a-ha will be in Germany to perform at the charity gala “Ein Herz für Kinder” this Saturday, 5 December. This was announced in a press release today.
The TV-show will be broadcast live from Berlin at 20:15 CET on ZDF. Other artists scheduled to perform include Sarah Connor and Peter Maffay.
“Ein Herz für Kinder” is a charity organization that runs projects for children both in Germany and abroad. 16 million Euros were raised at last year’s charity gala.
Tomine singing at the P3 Gull music awards last night
Morten and his oldest daughter Tomine attended the P3 Gull music awards in Oslo yesterday, where Tomine appeared as guest vocalist on a live performance of the Nico & Vinz hit song “Thats How You Know”.
The performance can be seen on YouTube.
“I’m very proud of her, and I think it’s great that she’s finding a path of her own”, Morten told TV2 before the show.
Pictures of Morten and Tomine on the red carpet: VG TV2 Dagbladet
Earlier this year, Tomine released the singles “Follow Me” and “Daddy Does”. She has also recently been a guest vocalist on the songs “Hvis Du Vil” by Unge Ferrari and “Elephant” by Loveless.
Savoy
Frode Unneland has been in New York this week, to work on the next Savoy album together with Paul and Lauren.
Paul posted a few pictures on Facebook and Instagram today, confirming that the band is currently recording at a studio in Rhinecliff, New York.
They were originally planning to finalize the Savoy album in the summer of 2014, but that was apparently postponed until now.
In an interview with the newspaper Åsane Tidende last week, Frode said they are planning to release both a new album and to reissue the old Savoy albums on vinyl.
Frode is also drumming for another band at the moment, Evig Din For Alltid, which released their third album last month, entitled Tilbake Til Byen. It includes two songs written by him. He says the two bands are quite different entities:
“It’s really fun and exciting to be a part of Savoy, but it’s a totally different world compared to Evig Din For Alltid, which is more like a bunch of buddies hanging out. But it’s really exciting to be working together with Paul; we’re having a great time together”, Frode says in the interview.
Savoy’s last studio album was released in 2004, while a double “best of” album of old songs, re-recorded versions and some new songs followed in 2007. The band last performed together in 2008.
Blu-ray cover
The Norwegian movie Beatles, for which Magne composed the score, is finally being released on Blu-ray and DVD tomorrow, November 9th.
Update: The movie is also available as Video on Demand (VOD) in Norway through iTunes, Google Play, Altibox, Viaplay, SF Anytime, Canal Digital, Riks TV, Homebase, Get and NextGenTel.
The movie, which premiered in August 2014, was originally scheduled for a home video release last year, but with box office results weaker than expected the release was delayed until now.
The bonus material consists of a 10-minute visit on the set and a 30-minute “making-of”, which includes a few minutes about Magne’s work on the score and the recording process at Abbey Road Studios.
The Blu-ray and DVD are now available to order from platekompaniet.no (ships within Norway) and CDON.com (ships within Europe). But the movie does not have English subtitles, only Norwegian and Danish.
Update: However, Beatles will also be released internationally as VOD on iTunes and Google Play (with English subtitles) on 9 January 2016.
Magne’s score was released digitally as a 17-track album in September 2014 and is available on iTunes. Magne’s own thoughts on the movie, which he wasn’t entirely happy with, can be read in a transcript from last year’s a-ha fan convention in Oslo.
Nobel Peace Prize Concert logo
a-ha will be among the artists performing at the 22nd annual Nobel Peace Prize Concert in Oslo on 11 December. This was announced tonight, as mentioned by Dagbladet.
This will be the third time a-ha perform at the event. They previously performed there in 1998 (“Summer Moved On” and “The Sun Always Shines On TV”) and in 2001 (“Differences” and “Hunting High And Low”).
In addition, Morten has performed twice as a solo artist; in 1996 (“East Timor”) and in 2007 (“Letter From Egypt” and “Movies”).
The concert has usually been held at Oslo Spektrum, but will instead be held at the larger-capacity Telenor Arena this year. The concert will also be available as a live stream on YouTube for the first time.
This year’s Nobel Peace Prize laureate is the Tunisian National Dialogue Quartet “for its decisive contribution to the building of a pluralistic democracy in Tunisia in the wake of the Jasmine Revolution of 2011”.
Tickets for the Nobel Peace Prize Concert are available now at billettservice.no.
Magne on Lindmo, 24 October
Magne was a guest on the NRK1 talkshow Lindmo tonight, to talk about his upcoming sculpture park and a-ha’s recent tour in South America.
“The South American tour was overwhelming, but somewhat touching as well. You don’t expect that kind of reception, after having been apart for years. There was a surprising level of interest from the audience. Even Morten said that he hadn’t experienced anything like it since the 1980s”, Magne said.
The episode can be seen at tv.nrk.no.
Master Hall, Curitiba, 15 October
a-ha ended their South American tour last week, playing for 8000 people in Sao Paulo on 14 October and for 3000 people in Curitiba on 15 October.
The setlist was apparently the same in both Sao Paulo and Curitiba, albeit only 19 songs – one song shorter than the other shows.
Here with links to selected YouTube videos from both concerts:
01. Cast In Steel
02. I’ve Been Losing You
03. Cry Wolf
04. Move To Memphis
05. Mythomania
06. Stay On These Roads
07. Scoundrel Days
08. Soft Rains Of April
09. Crying in the Rain
10. We’re Looking For The Whales
11. The Swing Of Things
12. Foot Of The Mountain
13. You Are The One
14. Sycamore Leaves
15. Hunting High And Low
————–
16. The Sun Always Shines On TV
17. Under The Makeup
18. The Living Daylights
————–
19. Take on Me
A good quality video clip of “Mythomania” has yet to appear, but here is an audio recording of the song live in Fortaleza (courtesy of Brian Rocha):
Before going to São Paulo, a-ha did a studio session at Estudio Ararena in Fortaleza to work on the next single.
The band now has a 5-month break before the Cast In Steel tour starts again in Russia in March 2016. But besides the tour they also have “a wish list of other stuff” to do, Paul said in an interview with São Paulo radio station Radio Rock 89FM:
“We have a sort of open schedule now, so we wanna keep surprising ourselves. I think for now we just wanna do the tour that we have booked for next year. But then there’s a wish list of other stuff that we would like to do. But we have to see how we feel after that. There’s a pretty long tour coming up. So play it one day at a time, to see what happens.”
São Paulo links
Ligado a Musica article Estadao article Midiorama photo gallery
Globo G1 article Globo G1 photo gallery UOL article UOL photo gallery
Reduto do Rock article R7 photo gallery Yahoo article
Curitiba links
CWB Live article Gazeta do Povo article Bem Parana article
Bem Parana photo gallery Bem Parana article Midiorama article
Aquaville Resort, Fortaleza, 10 October
(Picture by Alberth Palhares)
The Brazilian tour has continued this week, with indoor concerts in Brasilia and Recife, and an outdoor concert in Fortaleza. It sounds like a-ha are getting a phenomenal reception in Brazil this time, playing to appreciative audiences at sold-out venues, with good press reviews.
The band has been changing the setlist slightly at each show. In Brasilia they opened with “I’ve Been Losing You”, while in Recife “The Wake” was the opener. In Fortaleza the opening song was “Cast In Steel”, which was performed live for the first time in Brasilia four days earlier. The audience in Fortaleza also got to hear the live debut of “Mythomania”.
Below are links to some articles and video clips:
Brasilia
YouTube: Stay On These Roads
YouTube: Early Morning
YouTube: You Are The One
YouTube: The Sun Always Shines On TV
YouTube: Soft Rains of April
Globo G1 article
Finissimo article
Metropoles article
Recife
YouTube: Cast In Steel
YouTube: Sycamore Leaves
YouTube: The Swing of Things
YouTube: Under The Makeup
LeiaJa article/photo gallery
Divulga Recife article
FolhaPE article
Roberta Jungmann article
Joao Alberto article
YouTube: Arriving at the airport
Fortaleza
YouTube: Crying In The Rain
YouTube: You Are The One
YouTube: Hunting High and Low
YouTube: The Living Daylights
Instagram pictures/videos
Paragominas, 3 October
(Picture from ORM News)
a-ha played two outdoor concerts in the Pará area in Brazil last week, in cooperation with Hydro. According to Hydro, 14,000 people were in the audience at the Cabana Club in Barcarena on 1 October, while 18,000 people saw them at Estádio Arena Verde in Paragominas on 3 October.
The setlist in Barcarena was identical to the twenty-song set they did in Buenos Aires, opening with “The Wake”. The setlist in Paragominas hasn’t been posted anywhere yet, but appears to have been a bit different, as they opened with “I’ve Been Losing You” instead.
Before the first show, on 1 October, they did a press conference in Belém, after a chaotic arrival at the airport the day before. In between shows Morten has contributed to a reforestation project, while Magne has held art workshops. Check out more pictures and video clips on Hydro Brazil’s Instagram page.
Barcarena links:
Photo gallery (ORM News)
YouTube: Full concert
YouTube: Concert highlights
Paragominas links:
Photo gallery (ORM News)
YouTube: Hunting High and Low
YouTube: Morten climbing the stage scaffolding (!)
Photographer Just Loomis has been following the band on the road, like he did in 1991, and some of the photos he has taken so far can be seen in this official “Forest Fire” slideshow video – which also features an alternate mix of the song.
Getting a big applause from the Rio audience at the end of the concert
a-ha made a successfull return to the Rock in Rio festival on Sunday night, playing in front of 90,000 people at the Palco Mundo (World Stage). Although the conditions were difficult, with heavy rain coming down as a-ha entered the stage, they put on a solid performance that thrilled the Rio audience.
Paul rocking out on his Fano ML6 guitar
The concert was streamed live online by AOL. If you missed it, the whole show has been uploaded by a fan on Vimeo.
VG’s Stein Østbø, who gave the Buenos Aires concert a 3/6 review, also attended Rock in Rio and was impressed by what he heard this time – giving the concert a 5/6 review:
“Tonight’s concert turned out to be completely different than the rusty viking ship that performed at the tour opening in Buenos Aires on Thursday night. This time they appeared as a revitalized band. (…) Suddenly Morten Harket was more focused and quicker in his movements, instead of the slightly lazy frontman and vocalist we saw in Buenos Aires just a few days earlier. It seems like he’s struggling harder to reach the highest notes, but by all means – he gets there!
Paul Waaktaar-Savoy was a monster on the guitar – hard rocking, brilliantly setting the mood and providing crystal clear riffs. And when Magne Furuholmen finally hits all the right keys on his synth – and we even hear the sound – it couldn’t go much wrong. Add to that an excellent arena sound with lots of oomph! in the basslines, you get an a-ha that fits perfectly on a giant stage like this.”
The setlist:
01. I’ve Been Losing You
02. Cry Wolf
03. Stay On These Roads
04. Move To Memphis
05. Scoundrel Days
06. Crying In The Rain
07. Sycamore Leaves
08. You Are The One
09. Forest Fire
10. Hunting High And Low
11. Foot Of The Mountain
12. The Sun Always Shines On TV
13. Under The Makeup
14. The Living Daylights
15. Take On Me
“A fantastic audience”, Magne said after the show
The heavy rain made Magne a bit concerned, he told VG backstage after the show:
“My keyboard was swimming in water, and I was the only one [of us three] who was plugged directly into the electric system. The whole thing could have exploded, there was a lot of water in there. But it was a fantastic audience!”
The tour continues at the Cabana Club in Barcarena on 1 October and at Estádio Arena Verde in Paragominas on 3 October. These two shows, held in connection with Hydro’s anniversary, were originally only open for Hydro employees and contest winners. But due to high demand, both shows are now open for everyone. Tickets are free, but requires a donation of school equipment to local children.
Brazilian articles:
Rolling Stone: Rock in Rio: mesmo com chuva, a-ha prioriza…
oglobo.globo.com: A-ha leva o rádio FM para o palco em show saudoso
Globo TV interview with Paul and Morten in Rio:
Entrevista exclusiva com integrantes do A-Ha
