“If you’d ask me a couple of years ago, if there would ever be a new Roxette tour I would have very quickly said, ‘No,’” the group’s Per Gessle said. “Knowing what Marie had to go through in recovering from her severe illness, this is not only unbelievable, it seems almost magical to me.”

Of course, the “Marie” Gessle refers to is his Roxette partner, Marie Fredriksson, who was diagnosed as suffering from a brain tumor in 2002. Although the tumor was successfully removed, her illness pretty much ended the duo’s touring regimen for the then-foreseeable future.

Then came 2009 and Roxette’s appearances on the European “Night Of The Proms” tour, thus ending the group’s sabbatical from the concert stage.

The 2011 Roxette world tour begins with a few dates in Russia – March 1 in Kazan at Basketball Hall; March 3 in Samara at MTL Arena; March 5 in Yekaterinburg at Palace Of Sports and March 7 in Novosibirsk at Siberia Arena.

After playing dates in Kiev (March 10), Minsk (March 12), Vilnius, Lithuania (March 14), Riga, Latvia (March 16), and Tallinn, Estonia (March 18), Roxette lands in Mexico City for a gig at Viva Cuervo Salon April 1 followed by a run through South America, including stops in Argentina, Chile and Brazil. South Africa and United Arab Emirates are on the May calendar with more Europe dates listed for June and July.

Expect more dates to be added soon. For more information, click here for the Roxette website.