last night, m took me to the gibson amphitheater to see roxette in concert. roxette is my favorite band. ever. i don’t remember how i got into roxette, but i feverishly followed their music from the late 80s until about 2000 when they disappeared from US music charts and i moved on to other musical interests influenced by m (who also likes roxette but likes loads of other things, too).

i didn’t grow up near a major metropolitan area so my likelihood of seeing them in concert was unlikely. i’m also not an avid concert-goer and although i will hunt down every last album in a discography, i won’t become a roadie any time…well, ever. m teases me for being the fuddy-duddy who sits in her seat and just stares at the stage. i’m not bored, i’m just shy singing and being demonstrative in public.

the concert was an almost bittersweet experience for me. all these songs from my adolescence…realizing i know all the lyrics to almost every song, even the ones that were never released on the radio…realizing that i’ve been a fan since the 80s (80s!)…seeing both of them look much older than they do on their cd sleeves of yesteryear. ahhhh, that’s the crux of it, isn’t it? we are getting older. marie fredriksson has recovered from illness but has endured loss. i imagine that prior to 2002, she was also jumping up and down on stage like per gessle and gesturing wildly to the crowd. on this particular night and on this particular stage, her voice is intact and still beautiful (albeit darker and more gravelly), but i can’t suppress the heartbreak as i watch per gently nudge her into the opening lines of a song and tenderly embrace her to help her walk off the stage after their last song.

i would like to believe that this glimpse of frailty is partly due to the fact that LA is their next to last concert on a tour that started in february 2011. or that it was just an ‘off’ night. but i know that in reality, although these possibilities might be true, it’s also possible that this is simply the way life goes. i applaud her for courageously giving the audience everything she has after all these years, still striving to be the performer that she has always wanted to be. thank you roxette for a great concert – thank you m for taking me to see roxette. i will remember this concert for as many years as i remember the lyrics and then some.

speaking of memories, i can distinctly and poignantly remember where i was when i listened to their albums:

look sharp! – iowa. i’m sitting in the backseat of our honda accord, probably driving to church. i have the cd sleeve open in my lap and i’m following along with the lyrics to “paint.” from the front seat, my dad’s voice says, “they sound like abba.” i tell him they are from sweden and we agree that there’s some similarity.

joyride – wisconsin. i’m at a slumber party at DD’s house and i receive 2 calvin and hobbes books and joyride for my sixteenth birthday.

tourism – minnesota. i listen to this album all summer. i spill water on the cd sleeve.

crash! boom! bang! – this is the exception. i don’t have strong memories of this album in my life because i didn’t connect as strongly with their new less pop-y vibe.

baladas en espanol – barcelona. one of the few albums i don’t own. i discover they covered an album of their songs in spanish.

pearls of passion – chicago. i’m sitting in a computer programming class listening to this album over and over and over and over.

have a nice day – hmmm. another exception. i love ‘stars’ but can’t geographically place this album in my chronology.

and i have 3 more albums on their way…

;)