THE Swedish rock duo Roxette stormed the Queen Elizabeth Stadium's stage with smashing hits Joyride, The Look, Dress For Success and their signature-ballad It Must Have Been Love - leaving the stadium only after two loudly applauded encores and longing fanfare. Guitarist and songwriter Per Gessle and the crew-cut vocalist Marie Fredriksson kicked off the long-awaited concert on February 10 with new numbers from their latest CD Crash! Boom! Bang! The band line-up, including one rhythm and a lead guitarist, a bass player, two percussionists and a keyboard player, has been touring Jakarta, Singapore and Australia before Hong Kong in their first Asian tour. The two guitarists Jonas Isacsson and Mikael Andersson rocked their axes with blasting solos along with solid beat delivered by two percussionists. Roxette's new songs from the Crash! album failed to strike a chord in the audience which seemed unfamiliar with the new songs. It was quite serene among the audience even though the band was trying their best to shake them up with some of their hits such as Dangerous and Listen to Your Heart . Fredriksson, who recently gave birth to a baby girl, broke the ice when she sprang the opening notes to It Must Have Been Love (the title song of the movie Pretty Woman ) with the piano. The audience of 3,000 did not have to wait long, though, for their journey to the climax of the evening with Dress For Success , following with The Big which ended the first session. The fired-up audience, which sported some hard-core Swedish fans with faces painted in the colours of their national flag, threw their hands in the air and cheered, having a hard time calming themselves even when the band retreated backstage for a brief rest. Gessle came back to the stage and resumed the heated fun by asking the sweating audience: 'Are you ready for a Joyride ?' - introducing one of their international hits. Among the 23 songs that the band played, needless to say The Look - with its 'crowd chorus' - stole the limelight and sent all the fans to their feet and dancing to the beat.
