Archive for November, 2021

New Magne F exhibition inspired by Porsche

Magne is known to be a big car enthusiast, especially sports cars. In 2016 he created Meta Sonic Boom Kit, an exclusive version of the BMW i8 decorated with his artwork.

Now he has made an exhibition of 23 large graphic prints inspired by classic Porsche racing cars, which are on display at Porsche Center Asker & Bærum near Oslo.

In addition to the exhibition, a Porsche 718 GT4 car has been decorated with one of Magne’s artworks. It can also be seen at the Porsche Center.

Read more about the project here:
Porsche x Magne Furuholmen

And see more pictures of the car on Facebook.

The exhibition is open from 29 November – 22 December.

BTW, Magne is not the only member of the Furuholmen family inspired by Porsche. His son Filip Clements recently released the song “Porsche 911”, which is one of the tracks off his new solo EP I Can See The Future.

a-ha returning to New York

Concert ad

a-ha will be playing at Radio City Music Hall for “one night only” on 12 April 2022, the official site announced today. This will be their first concert in New York since 2010 and the first in this particular venue since they played two nights there in October 1986.

Radio City Music Hall has a capacity of around 6,000 people. The date comes at the end of a month-long tour of South- and North-America in March and April next year, and brings the total number of concerts on the 2022 Hunting High and Low tour up to 44.

There will be a fan presale tomorrow, while the regular ticket sale opens on 3 December.

South American tour dates announced

The rescheduled 2022 tour dates for South America and Mexico have been announced today. The tour was originally scheduled for September 2020, then postponed to August 2021 and finally now March/April 2022. Let’s hope it’s possible to go ahead this time.

Unfortunately, the previously scheduled concert in Lima, Peru has been cancelled due to Covid restrictions. A concert in Asunción, Paraguay has been added instead, which will be a-ha’s first time in that country. A new concert has also been added in Recife, Brazil. There also seems to be some venue changes in Rio and Curitiba.

Here are all ten dates:

10 March 2022: Classic Hall, Recife, Brazil
12 March 2022: Arena Fonte Nova, Salvador, Brazil
16 March 2022: Expominas Arena, Belo Horizonte, Brazil
17 March 2022: QualiStage, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
19 March 2022: Espaço das Americas, São Paulo, Brazil
22 March 2022: Athletico Paranaense, Curitiba, Brazil
25 March 2022: Movistar Arena, Buenos Aires, Argentina
27 March 2022: SND Arena, Asunción, Paraguay
30 March 2022: Movistar Arena, Santiago, Chile
02 April 2022: Auditorio Nacional, Mexico City, Mexico

For ticket details, visit the official site.

Update 7/12: The concert in São Paulo on 19 March has sold out, and an extra date has been added on 20 March.

Morten on the climate crisis: “We need to be shook so deep that we don’t dare to not act”

Morten Harket and Harald N. Røstvik in Stavanger, 16 November 2021

Morten visited the University of Stavanger on 16 November, to take part in the previously mentioned screening of The Sunshine Revolution and subsequent discussion together with Professor Harald N. Røstvik.

A video of the whole event is available to watch on YouTube.

The Sunshine Revolution (1991) focused on the enormous potential of solar energy, and how it could play a major role in reducing greenhouse gas emissions. Although there’s been progress in the field since then, Røstvik pointed out that a lot more should have been done, but he’s still optimistic about the future.

Harald: “The sad thing really, watching this film thirty years on, is that we knew then [that] this could be done in a much more practical and better way than what we’ve done over the last thirty years. So we’ve lost a lot of time, that’s the sad thing. But I suppose that’s the process also. I must say though, I felt at the time I was on a loser’s team. Today I feel I’m on a winner’s team. I think there is a completely different attitude to these issues in the world. And anybody can sense the urgency, and the need to act and not just talk. And that’s the big difference from [back] then.”

Morten: “But not through enlightenment. It’s because we’re scared. That’s the main reason why the world is responding. And that’s what it takes, quite simply, because we knew everything that we’re concerned of today [thirty years ago]. And we were not the only ones, there were a lot of people already back then who were involved in the same issues. But that’s what it takes for us to respond. We need to be shook so deep that we don’t dare to not act. And that’s leaving it very late. And costly. And that’s just a fact.”

a-ha to play in Arendal

Another a-ha concert in Norway next summer was announced today:

18 June: Bryggebyen, Arendal, Norway

This will be an outdoor concert with a capacity of around 10,000 people.

Concert ad (Picture by Stian Andersen)

Both Morten and Magne have played solo concerts in Arendal in the past, but this will be the first a-ha concert in this southern coastal town, which has a population of 38,000.

“Arendal was chosen because both the city and the location where a-ha will play are very beautiful. Additionally, a-ha have never played there before, and I was met by a very professional and friendly group of organizers and financial supporters. It’s also exciting to do a concert in a city whith such strong growth and development as Arendal”, a-ha manager Harald Wiik told local newspaper Agderposten (paywall).

He added that this will be a Hunting High and Low-concert, but in a slightly modified version.

Tickets go on sale on 22 November at 9am via TicketCo. More info about the concert can be found at canalstreet.no.

Eddie Howe on being an a-ha fan: ‘I want other people to hear what I hear’

Eddie Howe

In connection with Eddie Howe being confirmed as the new manager of Newcastle United this week, author Greg Lansdowne has kindly offered to share an extended version of an interview he did with Howe for his 2016 book Living A Fan’s Adventure Tale – a-ha in the eyes of the beholders.

Howe is known to be a major a-ha fan, and has followed the band since the beginning in the mid-80s.

In the interview he talks about his admiration for the band – “The songwriting is incredible and the reason they are still making music now is because it is very interesting”, but also the challenges of being an a-ha fan – “The frustration for me is their music doesn’t have the credibility or recognition that it deserves.”

Read the full interview here: Tyne and again

Update on True North album

a-ha in Bodø, November 2021
(Photo by Lasse Jangås – see more of his photos here)

After several days of rehearsals, it seems the main recording session for the True North album together with the Arctic Philharmonic orchestra took place in Bodø on November 4th and 5th.

Karl Oluf Wennerberg posted a Facebook picture together with drummer colleague Per Hillestad on Friday night, saying:
“The a-ha album recording is now finished. We have both participated as best we can 🙂 Per Hillestad, you’re a great guy in every way. Thanks for the company. Hoping the world will embrace the upcoming album/concert film.”

Another picture posted by Karl Oluf reveals that one of the songs on True North is indeed Magne’s “You Have What It Takes”, while Paul posted a video clip from rehearsals that included the hashtag “#makemeunderstand” – which may also be a song title.

A series of pictures from the True North sessions taken by Lasse Jangås, head of communications for Arctic Philharmonic, was posted on Facebook. One of them includes a glimpse of a list of the 12 songs on the album. Although it’s hard to make out what it says, in addition to “You Have What It Takes” it seems to include Magne’s songs “I’m In”, “Between the Halo and the Horn” and “Bluest of Blue”. Possibly also Paul’s song “Make Me Understand”, if that’s the title.

Arctic Philharmonic has posted an article about the project on their website, with text and photos by Lasse Jangås. It includes some quotes by Paul:

“We have a bit of a chequered past, and instead of going through three months of bickering in a recording studio we wanted to try out a new way of making an album”, Paul says in the article.

“The initial idea was to film everything in a regular studio, but then this idea came along, to do it with Arctic Philharmonic in Bodø. And this is really exciting. It’s always fun to work with a good orchestra – it adds entirely new colours to the music.”

Half of the songs on the album have been written by Magne, while the other half were written by Paul. And while Magne’s songs were arranged for orchestra by Kjetil Bjerkestrand, Paul songs have been arranged by Joe Mardin.

To conduct the Arctic Philharmonic orchestra, renowned Swedish musician Anders Eljas was brought in for the occasion. He is full of praise for the True North project and a-ha’s songwriting:

“Two different songwriters and two different arrangers gives the album something extra, different colours and a good dynamic. I don’t like it when an album is too even, and Paul and Magne’s different characters provides the album with different facets and will make it interesting to listen to”, he tells Lasse Jangås in the article.

“This is a band that writes songs with a unique character and that cares about how it sounds. And the songs are really good!”, Eljas says.

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