Archive for the ‘Ending on a High Note Tour’ Category

Stadtallendorf concert cancelled

Tonight’s concert at the Hessentag event in Stadtallendorf has unfortunately been cancelled due to Morten’s voice problems.

Morten went to see a doctor after last night’s concert in Trier, and again this morning, but at 11am today it was announced that it’s not possible for him to perform tonight.

Hessentag is a kind of festival that is held between 28 May – 6 June, but it remains to be seen if it’s possible to re-schedule the concert to a later date.

Morten is well but can’t sing – we are confident that he will be back in shape for Kiel!“, a-ha.com has posted on Twitter tonight.

Article in German from mittelhessen.de: “a-ha”-Konzert fällt aus

Trier concert

Trier, 29 May (Picture by Sandra - more pictures here)

Trier, 29 May
(Picture by Sandra – more pictures here)

Morten had problems with his voice during last night’s indoor concert at Arena Trier. Apparently it was not a problem with his vocal chords, but rather an inflammation at the back of his throat that prevented him from singing at full power.

By the end of the concert, his voice was almost completely gone, according to fans who were in the audience. However, “Early Morning” was the only song that was left out. And it was still a really good show despite Morten’s voice issues, fans said afterwards.

Trier, 29 May (Picture by Sandra)

Trier, 29 May
(Picture by Sandra)

Setlist (with YouTube-links):

1. The Bandstand
2. Foot Of The Mountain
3. Analogue
4. Forever Not Yours
5. Minor Earth, Major Sky
6. Summer Moved On
7. Move To Memphis
8. The Blood That Moves The Body
9. Stay On These Roads
10. The Living Daylights
11. And You Tell Me
12. Scoundrel Days
13. The Swing Of Things
14. We’re Looking For The Whales
15. Manhattan Skyline
16. I’ve Been Losing You
17. Cry Wolf
18. The Sun Always Shines On TV
19. Hunting High and Low
20. Take On Me

Mönchengladbach concert

Mönchengladbach, 28 May (Picture by Sandra)

Mönchengladbach, 28 May (Picture by Sandra)

a-ha played the first of four German concerts in front of 8000 people outdoors at the Warsteiner HockeyPark in Mönchengladbach last night.

They opened with “The Bandstand” and the rest of the setlist was similar to the recent concerts in USA and Canada. The new song that Paul mentioned in the RTL radio interview was nowhere to be heard, but there’s another chance tonight, as the band moves on to Trier to play indoors at the city’s sports arena.

More pictures taken by Sandra can be seen here. There are also many pictures from the concert on the German forum here.

Santiago concert

Santiago, March 23rd

Santiago, March 23rd

The South American tour ended with the rescheduled concert at the Movistar Arena in Santiago last night, where the band played for an audience of 9000 people.

Morten’s voice is clearly improving after the problems he had last week, so it was back to the 20-song setlist this time.

1. The Bandstand
2. Foot Of The Mountain
3. Analogue
4. Forever Not Yours
5. Minor Earth, Major Sky
6. Move To Memphis
7. The Blood That Moves The Body
8. Stay On These Roads
9. The Living Daylights
10. Early Morning
11. Crying In The Rain
12. Scoundrel Days
13. Manhattan Skyline
14. I’ve Been Losing You
15. We’re Looking For The Whales
16. Cry Wolf
————
17. Train Of Thought
18. Hunting High And Low
19. The Sun Always Shines On TV
————
20. Take On Me

There’s an article with more pictures from the concert on rocknvivo.com.

Fortaleza concert

Paul in Fortaleza. More pictures can be seen on this blog.

Paul in Fortaleza.
More pictures can be seen on this blog.

a-ha played their last ever Brazilian concert at the Siara Hall in Fortaleza yesterday. Because of Morten’s voice problems, they did the same shortened 18-song set as in Recife. But it seemed like his voice had improved a bit since the last concert, a fact he mentioned himself during the show.

The setlist:

1. The Bandstand
2. Foot Of The Mountain
3. Analogue
4. Forever Not Yours
5. Minor Earth Major Sky
6. Move To Memphis
7. The Blood That Moves The Body
8. Stay On These Roads
9. The Living Daylights
10. Crying In The Rain
11. Scoundrel Days
12. Manhattan Skyline
13. I’ve Been Losing You
14. We’re Looking For The Whales
15. Cry Wolf
————
16. Hunting High And Low
17. The Sun Always Shines On TV
————
18. Take On Me

 
Now it’s off to Chile for the last concert of this first leg of the tour on Tuesday.

“It’s been a strange experience”

Morten on stage in Brasilia earlier this week

Morten on stage in Brasilia earlier this week

“It’s been a strange experience to be on stage without my singing voice, but absolutely fantastic to be met by such overwhelming support from the entire audience during the concerts in both Brasilia and Recife. a-ha is definitely more than just me, and the band has performed brilliantly in the absence of my voice, singing along instead of me”, Morten tells VG Nett today, in a text message via his personal manager Sverre Flatby.

a-ha are supposed to perform their last ever Brazilian concert in Fortaleza tonight, and hopefully it will go ahead as planned.

“His condition is being continously monitored. Morten has to a large degree managed to avoid these problems through a 25-year career and has an impressive track record of not missing many concerts. Ideally he should be giving his voice complete rest at the moment, but Morten is weighing this up against a strong wish to not disappoint all those who have been waiting for a-ha in South America”, Sverre Flatby tells VG.

Morten’s voice problems are also mentioned on Dagbladet.no.

“Morten has performed two concerts with a virus infection on his vocal chords, and was therefore examined by doctors in both Brasilia and Recife”, a-ha manager Harald Wiik tells the newspaper.

Recife concert

Morten was flown by helicopter to a local hospital where he was diagnosed with pharyngitis and tonsillitis.

Morten was flown by helicopter to a local hospital where
he was diagnosed with pharyngitis and tonsillitis.

Because of his throat infection Morten’s voice was in even worse shape last night in Recife. Therefore the setlist was shortened by another two songs, leaving out “Summer Moved On” and “The Swing Of Things”.

Despite undergoing medical treatment in a local hospital earlier in the day, Morten was almost voiceless when the band entered the stage at the Chevrolet Hall nearly an hour late, as you can see in this clip.

The air conditioning was reportedly switched off in the venue, which made the temperature unbearably hot. But his voice did seem to get better later in the concert.

Under different circumstances the show would perhaps have been cancelled, to prevent any damage to his vocal chords that could affect future concerts, but I guess since it’s the Farewell Tour with little chance of rescheduling they went ahead anyway.

“I’ve lost my voice, as you can hear, but I don’t want to cancel the show. So you need to help me”, Morten told the crowd before “Minor Earth Major Sky”.

The setlist:

1. The Bandstand
2. Foot Of The Mountain
3. Analogue
4. Forever Not Yours
5. Minor Earth Major Sky
6. Move To Memphis
7. The Blood That Moves The Body
8. Stay On These Roads
9. The Living Daylights
10. Crying In The Rain
11. Scoundrel Days
12. Manhattan Skyline
13. I’ve Been Losing You
14. We’re Looking For The Whales
15. Cry Wolf
————
16. Hunting High And Low
17. The Sun Always Shines On TV
————
18. Take On Me

Brasilia concert

Brasilia, March 16th

Brasilia, March 16th

a-ha played for an audience of 5000 people at the large indoor sports arena Ginasio Nilson Nelson in Brasilia yesterday. Morten was struggling with his voice because he’s gotten a throat infection. This caused the concert to be the shortest of the tour so far, with only 20 songs on the setlist.

I need you to help me out today, because I have a throat infection“, Morten told the audience – as you can see in this video clip. And they were happy to oblige, singing along whenever Morten held out the microphone to the crowd.

Setlist:

1. The Bandstand
2. Foot Of The Mountain
3. Analogue
4. Forever Not Yours
5. Minor Earth Major Sky
6. Summer Moved On
7. Move To Memphis
8. The Blood That Moves The Body
9. Stay On These Roads
10. The Living Daylights
11. Crying In The Rain
12. Scoundrel Days
13. The Swing Of Things
14. Manhattan Skyline
15. I’ve Been Losing You
16. We’re Looking For The Whales
17. Cry Wolf
————-
18. Hunting High And Low
19. The Sun Always Shines On TV
————-
20. Take On Me

Belo Horizonte concert

Belo Horizonte, March 14th

Belo Horizonte, March 14th

An audience of 5500 witnessed the sold-out concert at the Chevrolet Hall in Belo Horizonte yesterday. No surprises in the setlist this time. “You Are The One” was not played last night and the band seems to be alternating between 22 and 23 songs.

Here is the setlist:

Belo Horizonte, March 14th

Belo Horizonte, March 14th

1. The Bandstand
2. Foot Of The Mountain
3. Analogue
4. Forever Not Yours
5. Minor Earth Major Sky
6. Summer Moved On
7. Move To Memphis
8. The Blood That Moves The Body
9. Stay On These Roads
10. The Living Daylights
11. Early Morning
12. Crying In The Rain
13. Scoundrel Days
14. The Swing Of Things
15. Manhattan Skyline
16. I’ve Been Losing You
17. We’re Looking For The Whales
18. Cry Wolf
———–
19. Train Of Thought
20. Hunting High And Low
21. The Sun Always Shines On TV
———–
22. Take On Me

Festival dates in Japan

Two festival dates in Japan were announced on a-ha.com a while ago, only to be removed shortly afterwards. The dates now seem to be back on, with the Summer Sonic festival’s website now featuring a-ha as part of its lineup.

The festival is held in Tokyo and Osaka on 7 and 8 August.

Powered by WordPress