Archive for 2017

New tour dates in France and the Netherlands

A second tour date in France was announced last week, while the first date in the Netherlands followed today:

14 July 2018: Bospop Festival, Weert, Netherlands

24 July 2018: Théâtre Jean-Deschamps, Carcassone, France
(as part of the Festival de Carcassone)

For a list of all 29 dates announced so far, visit the Electric Summer Tour page.

In Ireland, all 5000 tickets for the Live at the Marquee concert in Cork sold out within a few hours last week. While in Norway, all 8400 tickets for next year’s Parken Festival in Bodø recently sold out in only 17 minutes.

Several of the other a-ha summer concerts are also close to selling out. More info on how to get tickets is available on the official site.

Kongsberg Jazz Festival has announced that Anneli Drecker’s Bel Canto will be supporting a-ha on July 6th, while support acts on the MTV Unplugged Tour starting next month will be Alexander Knappe in Germany, Austria and Switzerland, and Jess Morgan in Oslo and London. More info here.

German edition of ‘Tears from a Stone’ available for pre-order

Book cover

The German edition of Ørjan Nilsson’s book Tårer fra en stein is set to be published on 26 February 2018, using the original English title Tears from a Stone.

The book cover is also different, with the picture of Paul in colour instead of black-and-white.

The 304-page book can be pre-ordered directly from the German publisher Riva or from Amazon.de.

Still no word on an English edition of the book, but there’s a petition that can be signed here.

Speaking of pre-orders; the upcoming Savoy album See The Beauty In Your Drab Hometown can now be pre-ordered on CD or vinyl from Tiger record store in Oslo. They will ship worldwide.

Fans here in Norway can also order the album from Platekompaniet.

1993 concert date rediscovered

 
I have now added a new date to the Memorial Beach Tour page:

4 September 1993: Fylde College, Lancashire, UK

Not much is known about this concert, but it was probably a “secret” rehearsal gig before the Memorial Beach tour in Holland, Denmark and Germany, which started three days later. If anyone reading this attended the concert at Fylde College, let me know here.

Thanks to Christopher Hopkins for the info.
Concert photos by Still Photography.

The Voice: Season finale

Morten singing “Something Just like This” by The Chainsmokers & Coldplay

Last night it was time for the big season finale of The Voice, live from Fornebu in Oslo, where Andrea from Team Yosef, Sebastian from Team Morten, and Thomas and Agnes from Team Lene were competing to be named “the best voice in Norway”.

The show opened with Morten and the other mentors performing together for the first time, doing a cover version of the 2017 hit song “Something Just like This” by The Chainsmokers & Coldplay, before the four finalists took over on stage.

Watch the video here:
Morten, Lene, Yosef and Martin: “Something Just Like This”

The four finalists then performed one song each:
1. Sebastian James Hekneby: “Earth Song” by Michael Jackson
2. Thomas Løseth: “Heal” by Tom Odell
3. Agnes Stock: “Home for Christmas” by Maria Mena
4. Andrea Santiago Stønjum: “Halo” by Beyoncé

The two finalists who received the most votes from the viewers would then go on to the “super finale”, and that turned out to be Thomas and Andrea. After a break, they each performed another song:

1. Andrea: “Try” by Pink
2. Thomas: “With or Without You” by U2

Thomas Løseth is the winner of The Voice 2017

And the winner was…Thomas!
He wins a new car and a recording contract with Universal Music.

“There’s been a lot of great talents on the show. The level of quality has been very high. (…) Shows like this offer a great learning curve. It’s a taste of what [the music business] can be like. It’s a fantastic opportunity, and that’s one of the things I like about The Voice”, Morten said at the end.

A picture of Morten at the afterparty with the last five talents on his team; Dina, Sebastian, Knut, Ingeborg and Isabelle, was posted by Isabelle on Instagram.

a-ha perform on German TV

a-ha in Hamburg, 8 December 2017

a-ha were in Hamburg yesterday, where they performed the acoustic version of “Take On Me” on the “NDR Talk Show” on NDR.

Up until an hour before the show it was not clear if they would be performing, as Morten was struggling with a cold. But they did, and it sounded good.

A video of the performance + interviews with Morten and Magne can be seen here.

a-ha also played the acoustic version of “Take On Me” on the RTL talkshow “Die 2- Gottschalk & Jauch gegen ALLE” last Friday, 1 December, but that performance was taped in Cologne on 23 October. A video clip is available here.

New a-ha documentary to air on TV2

a-ha at Giske, June 2017 (Picture: TV2 promo)

A new 1-hour documentary called a-ha Unplugged – På innsiden (a-ha Unplugged – On the Inside), about the process leading up to the concerts at Giske this summer, is set to air on TV2 in Norway next Monday, 11 December at 22:40.

A couple of previews can be seen at TV2.no and on Facebook.

TV2 will also air a 1-hour edited version of the MTV Unplugged concert itself on Wednesday, 13 December at 21:40.

The Voice: Semi-final

Morten on The Voice, 1 December

Five talents remained in the contest before the semi-final of The Voice on Friday 1 December, including Sebastian on Team Morten. Here are links to YouTube-videos of all five performances:

1. Agnes Stock: “Vintersang” by Sarah McLachlan
2. Andrea Santiago Stønjum: “Something’s Got A Hold On Me” by Etta James
3. Thomas Løseth: “Dancing On My Own” by Robyn
4. Elise Nærø: “Use Somebody” by Kings of Leon
5. Sebastian James Hekneby: “Remember When It Rained” by Josh Groban

“They have been doing this for many weeks now and have become quite experienced, compared to where they started out. It’s been a fantastic journey for all of them. And I think we as mentors have become invested in all the artists”, Morten said.

The one who had to leave the contest this time was Elise. The four others will compete in the final, which airs live on TV2 this Saturday, 9 December at 20:00.

New tour dates in Ireland and Germany

Ten new tour dates on next year’s Electric Summer tour have now been announced; one in Ireland and nine in Germany:

12 June: Live At The Marquee, Cork, Ireland
13 July: Domplatz, Fulda, Germany
21 July: Marktplatz, Balingen, Germany
22 July: Freilichtsbuhne, Freiburg, Germany
10 August: Almased Arena, Uelzen, Germany
11 August: Freilichtsbuhne, Lorelei, Germany
22 August: Schlossplatz, Coburg, Germany
24 August: Elbufer, Dresden, Germany
25 August: Domplatz, Magdeburg, Germany
27 August: ZFR Festival, Bochum, Germany

This brings the total number of tour dates up to 27, which means almost half of the dates have now been announced – if they’re really planning to do 60 concerts during next summer/fall.

‘See The Beauty In Your Drab Hometown’ tracklist

Album cover

The tracklist of the upcoming Savoy album See The Beauty In Your Drab Hometown (12/01/18) has now been posted on amazon.co.uk and other Amazon sites, along with 30-second samples of each song.

1. Night Watch
2. A Month Of Sundays
3. Falls Park
4. Manmade Lake
5. Bump
6. January Thaw
7. Shy Teens Suffering Silently
8. We’re The Same Way
9. Sunlit Byways
10. (My) Weathervane

As we can see, the album includes new Savoy-versions of the previously released “Manmade Lake” and “Weathervane”. The song Lauren wrote for her short film Scent of a Woman is now called “Bump”.

Besides the digital release, the album will be available on CD and as a gatefold vinyl.

Tonight, Ørjan Nilsson and Audun Vinger will be doing another conversation about Tårer fra en stein, this time held at the library in Tromsø. It will include the premiere of one of the songs on the album, “Falls Park”, exclusively for the audience.

The Voice: Seventh live show

Morten at rehearsals with Sebastian

Here are the six performances from The Voice on 24 November:

1. Thomas Løseth: “Run” by Snow Patrol
2. Malin Joneid Ellefsen: “Elastic Heart” by Sia
3. Andrea Santiago Stønjum: “What Now” by Rihanna
4. Sebastian James Hekneby: “As Long As You Love Me” by Justin Bieber
5. Elise Nærø: “Think Before I Talk” by Astrid S
6. Agnes Stock: “Stjernesludd” by DumDum Boys

Malin received the least votes from the viewers, and had to leave the contest.

“Night Watch” available now

“Night Watch”, the first single from Savoy’s upcoming album See The Beauty In Your Drab Hometown has now been released digitally worldwide. Listen on your preferred streaming service here, and watch the music video on YouTube.

Single cover

“Night Watch” is a surprisingly potent and contemporary track and is – besides “Foreign Film” and “Fearlist” – the closest Savoy has ever been to the dancefloor.

A classic Waaktaar-Savoy song, with carefully layered synths and guitars – but with a gritty edge and pounding beat, or “dark dance” as Lauren called it in a recent interview. Especially halfway through the song, when you’re suddenly transported to a dark and sweaty club.

Paul has said he’s “super excited” about the new album, and this is certainly a very promising start.

Although Savoy have had several gold- and platinum-selling albums in Norway, international success has been elusive so far. It “could have happened / almost did”, as Paul sings in “Night Watch”. Maybe the new album will open new doors, and 2018 will prove to be Savoy’s year?

Savoy announce release concert in Oslo

Savoy live at Rockefeller, 21 May 2008 (Picture by Jakob)

Savoy have announced they will be doing a release concert at Parkteatret in Oslo on Thursday 11 January 2018, the day before their new album See The Beauty In Your Drab Hometown is released.

This will be the first Savoy concert in nearly ten years. The last time they performed together were the five shows at Rockefeller and Royal Albert Hall in May 2008.

It will also be the first time they perform at Parkteatret, which has a capacity of 500 people. Magne did a solo concert at the same venue in 2004.

Tickets go on sale via Ticketmaster on Friday 24 November at 9 am, but there will be an a-ha.com presale on Thursday.

The Voice: Sixth live show

Standing applause for Andrea’s version of “Set Fire to the Rain”

Here are the seven performances from The Voice on 17 November:

1. Agnes Stock: “Fields of Gold” by Sting
2. August Dahl: “Seven Nation Army” by The White Stripes
3. Elise Nærø: “Du gråter så store tåra” by Ane Brun
4. Thomas Løseth: “Fix You” by Coldplay
5. Malin Joneid Ellefsen: “Sex On Fire” by Kings of Leon
6. Sebastian James Hekneby: “Sign Of The Times” by Harry Styles
7. Andrea Santiago Stønjum: “Set Fire To The Rain” by Adele

When asked at the end who had impressed him the most, Morten chose Andrea.

“You’re having a go at singing Adele, which is quite a task and a brave choice. Adele has a powerful nerve in what she does, a steadiness that you don’t hear very often. But your version was really good, Andrea, it had that same approach”, Morten told her after her performance.

The one who had to leave the contest this week was August. Three shows now remain; the seventh live show this Friday, 24 Novermber, the semifinal on 1 December and the final on 9 December.

New Savoy album: ‘See The Beauty In Your Drab Hometown’

New publicity photo by Jason Brandenberg

The new Savoy album is called See The Beauty In Your Drab Hometown and is scheduled for release on 12 January. First single “Night Watch” is coming on 24 November. See the single and album covers on the Savoy Facebook page.

Savoy have signed with Oslo-based Drabant Music for this album, the same record label that released the Waaktaar & Zoe album earlier this year.

In a new interview with Dagbladet today, Paul and Lauren reveal that Augie moved to California this summer to study, which means they now have more time to focus on the band.

“We have time to fill. We were “football parents” for 15 years, with lots to do all the time. Now there’s a void”, Paul says.

“I don’t want to be moping about an “empty nest”. It feels like a kick in the butt when your kid leaves home. Suddenly you have more capacity to do the things you want”, Lauren says.

According to Dagbladet there’s a clearer connection between Savoy and a-ha on the new album. Lauren says that’s partly because of the massive Moog-synth in their home studio:

“While Paul has a dark dimension as a composer, he is also good at making dance music. I call it “dark dance”, which I think is something new for us. Just like the album title we’re mixing ugliness with beauty, darkness with light.”

The interview also mentions the fact that since Savoy last released music, a new Brooklyn-based band with the same name has garnered some attention in the US:

“I couldn’t believe it. We take a little break, and these guys show up. But she’s the real Savoy”, Paul says with a laugh and nods towards his wife.

He admits that it’s annoying, but says there’s no use in suing them.

As for the album title See The Beauty In Your Drab Hometown, Paul says that it doesn’t refer to Oslo, New York or Bergen, but something more abstract:

“Maybe it’s Manglerud – he he. No, I think it’s more about the grass always being greener on the other side. The point is that you have to be actively looking for beauty. It’s easy to dismiss it – and sometimes you don’t even have the chance to go somewhere else.”

Savoy are now also on Twitter. You can follow the band here.

Twelve new dates announced for a-ha’s ‘Electric Summer’ tour 2018

Another batch of ‘Electric Summer’ 2018 tour dates have been announced today, including a stadium tour in England, their first concerts in Sweden and Estonia since 2002, and their first ever concert in Israel.

07 June: The Spitfire Ground, Canterbury, UK
09 June: Huish Park, Yeovil, UK
10 June: Cambs Glass Stadium, Cambridge, UK
14 June: Keepmoat Stadium, Doncaster, UK
16 June: Bloomfield Road, Blackpool, UK
17 June: Mowden Park, Darlington, UK
21 June: Exhibition Gardens, Tel Aviv, Israel

04 July: Dalhalla, Rättvik, Sweden
16 July: Trakai Castle, Trakai, Lithuania
17 July: Sigulda Castle, Sigulda, Latvia
19 July: Tartu Song Festival Grounds, Tartu, Estonia
25 July: Theatre Antique de Vienne, Vienne, France

Support acts in the UK will be OMD and Thompson Twins’ Tom Bailey. One exception is the concert in Yeovil, where Marc Almond will appear instead of OMD.

For more details and ticket info, visit the official a-ha site.

The Voice: Fifth live show

Martin Bjercke and Morten on The Voice, November 10th

Here are the eight performances from the The Voice on November 10th:

1. Andrea Santiago Stønjum: “Dangerous Woman” by Ariana Grande
2. Sebastian James Hekneby: “Forever Young” by Bob Dylan
3. Elise Nærø: “Send My Love” by Adele
4. August Dahl: “A Change Is Gonna Come” by Sam Cooke
5. Ingeborg Walther: “Hide Away” by Daya
6. Agnes Stock: “Some Die Young” by Laleh
7. Malin Joneid Ellefsen: “Sorry Not Sorry” by Demi Lovato
8. Thomas Løseth: “Let Me Hold You” by Josh Krajcik

Funnily enough, two of the songs have previously been covered by Morten; “Forever Young” and “A Change is Gonna Come”.

The one who ended up with the least votes from the viewers turned out to be Ingeborg. So this means that Sebastian is the only talent remaining on Team Morten.

“This feels wrong, and I disagree with the viewers”, Morten told TV2 with a smile after the show. “There’s a lot of potential in Ingeborg, but this is how the game works.”

Magne Furuholmen appointed honorary doctor at the University of Agder

Now also an honorary doctor

In connection with its 10th anniversary, the University of Agder in Kristiansand, Norway, has appointed Magne Furuholmen as one of five new honorary doctors. The recipients are given the honorary doctorates for their “significant scientific or artistic efforts”.

An article on the university website states:

“Magne Furuholmen is one of Norway’s most recognized and versatile artists. He is an innovative and genre-defying artist, and a person that both our staff members and students are inspired by.

With his large international and national network, his wide experience and artistic qualities within several fields of art, he will be a valuable asset for both the University of Agder and our Faculty of Fine Arts.”

When collaborating with the university, Magne will probably be working closely with Karl Oluf Wennerberg, who – in addition to being the drummer for Magne, Apparatjik and a-ha – is an Associate Professor at the Department of Popular Music.

The five honorary doctors will attend the University of Agder’s 10th anniversary celebration at Kilden concert house in Kristiansand on 28 November.

Magne has previously been a guest professor at the The College of Fine Arts in Shanghai, China and is an honorary mentor at the Gutenberg Academy in Germany. He has also hosted workshops at the Hanoi University of Fine Art in Vietnam, at Burg Giebichenstein University of Art and Design in Germany and at the Trondheim Academy of Fine Art in Norway.

In other news, Magne and Queen Sonja were in Aarhus, Denmark on Thursday this week, for the opening of another of their joint Texture exhibitions.

The exhibition at Galerie MøllerWitt in Aarhus received quite a bit of coverage in the Danish press, and here are some links:

DR: Dronning Sonja udstiller med norsk popstjerne
Horsens Folkeblad: Dronningen og popkongen åbnede udstilling i Aarhus
Jyllands-Posten: Norges dronning i fælles kunstprojekt med popmusiker
Lokalavisen Aarhus: Dronningen og A-ha-stjerne viser kunst i Aarhus
Århus Stiftstidende: Rift om Dronning Sonjas kunst
Kongehuset.no: “Texture” i Århus

The Voice: Fourth live show

Morten on The Voice, 3 November

This Friday’s episode of The Voice was another live show where two talents from each team competed against each other in duels:

Team Lene
Olaves Fiskum: “Hurt” by Nine Inch Nails
Agnes Stock: “Selmas sang” by Eva Weel Skram

Team Yosef
Andrea Santiago Stønjum: “Songbird” by Fleetwood Mac
Jeremaya John: “Love Me” by Wide Awake

Team Morten
Knut Kippersrud Nesdal: “Believe” by Cher
Ingeborg Walther: “Space Oddity” by David Bowie

Team Martin
Magnus Bokn: “Wrecking Ball” by Miley Cyrus
Elise Nærø: “When Love Takes Over” by David Guetta

“They both have such control and musicality, and really deserve to be standing on this stage. And they have every chance to continue onto other stages, if that’s something they want to pursue”, Morten said after Knut and Ingeborg had performed.

The four talents that received the most votes from the viewers ended up being Agnes, Andrea, Ingeborg and Elise. Instagram photos from after the show include Morten and Ingeborg and the mentors and Friday’s winners.

Magne: “The tour keeps growing”

Magne promises an “electric summer”

When tickets for the a-ha concert in Hamar were released on Tuesday, 8,000 out of 10,000 available tickets were sold within a short time.

“It’s good to hear the tickets are selling well. And it’s nice to be playing somewhere we haven’t been before. Hamar has built a good reputation as a city for concerts, and has had visits from both Sting and Elton John lately. It’s really fun to be a part of establishing and building new, solid venues for people to experience live music”, Magne says in an interview with Hamar Arbeiderblad (paywall).

Although only five summer concerts in Norway have been announced so far, a lot more shows will be added in other countries:

“We’re doing a small unplugged tour in Europe early next year, which has lead to a lot of requests for a summer tour. So we decided to set aside the summer for touring, which has since been extended in both ends. The tour keeps changing and growing from day to day.”

But, as we know, the summer tour will not be unplugged:

“The two concerts [at Giske] formed the basis for the [MTV Unplugged] recording and TV-special, but we’re not sure if we’ll keep touring with that concept. Those are vulnerable instruments that are difficult to bring on tour. It’s a somewhat more demanding format, and with less energy than a fully electric show. We did some pondering if we should continue unplugged, or if we’d celebrate the summer with full power. We’ll be playing a number of football stadium concerts in the UK next summer, which naturally means we’re doing a full ‘electric summer’.”

“We have expanded our backing band for the unplugged tour, and we’ll keep going with a larger band. There will be full power at Hamar. We’re coming to create a good vibe, as best we can”, Magne says.

Savoy preparing to release new album

Savoy live in Tromsø, October 2004 (Picture by Suzie Dent)

Savoy are now finally preparing to release their much-awaited sixth studio album, the first release since 2007’s career retrospective Savoy Songbook Vol. 1 and the first new studio album since 2004’s self-titled Savoy album.

This week Frode Unneland has visited Paul and Lauren in New York, where they have done a photo session, been in the studio and worked on a music video with director Jason Brandenberg.

Last month Brandenberg was directing a music video for a new Savoy song called “Night Watch”, so this week’s shoot may be additional scenes for that video.

The “Night Watch” video is described as follows in an online casting call: “The lives of two teens and other insomniac inhabitants of a housing project turn surreal and disturbing on a sweltering summer night”.

But this is not the first music video shoot for the new album. Back in August, Paul and Lauren were in Los Angeles to do a music video for the song “January Thaw”, which was described as having “a mid-1940s avant-garde feel, in the style of Maya Deren films” in another casting call. The plot; “Two women playing cat’s cradle are spooked by the arrival of a mysterious cloaked figure”.

A couple of pictures from the “January Thaw” video shoot were posted by Lauren on Instagram:  Picture 1    Picture 2

The book Tårer fra en stein mentions two other songs on the new album; “Manmade Lake” – which Paul already released as a solo single in 2014 – and “Falls Park”.

“On the Savoy album we’re recording now there’s a song called “Falls Park”, which I found in one of my old notebooks a while ago and played for Lauren. She really liked it and thought it was a brand new song that I had written the day before. But I actually wrote it when I was 16″, Paul tells Ørjan Nilsson in the book.

The new album has been in the making for quite a while. Back in April 2014, Paul said they were going to finalize the album that summer, but that apparently didn’t happen. In November 2015, Frode joined the others for a recording session at the Clubhouse studio in Rhinebeck, New York. In October 2016, Paul said he was currently mixing the Savoy album with Steve Osborne and that he was “super excited” about it. In January 2017 he said the album had been mastered and would probably be released in September. Now it looks like it’s coming in early 2018.

“It’s been really fun returning to Savoy now, because the songs sound so fresh. One of the songs on the new album was written for a short film I directed (Scent of a Woman), so this time the songs have come from a variety of places. Many of the songs have been written by Paul in our house in Woodstock, and they are really beautiful”, Lauren says in the book.

Be sure to follow Paul, Lauren and Frode on Instagram for more Savoy updates.

BTW, a petition has been started to get Tårer fra en stein translated into English. You can add your support by signing the petition here.

The Voice: Third live show

Morten with Sebastian and Dina at rehearsals this week

Another Friday and another episode of The Voice, live from Fornebu.

This time two talents from each team were up against each other in duels, but the final result was all decided by viewers’ votes. At the end of the show, only four of tonight’s talents would remain in the contest.

“Everyone on stage tonight are talented and have fantastic possibilities. Setting them up in duels feels like somewhat of a joke, but that’s what we’re doing now”, Morten said at the beginning. “But it’s meant to be like this, and I’m totally OK with that”.

Team Martin
Maria Celin Strisland: “Stone Cold” by Demi Lovato
Malin Joneid Ellefsen: “Purple Rain” by Prince

Team Morten
Dina Sæle Ek: “Uprising” by Muse
Sebastian James Hekneby: “Empire State of Mind” by Alicia Keys

Team Lene
Lillen Stenberg: “It Must Have Been Love” by Roxette
Thomas Løseth: “Heaven” by Bryan Adams

Team Yosef
August Dahl: “Want To Want Me” by Jason Derulo
Kaja Rode: “I’m Every Woman” by Chaka Khan

“Tonight Dina did a good performance, but I feel that Sebastian maybe did his best performance so far”, Morten said after his own team members had been on stage.

The four talents that received the most votes from the viewers, and are now one step closer to the finals, were Malin, Sebastian James, Thomas and August. The other four are out of the contest.

Earlier this week, Morten made a quick trip to Cologne, Germany, to be a guest on the TV-show “Die 2 – Gottschalk & Jauch gegen ALLE”, which will air on RTL sometime in November.

a-ha concert in Hamar announced

From a-ha’s outdoor concert in Bergen, May 2016 (Picture by Jakob)

A fifth and final outdoor concert in Norway next summer has been announced today; a-ha will be playing in the city of Hamar on 14 August 2018.

The concert will be held at Stortorget (main square) in Hamar, which has a capacity of 10,000 people. Previous shows at Stortorget have included Sting and Elton John.

Tickets go on sale on Tuesday, 31 October, through Ticketmaster. There will also be a fan presale the day before.

This will be the first time a-ha perform in Hamar. Savoy played there in 2004.

Elsewhere, the a-ha concert in Trondheim on 15 August has sold out, and the concert at Kongsberg Jazz Festival on 6 July has sold 9000 out of 12000 tickets so far.

Articles:
A-Ha kommer til Stortorget
a-ha til Stortorget i Hamar – på en tirsdag

Apparatjik to perform in Poland

Magne on stage with Apparatjik in Bergen, 3 June 2016

Last month Magne paid a visit to Szczecin in Poland, which was mentioned by the Szczecin Philharmonic Hall on Facebook.

In an interview with Dagbladet (paywall) about his new Imprints book and the Summer Solstice album, Magne mentions the reason why he was in Poland:

“I recently visited Szczecin in Poland, to check out the concert hall where I’ll be performing with Apparatjik during the Music and Design Festival next year. That gave me an opportunity to hear Szczecin Philharmonic Orchestra rehearsing a symphony by Mieczyslaw Karlowicz, which sounded wonderful and was a nice discovery for me.”

The exact date is yet to be confirmed, but this will be Apparatjik’s first live performance since Day of the Dead feat. Buika and Void during Bergen International Festival in June 2016. Check out an extended video from Day of the Dead recently posted by Void here.

The Voice: Second live show

Martin Bjercke and Morten Harket on The Voice, October 20th

This Friday it was time for the ten remaining talents on Team Morten and Team Martin to perform on The Voice, live from H3 Arena.

A few moments in the beginning were spent talking about a-ha’s performance at Wembley the night before:

“We didn’t play a concert last night, we did one song live. “Take On Me” acoustically, with a pump organ. There’s a crowd of 8000 people, and it happens right there and then, in 3 minutes. ‘Now you’re on, Morten’ – out on stage, almost right back in and you’re done. And that’s what our talents will be experiencing tonight, it’s the same thing”, Morten said.

Here are video clips of the five talents on Team Morten:
Isabelle Eberdean Bjørneraas: “Crazy” by Seal
Dina Sæle Ek: “Darkness, Darkness” by The Youngbloods
Knut Kippersund Nesdal: “Personal Jesus” by Depeche Mode
Sebastian James Hekneby: “Sound of Silence” by Simon & Garfunkel
Ingeborg Walther: “So Good” by Zara Larsson

Sebastian and Ingeborg received the most votes from the viewers, while Morten had to choose between Isabelle, Dina and Knut. He chose the last two, and Isabelle is out of the contest.

TV2 has posted a picture of Morten with his remaining four talents on Instagram. And as usual, videos of all 10 performances are up on on TV2’s YouTube channel.

a-ha at BBC Children in Need concert

The SSE Arena, Wembley, October 19th
(Screenshot from YouTube video)

a-ha performed one song, the acoustic version of “Take On Me”, at the “BBC Children in Need Rocks the 80s” charity concert at The SSE Arena, Wembley in London on Thursday night, October 19th.

They were joined on stage by Martin Terefe on pump organ, who has arranged and co-produced this new version of the song on MTV Unplugged – Summer Solstice.

A video of the performance can be seen on YouTube (thanks to Chris).

Some pictures of a-ha on the red carpet have been posted on Getty Images.

The concert is set to air on TV sometime next month.

While in London, Paul posted a few pictures on Instagram and promised “lots of Savoy news coming soon”.

The Voice: First live show

Morten on The Voice, October 13th

Morten was back at Fornebu’s H3 Arena in Oslo on Friday, for this season’s first live show of The Voice.

As there were now 20 talents remaining in the contest, only the 10 talents on Team Lene and Team Yosef performed during Friday’s show. Morten and Martin’s 10 talents will perform next Friday, October 20th.

Among the best performances on Friday were Agnes and Thomas on Team Lene, and Kaja and Jeremaya on Team Yosef. Jeremaya was previously on Team Morten.

Two talents had to leave the contest; Ida on Team Lene and Mirjam on Team Yosef.

All 10 performances are available on TV2’s YouTube-channel.

Morten talked a bit about his role as a mentor on The Voice during the BBC Radio Devon interview last week:

“It is interesting and it makes sense to me to make use of all I know at this stage, with my experience after all this time and being sort of on the arena as much as I have been. There are lot of things that I instantly can say about a performance and about the psychological aspects of what goes on in the head or in the heart of whoever is on stage. What is holding them back, for instance. What is blocking their access to themselves. There are things I know that I can offer as insight.”

‘Tårer fra en stein’ to be published in German

Munich-based publishing company Riva has secured the rights to a German edition of Ørjan Nilsson’s book about Paul Waaktaar-Savoy, NTB reports via Gaffa.no.

The book is set to be published sometime in February/March 2018 and will be translated by Daniela Stilzebach, who has previously translated Norwegian books about Knut Hamsun and Edvard Munch into German.

“The German title of the book has not been decided yet”, Nilsson tells NTB.

The Norwegian first printing of 1500 copies sold out quickly, and there will be a second printing of 2000 books.

“There’s a big potential”, Norwegian publisher Christer Falck says.

Morten talks summer tour 2018

Picture by Jakob

Morten was a guest on Richard Green’s show on BBC Radio Devon today. The interview is available here (starts at 23 minutes).

Among the topics discussed was next year’s summer tour/world tour. As we learnt several months ago, a-ha is planning to go on the road again next summer with a full electric band, starting in the UK in June 2018 before continuing through mainland Europe, the USA and South America.

Although only four outdoor concerts in Norway have been announced so far, a-ha manager Harald Wiik said there will be 30-40 concerts in total. Later reports have mentioned as many as 60 concerts.

When asked about returning to the UK for more gigs next summer, Morten says:

“I believe, from where I stand now, that it will be more outdoor venue influenced. It’s not gonna be like the [Cast in Steel] tour, for instance. It will have elements of that, I think. I can’t promise that, but it’s what I think today. It will have elements, to an extent, from the Giske sessions, to create the dynamics that we would want. Certain songs might work in outdoor arenas, based on what we did in Giske, but only some of them would work that way. Then certain songs work by far best the way we have normally set it up with our full electronic stuff. And then certain songs will come to their form in a sort of analogue type of live playing. Sometimes we’ve played to synthesizers and computers, so it’s a mix of our live playing against the computers, that’s partly a-ha’s music. And some will be like that, some will be maybe all analogue and some will be stripped. I think it will be a mix.”

Planning such a major tour has raised questions if the band might be aiming to release a new studio album before next summer, but that will not be the case, according to Morten:

“Not an a-ha album, [that’s] not planned. But we have plans in that we’re now releasing this album from Giske, which leads on to the acoustic tour in January and February. And then we go into rehearsals and planning of the shows in the summer later on. So that will take us through most of next year. But the autumn is fairly open. And then there are other plans, there are a lot of offers for the band. But we have no concrete plans for a studio album.”

There are also no immediate plans for another solo album, he says:

“It would be wrong for me to make plans for my own stuff now, but there is a lot of stuff that is available and ready to be responded to, whenever it opens up for that.”

Earlier in the week, on Monday, Morten and Magne were guests on Becky Want’s show on BBC Radio Manchester. That interview is available here (starts at 1:45:30).

‘MTV Unplugged – Summer Solstice’ enters album chart at #3 in Germany and #6 in the UK

MTV Unplugged – Summer Solstice

a-ha’s new live album MTV Unplugged – Summer Solstice has entered the German album chart at #3 in its first week. This is a-ha’s 13th top-10 album in Germany.

In the UK the album has entered the album chart at #6, making it their seventh UK top-10 album. A total of 6,982 copies were sold in the first week, this number includes physical sales, digital sales and streaming (1500 streams equals 1 album sale).

But if the UK album chart had been based on physical sales only, MTV Unplugged – Summer Solstice would actually have been at #2, only beaten by Liam Gallagher’s new album, as can be seen on the physical albums chart.

In Norway the album enters VG-lista at #14 in its first week.

Elsewhere, the album enters at #35 in Belgium (Wallonia), #50 in Ireland, #93 in Belgium (Flanders), and #98 in The Netherlands, according to the UKMIX forum.

Additionally, the DVD/Blu-ray has entered the German Top-30 Music DVD chart at #4, the Belgian (Wallonia) Top-10 Music DVD chart at #4 and the Dutch Top-10 Music DVD chart at #8.

As for the UK, below is a list of all first-week entries and first-week sales on the UK album chart in the last twelve years, including solo albums:
2006 – Analogue: #24 (9,911 copies)
2009 – Foot of the Mountain: #5 (18,744 copies)
2010 – 25: #10 (10,835 copies)
2011 – Ending on a High Note: #43 (2,966 copies)
2012 – Out of My Hands: #37 (3,455 copies)
2014 – Brother: #56 (1,461 copies)
2015 – Cast in Steel: #8 (7,828 copies)
2016 – Time and Again: #75 (???? copies)
2017 – Summer Solstice: #6 (6,982 copies)

The Voice: battle rounds and knockout rounds

“I’m proud of the team I’m bringing with me to the live shows”, Morten says.

The Voice has continued on TV2 over the last few weeks, with 5 episodes of battle rounds and 3 episodes of knockout rounds, which were taped between 22 May – 2 June this year.

Here are the six battles on Team Morten, with YouTube-links:
1. Ingeborg vs Elias –> Morten chose Ingeborg
2. Maria Celin vs Anna –> Morten chose Anna, while Martin stole Maria Celin
3. Jeremaya vs Egil Sverre –> Morten chose Jeremaya
4. Sebastian vs Jorunn –> Morten chose Sebastian, while Yosef stole Jorunn
5. Dina vs Ninja –> Morten chose Dina
6. Lena vs Knut –> Morten chose Knut

In addition, Morten stole Alexandra from Team Martin and Synne from Team Lene.

Meanwhile, on Team Yosef, Morten’s niece Ragnhild Harket was up against two others, but went through to next round.

Rehearsals with Elias and Ingeborg

This meant Team Morten had 8 talents remaining before the knockout rounds, where the singers themselves decide what they want to perform.

Here are the four knockout duels on Team Morten, with YouTube-links:
1. Ingeborg vs Synne –> Morten chose Ingeborg
2. Alexandra vs Knut –> Morten chose Knut
3. Anna vs Dina –> Morten chose Dina
4. Jeramaya vs Sebastian –> Morten chose Sebastian

In addition, Morten stole Isabelle from Team Martin.

On Team Yosef, Ragnhild Harket was up against August, but wasn’t chosen this time.

Studio rehearsals with Dina and Ninja

The next stage of The Voice starts on TV2 tomorrow, October 13th, with the first of nine live shows from H3 Arena in Oslo. The live shows will continue every Friday until the finale on December 9th. So this will keep Morten busy for the next couple of months. Tickets are available at Ticketmaster.

The final five talents on Team Morten are:
– Ingeborg Walther (17)
– Knut Kippersund Nesdal (26)
– Dina Sæle Ek (32)
– Sebastian James Hekneby (27)
– Isabelle Eberdean Bjørneraas (20)

For a presentation of all 20 talents that are ready for the live shows, check out the video clips about each team on TV2.no.

After the press conference in Berlin last month, Magne was asked by TV2 what he thought of Morten following in his footsteps as a mentor on The Voice:

Magne: “Although I haven’t seen that much yet, I feel Morten is making a good impression, based on what I’ve seen. Absolutely.”
Morten: “That means he hasn’t seen it.”
Magne: “It could also mean they have done a great job in the editing room (laughs).”

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