a-ha opened their Electric Summer Tour at The Spitfire Ground St Lawrence in Canterbury last night, the first of 31 concerts across twelve European contries this summer. They were joined by support acts Tom Bailey and OMD.
The 18-song setlist apparently included several new arrangements, of particular note “Minor Earth Major Sky” and “Train of Thought” both being played similarly to the early demo versions, and a more electric version of “This is Our Home”.
Additionally, “The Blood That Moves The Body”, “Minor Earth Major Sky”, “The Weight of the Wind” and “Train of Thought” were all performed live for the first time since 2010.
High-quality video clips of “The Blood That Moves The Body” and “The Weight of the Wind” have been posted on YouTube by Chris Fournier.
“You have to reinvent things. It has to feel fresh, so even the ones we always play, you try to give them a different spin or really bring it back to the way it was at the core. It changes with each song. We might have had a demo of one of the hits that we are fond of so we might play something like that”, Paul told The Northern Echo in an interview earlier this week.
The backing band was mostly the same as on the MTV Unplugged tour, only Lars Horntveth was missing. Production rehearsals took place at the LH2 Studios in London from 2 – 5 June.
Setlist:
1. Cry Wolf
2. The Blood That Moves The Body
3. Minor Earth Major Sky (demo version)
4. Lifelines
5. The Weight of the Wind
6. Crying in the Rain
7. Foot of the Mountain
8. Analogue
9. Train of Thought (demo version)
10. Stay on These Roads
11. This is Our Home
12. Manhattan Skyline
13. Hunting High and Low
14. I’ve Been Losing You
15. The Sun Always Shines on TV
16. Scoundrel Days
17. The Living Daylights
18. Take on Me
The tour continues at Huish Park in Yeovil on Saturday.
UK press:
– Review: A-ha, Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark and Thompson Twin’s Mark Bailey play Canterbury
– 7 things we learned from A-ha’s Magne ‘Mags’ Furuholmen ahead of their show at Huish Park in Yeovil
– Fresh approach a hit for a-ha – Norwegian trio set for Darlington gig
– A-ha: ‘It’s like any marriage, we share this fateful bond’
– Audio: Magne interviewed on YO1 Radio