Dagbladet presents a list of some of the upcoming books to be published in Norway in spring 2011. It includes Magne Furuholmen – in transit, which is described as “a presentation of his activities as a visual artist”.
Magne’s previous art books/catalogues include Kutt (1995), Lerkrukker & Glasbilleder (2002), Foci (2004), Payne’s Gray (2004) and Monologues (2007). He has also illustrated Henning Kramer Dahl’s poetry books Blue Note Boulevards (1997) and Stjerneskutt (2004).
More details about the book and publishing date is not yet available.
In other news, Budstikka reports that Magne has signed a three-year contract to rent parts of the second floor at Galleri Trafo in Asker. This is the same gallery where he held his “Monologues” and “Camera”-exhibitions in 2007 and 2009, and Magne is reportedly planning to use the space as a new atelier and for further exhibitions.
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.
The cover of Jimmy Gnecco’s first solo album The Heart, released earlier this year.
The support act in Amsterdam was Paul’s good friend and collaborator from New York, Jimmy Gnecco, who will open for a-ha at another five concerts this week.
Gnecco, who did the lead vocals on “The Breakers” and backing vocals on “Shooting Spree” for Savoy’s self-titled album in 2004, revealed in a recent interview with uberrock.co.uk that Paul actually asked him to join the band at one point – an idea that was shot down by Savoy’s record company:
So how did you get to know Paul Savoy?
I met him in ’96. My friend was playing with Savoy and I met him then. And then I got my deal. It was weird because I’m a huge fan of a-ha and Savoy’s first record [‘Mary Is Coming’]. I mean I like a lot of his records but the first one I’m such a huge fan of. And then I started making records and he genuinely became a fan and he called me – he loved ‘Precious’ – he asked me if I wanted to sing on anything I said: “in a second!” then I went down and I sang on a bunch of songs and then he asked me to join the band and I said: “sure” – I’d be like an honorary member you know.
Then they went back and talked to their record company and the record company was like: “we like your voices that’s why we signed you” – they didn’t really want me to do it. They didn’t know me. I’m sure they liked it but…I’m hoping to do something with Paul in the future.
The final leg of the farewell tour started at the Heineken Music Hall in Amsterdam on Sunday night, featuring some changes compared to previous indoor concerts earlier this year.
The stage was basically a scaled-down version of the Norwegian stadium concerts, using parts of the butterfly-screen as backdrop.
The setlist also seems to have been identical to the stadium concerts – 21 songs starting with “The Sun Always Shines On TV” and ending with “Take On Me”.
Some pictures from Amsterdam has been posted by Sandra here.
For videos from the show, check out Malin’s YouTube clips here. She has also written a report on the WOTM Forum.
Meanwhile, in the UK, the 25 collection has entered the album chart at number 10, selling 10,835 units in its first week. It’s the fifth a-ha album to reach the UK top ten. Well done!
