Norsk Noteservice, a Norwegian publisher of music books, recently published Hits 2010 – the latest in an annual series of books featuring some of the biggest Norwegian and international hits from the last year, complete with tabs and chords for guitar and keyboard, as well as lyrics.
a-ha’s final single “Butterfly, Butterfly (The Last Hurrah)” is among the 36 songs that can be found in the book. “Den Stilleste Timen”, the charity single for Haiti that featured Morten on vocals, is also included.
And as you can see, Morten is on the cover of the book.
Hits 2010 can be ordered from Norwegian online book stores such as Haugen Bok, Bokkilden or directly from the publisher at Notebutikken.no.
Speaking of books; don’t forget to pre-order Just Loomis’ new a-ha photobook, which will include a foreword written by Magne.
The book can be ordered from Amazon.com and Amazon.co.uk, with a March 31st publishing date.
An historical site: host Markus Kavka and Morten’s niece Erikha visit the Waaktaar family’s cabin at Nærsnes, where a-ha recorded their first demos in the autumn of 1982.
A new TV-special about a-ha aired on Kabel Eins in Germany on 28 December.
Hosted by Markus Kavka, the “Number One!” TV-special included interviews with all three band members, as well as Bunty Bailey, producer Andreas “Boogieman” Herbig and a-ha manager Harald Wiik.
The whole show seems to have been removed from the channel’s website, but the complete interviews with Paul, Magne and Morten (which were done in late 2009) can be seen here.
If you’re having trouble viewing the clips outside Germany, some of the interview clips can also be found at MyVideo.de.
An article on the website of audio company Lawo reveals that a-ha’s upcoming live DVD from the final concerts in Oslo is directed by Matt Askem.
Askem previously worked with a-ha when he directed the live webcast from Kiel in September 2007. His directing credits feature a long list of artists, including Muse, Faithless and U2.
An excerpt from the article:
The final four shows of the “Ending on a High Note” tour were played in the band’s home town of Oslo at the famous Spektrum venue. Leading broadcast facilities company Cinevideogroup was called in by film-makers Serpent Productions and director Matt Askem to provide a 10-camera HD recording of the event, complete with digital audio, for future release.
Inside the sound control room of the state-of-the-art OB14 were British sound engineer Toby Alington, well known for his work on the BRIT Awards and MTV Europe Awards, and Huub Lelieveld, Cinevideogroup’s senior audio engineer. Alington has responsibility for the final 5.1 mix of the project, while Lelieveld was responsible for the multitrack recording in Oslo.
The full article – which incorrectly claims that this will be a-ha’s first live DVD – but which also provides a lot of fascinating technical details, can be found here.
a-ha – in red, white and blue – saying goodbye at the end of the last concert, December 4th (Picture by Jakob)
“one thing is certain: we did it together.
now a-ha will be a memory of a life we once shared.”
– read the whole message from Magne on a-ha.com
Picture by Jakob
Fans from all over the world gathered in Oslo this past week to celebrate a-ha’s music, as the band played their last four concerts at the Oslo Spektrum arena.
Although it was a sad moment when the guys walked off the stage on December 4th, the overall atmosphere during these concerts was a joyful appreciation of a long and unique career.
For those of you who couldn’t be there, the last two nights were filmed and will be edited into a live DVD to be released sometime next year.
As a special surprise on the last night, and as a tribute to their first manager Terry Slater (1983 – 1994), they played an acoustic version of the Everly Brothers song “Bowling Green”. Slater, who was in the audience, was a musician for the Everly Brothers back in the 60s and wrote that song in 1967.
1. The Sun Always Shines On TV
2. Move To Memphis
3. The Blood That Moves The Body
4. Scoundrel Days
5. The Swing Of Things
6. Forever Not Yours
7. Stay On These Roads
8. Manhattan Skyline
9. Hunting High And Low
10. The Bandstand
11. We’re Looking for the Whales
12. Butterfly, Butterfly
13. Crying In The Rain
14. Minor Earth Major Sky
15. Summer Moved On
16. I’ve Been Losing You
17. Foot Of The Mountain
—————
18. Cry Wolf
19. Analogue
20. The Living Daylights
—————
21. Bowling Green
22. Take On Me
“Even though a-ha is sort of turning off the life support,
we’ll all be making music – the three of us – for years to come.
Hopefully we’ll see you guys, some other place.”
– Paul, on stage December 4th
a-ha will do a signing session at the Tanum bookstore on Karl Johan street in Oslo on Wednesday 1 December at 4PM, where they will sign the new edition of “The Swing Of Things”.
This was announced on the bookstore chain’s website.
Jan Omdahl’s updated edition of TSOT was published back in August, and is available in Norwegian, English and German versions.
For those who are able to go – please note that the band will only sign copies of the book, and no other items. The books also have to be bought at the Tanum store.
Later the same day, at 7PM, the book publisher Press is hosting a discussion about a-ha at the House of Literature in Oslo. “The Swing Of Things” author Jan Omdahl and music journalist Audun Vinger will take part.
a-ha made their last ever UK TV appearance on Monday, when they appeared on The Alan Titchmarsh Show on ITV1. Following a short interview, they did a live performance of “The Sun Always Shines On TV”. Thanks to Chris for uploading the clip above to YouTube.
Brighton, 15 November (Photo by Elliott Wright – more on the gallery page)
The UK part of the tour started in Brighton last Monday, November 15th. The setlist was the same as before, but in later concerts “(Seemingly) Nonstop July” has been replaced by “The Swing Of Things” and the order of the songs has been changed around somewhat.
For some good video clips from Brighton, check out this playlist on YouTube by Chris.
MTV in the UK aired a special called “a-ha’s Greatest 80’s Videos” on October 31st, where the band introduced 40 music videos from the 1980s. Most of the video introductions have been compiled by Chris into a 7-minute clip on YouTube, which can be seen here.
The last four concerts in Oslo next week are fast approaching. There is no support band in Oslo, and the stage time will be 8:30pm – so don’t be late!
a-ha.com also announced last week that the final concert on December 4th will be filmed for a DVD release. Hopefully it will be available on Blu-ray as well.
Some fans are planning a “fan action” moment during the last concert, where the audience should hold up “thank you”-signs. More info is available on Facebook.
For those of you going to Oslo, the a-ha exhibition at the National Library is open from 9am to 7pm Monday to Friday, and from 9am to 6pm on Saturday, December 4th.
There is also an exhibition at Galleri MAP, showing a-ha photos taken by Janne Møller-Hansen between 1985 and 1987, which is open from 1pm to 8pm on November 30th and December 2nd, 3rd and 4th. On December 1st, it’s open from 1pm to 5pm.
Siemens Arena, Vilnius, Lithuania, 2 November (Picture by Agne)
a-ha played at the Palace of Sports in Minsk, Belarus yesterday. Since the last news update the band has also performed in Braunschweig, Mannheim, Hamburg, Berlin, Riga, Vilnius and Kiev.
They are playing it safe, with the setlist continuing to be the same at all the gigs. But the press reviews have been good all along.
Vilnius, 2 November (Picture by Agne)
Sadly, Morten’s mother Henny passed away on Tuesday, November 2nd. She was 80 years old. The funeral will be held on November 12th, the day after the concert in St. Petersburg.
The Shropshire Star had an interview with Magne on Thursday, November 4th. Read it here.
A radio interview that the guys did on Absolute Radio in the UK last month is now also available for viewing on the station’s website.
Morten made a surprise appearance in a comedy sketch on BBC1’s The Armstrong and Miller Show last Saturday, October 30th.
The musical number, which sees Morten appear as a seller at a farmer’s market, is available on YouTube here (after 2:30).
And I’ve been contacted by a fan named José, who wants to share the YouTube clips he filmed at the Royal Albert Hall concert on October 8th – from behind the band.
He has posted all the songs on his YouTube channel here.
The band played for 5000 people at the Stadthalle in Rostock yesterday, after having said farewell to audiences in Brussels, Paris, Madrid, Barcelona, Basel, Munich, Stuttgart, Nuremberg and Lepzig during the last couple of weeks.
The setlist seems to have remained the same at every gig so far.
For extensive fan coverage of each concert, with links to picture galleries, video clips and more – visit the tour forum on WOTM.
Yet another date has been added for the final week in Oslo. This very last (?) addition to the tour schedule takes place on 30 November and tickets go on sale on Tuesday, 26 October.
Jimmy Gnecco has announced in a blog entry on his official website that he’ll be supporting a-ha at all the 10 UK dates in November as well.
BBC Radio 2 broadcast parts of the Royal Albert Hall concert on Thursday night; the whole HHAL album + 3 songs from SD. The broadcast is available for a few more days on the BBC website. Or you can find details on how to download a high-quality recording made by Chris on WOTM.
The German website BoostTV.de has a 12-minute video interview with Morten that was recorded back in July. It can be seen here.
And it turns out the radio interview that Jian Ghomeshi did with the band for Studio Q on CBC in Canada on 14 May was also filmed. The whole 43-minute interview can be watched in HD on Q TV’s YouTube channel.
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