Archive for May, 2012

London and Birmingham concerts

London, May 13th

Morten’s European tour ended yesterday, with a concert at the Symphony Hall in Birmingham. The setlist seems to have been the same as it has been at 17 out of 18 concerts on this tour.

Only a couple of YouTube clips so far; Out Of Blue Comes Green and Take On Me. And there’s a review from the Shropshire Star.

 

There’s a lot more YouTube clips from Sunday’s concert at the indigO2 in London, though. And here are some other London links:

Flickr set by “jbevans2010”
contactmusic.com gallery
thisisnotretro.com review

More interviews

Taking a nap on the flight from Berlin to Brussels, May 7th 
(Picture from Dagens Næringsliv)

Morten was a guest on “Good Morning Sunday” with host Aled Jones on BBC Radio 2 this morning. The interview can be heard here (starts at 2:30).

And Friday’s interview on BBC Radio Manchester can be heard here (starts at 0:11).

But keep in mind that these BBC programmes are only available for a week or so.

Absolute Radio will broadcast a 1-hour special with Morten next Thursday, May 17th. More info at absoluteradio.co.uk.

Meanwhile, the Norwegian newspaper Dagens Næringsliv had a 7-page article yesterday, which followed Morten on tour in Germany last week, travelling from Düsseldorf to Dortmund, and via Peine to Berlin.

Manchester concert, May 11th

Manchester, May 11th 
(Picture from wireimage.com)

Morten started his 3-date tour of the UK at the Bridgewater Hall in Manchester yesterday.

YouTube clips so far include Crying In The Rain, Stay On These Roads, Foot Of The Mountain and Take On Me.

And there is a photo gallery at wireimage.com.

Tomorrow he’s playing at the indigO2 in London, before this first leg of the tour ends at the Symphony Hall in Birmingham on Monday.

The Voice – episode 16

Magne with his two semifinalists; Monika Blomeid and Martin Halla 
(Picture from dagbladet.no)

Magne had three talents left on his team in yesterday’s live episode of The Voice, but only two of them would go through to next week’s semifinal.

Here are last night’s performances:

Shaun Bartlett (performing his own song “Secret Mission”)
Monika Blomeid (performing “Blowin’ In The Wind”)
Martin Halla (performing “We Found Love”)

Martin received the most audience votes, and it was up to Magne who would join him in the semifinal; Shaun or Monika.

He ended up choosing Monika, who did an amazing version of “Blowin’ In The Wind”, but said afterwards that it had been a very difficult choice:

“Shaun has been one of the best, all along. So in some ways this is unfair, but I hope to make it up to Shaun at a later point. (…) I hope I’ll be able to give him what I have of contacts and inspiration in the future”, Magne told VG.

“You never know how the audience will vote. I have been lying awake for a few nights now, thinking about this. (…) I tried to picture who would have the most to gain from this show, that’s why I chose to keep Monika”, he added to Dagbladet.

Before the show, there was a video interview with Magne on tv2.no. Afterwards he was interviewed by both VGTV and backstage in the Red Room studio.

Morten interviewed on the BBC

Morten on BBC Breakfast, May 11th

Morten was a guest on BBC Breakfast this morning. A video clip of the interview can be seen here.

Yesterday he was interviewed by Alan Thompson on BBC Radio Wales, which can be heard here (Part one at 1:15 and Part two at 1:45).

Asked by a listener if there are any plans to record a live album, Morten answered:

“There are no plans at the moment, but it will happen. It’s a given, I think. But not right away, as we need to get warmed up first – which we are actually starting to, you know. The machinery is starting to get oiled. We’ve done about three to four weeks now on the road and the band is coming together.”

He also expressed an interest in playing countries that haven’t been a part of the current tour:

“There are in fact, a lot of places I would really want to visit. We’re doing a run, which is mainly the waterholes of a-ha over the past years, to start with. I would love to go in and do Spain and also Italy and a number of places. I am not doing Ireland now, for instance, which I would love to.”

He was also a guest on Alan Simpson’s show on BBC Radio Ulster yesterday, available here (starts at 1:10).

Other interviews coming up include Matt White’s show on BBC Radio Manchester tonight and “Good Morning Sunday” on BBC Radio 2 this Sunday, May 13th.

Paris concert, May 9th

Paris, May 9th

Wednesday’s concert at La Cigale in Paris included an unexpected moment, when – during “Forever Not Yours” – first the lights went out, followed by the sound disappearing. There’s a clip of it here.

Thankfully, the technical problems were sorted out shortly afterwards.

Check out some good quality video clips from YouTube user “vmandrant” here, and view a photo gallery from the show at photosconcerts.com.

Magne prepares exhibition at Blaafarveværket

Installing the art at Blaafarveværket yesterday 
(Picture from Drammens Tidende)

Magne visited the Blaafarveværket museum yesterday, to prepare his big – partly retrospective – summer exhibition (see Dec. 15th story) which opens next Saturday, May 19th.

Today there are interviews with him in VG, Bygdeposten and Drammens Tidende. There is also an 8-minute video interview at tvmodum.no, where you can see many examples of what will be on display – woodcuts, graphic prints, ceramic jars and more.

Picture from Bygdeposten

“The exhibition features a lot of art from the 1990s, including series of works that have never been exhibited in Norway or Europe before. It’s been really fun to bring this out of hiding, and combine it with some of my newest works”, Magne told Bygdeposten.

The exhibition is held in an old, wooden barn, which makes for a special experience.

“It’s both exciting and challenging to work in such buildings and surroundings. When it works, which I feel it does here, it creates a great connection between the room and the artwork. And the woodcuts fit naturally together with the timber walls”, Magne says.

There is more information (in English) about the museum and exhibition at blaa.no.

Brussels concert, May 8th

Brussels, May 8th

Morten played at the Ancienne Belgique in Brussels yesterday.

There hasn’t been much info from this concert yet, except it was the standard setlist, but there is a video clip of “Out Of Blue Comes Green” on YouTube.

You know, I wasn’t sure if Morten would be able to sing “Out Of Blue Comes Green” night after night on this tour, considering how demanding it is vocally. But he keeps delivering amazing performances of the song, as you can see in the clip.

Tour update

Jahrhunderthalle, Frankfurt, May 3rd 
(Picture from fnp.de)

Morten’s European tour continued with concerts in Frankfurt, Düsseldorf and Berlin last week. The 19-song setlist remains the same.

Here are some links to videos, reviews and photos:

Frankfurt, May 3rd
YouTube clips
HR1 photo gallery
fnp.de review/gallery
Wiesbadener Kurier review

Düsseldorf, May 4th
YouTube clips
WDR2 review
derwesten.de review/gallery
paderzeitung.de review
wz-newsline.de review

Berlin, May 6th
YouTube clips
Flickr photo set by Silvia

 

In the album charts, Out Of My Hands falls from #1 to #6 in Norway and from #13 to #20 in Germany in its third week.

Zurich concert, May 2nd

Zurich, May 2nd

Morten played at the Volkshaus venue in Zurich, Switzerland yesterday.

Video clips so far include Crying In The Rain and Lay Me Down Tonight.

There’s also good picture gallery on Flickr.

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