Morten on stage at the Credicard Hall

a-ha performed 22 songs at last night’s concert at the Credicard Hall in Sao Paulo, before an audience of 7500 people.

Of particular interest; “I Dream Myself Alive” was played live for the first time since 1987, last year’s two new songs “Riding The Crest” and “Shadowside” were played again, and another new song called “What There Is” was performed live for the first time.

“Living A Boy’s Adventure Tale”, with Edvard Grieg’s “Morgenstemning” as an intro, was also an unusual opener. This is how a-ha entered the stage:

The complete setlist can be found here.

Many other videos have already been uploaded to YouTube. Here are links to some of them:
The Blood That Moves The Body
I’ve Been Losing You
Riding The Crest/Shadowside
I Dream Myself Alive
Hunting High And Low
Train Of Thought
Stay On These Roads
Forever Not Yours
Crying In The Rain
Take On Me

TV report

Taking a break from rehearsals

a-ha are interviewed by Globo TV during rehearsals in Sao Paulo. Watch the video clip here.

Another interview from TV Cultura can be seen here. Paul again talks about the new album, and says that September is “the official release date”.

Tonight’s concert at the Credicard Hall is sold out. Check back here tomorrow for the setlist and other info.

The band will also be providing updates on Twitter this week. Here is the link.

Morten signs autographs outside their hotel in Sao Paulo, while leaving the others to wait in the car. What else is new? 🙂

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Larger pictures can be found here, here, here and here.

a-ha have arrived in Brazil, and are interviewed by Terra TV. Watch the interview here. Paul reveals that the new album won’t be out until September, but that’s to be expected in a-ha-land.

a-ha in São Paulo

Brazilian fan Kemeniel has kindly written down a rough translation of the interview:

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The Norwegian band a-ha is here for the fourth time. The gigs will take place on Wednesday in São Paulo and in Rio de Janeiro on Thursday. Morten, Paul and Mags are already in our country and they were interviewed by Terra in a hotel here in São Paulo.

Q: And… About your return to Brazil, what can the Brazilian audience expect at these gigs?

Mags: New version of the songs. We tested some new electronic support and we are really excited because it will be something really different from what we used to do for years. We have a different backing band with us.

Q: Tell us about your memories related to Brazil.

Mags: Only good memories. Fantastic memories. Gigs in São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro are part of a-ha’s history, which made it easier to say “yes” when we were invited to come to Brazil.

Q: Now we are talking right to an internet audience. What does the internet represent to you all on a day-by-day basis?

Morten: It’s just a major arena. You have to work with it, like it or not because it’s an excellent way to reach the fans. And besides that, it helped to change the way you work with music.

Q: After all these years, is there any place where you would like to play?

Morten: We have never played in China. We have never played in Mexico. Not in India. There are actually many places where we haven’t played. There’s not a good reason why we haven’t, it’s just happened that way.

The guitarman Paul Savoy revealed something that the audience is really looking forward to.

Paul: We are in the end of the process for our new CD. It will be done probably in September, after some years working on it.

Q: Do you prefer to play the old or the new songs?

Paul: You know, the fans want to hear one thing, and we have an idea of what we would like them to hear. You just have to find a balance

A balance liked by the Brazilian fans and which made all tickets for São Paulo Gig being sold out much sooner than expected. If you want to watch the immortalized 80’s idols, don’t waste your time, there are still some tickets for Rio de Janeiro concert.
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