Archive for October, 2015

a-ha to perform at the 2015 Nobel Peace Prize Concert

Nobel Peace Prize Concert logo

Nobel Peace Prize Concert logo

a-ha will be among the artists performing at the 22nd annual Nobel Peace Prize Concert in Oslo on 11 December. This was announced tonight, as mentioned by Dagbladet.

This will be the third time a-ha perform at the event. They previously performed there in 1998 (“Summer Moved On” and “The Sun Always Shines On TV”) and in 2001 (“Differences” and “Hunting High And Low”).

In addition, Morten has performed twice as a solo artist; in 1996 (“East Timor”) and in 2007 (“Letter From Egypt” and “Movies”).

The concert has usually been held at Oslo Spektrum, but will instead be held at the larger-capacity Telenor Arena this year. The concert will also be available as a live stream on YouTube for the first time.

This year’s Nobel Peace Prize laureate is the Tunisian National Dialogue Quartet “for its decisive contribution to the building of a pluralistic democracy in Tunisia in the wake of the Jasmine Revolution of 2011”.

Tickets for the Nobel Peace Prize Concert are available now at billettservice.no.

Magne on Lindmo

Magne on Lindmo, 24 October

Magne on Lindmo, 24 October

Magne was a guest on the NRK1 talkshow Lindmo tonight, to talk about his upcoming sculpture park and a-ha’s recent tour in South America.

“The South American tour was overwhelming, but somewhat touching as well. You don’t expect that kind of reception, after having been apart for years. There was a surprising level of interest from the audience. Even Morten said that he hadn’t experienced anything like it since the 1980s”, Magne said.

The episode can be seen at tv.nrk.no.

São Paulo and Curitiba concerts

Master Hall, Curitiba, 15 October

Master Hall, Curitiba, 15 October

a-ha ended their South American tour last week, playing for 8000 people in Sao Paulo on 14 October and for 3000 people in Curitiba on 15 October.

The setlist was apparently the same in both Sao Paulo and Curitiba, albeit only 19 songs – one song shorter than the other shows.

Here with links to selected YouTube videos from both concerts:

01. Cast In Steel
02. I’ve Been Losing You
03. Cry Wolf
04. Move To Memphis
05. Mythomania
06. Stay On These Roads
07. Scoundrel Days
08. Soft Rains Of April
09. Crying in the Rain
10. We’re Looking For The Whales
11. The Swing Of Things
12. Foot Of The Mountain
13. You Are The One
14. Sycamore Leaves
15. Hunting High And Low
————–
16. The Sun Always Shines On TV
17. Under The Makeup
18. The Living Daylights
————–
19. Take on Me

A good quality video clip of “Mythomania” has yet to appear, but here is an audio recording of the song live in Fortaleza (courtesy of Brian Rocha):


Before going to São Paulo, a-ha did a studio session at Estudio Ararena in Fortaleza to work on the next single.

The band now has a 5-month break before the Cast In Steel tour starts again in Russia in March 2016. But besides the tour they also have “a wish list of other stuff” to do, Paul said in an interview with São Paulo radio station Radio Rock 89FM:

“We have a sort of open schedule now, so we wanna keep surprising ourselves. I think for now we just wanna do the tour that we have booked for next year. But then there’s a wish list of other stuff that we would like to do. But we have to see how we feel after that. There’s a pretty long tour coming up. So play it one day at a time, to see what happens.”

São Paulo links
Ligado a Musica article    Estadao article    Midiorama photo gallery
Globo G1 article    Globo G1 photo gallery    UOL article    UOL photo gallery
Reduto do Rock article    R7 photo gallery    Yahoo article

Curitiba links
CWB Live article    Gazeta do Povo article    Bem Parana article
Bem Parana photo gallery    Bem Parana article    Midiorama article

Brasilia, Recife and Fortaleza concerts

Aquaville Resort, Fortaleza, 10 October (Picture by Alberth Palhares)

Aquaville Resort, Fortaleza, 10 October
(Picture by Alberth Palhares)

The Brazilian tour has continued this week, with indoor concerts in Brasilia and Recife, and an outdoor concert in Fortaleza. It sounds like a-ha are getting a phenomenal reception in Brazil this time, playing to appreciative audiences at sold-out venues, with good press reviews.

The band has been changing the setlist slightly at each show. In Brasilia they opened with “I’ve Been Losing You”, while in Recife “The Wake” was the opener. In Fortaleza the opening song was “Cast In Steel”, which was performed live for the first time in Brasilia four days earlier. The audience in Fortaleza also got to hear the live debut of “Mythomania”.

Below are links to some articles and video clips:

Brasilia
YouTube: Stay On These Roads
YouTube: Early Morning
YouTube: You Are The One
YouTube: The Sun Always Shines On TV
YouTube: Soft Rains of April
Globo G1 article
Finissimo article
Metropoles article

Recife
YouTube: Cast In Steel
YouTube: Sycamore Leaves
YouTube: The Swing of Things
YouTube: Under The Makeup
LeiaJa article/photo gallery
Divulga Recife article
FolhaPE article
Roberta Jungmann article
Joao Alberto article
YouTube: Arriving at the airport

Fortaleza
YouTube: Crying In The Rain
YouTube: You Are The One
YouTube: Hunting High and Low
YouTube: The Living Daylights
Instagram pictures/videos

Barcarena and Paragominas concerts

Paragominas, 3 October (Picture from ORM News)

Paragominas, 3 October
(Picture from ORM News)

a-ha played two outdoor concerts in the Pará area in Brazil last week, in cooperation with Hydro. According to Hydro, 14,000 people were in the audience at the Cabana Club in Barcarena on 1 October, while 18,000 people saw them at Estádio Arena Verde in Paragominas on 3 October.

The setlist in Barcarena was identical to the twenty-song set they did in Buenos Aires, opening with “The Wake”. The setlist in Paragominas hasn’t been posted anywhere yet, but appears to have been a bit different, as they opened with “I’ve Been Losing You” instead.

Before the first show, on 1 October, they did a press conference in Belém, after a chaotic arrival at the airport the day before. In between shows Morten has contributed to a reforestation project, while Magne has held art workshops. Check out more pictures and video clips on Hydro Brazil’s Instagram page.

Barcarena links:
Photo gallery (ORM News)
YouTube: Full concert
YouTube: Concert highlights

Paragominas links:
Photo gallery (ORM News)
YouTube: Hunting High and Low
YouTube: Morten climbing the stage scaffolding (!)

Photographer Just Loomis has been following the band on the road, like he did in 1991, and some of the photos he has taken so far can be seen in this official “Forest Fire” slideshow video – which also features an alternate mix of the song.

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