Archive for October, 2019

a-ha’s Hunting High And Low Tour off to a good start in Dublin

a-ha in Dublin, 29 October 2019
(Picture by Carlos Maciá)

The Hunting High And Low world tour 2019-2020 opened at the sold-out 9,000-capacity (seated) 3Arena in Dublin last night.

As expected, the first half of the concert was the full Hunting High and Low album, followed by ten other songs after a 20-minute break.

One big surprise was the very first live performance of a great new song written by Paul called “Digital River”. This is one of the songs from the Cast In Steel sessions in 2015 that didn’t make it onto the album.

While there weren’t any other surprises in the setlist, several of the song arrangements had been updated, and there were also cool new intros – like the way “Analogue” started after the break. “Dream Myself Alive” was performed similar to the original demo version.

And while a-ha had six backing musicians on last year’s Electric Summer Tour, it’s now back to three; Karl Oluf Wennerberg (drums), Even Ormestad (bass) and Erik Ljunggren (synth/programming).

Impressive video screen and visuals
(Picture by Paudie Fahey)

The stage had a large and impressive video wall at the back, featuring all new video content created by Norwegian director Knut A. Helgeland. The quality of the visuals and the live editing seems to be far beyond anything used on previous a-ha tours. Additionally, the show started with Michael Patterson’s original short-film Commuter (1981) being shown, leading into “Take On Me”.

On Facebook, Helgeland wrote about his experience of working on the video content for the last three months:

“For an old, true a-ha fan like myself, it’s fantastic to be able to work so freely on the visual world of a-ha. I feel that we’ve created something quite unique, it’s simple and honest, and a bit smart, I hope. With a lot of fantastic footage (some filmed by myself, a lot from good helpers) which looks magical on the large 10-bit screen.”

Pictures by Carlos Maciá (click to enlarge):

 
Reactions from the Dublin audience on social media have been overwhelmingly positive, regarding both the performance and the new visual design. Norwegian newspaper Dagsavisen had journalist Bernt Erik Pedersen at the concert, who gives it a 5/6 review: “Does this work as a stadium show? Absolutely. Is it an event? Certainly.”

Pedersen suggests that this album format is something they can continue doing: “With this “playing the whole album”-concept they can keep it going for at least another decade – I’d be happy to come see them do East Of The Sun, West Of The Moon in five or six years.”

Setlist (with YouTube-links):
1. Take on Me
2. Train of Thought
3. Hunting High and Low
4. The Blue Sky
5. Living a Boy’s Adventure Tale
6. The Sun Always Shines on TV
7. And You Tell Me
8. Love is Reason
9. I Dream Myself Alive
10. Here I Stand and Face the Rain
(Intermission)
11. Analogue
12. Foot of the Mountain
13. The Swing of Things
14. Crying in the Rain
15. Sycamore Leaves
16. Digital River
17. I’ve Been Losing You
18. Stay on These Roads
– – – – – – – – – – – –
19. Scoundrel Days
20. The Living Daylights

Thanks to all YouTube-uploaders.

The pre-show music included “Mount Joy” from the True August EP.

The a-ha merchandise in Dublin all seemed to be 80s nostalgia stuff, if you’re into that sort of thing. Not even one t-shirt with a current band photo. There is a tour programme, but it reportedly only contains photos by Just Loomis from the 80s and the tour credits. But signed copies of White Xmas Lies are for sale, both the vinyl and CD.

White Xmas Lies out now

Magne signing albums at Big Dipper, 23 October (Screenshot from Drabant Music on Instagram)

Magne’s new solo album White Xmas Lies is released by Drabant Music today, and is available on CD, vinyl and digitally. It can be streamed or downloaded here. Or you can support this fansite by ordering through the Amazon links on the right.

Positive album reviews have already come in from Musicvein and Essentially Pop in the UK and Bleistiftrocker in Germany.

The official music video for the new single “There Goes Another Year” is now up on YouTube. The Norwegian Salvation Army has also posted a video clip in connection with the song being released as a Christmas single in Norway.

Magne has given a number of interviews in the last week, to promote both White Xmas Lies and the HHAL Tour.

On Monday Magne was a guest on NRK P13’s Selskapssjuk. The 25-minute interview included the premiere of “There Goes Another Year”. Listen here (at 41:00).

Other Norwegian radio interviews include NRK P2’s Kulturstripa on 16 October (at 36:20) and NRK P1’s Ukeslutt on 19 October (at 49:00).

He also appeared on Lørdagsrevyen on NRK1 on 19 October (at 13:30), seen rehearsing with the a-ha backing band in Oslo.

There have been two extensive interviews in English, one with Altvenger Magazine and one with XS Noize. He also talked with The Industry Observer in Australia.

Aditionally, a long interview in French appeared in Rolling Stone France.

On Wednesday Magne did a signing session for White Xmas Lies at the Big Dipper record store in Oslo, where he was also interviewed by NTB.

Meanwhile, today a-ha will be starting production rehearsals for the Hunting High And Low Tour in the UK. Yesterday afternoon Paul was live on the air on The Lynette Fay Show on BBC Radio Ulster in Belfast. Listen here (at 34:20).

Paul has also been interviewed about the HHAL Tour by Eon Music.

Film premiere, a-ha convention and more concerts in Norway announced

Photo by Stian Andersen

The official site has announced the world premiere of the documentary film a-ha – The Movie, directed by Thomas Robsahm and Aslaug Holm, which will take place at Colosseum Cinema in Oslo on 26 November 2020. The main auditorium at Colosseum has a capacity of 978 people.

a-ha – The Movie has been in production since 2016, and the filmmakers have followed the band on the road during the Cast In Steel Tour, the MTV Unplugged Tour and the Electric Summer Tour. They have also filmed other events, such as the Savoy concert and signing in Oslo last year.

“We will tell the whole story, from when two 12-year old friends started their first band together in the seventies, on to a-ha’s massive hit Take On Me in 1985, all the way till now where they are still touring the world selling out arenas. It’s a film about strong personalities, creating something unique together, but also about how their internal struggles have made it hard to reach their full potential. And, I must add, it’s a film about one of the most underrated bands in pop history. I want more people to discover their music!”, Thomas Robsahm told nordiskfilmogtvfond.com earlier this year.

He also talked about what the audience can expect from the film in a recent interview with Variety. In addition to Norway, a-ha – The Movie will be distributed in Germany and has been purchased for TV broadcast in a number of European countries, including Sweden, Finland, Belgium and Switzerland.

The film premiere will be followed by two a-ha concerts in Oslo Spektrum on 27 and 28 November, which will mark the end of the Hunting High And Low Tour. There will also be an a-ha convention in Oslo on 28 November, with Robsahm and other guests.

Although the concert in Trondheim on 7 February was supposed to be the only show in Norway on this tour, two additional dates have also been announced today: Nordlandshallen in Bodø on 1 February and DNB Arena in Stavanger on 24 November.

Tickets for the Norwegian concerts and the film premiere will go on sale this week, along with more German dates for next year. Be sure to sign up for the official a-ha mailing list for pre-sale info.

According to a VG article today, the band will play more than 60 shows on the HHAL tour, which means there are still more than 20 shows to be announced. The article says that a-ha will also be returning to South America in 2020.

Additionally, a-ha manager Harald Wiik tells VG that the setup of the HHAL concerts has been changed. The full HHAL album will now be performed first, followed by various other songs after the break. Initially it was the other way around.

Update 15 Oct:
These are the added German dates for 2020:
31 October: Lanxess Arena, Cologne, Germany
02 November: Festhalle, Frankfurt, Germany
03 November: Barclaycard Arena, Hamburg, Germany
05 November: Leipzig Arena, Leipzig, Germany
06 November: Mercedes-Benz Arena, Berlin, Germany

Magne planning solo concert

Promotional photo by Nina Djærff for Drabant Music

Magne’s upcoming solo album White Xmas Lies can now be pre-ordered from Amazon UK (CD / 2LP), Amazon Germany (CD / 2LP), plus Tiger and Platekompaniet in Norway. Release date 25 October in Norway/Germany and 1 November in the UK.

The final album tracklist seems to have a different running order compared to the initital announcement. It also includes an additional song; a cover version of The Kink’s “Father Christmas”. So 17 tracks in total. A selection of pictures of the regular vinyl edition have been posted on Instagram by Magnus Rakeng, who designed the cover together with Magne.

A limited edition of the album on vinyl (200 copies), which includes an exclusive art print, is now sold out. A YouTube video filmed in August 2019 documents the process.

Single cover

The second single from the album, “The Light We Lost”, was released by Drabant Music on 4 October and can be streamed or downloaded here. There’s also another lyric music video.

In an interview with Dagsavisen (paywall) yesterday, Magne says that the album project started with the title track, which he originally had intended for a-ha.

“The songs were written during a-ha’s Electric Summer tour, and recorded during Christmas. I started out alone, not thinking that it would end up as a double album, but it just kept growing.”

“This is meant to be a melancholic winter album, which will hopefully be uplifting. Some songs are specifically about Christmas, while others are loosely connected to winter.”

According to the interview, Magne will do one exclusive solo concert in connection with the new album. The concert will be held for an audience especially invited by the Norwegian Salvation Army – plus a few lucky fans.

Single cover

“I didn’t intend to portray Christmas as all misery, but to make songs that can include everyone that aren’t as fortunate in life”, Magne says.

“I have an ambition to do the same in other cities later on. Meaning this project won’t come to an end once Christmas is over, but will return next year as well.”

The next and third single from the album seems to be “There Goes Another Year”, which is released in collaboration with the Norwegian Salvation Army on Magne’s birthday, 1 November.

No further details on the solo concert have been announced yet.

Three dates in Los Angeles added

Next year a-ha will return to the US for the first time since 2010, to play three shows at The Wiltern in Los Angeles.

The dates are 25, 26 and 27 September 2020, and will be part of the band’s Hunting High And Low Tour. The Wiltern has a seated capacity of only 1,850 people, so these will be very intimate events.

The Los Angeles shows will be the only US dates next year, but the band is hoping to return for more in 2021.

Tickets are available now from ticketmaster.com.

Powered by WordPress