Stuttgart, 23 January 2018
(Picture by Carolyn Londer-Ward)

a-ha opened their 13-date MTV Unplugged Tour 2018 at the Schleyerhalle in Stuttgart, Germany last night, for an audience of around 6000 people.

The setlist was the same as the concert at Giske last summer – apart from not playing the cover version of “The Killing Moon” and a different song order.

Aftenposten’s music journalist Robert Hoftun Gjestad attended the concert in Stuttgart and gives it a 5/6 review, saying that “this was a-ha at its finest”.

“Impressively, for the most part it turned out to be equally touching and musically warm inside the concrete hall in Stuttgart as it was in the far smaller venue at Giske where the live album was recorded”, Hoftun Gjestad writes.

The stage design is among the most stylish setups a-ha have used to date, utilising two large, curved screens; one behind the band and one above the stage. Live video of the band is combined with animations and footage from Norwegian nature, including Morten Skallerud’s short-film Året Gjennom Børfjord from 1991, which was used in a-ha’s “Lifelines” music video.

Fan pictures and videos have been fewer than normal for an opening night of a new tour, but this may have to do with an announcement that was made before the show discouraging photography and video. Apparently people who were taking photos/videos with their phones were asked not to by the ushers, one fan said.

The merchandise stand seems to offer four new MTV Unplugged – Summer Solstice T-shirt designs with tour dates on the back, plus a hoodie/jacket. The new Savoy album on vinyl is also available.

Stuttgart setlist:

1. This is Our Home
2. Lifelines
3. I’ve Been Losing You
4. This Alone is Love
5. Forever Not Yours
6. Analogue
7. Manhattan Skyline
8. Foot of the Mountain
9. Stay On These Roads
10. A Break in the Clouds
11. Sox of the Fox
12. Memorial Beach
13. Over the Treetops
14. Living a Boy’s Adventure Tale
15. Scoundrel Days
16. Summer Moved On
17. The Living Daylights
18. Hunting High and Low
19. The Sun Always Shines on TV
– – – – – – – – – – – – –
20. Take On Me

German reviews:
a-ha liefern Akustikpop mit Charme
Von Oho bis naja

(Thanks to Sain Alizada)