Latest news
Bauru concert / New date for Chile
a-ha played the first of seven Brazilian concerts yesterday - and their first ever show in the city of Bauru.
The concert was held in a huge tent that had been set up in the parking lot outside the Alameda Quality Center and attracted an audience of 3 000 people.
With 23 songs in total, the setlist was even longer than in Buenos Aires and included a rare performance of "Touchy" - which hasn't been played live since 1994. In addition, several songs were shuffled around during the last half of the set.
The setlist (with YouTube-links):
1. The Bandstand
2. Foot Of The Mountain
3. Analogue
4. Forever Not Yours
5. Summer Moved On
6. Move To Memphis
7. Crying In The Rain
8. Stay On These Roads
9. Touchy
10. The Blood That Moves The Body
11. The Living Daylights
12. Early Morning
13. And You Tell Me
14. Scoundrel Days
15. Manhattan Skyline
16. We're Looking For The Whales
17. I've Been Losing You
18. Cry Wolf
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19. Train Of Thought
20. The Sun Always Shines On TV
21. Living A Boy's Adventure Tale
22. Hunting High And Low
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23. Take On Me
During "Take On Me" Morten asked security to bring a fan in the audience called Viviane up on stage. You can see a picture she took on stage together with Morten here. "The most unforgettable moment in my life", she said afterwards.
More pictures from the concert can be seen on 94 FM's website and in this set on Flickr.
Local reviews: Jornal da Cidade
Here is a short interview clip from TV TEM and here is a look backstage before the concert.
Good news for fans in Chile; the Santiago concert that had to be cancelled last week because of the earthquake has now been rescheduled for 23 March.
The venue will be the same, Movistar Arena, and tickets purchased for the original date can be used on the 23rd. Read more on a-ha.com.
Also on a-ha.com; some info about the well-known German fans Judith, Petra and Judith, who are once again following the band on tour in Brazil. Their Twitter updates can be seen at twitter.com/jpjontour.
Yohan movie trailer
The Yohan movie trailer is now available on Filmweb.no.
Morten plays the husband of Lexya (Aylar Lie) and father of Levi (Alexander Rybak) in the childrens adventure movie, which premieres in Norway on 26 March.
The scenes with Morten were shot in the summer of 2008.
Interview with Paul
There is an interview with Paul in the Bauru newspaper Jornal da Cidade today. Here are a few quotes:
JC - What are the expectations of the band regarding the Brazilian public?
Paul - The tours that we remember most are from South America and the times when we were in Brazil
are very special to us. It is even a little funny because we always did more shows in Europe and
North America, but they started telling us that we were very successful in Brazil and that we should
include the country on tour. When we finally visited Brazil, we were impressed with the care, attention
and the amount of fans we had here. For me, the first time we played in Brazil was particularly special
because it was as if we were playing live for the first time. The audience was different and gave us
a new feeling because we had never played in such big and open stadiums. It really changed the way
we were performing.
JC - What do you like about Brazil?
Paul - It's hard to compete with the Brazilian public. You are very passionate, caring and have a
unique energy. I remember we were impressed with this conert at Rock in Rio II that I mentioned,
because there were people who stood in line for more than nine hours and still had the energy to
sing and jump during the show. This is amazing. Brazilians give of themselves completely and I do not
find these features anywhere else in the world. Let's say that each country has a "taste" and the
Brazilian "taste" is very striking.
JC - Is there a chance that the band will meet up again in the future?
Paul - "Forever" does not exist. Nothing is eternal. We don't know what can happen in the future.
I won't say that we will never again be reunited as a-ha, but right now we are saying goodbye,
yes.
JC - What do you intend to do from now on?
Paul - I really want to keep writing and working on music, working with new artists. Maybe I'll form
a new band. I have written songs and I'll see what to do with them. Magne formed another band and
they even released an album, but I think none of us have decided exactly what to do in the future because
we still have much work to do on this last tour. But surely the music will continue in our lives.
The whole interview in Portuguese can be found on Jornal da Cidade's website here, or you can read an English translation provided by Google Translate here.
The beginning of the end...
a-ha opened their "Ending on a High Note" Farewell Tour in front of 10.000 people in a sold-out Luna Park concert hall in Buenos Aires last night. This was also the first a-ha concert in Argentina since 1991.
The intro music that opened the concert was Tchaikovsky's "Serenade in C major", which was used for the first time in nine years. In 2000/2001 this classical piece was the intro on most of the concerts on the MEMS tour.
The setlist was quite long - 22 songs - but the only real surprise was "We're Looking For The Whales", which was played live for the first time since the 80s. One could perhaps have expected something different than the usual live songs and hits since the band have promised special concerts for the fans on this farewell tour. But hopefully they will change it up a little after a while.
The order of the songs was original, though. Starting with two songs from Foot Of The Mountain, the set continued chronologically backwards by album, except for an acoustic set in the middle with "Early Morning" and "And You Tell Me".
Here is the full setlist (with links to YouTube-clips):
1. The Bandstand
2. Foot Of The Mountain
3. Analogue
4. Forever Not Yours
5. Summer Moved On
6. Move To Memphis
7. Crying In The Rain
8. Stay On These Roads
9. The Blood That Moves The Body
10. The Living Daylights
11. Early Morning
12. And You Tell Me
13. Scoundrel Days
14. Cry Wolf
15. We're Looking For The Whales
16. Manhattan Skyline
17. I've Been Losing You
-----------
18. Living A Boys Adventure Tale
19. Hunting High And Low
20. Train Of Thought
21. The Sun Always Shines On TV
22. Take On Me
Magne and Morten talked to Aftenposten after the concert. Here's a translation for you:
Magne:
"An incredible audience. We were carried forward on a wave of South American madness. This was a great gig, and now the party has begun.
The ball is rolling, and we'll just have to hold on to it."
Morten:
"Yeah, it turned out to be a really fun gig. We played here 19 years ago and experienced exactly the same back then.
This was as good a start of the tour as we could have hoped for, and that makes me pleased and relieved. Because it's
not guaranteed to work like that, an opening concert is always connected with uncertainty."
Magne:
"We won't get another chance to present this show for people in Argentina, obviously. This was the last chance, so
we went full steam ahead and it worked."
Morten:
"It also has to do with us having so much experience and professional instincts. Even though we had a lot of technical
difficulties in the preparations leading up to the concert, we just won't tolerate that things aren't working on the night
itself. Quite simply. The fact that this is live, where anything can happen, helps to keep us focused."
Local reviews:
MSN Argentina
Clarin.com
Pagina 12
Rolling Stone Argentina
10musica.com
Since tomorrow's concert in Santiago has been cancelled, the next concert will be in Bauru, Brazil on Tuesday.
"- This is a tour that just keeps growing and growing"
An interview with a-ha in Buenos Aires appeared in several Norwegian newspapers today.
I have translated some of it:
Morten about the fans who were waiting at the airport and outside their hotel:
"For us, this is only fun. The fans over here are so calm and polite that it's a sheer delight."
Magne:
"And these people are the reason why we have returned to South America now. These aren't gigs that we earn much
money doing, it's concerts that have been booked as much with the heart as with the brain, because these countries
had to be included when we decided to end our career with a big tour. The fans here have always been incredibly
loyal, with a strong passion for the band."
Magne about the cancelled concert in Santiago:
"We don't want to intrude in a time of disaster and chaos, but we also don't want to disappoint the fans who are
waiting to see a-ha one final time. This time we can't exactly say "we'll be back", so that's why we will schedule
a new concert date over there. The fans deserve it."
Magne about the Farewell tour:
"This is a tour that just keeps growing and growing, so it will be a challenging task for us, especially Morten."
Morten:
"But I feel that we are well prepared to go on the road again. There are many things about a-ha that are better now.
Last year I felt that we were more united and focused than ever before. The fact that this is the last time is just
cool, and that's the only proper attitude here and now."
Magne:
"We have always been a band that's kept moving forward, without taking the time to celebrate ourselves. We're getting
a golden opportunity to do that now. That's a positive feeling to start the tour with, and even though it's been an
odd roller coaster ride at times, this is reminiscent of the same feeling we had when we started out."
Morten:
"We all have our individual projects, and a-ha has been very demanding in the busy periods. I can feel a
sting of sadness, but also a feeling of freedom. Now we'll close a chapter and open the horizon for
something new. To picture a clear, blue sky is a good feeling."
Magne:
"And it's not like we're sitting here and planning the hangover on December 5th. We'll have to get through
the party first."
The official site relaunches
To coincide with the start of the Farewell Tour, the official site was relaunched with a brand new design last night.
Check it out on a-ha.com.
Be sure to follow a-ha.com on Twitter as well, as new pictures and updates will be provided during the South American tour. A picture from rehearsals in Buenos Aires can be seen here.
a-ha exhibition in Oslo / FOTM goes silver in the UK
More details about the a-ha exhibition in Oslo are now available in English at the national library's website.
The exhibition, entitled Hunting High and Low: 25 years with a-ha, will be open between 20 October and 30 December 2010 and aims to "highlight different periods in the band's career from the time of their breakthrough until today".
There will also be an international conference called Living a Boy's Adventure Tale: musical transgression in the decades of postmodernism on 20 October, in connection with the exhibition opening.
a-ha were recently given silver awards for selling more than 60.000 copies of Foot Of The Mountain in the UK. An impressive number in today's music market.
The silver award that was presented to Sorcha MacDonald from Universal can be seen on the WOTM Forum here. (Thanks to Catherine)
a-ha arrive in Buenos Aires / Santiago show cancelled
(Pictures from the "Wildest Dream" a-ha fanclub)
Morten and Magne arrived in Buenos Aires last night, after a flight from Oslo via Frankfurt, and were met by fans at the airport. Paul had arrived from New York earlier in the day.
The website of the Argentine a-ha fanclub "Wildest Dream" has some pictures of the band members arriving here.
The Farewell Tour starts with a concert at Luna Park in Buenos Aires tomorrow.
Because of the earthquake in Chile, Saturday's concert at the Movistar Arena in Santiago has been cancelled. But the band is hoping to add a new date in Chile at the end of the month, following the concerts in Brazil.
Read the whole message about the Santiago concert on a-ha.com.
Morten supports East Timor project
The Norwegian Guide and Scout Association (link) is holding its annual fund-raising campaign next month, from 17 to 25 April. This year, like in 2009, the money raised will go to educational projects for young people in East Timor.
Morten, who has been a strong supporter of the people in East Timor since 1993, is interviewed in the official movie for the campaign. The 23-minute movie, which will be sent out on DVD to local scout groups across Norway, can now be seen online on vimeo.com.
Morten is also featured in the current issue of the scout magazine Speideren, which can be downloaded as a PDF-file here.
(Thanks to a-ha-net.de for finding the link)
More possible dates
The Norwegian website musikknyheter.no has posted a list of concerts that includes some new info (unconfirmed):
16 July: Clam Castle, Linz, Austria
2 - 8 August: Japan (TBC)
17 October: St Jakobshalle, Basel, Switzerland
4 - 11 November: Russia (TBC)
Toronto and Chicago dates confirmed
The official site has now confirmed the concert at Massey Hall in Toronto, Canada. It will be held on May 10th instead of the previously rumoured May 11th date.
There will also be an additional U.S. date at the Riviera Theatre in Chicago on May 13th. This means that we're up to 60 concerts in total. Ticket info on a-ha.com.
Norwegian stadium tour announced / New a-ha talent grant
a-ha will be performing in six Norwegian cities in August and September as part of the Farewell Tour, the band announced today.
The dates are:
21 August: Ullevaal Stadium, Oslo
28 August: Brann Stadium, Bergen
2 September: Rått og Råde Festival, Stavanger
3 September: Døgnvill Festival, Tromsø
4 September: Lerkendal Stadium, Trondheim
11 September: Sør Arena, Kristiansand
This will be the biggest stadium tour in Norway ever. It will take one week to set up the specially designed stage, which includes a 1000 square meters LED screen which is 47 meters tall and 20 meters wide.
20 semitrailers are required to carry all the equipment around, along with a crew of 100 people. And an additional 200 people will be hired locally for each concert.
An animation of JoJo Tillmann's stage design for the four stadium concerts (a smaller stage may be used for the two festival concerts) can be seen here: NRK.no
"We have a busy and important year ahead of us, and we have even more planned than what has been announced so far. We'll start by doing a big tour around the world, to celebrate the ending together with our fans. And then we'll end it all at home. This will be the coolest a-ha show ever", Magne tells Stavanger Aftenblad.
Tickets for all six concerts will go on sale next Monday, 8 March, at 09:00 via Billettservice.
News articles: Stavanger Aftenblad, iTromsø, NRK Rogaland, RBK.no, NRK Hordaland, Bergensavisen, Bergens Tidende (1), Bergens Tidende (2), Aftenposten, Fævennen, VG
Update: Morten and Magne (Paul is in New York) held a press conference in Oslo today to announce the tour dates and to reveal that the band will be handing out a new talent grant.
4 million kroner of the band's own money will be given to local bands in some of the cities they are visiting later this year, and more details will be up on this website on April 12th: www.aha2010.no
One local band in Oslo, Bergen, Trondheim and Kristiansand will receive 1 million kroner each. The bands are also given the opportunity to perform as part of a-ha's Norwegian tour.
"We are at the end of our adventure, and are excited to see what will happen in the future. We are priveleged and want to make a contribution", Magne says.
"It's an opportunity to give something back, since we have received so much".
Articles: VG, TV2, Fædrelandsvennen, FaroJournalen, Side 2
Video from press conference: YouTube
Video interviews: VG TV, ScanPix, Aftenposten
Update 2: According to this article from NTB, we can expect a lot of interesting releases and events this year, including:
- new deluxe editions of both Hunting High And Low and Scoundrel Days
- a new anthology
- updated edition of Jan Omdahl's book "The Swing Of Things"
- the national library in Oslo will hold an a-ha exhibition
- a documentary
- a live DVD
- photo book
- plus a few more surprises
All this was announced by a-ha manager Harald Wiik as he opened the press conference.