Archive for 2015

“Flags In The Air”

Cover artwork

Cover artwork

Magne’s youngest son Filip Clements has recently been posting some of his own music on Soundcloud. The latest track “Flags In The Air” is a song written by Magne, and recorded as a duet between the two of them.

Magne posted a link to the song on Instagram today:

“hohoho…as a little yule-tide treat, head over to soundcloud – for a father/son duet of ‘flags in the air’. i originally wrote this song for the a-ha album, but no one else wanted it on the record, so instead here is a demo to complete(?) your happy holidays. 🎅 merry xmas to my loyal insta-followers!”

a-ha.com has additional info about the song, including the lyrics.

New a-ha book: ‘Living a Fan’s Adventure Tale’

Book cover

Book cover

British writer Greg Lansdowne has written a new book called Living a Fan’s Adventure Tale: a-ha in the Eyes of the Beholders, which aims to describe how a-ha’s music has made an impact on fans around the world.

The 128-page book will be published by Wymer on 4 March 2016, and can be pre-ordered from Amazon.co.uk, Amazon.de and Amazon.com.

Here’s a quote from the book description provided by the publisher:

“Fans from around 50 different countries have been willing to share their wide and varied memories of following the band for this book, in a celebration of what has made a-ha so popular across the globe for three decades. With other contributions from musical collaborators and journalists who have interviewed the band, and academics in fandom, this is a thorough study into the career of the three Norwegians, lavishly illustrated throughout with fans snapshots and personal photos of the band. Living A Fan’s Adventure Tale gets to the heart of what it really means to be a fan and is a must-read for all devotees as it puts into words why a-ha endures in the minds of millions of people.”

More details about Living a Fan’s Adventure Tale and the process of writing the book can be found in an article written by Lansdowne on a-ha.com.

According to Lansdowne, a-ha collaborators such as Leif Johansen, Ian Wherry, Jørun Bøgeberg, Per Lindvall and Frode Unneland have all contributed to the book.

a-ha interviewed by Bergensavisen

One of the reporters who interviewed a-ha at the press conference in Bergen last week was Ørjan Nilsson from Bergensavisen (BA). Below are a few translated quotes from that interview. The original video can be seen at ba.no.

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BA: Morten, you’re the one who’s been closest to the a-ha material during the last five years, as you played a selection of a-ha songs on your solo tour in 2012. What’s the biggest difference between playing a-ha songs with Paul and Magne and playing without them?

Morten: I might be tempted to say something funny here (laughs). No, but playing without them will never be a-ha for me, or anyone else. If I’m backed by another band on stage, that’s not a-ha. Not today and not tomorrow. That’s just how it is. At the same time, a-ha is a big part of my identity, so it isn’t necessarily wrong to play those songs [at solo concerts]. In certain settings it could be the right thing to do.

When I was planning my first solo tour [after a-ha split up] in 2012, there was a lot of pressure from promoters who wanted me to play a-ha songs, as they felt that the audience would expect that. I disagreed with them, as we had already toured a lot with a-ha [in the years prior]. It’s not like the fans don’t want to hear the a-ha songs, but when I go on a solo tour they’re coming to hear my solo material.

So that was a difficult decision to make, because it’s not wrong to play the songs per se, they are important songs to me. At the same time, there needs to be a solid identity to what you’re doing. So I let go of that on the next tour, with the Brother album, and that is the right thing to do. But exceptions may occur. There may be situations where it feels appropriate [to do a-ha songs].

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BA: 2015 is quite an anniversary year for a-ha, in connection with Hunting High and Low and “Take On Me”. But you have also released new deluxe editions of Memorial Beach and East Of The Sun, West Of The Moon. What’s it been like to revisit that material, which fans don’t get to hear too often at concerts?

Magne: Well, I wouldn’t say that it’s something we have released, it’s rather Warner Brothers who have chosen to put together these reissues. But there aren’t too many albums that get such a treatment, so I’d have to say that I’m proud that they’re celebrating material that we did 30 years ago. And they’re not doing this just to be nice, it’s because they see that there’s still a lot of love for the band, around the world.

And of course a lot of demos and unreleased material has been added. For each new reissue, increasingly more obscure things are uncovered. I can imagine the 50th anniversary, when we begin to search the very bottom of our drawers for unreleased stuff (laughs). But it’s definitely an honour for us.

Morten: That is a dilemma for us as a band, though. I think all three of us would like to play other songs than just the most well-known. At the same time, people are going to a concert with certain expectations, and it would be wrong not to cater to that. But we would gladly have done a tour where we only play the more “hidden” songs. That would have been an exciting tour.

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Paul: We have done deluxe editions before, and now we’re even releasing super deluxe editions (laughs). But I actually think it’s very cool, because a lot of those old demos, even if they aren’t that fancy, they contain the very core of a-ha – often more so than the finished versions.

BA: It’s been 28 years since your first concert in Bergen, at Bergenshallen on 1 February 1987. What do you remember from back then?

Morten: I’m drawing a complete blank here.

Magne: I can’t say that I remember much details.

Paul: I remember playing tennis before the concert.

Morten: You remember that?!

Paul: Yeah, I actually do (laughs).

Morten: You’re fucking weird.

Magne: So that was apparently the highlight for you – nailing that serve (laughs).

Paul: Yes!

Video: Morten at The Batcave in 1983

Morten dancing at The Batcave, 1983

Morten dancing at The Batcave, 1983

A very early video clip, quite possibly Morten’s first TV-appearance, is currently making the rounds among a-ha fans.

The clip in question is taken from a 7-minute report about The Batcave nighclub in Soho, London, which is considered to have been the “birthplace of the Southern English goth subculture”. The report aired sometime in 1983 on the programme “Reporting London” on London Weekend Television (LWT).

Although the clip was uploaded to YouTube in 2010, it wasn’t discovered until recently that Morten appears in it. He can be seen for a few seconds on the dancefloor, wearing one of his self-designed outlandish outfits from that time. All three a-ha members were frequent guests on the London club scene in the early a-ha years.

The clip can be seen on YouTube here. Morten appears at 5:35.

Morten’s autobiography coming in March

Cover of the German edition

Cover of the German edition

Last year, Morten revealed in an interview with the Sunday Mercury that he was working on his autobiography together with British writer Tom Bromley:

“Morten is currently working with writer Tom Bromley on his biography and says “It’s been very good, he’s a really nice guy and we have had some interesting sessions. He makes me remember things, makes me see things again”.

He chuckles: “I then read his interpretation of me and attack that and then resurrect it.”

The book does not have a title as yet, although Morten laughingly promises it will have one.”

The book now seems to be finished, and has been given the title Morten Harket: My Take On Me.

The 256-page German language edition is now available for pre-order from amazon.de, with a March 14th release date. No word yet on when the British or Norwegian editions can be pre-ordered.

a-ha at the 2015 Nobel Peace Prize Concert

a-ha and Kygo closing the Nobel Peace Prize Concert with "Take On Me"

a-ha and Kygo closing the Nobel Peace Prize Concert with “Take On Me”

a-ha headlined the Nobel Peace Prize Concert at Telenor Arena in Oslo tonight, where they performed five songs for an audience of 8000 people:

1. Scoundrel Days (YouTube)
2. The Sun Always Shines On TV (YouTube)
3. Stay On These Roads (YouTube)
4. Sycamore Leaves (YouTube)
5. Take On Me – Kygo Remix (w/Kygo) (YouTube)

They were joined by their usual backing band; Karl Oluf Wennerberg on drums, Even Ormestad on bass and Erik Ljunggren on keyboard.

On “Take On Me” they were joined by Kyrre Gørvell-Dahll (aka Kygo) from Bergen, who did a tropical house remix of the song earlier in 2015.

This year the concert was streamed live on YouTube for the first time. But if you missed it, the concert can be viewed again at nrk.no – and through the official YouTube videos linked above.

At the press conference earlier in the day, Magne was asked how he feels things have changed since a-ha first played at the Nobel Peace Prize Concert 17 years ago, with regards to the situation in the world today:

Cover image of new single "Cast In Steel" (Steve Osborne Version)

Cover image of new single “Cast In Steel” (Steve Osborne Version)

“Well, it doesn’t seem to get easier, and everyone gets hopeless. But I think it’s really hopeful to see that the prize is given to someone who show the importance of dialogue in a time when dialogue often breaks down. So I’m very happy to be behind the Nobel Institute on this year’s award”, Magne said.

The whole press conference is available at vgtv.no.

a-ha were also interviewed live on NRK1’s evening news Dagsrevyen before the concert. The interview can be seen at nrk.no.

In other news, the new Steve Osborne Version of “Cast In Steel” was released digitally in Norway today. This is a more upbeat and radio-friendly mix, with added synth and guitar parts, quite different from the album version. Here’s an official link to buy/stream the song.

Concerts announced in Stavanger and Bergen

a-ha in Bergen, 8 December

a-ha meeting the press in Bergen, 8 December

a-ha were in Bergen today, to announce the final concert of the Cast In Steel Tour, which will be held at the 22,000-capacity outdoor venue Koengen on 7 May 2016.

They will also do a concert in Stavanger on 6 May 2016, at the 4,500-capacity indoor arena DNB Arena. Update (9 Dec.): Due to high demand, an extra concert has been added in Stavanger on 5 May.

“Bergen is an important city where we’ve always had a good time, so this time we decided to end the tour here”, Magne said.

“We won’t have the opportunity to tour Norway more extensively this time around, but what we’ve been able to do is extend the tour by one week. Initially we booked the two nights at Oslo Spektrum and now we’ve added these two shows. But beyond that our schedules won’t allow us to add any more”, Morten added.

A video of the Bergen press conference + an interview with the guys can be seen at ba.no. There is also another press conference/interview video at bt.no and a radio interview at nrk.no.

Following the Bergen press conference, the guys headed for Stavanger to meet the local media there as well. A video from their visit at the DNB Arena this afternoon can be seen at aftenbladet.no.

The fan presale started earlier today. Ticket prices in Bergen are 685 kroner (£52) for standing tickets and 1250 kr (£95) for golden circle tickets.

Stavanger will be all-seated, with ticket prices ranging between 680 kr (£52) to 1540 kr (£118).

Tickets for all three concerts go on general sale on Thursday, 10 December at 9am CET through Billettservice.

a-ha performing at ‘Ein Herz für Kinder’

Berlin, 5 December

Berlin, 5 December

a-ha did a playback performance of “Living at the End of the World” at the ‘Ein Herz für Kinder’ charity gala on ZDF yesterday.
The show was held in a hangar at the former Tempelhof airport in Berlin and nearly 19 million Euros were raised. The performance can be seen on YouTube.

a-ha to perform at charity gala in Berlin

a-ha will be in Germany to perform at the charity gala “Ein Herz für Kinder” this Saturday, 5 December. This was announced in a press release today.

The TV-show will be broadcast live from Berlin at 20:15 CET on ZDF. Other artists scheduled to perform include Sarah Connor and Peter Maffay.

“Ein Herz für Kinder” is a charity organization that runs projects for children both in Germany and abroad. 16 million Euros were raised at last year’s charity gala.

Morten and Tomine at P3 Gull awards

Tomine singing at the P3 Gull music awards last night

Tomine singing at the P3 Gull music awards last night

Morten and his oldest daughter Tomine attended the P3 Gull music awards in Oslo yesterday, where Tomine appeared as guest vocalist on a live performance of the Nico & Vinz hit song “Thats How You Know”.

The performance can be seen on YouTube.

“I’m very proud of her, and I think it’s great that she’s finding a path of her own”, Morten told TV2 before the show.

Pictures of Morten and Tomine on the red carpet: VG    TV2    Dagbladet

Earlier this year, Tomine released the singles “Follow Me” and “Daddy Does”. She has also recently been a guest vocalist on the songs “Hvis Du Vil” by Unge Ferrari and “Elephant” by Loveless.

Savoy recording new album in New York

Savoy

Savoy

Frode Unneland has been in New York this week, to work on the next Savoy album together with Paul and Lauren.

Paul posted a few pictures on Facebook and Instagram today, confirming that the band is currently recording at a studio in Rhinecliff, New York.

They were originally planning to finalize the Savoy album in the summer of 2014, but that was apparently postponed until now.

In an interview with the newspaper Åsane Tidende last week, Frode said they are planning to release both a new album and to reissue the old Savoy albums on vinyl.

Frode is also drumming for another band at the moment, Evig Din For Alltid, which released their third album last month, entitled Tilbake Til Byen. It includes two songs written by him. He says the two bands are quite different entities:

“It’s really fun and exciting to be a part of Savoy, but it’s a totally different world compared to Evig Din For Alltid, which is more like a bunch of buddies hanging out. But it’s really exciting to be working together with Paul; we’re having a great time together”, Frode says in the interview.

Savoy’s last studio album was released in 2004, while a double “best of” album of old songs, re-recorded versions and some new songs followed in 2007. The band last performed together in 2008.

‘Beatles’ released on Blu-ray, DVD and VOD

Blu-ray cover

Blu-ray cover

The Norwegian movie Beatles, for which Magne composed the score, is finally being released on Blu-ray and DVD tomorrow, November 9th.

Update: The movie is also available as Video on Demand (VOD) in Norway through iTunes, Google Play, Altibox, Viaplay, SF Anytime, Canal Digital, Riks TV, Homebase, Get and NextGenTel.

The movie, which premiered in August 2014, was originally scheduled for a home video release last year, but with box office results weaker than expected the release was delayed until now.

The bonus material consists of a 10-minute visit on the set and a 30-minute “making-of”, which includes a few minutes about Magne’s work on the score and the recording process at Abbey Road Studios.

The Blu-ray and DVD are now available to order from platekompaniet.no (ships within Norway) and CDON.com (ships within Europe). But the movie does not have English subtitles, only Norwegian and Danish.

Update: However, Beatles will also be released internationally as VOD on iTunes and Google Play (with English subtitles) on 9 January 2016.

Magne’s score was released digitally as a 17-track album in September 2014 and is available on iTunes. Magne’s own thoughts on the movie, which he wasn’t entirely happy with, can be read in a transcript from last year’s a-ha fan convention in Oslo.

a-ha to perform at the 2015 Nobel Peace Prize Concert

Nobel Peace Prize Concert logo

Nobel Peace Prize Concert logo

a-ha will be among the artists performing at the 22nd annual Nobel Peace Prize Concert in Oslo on 11 December. This was announced tonight, as mentioned by Dagbladet.

This will be the third time a-ha perform at the event. They previously performed there in 1998 (“Summer Moved On” and “The Sun Always Shines On TV”) and in 2001 (“Differences” and “Hunting High And Low”).

In addition, Morten has performed twice as a solo artist; in 1996 (“East Timor”) and in 2007 (“Letter From Egypt” and “Movies”).

The concert has usually been held at Oslo Spektrum, but will instead be held at the larger-capacity Telenor Arena this year. The concert will also be available as a live stream on YouTube for the first time.

This year’s Nobel Peace Prize laureate is the Tunisian National Dialogue Quartet “for its decisive contribution to the building of a pluralistic democracy in Tunisia in the wake of the Jasmine Revolution of 2011”.

Tickets for the Nobel Peace Prize Concert are available now at billettservice.no.

Magne on Lindmo

Magne on Lindmo, 24 October

Magne on Lindmo, 24 October

Magne was a guest on the NRK1 talkshow Lindmo tonight, to talk about his upcoming sculpture park and a-ha’s recent tour in South America.

“The South American tour was overwhelming, but somewhat touching as well. You don’t expect that kind of reception, after having been apart for years. There was a surprising level of interest from the audience. Even Morten said that he hadn’t experienced anything like it since the 1980s”, Magne said.

The episode can be seen at tv.nrk.no.

São Paulo and Curitiba concerts

Master Hall, Curitiba, 15 October

Master Hall, Curitiba, 15 October

a-ha ended their South American tour last week, playing for 8000 people in Sao Paulo on 14 October and for 3000 people in Curitiba on 15 October.

The setlist was apparently the same in both Sao Paulo and Curitiba, albeit only 19 songs – one song shorter than the other shows.

Here with links to selected YouTube videos from both concerts:

01. Cast In Steel
02. I’ve Been Losing You
03. Cry Wolf
04. Move To Memphis
05. Mythomania
06. Stay On These Roads
07. Scoundrel Days
08. Soft Rains Of April
09. Crying in the Rain
10. We’re Looking For The Whales
11. The Swing Of Things
12. Foot Of The Mountain
13. You Are The One
14. Sycamore Leaves
15. Hunting High And Low
————–
16. The Sun Always Shines On TV
17. Under The Makeup
18. The Living Daylights
————–
19. Take on Me

A good quality video clip of “Mythomania” has yet to appear, but here is an audio recording of the song live in Fortaleza (courtesy of Brian Rocha):


Before going to São Paulo, a-ha did a studio session at Estudio Ararena in Fortaleza to work on the next single.

The band now has a 5-month break before the Cast In Steel tour starts again in Russia in March 2016. But besides the tour they also have “a wish list of other stuff” to do, Paul said in an interview with São Paulo radio station Radio Rock 89FM:

“We have a sort of open schedule now, so we wanna keep surprising ourselves. I think for now we just wanna do the tour that we have booked for next year. But then there’s a wish list of other stuff that we would like to do. But we have to see how we feel after that. There’s a pretty long tour coming up. So play it one day at a time, to see what happens.”

São Paulo links
Ligado a Musica article    Estadao article    Midiorama photo gallery
Globo G1 article    Globo G1 photo gallery    UOL article    UOL photo gallery
Reduto do Rock article    R7 photo gallery    Yahoo article

Curitiba links
CWB Live article    Gazeta do Povo article    Bem Parana article
Bem Parana photo gallery    Bem Parana article    Midiorama article

Brasilia, Recife and Fortaleza concerts

Aquaville Resort, Fortaleza, 10 October (Picture by Alberth Palhares)

Aquaville Resort, Fortaleza, 10 October
(Picture by Alberth Palhares)

The Brazilian tour has continued this week, with indoor concerts in Brasilia and Recife, and an outdoor concert in Fortaleza. It sounds like a-ha are getting a phenomenal reception in Brazil this time, playing to appreciative audiences at sold-out venues, with good press reviews.

The band has been changing the setlist slightly at each show. In Brasilia they opened with “I’ve Been Losing You”, while in Recife “The Wake” was the opener. In Fortaleza the opening song was “Cast In Steel”, which was performed live for the first time in Brasilia four days earlier. The audience in Fortaleza also got to hear the live debut of “Mythomania”.

Below are links to some articles and video clips:

Brasilia
YouTube: Stay On These Roads
YouTube: Early Morning
YouTube: You Are The One
YouTube: The Sun Always Shines On TV
YouTube: Soft Rains of April
Globo G1 article
Finissimo article
Metropoles article

Recife
YouTube: Cast In Steel
YouTube: Sycamore Leaves
YouTube: The Swing of Things
YouTube: Under The Makeup
LeiaJa article/photo gallery
Divulga Recife article
FolhaPE article
Roberta Jungmann article
Joao Alberto article
YouTube: Arriving at the airport

Fortaleza
YouTube: Crying In The Rain
YouTube: You Are The One
YouTube: Hunting High and Low
YouTube: The Living Daylights
Instagram pictures/videos

Barcarena and Paragominas concerts

Paragominas, 3 October (Picture from ORM News)

Paragominas, 3 October
(Picture from ORM News)

a-ha played two outdoor concerts in the Pará area in Brazil last week, in cooperation with Hydro. According to Hydro, 14,000 people were in the audience at the Cabana Club in Barcarena on 1 October, while 18,000 people saw them at Estádio Arena Verde in Paragominas on 3 October.

The setlist in Barcarena was identical to the twenty-song set they did in Buenos Aires, opening with “The Wake”. The setlist in Paragominas hasn’t been posted anywhere yet, but appears to have been a bit different, as they opened with “I’ve Been Losing You” instead.

Before the first show, on 1 October, they did a press conference in Belém, after a chaotic arrival at the airport the day before. In between shows Morten has contributed to a reforestation project, while Magne has held art workshops. Check out more pictures and video clips on Hydro Brazil’s Instagram page.

Barcarena links:
Photo gallery (ORM News)
YouTube: Full concert
YouTube: Concert highlights

Paragominas links:
Photo gallery (ORM News)
YouTube: Hunting High and Low
YouTube: Morten climbing the stage scaffolding (!)

Photographer Just Loomis has been following the band on the road, like he did in 1991, and some of the photos he has taken so far can be seen in this official “Forest Fire” slideshow video – which also features an alternate mix of the song.

a-ha make successfull return to Rock in Rio

Getting a big applause from the Rio audience at the end of the concert

Getting a big applause from the Rio audience at the end of the concert

a-ha made a successfull return to the Rock in Rio festival on Sunday night, playing in front of 90,000 people at the Palco Mundo (World Stage). Although the conditions were difficult, with heavy rain coming down as a-ha entered the stage, they put on a solid performance that thrilled the Rio audience.

Paul rocking out on his Fano ML6 guitar

Paul rocking out on his Fano ML6 guitar

The concert was streamed live online by AOL. If you missed it, the whole show has been uploaded by a fan on Vimeo.

VG’s Stein Østbø, who gave the Buenos Aires concert a 3/6 review, also attended Rock in Rio and was impressed by what he heard this time – giving the concert a 5/6 review:

“Tonight’s concert turned out to be completely different than the rusty viking ship that performed at the tour opening in Buenos Aires on Thursday night. This time they appeared as a revitalized band. (…) Suddenly Morten Harket was more focused and quicker in his movements, instead of the slightly lazy frontman and vocalist we saw in Buenos Aires just a few days earlier. It seems like he’s struggling harder to reach the highest notes, but by all means – he gets there!

Paul Waaktaar-Savoy was a monster on the guitar – hard rocking, brilliantly setting the mood and providing crystal clear riffs. And when Magne Furuholmen finally hits all the right keys on his synth – and we even hear the sound – it couldn’t go much wrong. Add to that an excellent arena sound with lots of oomph! in the basslines, you get an a-ha that fits perfectly on a giant stage like this.”

The setlist:
01. I’ve Been Losing You
02. Cry Wolf
03. Stay On These Roads
04. Move To Memphis
05. Scoundrel Days
06. Crying In The Rain
07. Sycamore Leaves
08. You Are The One
09. Forest Fire
10. Hunting High And Low
11. Foot Of The Mountain
12. The Sun Always Shines On TV
13. Under The Makeup
14. The Living Daylights
15. Take On Me

"A fantastic audience", Magne said after the show

“A fantastic audience”, Magne said after the show

The heavy rain made Magne a bit concerned, he told VG backstage after the show:

“My keyboard was swimming in water, and I was the only one [of us three] who was plugged directly into the electric system. The whole thing could have exploded, there was a lot of water in there. But it was a fantastic audience!”

The tour continues at the Cabana Club in Barcarena on 1 October and at Estádio Arena Verde in Paragominas on 3 October. These two shows, held in connection with Hydro’s anniversary, were originally only open for Hydro employees and contest winners. But due to high demand, both shows are now open for everyone. Tickets are free, but requires a donation of school equipment to local children.

Brazilian articles:
Rolling Stone: Rock in Rio: mesmo com chuva, a-ha prioriza…
oglobo.globo.com: A-ha leva o rádio FM para o palco em show saudoso

Globo TV interview with Paul and Morten in Rio:
Entrevista exclusiva com integrantes do A-Ha

‘Cast In Steel’ Tour opens in Buenos Aires

a-ha on stage in Buenos Aires, 24 September

a-ha on stage in Buenos Aires, 24 September

a-ha opened their Cast In Steel Tour in Buenos Aires, Argentina, on Thursday night, in front of 10,000 people at the Luna Park indoor arena. This was their first concert in almost five years and the first of 40 concerts on the 2015-16 tour, which is now set to end on 1 May 2016 in Oslo Spektrum, after an extra concert was added.

Picture by Marcelo

Picture by Marcelo

The Moods of Norway suits are gone, they have a new bass player, and some of the songs have a rockier edge, but – judging from the YouTube clips – the concert wasn’t too different from what they presented five years ago. And although this is the Cast In Steel Tour, the title track was actually not performed. Only a mere three (3) songs from the new album was included in the setlist on Thursday.

Before the show, Magne told VG that none of the songs on Cast In Steel are really working well enough in a live setting yet. Hopefully more of them will be added later.

Picture by Marcelo

Picture by Marcelo

Apart from “Sycamore Leaves”, “Soft Rains Of April” and those three new songs, all the other songs in the setlist were also played during the Farewell Tour in 2010. Although this time they played full band versions of “Crying In The Rain”, “Early Morning” and “You Are The One”, instead of the acoustic versions they did back then.

Breaking it down by albums, they played 3 songs from Hunting High and Low, 6 songs from Scoundrel Days, 3 songs from Stay On These Roads, 3 songs from East Of The Sun, 1 song from Memorial Beach, no songs from Minor Earth, Major Sky, no songs from Lifelines, no songs from Analogue, 1 song from Foot Of The Mountain and 3 songs from Cast In Steel. Quite an unbalanced setlist.

But the audience at Luna Park didn’t seem to care much what they played, giving the band a warm and enthusiastic response.

Picture by Marcelo

Picture by Marcelo

VG’s Stein Østbø gives the concert a 3 out of 6 rating in his review, saying that he had expected more from a-ha this time around:

“The tour opening in Argentina came across as a continuation of the Farewell Tour that ended in Oslo Spektrum five years ago. Where was the new a-ha? Where were the changes that would bring the trio into another new phase?”

As for the visuals, although there were plenty of new graphics on the three screens behind the band, much of it was also re-used elements from the Farewell Tour. Oddly enough, footage from the music videos for “Dark Is The Night” and “Lifelines” was shown during “Scoundrel Days”, for some reason.

Here is the correct setlist, with links to YouTube-videos:
(the setlist on a-ha.com is wrong…)

01. The Wake
02. I’ve Been Losing You
03. Cry Wolf
04. Stay On These Roads
05. Move To Memphis
06. Scoundrel Days
07. Crying In The Rain
08. We’re Looking For The Whales
09. Sycamore Leaves
10. Hunting High And Low
11. The Swing Of Things
12. Early Morning
13. You Are The One
14. Forest Fire
15. Soft Rains Of April
16. Foot Of The Mountain
————————-
17. The Sun Always Shines On TV
18. Under The Makeup
19. The Living Daylights
————————-
20. Take On Me

There were several moments during the show that didn’t work quite as they should, including Magne messing up the beginning of “The Swing Of Things” and the sing-along in “The Living Daylights”:

Magne and Paul interviewed by VG after the show

Magne and Paul interviewed by VG after the show

“It was really fun, a great atmosphere and much enthusiasm! But I feel I’m a bit out of practice. I guess I did every mistake you could possible do during one show, enough for the rest of the tour”, Magne told VG backstage after the concert.

“But those mistakes were really good! Let’s add them to the show!”, Paul joked.

“It wasn’t all smooth sailing, but there was a great atmosphere all the way through”, Magne said.

“A very cool audience and we got through it fairly well. It felt good to be on stage”, Paul added.

Norwegian press about the Buenos Aires concert:
VG: Konsertanmeldelse: Tidløse a-ha (25 Sep.)
VG: Furuholmen etter a-ha-comebacket: – Gjorde alle feil jeg kunne gjøre! (25 Sep.)
VG: a-ha med kontroversiell plakat under Buenos Aires-konsert (25 Sep.)
VGTV: Harkets dom over turnéstarten (25 Sep.)
Dagbladet: – Det overrasket meg at de spilte «You Are the One»… (25 Sep.)
Dagbladet: – Hvis jeg ikke besvimer blir dette den beste kvelden i mitt liv (25 Sep.)
VG: a-ha: En nygammel suksess (24 Sep.)
VG: a-ha frykter «gnål» før comeback-konserten (24 Sep.)
Dagbladet: – Det gjør en glad å komme hit… (24 Sep.)
VG: Argentinske Pilar (12): Har vært a-ha-fan siden hun ble født (23 Sep.)
VG: Kaos i Buenos Aires da a-ha ankom (22 Sep.)

TV2 also has an 8-minute video interview with Morten and Magne, which was done in Oslo before leaving for South America: Se eksklusivt intervju med A-ha

The tour continues with the big Rock in Rio concert on Sunday night. It looks like the festival concerts are streamed online at aol.com/rockinrio/. So keep an eye on that page. a-ha are scheduled to play at 10:30pm local time (3:30am CET).

Magne in ‘Datoen’ documentary

Magne returns to Manglerud where he grew up

Magne returns to Manglerud where he grew up

The previously mentioned episode of Datoen where Magne appears, aired on NRK1 in Norway last Sunday.

Each episode of the documentary series follows three different people who were born on the same date, and shows us how their lives took different paths.

Magne talks about some of the events that shaped his life; the death of his father, meeting Paul and later Morten, the early years with a-ha in the UK, and his relationship with Heidi. He also makes a visit to the house at Manglerud where he grew up, for the first time since he was 13-14 years old.

The whole one-hour episode is available to watch at tv.nrk.no.

‘Cast In Steel’ in the charts – week 2

Cast In Steel

Cast In Steel

Cast In Steel climbs from #3 to #2 in its second week on the Norwegian album chart, while it’s down from #4 to #12 in Gemany.

In the UK, Cast In Steel is down from #8 to #31, with 2,694 copies sold. But there’s also another a-ha album on the UK album chart this week, as The Definitive Singles Collection re-enters for the first time since 2006, at #99.

And the while the album falls out of the charts in France and Denmark, it now enters the charts in Hungary and Greece.

Here are the first and second week chart positions so far:
Norway: #3 – #2
Germany: #4 – #12
Switzerland: #9 – #17
UK: #8 – #31
Austria: #13 – #37
Belgium (Wallonia): #24 – #37
Hungary: XX – #38
Czech Republic: #7 – #41
Greece: XX – #49
Netherlands: #5 – #55
Ireland: #33 – #94
Spain: #58 – #98
Belgium (Flanders): #35 – #117

a-ha to end ‘Cast In Steel’ Tour in Oslo

a-ha in Oslo Spektrum, December 2010

a-ha in Oslo Spektrum, December 2010
(Picture by Jakob)

A concert at Oslo Spektrum on Saturday 30 April 2016, was announced today. This will be the last concert of the Cast In Steel Tour according to the official site, and is to be held on the same day as the next a-ha fan convention in Oslo.

“It would have been very strange not to bring the tour back home to Norway. After all we’re touring with a big arena production and there have been lots of offers coming in here at home”, Magne tells VG today.

This will be a-ha’s ninth concert at Oslo Spektrum, and marks the 25th anniversary of their two opening concerts of the then-brand-new venue in January 1991.

“We have basically done it all in Norway; there isn’t much we haven’t tried, after having played everything from the gigantic concert at Frognerparken to small club gigs. Therefore it was natural to connect this to another anniversary”, he says.

Magne also says he’s really pleased with how the new album has been received:

“It’s fantastic to have the album go top 10 both in the UK, Germany and here at home, and it’s so exciting to see all the interest surrounding the band, 30 years after we started. We took nothing for granted in the years we were gone, but we’re sensing a very positive vibe around the band. This is the rewarding part of being an a-ha member; sold out venues, big enthusiasm and much affection from the fans”.

The a-ha.com member pre-sale for Oslo Spektrum begins Wednesday September 16 at 9am, while general tickets go on sale Friday September 18 at 9am.

Surprisingly, it looks like the concert will be seated audience only, with tickets for the first three rows costing 1500 kroner (£120). a-ha have never played a concert for an all-seated audience in Norway before, apart from the HHAL/SD concert with the Oslo Philharmonics in 2010. Not very rock n’ roll…

Tracklistings for upcoming Deluxe Editions

Stay On These Roads (1988), East Of The Sun, West Of The Moon (1990) and Memorial Beach (1993)

Stay On These Roads (1988), East Of The Sun, West Of The Moon (1990) and Memorial Beach (1993)

The complete tracklistings for the upcoming Remastered Deluxe Editions of Stay On These Roads (1988), East Of The Sun, West Of The Moon (1990) and Memorial Beach (1993) have now been posted on the Facebook page of “Campaign For More a-ha Remastered Deluxes”.

These much-anticipated sets, which will probably be released at the end of October, will include an impressive 102 tracks in total. All three albums will be 2CD sets, while East Of The Sun, West Of The Moon will also include Live In South America on DVD for the first time – it has previously only been released on VHS and Laserdisc.

In addition to a lot of demos, alternate versions and live recordings of the album tracks, there will also be several previously unreleased songs: “I’ll Never Find You In This Streetful City”, “Umbrella”, “Thus Ended Our Love Affair”, “Evitar”, “Sail On My Love”, “Trees Will Not Grow On Sand” and “Bar Room”.

Chart success for ‘Cast In Steel’

Cast In Steel

Cast In Steel

[Updated 16 Sep.]:
a-ha’s new album Cast In Steel is doing quite well on the European album charts in its first week.

Here are the chart positions so far:
#3 in Norway
#4 in Germany
#5 in the Netherlands
#7 in the Czech Republic
#8 in the UK
#9 in Switzerland
#13 in Austria
#24 in Belgium (Wallonia)
#33 in Ireland
#35 in Belgium (Flanders)
#40 in Denmark
#58 in Spain

In the UK the album sold 7,828 copies in its first week, making Cast In Steel a-ha’s sixth Top 10 album and 14th Top 75 album in the UK since 1985 (including “best of” and live albums).

The #5 position in the Netherlands is – together with 1988’s Stay On These Roads – a-ha’s best album chart position ever in that country. None of their albums since 2000 have been higher than #50 in the album chart, so this is quite impressive.

Meanwhile in France, Cast In Steel enters the album chart at #166, but there has been no physical release and no promotion, so this is only based on download sales. The album is actually #22 on the download chart.

The album failed to chart in Sweden, Finland, Italy, Hungary, Croatia and Greece.

BTW, here are a few more album reviews (in English):
Cryptic Rock (5/5)
Hit The Floor Magazine (7/10)
The Plymouth Herald (7/10)
The Herald Scotland

30-minute EPK interview video

From the EPK interview video

From the EPK interview video

A 30-minute long EPK video, in which Magne, Paul and Morten are each interviewed about the reunion and the making of Cast In Steel has now been posted on the website of Universal Germany.

The video seems to have been filmed in connection with the comeback press conference in Berlin back in March.

Watch it here: ‘Cast In Steel’ 30-minute EPK interview video

Drammen rehearsal concert, September 9th

Union Scene, Drammen, September 9th (Picture by Rune Tønnessen)

Union Scene, Drammen, September 9th
(Picture by Rune Tønnessen)

a-ha played a 50-minute rehearsal concert at Union Scene in Drammen, Norway yesterday, in front of around 600 people – most of which had won tickets at a Platekompaniet signing session in Oslo the day before.

The band has been rehearsing at Union Scene over the last few weeks to prepare for the upcoming South American tour, and this was the final dress rehearsal before heading to Luna Park in Buenos Aires, although the full shows are likely to include twice as many songs.

A 14-minute video with clips from all the songs performed in Drammen has been posted on YouTube, courtesy of Rune Tønnessen.

Three songs from Cast In Steel were played live for the first time last night, while “Sycamore Leaves” appeared in the setlist for the first time since 2004 – now with Morten singing it instead of Paul. “Early Morning” was played as a full band version, instead of the acoustic version they’ve usually done in the 2000s.

The biggest surprise was probably “Soft Rains of April”, which has rarely been played live since the late 80s – apart from the HHAL/SD concerts with the Oslo Philhamonics in 2010.

Setlist:
(with links to other YouTube clips)
1. The Wake
2. I’ve Been Losing You
3. Cry Wolf
4. Hunting High and Low
5. Forest Fire
6. Early Morning
7. Sycamore Leaves
8. Soft Rains of April
9. Under The Makeup
10. The Sun Always Shines on TV
– – – – – – – – – – – –
11. Foot of the Mountain

Just as on the two previous tours, a-ha are joined by Karl Oluf Wennerberg on drums and Erik Ljunggren on synth/programming, while new bassist Even Ormestad is going on tour with the band for the first time.

Reports from some of the fans who were at the show seem to indicate that the sound is less polished and more rock-oriented than it was in 2009-2010, with Paul bringing out his Gibson SG Fano Alt de Facto ML6 guitar for some heavy riffs.

Concert reviews:
VG: Konturene av et nytt a-ha – for tredje gang…
Dagsavisen Fremtiden: Gøy på øving
Rock and Roll Dreams: Klar til avreise

German TV-performances

a-ha performing at the Goldene Henne Awards in Berlin, September 5th

a-ha performing at the Goldene Henne Awards in Berlin, September 5th

a-ha have done three different TV-performances in Germany over the last few days.

On Thursday they did a playback performance of “Forest Fire” and “Foot Of The Mountain” at the German Radio Awards in Hamburg, where they also received an honorary award:
YouTube: Forest Fire and Foot Of The Mountain
YouTube: Receiving the honorary award
YouTube: Interview before the show

On Friday they did an unplugged live version of “Under The Makeup” on the ZDF talkshow Aspekte in Berlin:
YouTube: Interview and Under The Makeup

And on Saturday they did a playback performance of “Under The Makeup” and “Forest Fire” at the Goldene Henne Awards in Berlin:
YouTube: Under The Makeup
YouTube: Forest Fire

Over on Facebook, Peter Kvint has posted some pictures from the Cast In Steel recording sessions in Stockholm. One of the pictures shows a computer screen with various song mixes, which reveals five of the a-ha tracks that didn’t make it onto the album; “Digital River”, “Hold Me”, “Karma King”, “Open Face” and Morten’s well-known song “Did I Leave You Behind”.

At least two of those songs are likely to appear on Morten’s next solo album instead, Kvint says.

Additional UK radio interviews:
BBC Radio 2: Steve Wright in the aftenoon (starts at 2h 18min)
BBC Radio Lincolnshire: Melvyn in the Morning (starts at 2h 8min)
– plus the video stream of the BBC Radio 5 Live interview

And here are some more album reviews:
superdeluxeedition.com (3/5)
electricity-club.co.uk
radiocremebrulee.com (4/5) (USA)
Daily Mail (4/5)
The Scotsman (3/5)
Adresseavisen (4/6)
Dagbladet (3/6)

German interviews:
Rolling Stone (Video interview – Part 1)
Der Tagesspiegel (Video)
magistrix.de

UK promotion and VG interview

a-ha on BBC Breakfast, September 2nd

a-ha on BBC Breakfast, September 2nd

a-ha were in London yesterday, where they spent a few hours at the BBC Studios, doing a number of radio interviews. Some of them have already been broadcast:

– BBC Radio 5 Live: Afternoon Edition
– BBC Local Radio: The Mark Forrest Show (starts at 1h 36min)

Morten and Paul also did a video interview with Reuters.

Today the guys were in Manchester, where they were guests on BBC Breakfast. A video clip of the interview has been posted on YouTube.

Later on they did a signing session at HMV Manchester. A selection of pictures can be seen on the event page on Facebook.

For lots more links and pictures from the UK promo, visit my Twitter profile.

Meanwhile in Norway, VG had a 3-page interview yesterday, where each of them give their honest opinion on the process of making Cast In Steel. Here is a little sample:

A new album, Cast In Steel is ready, but the band members haven’t been together in the studio during the recording process. That is something Paul Waaktaar-Savoy regrets.

“I wish we could get together, that is the way we should be recording music”, Waaktaar-Savoy says. He was also eager to have one producer on the whole album: Alan Tarney, who produced a-ha’s three first albums. But that’s not how it turned out.

Morten Harket also feels they should have recorded the album together, after first doing a tour.

“In fact, from a band point-of-view, we should have recorded the album in one studio and lived together for three months. You are more tuned in after a tour, we should have done writing sessions, hung out together and made music.”

– That’s what Paul also said?

“Yeah, but he’s so slow to join! Bloody slow. So that’s not how it actually is.”

In the end, 12 songs were selected for the album, while many others were rejected.

“I came into the process very late, and I think Paul felt the album was already finished. But then the majority expressed a clear wish that we should go all in. a-ha is the three of us and needs those three voices”, Furuholmen says.

Waaktaar-Savoy describes the song selection as “total chaos” and says he really missed an A&R-guy like they used to have in the past. Someone from the record company who could interject and make a decision.

“How are we supposed to agree on things, when all three of us have different things that we care about? It ends up being so much noise, and it saps so much energy that I’m all like: OK, next album! I feel like I need another ten years before I can listen to this album again. And now I have plunged headfirst into another new project. That’s the way I manage to keep going.”

And here are the first Norwegian reviews of the new album:
VG (4/6)
Aftenposten (4/6)
Dagsavisen (4/6)
Vårt Land

‘Cast In Steel’ promotion this week

Screenshot from the video greeting posted by Hydro on Facebook

Screenshot from the video greeting posted by Hydro on Facebook

Promotion is kicking into high gear this week, with the new a-ha album Cast In Steel being released on Friday, September 4th. Below are a few of the events and appearances coming up, with lots more to come:

2 September: Manchester: HMV in-store signing
3 September: BBC Radio 2: Interview on “Steve Wright in the Afternoon”.
3 September: GoTV (Austria): a-ha present their favorite music videos in a 1-hour “Hosted by”-special.
3 September: Hamburg: Deutscher Radiopreis (The German Radio Awards), performing “Forest Fire” and “Foot Of The Mountain”. They will also receive an honorary award. ARD radio/NRD television.
4 September: Berlin: Aspekte (German talkshow), performing live. ZDF
5 September: Berlin: Goldene Henne 2015 (German award show), performing “Under The Makeup” and another new song. MDR/RBB
8 September: Oslo: Platekompaniet in-store signing, at Oslo City Shopping Centre

In Norway, Radio Norge is playing a new song from Cast In Steel exclusively on their morning show Morgenklubben each day this week, as well as other times throughout the day. Morten has done an ad for this – which can be heard below:

 
In connection with yesterday’s announcement of two private a-ha concerts for Hydro employees in the Pará area in Brazil, Hydro has posted a short video greeting from a-ha on Facebook.

Hydro has also posted a YouTube video where the members of a-ha share their thoughts on Kygo’s new remix of “Take On Me”.

German interviews

a-ha interviewed in Berlin, July 2015

a-ha interviewed in Berlin, July 2015

Two new interviews in German have been posted online recently, by Mittelbayerische and Berner Zeitung.

Here are a few quotes:

– This time you’re doing the interviews together. Does that mean you’re finding it easier to agree on things than before?

Magne: “We’re doing it because it feels good. It’s like group therapy.”

Paul: “It definitely feels different than before. This might be the beginning of a new era for our band”

– Has it been easy to record this comeback album?

Morten: “The songwriting is always the easiest. The hard part is trying to agree on which songs that will end up on the album. That is always an enormous challenge. Personally, I’m surprised by how strong the new album has turned out to be. It’s not inferior to our earlier albums.”

– The music of a-ha is easily recognizable. Did you want to build on this tradition with Cast In Steel?

Paul: “What do you mean, ‘easily recognizable’? Our second album was very different from the first one. With every record we want to take things one step further. Morten’s voice has a clear identity, but in terms of arrangements and melodies we’re not guided by the past.”

Magne: “Morten’s voice is an important element of a-ha, but so is our songwriting and the way we arrange the music. For me personally, it’s completely irrelevant whether the new album sounds like our first, third or fifth album or whether we go in a completely new direction. The main thing; the songs are cool. There aren’t many bands from the 1980s that are still active and keep releasing new material.”

– Do you already know when you will disband again?

Magne: “2015 and 2016 will be all about a-ha. We’re really looking forward to the tour, it will be great. As for 2017, we don’t know yet. We haven’t ruled out anything, but there are no specific plans.”

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