Archive for June, 2019

South African tour dates announced

The first international tour dates of the 2020 tour have been announced today, and they will be in South Africa:

14 February 2020: Green Point A Track, Cape Town
15 February 2020: Marks Park, Johannesburg

This will be the first time a-ha visit the African continent since they played in Senegal in 2006, and their first visit to South Africa since the Memorial Beach tour in 1994, when they did a six-date tour of the country.

Tickets go on sale on Wednesday 26 June at 10am. For more info, visit the website of promoter BreakOut Events.

More tour dates for next year are expected to follow soon, including “areas the band hasn’t visited since their 1986 world tour”, which would mean North America or Australia – or both. According to one report, the HHAL tour will continue until December 2020.

Update: To promote the South African dates, Paul has been interviewed by Texx and the City and radio station KFM 94.5 (audio).

a-ha perform 6-song set in Oslo

a-ha on stage in Oslo, June 6th

a-ha performed a 6-song set in Oslo last night, as part of the closing party of the Nor-Shipping Ocean Leadership Conference 2019. They were joined on stage by Karl Oluf Wennerberg on drums, Even Ormestad on bass and Erik Ljunggren on synth. Serving as a preview of the upcoming Hunting High And Low Tour, all the songs were taken from the first album.

Setlist (with video links):
1. The Sun Always Shines on TV
2. Living a Boy’s Adventure Tale
3. The Blue Sky
4. Hunting High and Low
5. Train of Thought
6. Take on Me

This marked the first time “The Blue Sky” had been performed live since 2010, and only the fourth time since the 1980s. “Train of Thought” was the album version, instead of the demo version they did on the Electric Summer tour last year.

Other performers at the outdoor concert included the boys choir Sølvguttene, Sissel Kyrkjebø and Andrea Bocelli. The event was only open for invited guests with a 4-day Conference Pass which cost 4000 kroner ($460). Although the weather forecast had predicted heavy rain in the evening, the rain storm passed over Oslo earlier in the afternoon and there were only a few drops during the concert.

Update: The Nor-Shipping website has a few seconds of official footage from the a-ha performance here (at 2:35) and here (at 1:08).

Maria on Team Morten wins The Voice 2019

Morten and Maria Engås Halsne, preparing for last night’s season finale

Maria Engås Halsne on Team Morten is the winner of The Voice 2019, after two solid performances in the season finale last night.

The 22-year-old medical student was originally on Lene’s Team, but Morten seized the opportunity to “steal” her to his own team during the battle episodes back in April, after Maria had performed “Shallow” together with Oskar Øiestad.

Morten performing “Broken” together with Lene Marlin

Last night’s finale opened with the four mentors performing Isak Danielson’s song “Broken”, followed by each finalist doing one song:

1. Edward Mustad (Team Morten): “October 8” YouTube / TV2.no
2. Steffi Buie (Team Lene): “Kan Du Lære Mæ?” YouTube / TV2.no
3. Maria Engås Halsne (Team Morten): “Go Your Own Way” YouTube / TV2.no
4. Oskar Øiestad (Team Lene): “Kings and Queens” YouTube / TV2.no

The two finalists with the most votes would go on to the so-called “super final”, and it turned out to be Edward and Maria. They both did an additional song to determine who would be the winner:

1. Edward Mustad (Team Morten): “I’m On Fire” YouTube / TV2.no
2. Maria Engås Halsne (Team Morten): “Strong” YouTube / TV2.no

“You have so many qualities, Maria. I decided to bring you further along, and it turns out I was right. This was one of your best performances on The Voice this year”, Morten said after Maria’s version of London Grammar’s “Strong”.

Maria got the most votes from the viewers and is the winner of The Voice 2019. She gets a record contract with Universal Music.

“This is fantastic. It’s difficult to favor one talent over someone else, I’m not able to do that. But I have believed in my whole team and tried to bring out the best in them. And it’s been really fun to be a part of. So congratulations Maria! It’s well deserved”, Morten said after the victory.

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