Roxette, the Swedish pop duo that scored some U.S. hit radio singles in the late 1980s and early ’90s, won’t be touring in North America this year despite the recent announcement that their 1990 song “It Must Have Been Love” has racked up more than a billion YouTube views.

In an Instagram post this morning, founder/co-frontman Per Gessle announced that due to “logistics and hugely increased touring costs,” Live Nation US has decided to postpone the tour.

Gessle, on behalf of himself, current singing partner Lena Philipsson and their band are disappointed by the Live Nation decision, and noted that the U.S. “is by far our biggest streaming market.”

“This decision was made by Live Nation USA,” he writes, “which they probably based on their own calculations. I hope we can play for our fab fans in the USA and Canada at some point in the near future.”

The 40th anniversary amphitheater tour was to have included other ’80s-era stars Taylor Dayne (“Tell It To My Heart”) and Nick Lowe (“Cruel To Be Kind”).

Roxette’s song “It Must Have Been Love” was initially released in 1987 but achieved its peak popularity came following its inclusion in the 1990 hit film Pretty Woman. The duo’s other hits included “The Look” and “Listen To Your Heart,” all of which were sung by Gessle and Marie Fredriksson, who died in 2019 years after being diagnosed with a brain tumor.

The original duo last performed together in 2016, and Roxette reformed in 2024 with Gessle and Swedish singer Lena Philipsson. While the revamped Roxette remains a successful overseas touring unit, the duo’s touring popularity went largely untested in the U.S. following its last full series of concerts here in the 1990s.

While Live Nation’s cancellation of the Roxette tour could be due to what is being called “blue dot fever,” in which sluggish tour ticket sales result in cancellations or postponements (seating plans on ticketing platforms mark unsold or available seats with a blue dot.) Among those hit by the fever include Meghan Trainor, Zayn Malik, Post Malone, Jelly Roll and the Pussycat Dolls.

The weak Roxette sales, however, can’t be so easily attributed to blue dot fever, at least not entirely. While the duo’s hits remain popular on YouTube, those videos feature the original line-up of Gessle and Fredriksson.

Among the canceled 14 North American tour dates are stops previously announced for September and October in Toronto, Philadelphia, Dallas, Houston and Los Angeles, among others. July and August tour dates for Germany and Switzerland remain scheduled.

Get our Breaking News Alerts and Keep your inbox happy.

Comments On Deadline Hollywood are monitored. So don't go off topic, don't impersonate anyone, and don't get your facts wrong.

Δdocument.getElementById( "ak_js_1" ).setAttribute( "value", ( new Date() ).getTime() );