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).
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. 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.'"
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. Their 14 January 1995 show at Johannesburg's Ellis Park Stadium was filmed for the live video Crash! Boom! Live!.
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. 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", of which Gessle said: "We agreed, but didn't change them in the end." This made Roxette the first Western act to be allowed to perform in China since Wham! in 1985.
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. 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. 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. 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.
Set list This set list is representative of the tour's second show on 9 September 1994 at the Globen Arena in Stockholm. It does not represent all dates throughout the tour.
"Sleeping in My Car" "Fireworks" "Almost Unreal" "Dangerous" "So You Want to Be a Rock 'n' Roll Star" (The Byrds cover) "Crash! Boom! Bang!" "Listen to Your Heart" "The First Girl on the Moon" "Harleys & Indians (Riders in the Sky)" "Lies" "The Rain" "I Love the Sound Of Crashing Guitars" "It Must Have Been Love" "Fading Like a Flower (Every Time You Leave)" "Dressed for Success" "The Big L." "Spending My Time" "Cry" "Hanging on the Telephone" (The Nerves cover) "The Look" "Love Is All (Shine Your Light on Me)" "Joyride"
Notes "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 1994HelsinkiFinlandJäähalliBrainpool 9 September 1994StockholmSwedenGloben Arena 10 September 1994NorrköpingHimmelstalundshallen 12 September 1994CopenhagenDenmarkValby-Hallen 13 September 1994HalmstadSwedenHalmstad Arena 14 September 1994OsloNorwayOslo Spektrum 16 September 1994KarlskogaSwedenNobelhallen 17 September 1994JönköpingJönköping Concert Hall 18 September 1994GothenburgScandinavium 20 September 1994RotterdamNetherlandsRotterdam Ahoy 21 September 1994 23 September 1994KielGermanySparkassen-Arena 24 September 1994BielefeldSeidenstickerhalle 25 September 1994BremenÖVB Arena 6 October 1994BerlinDeutschlandhalle 7 October 1994 8 October 1994HalleEissporthalle 10 October 1994CologneSporthalle 12 October 1994MunichOlympiahalle 13 October 1994 15 October 1994MannheimMaimarkthalle 18 October 1994FrankfurtFesthalle Frankfurt 19 October 1994MemmingenEissporthalle 21 October 1994StuttgartHanns-Martin-Schleyer-Halle 22 October 1994 24 October 1994HamburgAlsterdorfer Sporthalle 25 October 1994 26 October 1994PragueCzech RepublicTipsport Arena 27 October 1994 9 November 1994LondonEnglandWembley Arena 11 November 1994DublinIrelandPoint Depot 14 November 1994SheffieldEnglandSheffield Arena 15 November 1994EdinburghScotlandRoyal Highland Centre 17 November 1994BirminghamEnglandNational Exhibition Centre 18 November 1994BrusselsBelgiumForest National 19 November 1994 21 November 1994ZürichSwitzerlandHallenstadion 22 November 1994LausanneHalle des Fêtes 25 November 1994InnsbruckAustriaOlympiaWorld Innsbruck 26 November 1994ViennaWiener Stadthalle 28 November 1994DortmundGermanyWestfalenhalle 29 November 1994HanoverHannover Messe 1 December 1994BarcelonaSpainPalau Sant Jordi 2 December 1994MadridPalacio de Deportes 3 December 1994 4 December 1994San SebastiánVelódromo de Anoeta South Africa 6 January 1995DurbanSouth AfricaKings Park Stadium 9 January 1995Port ElizabethSt. George's Stadium 11 January 1995Cape TownGreen Point Stadium 14 January 1995JohannesburgEllis Park Stadium Australia 18 January 1995PerthAustraliaPerth Entertainment Centre 21 January 1995SydneySydney Entertainment Centre 25 January 1995NewcastleNewcastle Entertainment Centre 27 January 1995BrisbaneBrisbane Entertainment Centre 29 January 1995CanberraNational Convention Centre 31 January 1995AdelaideAdelaide Entertainment Centre 1 February 1995MelbourneMelbourne Entertainment Centre 2 February 1995 Asia 6 February 1995JakartaIndonesiaJakarta Convention Center 8 February 1995KallangSingaporeSingapore Indoor Stadium 10 February 1995Hong KongHong KongQueen Elizabeth Stadium 12 February 1995BangkokThailandQueen Sirikit National Convention Center 14 February 1995ManilaPhilippinesFolk Arts Theater 16 February 1995TaipeiTaiwanTaipei County Stadium 19 February 1995BeijingChinaWorkers Indoor Arena 22 February 1995TokyoJapanNakano Sun Plaza 23 February 1995 24 February 1995SendaiSendai Sun Plaza 26 February 1995TokyoKōsei Nenkin Kaikan 27 February 1995OsakaOsaka Festival Hall 28 February 1995FukuokaFukuoka Sunpalace 2 March 1995YokohamaKanagawa Kenmin Hall Latin America 22 March 1995HerediaCosta RicaPalacio de los Deportes 24 March 1995CaracasVenezuelaPoliedro de Caracas 27 March 1995São PauloBrazilOlímpia 28 March 1995 30 March 1995Rio de JaneiroMetropolitan 31 March 1995 2 April 1995SantiagoChileTeatro Caupolicán 5 April 1995LimaPeruColegio Roosevelt 8 April 1995Buenos AiresArgentinaRicardo Etcheverry Stadium Russia 1 May 1995MoscowRussiaOlympic Stadium 2 May 1995
Cancelled dates + List of cancelled concerts, showing date, city, country and venue Date City Country Venue 5 September 1994St. PetersburgRussia 8 November 1994LondonEnglandWembley Arena 12 November 1994DublinIrelandPoint Depot 17 January 1995PerthAustraliaPerth Entertainment Centre 22 January 1995SydneySydney Entertainment Centre 23 January 1995 3 February 1995MelbourneMelbourne Entertainment Centre 9 April 1995Buenos AiresArgentinaRicardo Etcheverry Stadium
Personnel Personnel taken from the credits of the 1995 tour documentary Really Roxette.
Musicians Marie Fredriksson – vocals, electric guitar, piano Per Gessle – vocals, rhythm guitar, harmonica Per "Pelle" Alsing – drums and percussion Mikael "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