		Osaka Festival Hall
28 February 1995	Fukuoka		Fukuoka Sunpalace
2 March 1995	Yokohama		Kanagawa Kenmin Hall
Latin America
22 March 1995	Heredia	Costa Rica	Palacio de los Deportes
24 March 1995	Caracas	Venezuela	Poliedro de Caracas
27 March 1995	São Paulo	Brazil	Olímpia
28 March 1995
30 March 1995	Rio de Janeiro		Metropolitan
31 March 1995
2 April 1995	Santiago	Chile	Teatro Caupolicán
5 April 1995	Lima	Peru	Colegio Roosevelt
8 April 1995	Buenos Aires	Argentina	Ricardo Etcheverry Stadium
Russia
1 May 1995	Moscow	Russia	Olympic Stadium
2 May 1995

Cancelled dates

List of cancelled concerts, showing date, city, country and venue

Date	City	Country	Venue
5 September 1994	St. Petersburg	Russia	N/A
8 November 1994	London	England	Wembley Arena
12 November 1994	Dublin	Ireland	Point Depot
17 January 1995	Perth	Australia	Perth Entertainment Centre
22 January 1995	Sydney		Sydney Entertainment Centre
23 January 1995
3 February 1995	Melbourne		Melbourne Entertainment Centre
9 April 1995	Buenos Aires	Argentina	Ricardo Etcheverry Stadium

Personnel

Personnel taken from the credits of the 1995 tour documentary Really Roxette.[2]

Musicians Marie Fredriksson – vocals, electric guitar, piano Per Gessle – vocals, rhythm guitar, harmonica Per "Pelle" Alsing – drums and percussion Mickael "Nord" Andersson – electric and pedal steel guitars Anders Herrlin – bass Jonas Isacsson – acoustic and electric guitars Clarence Öfwerman – keyboards Mats Persson – drums and percussion

Management Dave Edwards – tour manager Åsa Gessle – PA to Per Gessle Bo Johansson – security Thomas Johansson – tour management Bill Leabody – production manager Tor Nielsen – tour coordinator

Production Fredrik All – stage carpenter Mattias Dalin – sound engineer Lisa Derkert – wardrobe Lars Jungmark – monitor engineer Pontus Lagerbielke – lighting designer Max Lökholm – guitar technician Anders Mikkelsen – guitar technician Stefan Rubensson – guitar technician Mats Wennersten – keyboard technician

References

1. Thom Duffy (29 April 1995). "EMA Telstar Books Roxette Into Moscow To Close Tour". Billboard. 107 (17): 61. ISSN 0006-2510. Retrieved 24 February 2017.
2. Per Gessle, Marie Fredriksson, Marie Dimberg, Rolf Nygren, Dave Edwards (February 1996). Really Roxette (Documentary). Stockholm, Sweden: Sveriges Television. EMCJ-6007.
3. Arthur Goldstuck (11 March 1995). "Concert Status Improves In S. Africa With Stones". Billboard. 107 (10): 10, 103. Retrieved 17 March 2017.
4. John Lannert, Marcelo Fernández Bitar (20 May 1995). "Latin Notas". Billboard. 107 (20): 35. ISSN 0006-2510. Retrieved 24 February 2017.CS1 maint: uses authors parameter (link)
5. "Roxette lyrics censored in Beijing". The Albany Herald: 2. 20 February 1995. Retrieved 8 March 2017.
6. "Rolling Stones play China". thedailyroxette. 10 April 2006. Archived from the original on 28 September 2007. Retrieved 8 March 2017.
7. Mike Levin (23 December 1995). "Hong Kong Comes Into Focus". Billboard. 107 (51): 66. ISSN 0006-2510. Retrieved 20 March 2017.
8. John Lannert (25 March 1995). "Latin Notas: Argentina". Billboard. 107 (12): 39. ISSN 0006-2510. Retrieved 20 March 2017.CS1 maint: uses authors parameter (link)
9. Albin Grahn (15 October 2008). "Roxette förlorade - döms att betala 4,5 miljoner" [Roxette lost – ordered to pay 4.5 million] (in Swedish). Svenska Dagbladet. Retrieved 20 March 2017.
10. Halstein Røyseland (16 October 2008). "Roxette skylder millionbeløp" [Roxette owes millions]. VG Nett (in Norwegian). Retrieved 20 March 2017.
11. "Roxette Concert Setlist at the Stockholm Globe Arena, Stockholm on 9 September 1994". Setlist.fm. 9 September 1994. Retrieved 16 March 2017.
12. "Billboard Spotlight | Sweden | Brainpool". Billboard. Nielsen Holdings PLC. 107 (50): 80. 16 December 1995. ISSN 0006-2510. Retrieved 23 June 2017.