a-ha will play the first European concert of their Farewell Tour tonight in Mönchengladbach, Germany.
In connection with the German concerts Paul has been interviewed by RTL Radio. An audio clip of the interview can be heard here.
“We’re pretty excited about it. We’re gonna play songs from all the nine albums and there might even be a new song that hasn’t been released yet“, Paul says about what the audience can expect this weekend.
Paul using a G# Classical in New York, May 6th
(Picture by Catherine – Romanglass on Flickr)
Paul has been known to be a fan of the Norwegian G-Sharp guitars for some time now. He’s using several models on the farewell tour, and you can see Magne and Morten also using them on “Move To Memphis” in this YouTube clip (and in Corina’s picture that I posted yesterday).
The official G-Sharp website has recently been updated with some info about this. It also mentions a-ha’s rumoured final single, which is “soon to be released” according to the site:
“a-ha’s PAUL WAAKTAAR SAVOY and MORTEN HARKET join the G# league!
Paul has the whole range of G# guitars and accessories, and he is so pleased with the G# products that he uses a G# guitar on all guitar tracks on a-ha’s soon to be released latest song!
Morten has one Natural Mahogany, and one Antique White G#.
We are very proud that Paul is using the G# guitar on three songs on stage during the ongoing a-ha “Ending On a High Note” tour: “Summer Moved On”, “Crying In The Rain” and “Early Morning”.“
On the same topic, here’s some info about the Norwegian music shop Lydkilden getting Paul an endorsement deal with guitar pedal manufacturer T-Rex Engineering not too long ago.
Paul’s current selection of T-Rex pedals include Mudhoney, Tremster, Bass Juice, Room-Mate, Squeezer and Comp-Nova.
Massey Hall, Toronto, May 10th
(Picture by Corina – Kimtris21 on Flickr)
While in Toronto last week, a-ha were interviewed by Jian Ghomeshi on the music show Q on CBC Radio.
The whole 43-minute interview, with all three members in the studio, is now available for listening here: http://www.cbc.ca/q/uncut/
Preview clips of all the songs on the upcoming deluxe editions of the first two albums are now available on Rhino.com:
Hunting High and Low
Scoundrel Days
Those of you outside the U.S. can pre-order the 2-disc deluxe editions from Amazon.co.uk if you scroll further down this page (and support a-ha-live.com with your purchase).
And check out this amazing YouTube clip of “We’re Looking For The Whales” live in Los Angeles on May 16th (notice the guy dancing at the front!).
The user Tourlaub also has many other high-quality clips from recent concerts.
a-ha taking a break from rehearsals at Crown Heights in Brooklyn, May 4th.
(Picture by Janne Møller-Hansen for VG)
Here is some recent press from the North American tour:
Interviews with Paul:
The Toronto Star: The a-ha moment to say goodbye (6 May)
National Post: a-ha: Finally confident that life is OK (7 May)
Sundance Channel: A Q&A with a-ha’s Paul Waaktaar-Savoy (10 May)
Chicago Sun-Times: a-ha will be no-mo (11 May)
Interviews with Magne:
Metromix New York: Q&A: a-ha (10 May)
Rolling Stone: The Secret History of a-ha’s Smash “Take on Me” (14 May)
Live reviews:
New York Post: A last chance to take on a-ha (8 May)
The New York Times: Two Scandinavian Acts… (9 May)
Billboard.com: a-ha / May 8, 2010 / New York (10 May)
Toronto Sun: Norweigan pop act a-ha ending on a high note (11 May)
Chromewaves.net: Ending On A High Note – Massey Hall in Toronto (13 May)
Spinner.com: A-Ha Play Second-Ever Chicago Show on Farewell Tour (14 May)
The Orange County Register: Saluting a-ha… (16 May)
Consequence of Sound: a-ha waves goodbye to Chicago (17 May)
Dagbladet.no (Norway): – Goodbye America (17 May) – with video report
Hollywood Icon Magazine: A-Ha Leaves Their Mark On America… (18 May)
Hearsay.cc: Without a-ha, there might not be a Coldplay… (20 May)
And some recent German interviews:
Bild.de: “A-ha-Songs sind wie Kinder” (17 May)
Rheinische Post: A-ha will ins Museum Abteiberg (17 May)
Westdeutsche Zeitung: “A-ha ist unser gemeinsames Kind” (17 May)
Volksfreund.de: “Musik ist Teil des Lebens” (21 May)
The remastered 2-disc Deluxe Editions of Hunting High And Low and Scoundrel Days will be released in the UK on July 12th 2010.
Both albums can now be pre-ordered from Amazon.co.uk using the links below:
 Hunting High and Low: Tracklist: Disc 1: Disc 2: * previously unreleased |
 Scoundrel Days: Tracklist: Disc 1: Disc 2: * previously unreleased |
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Tickets for the a-ha concert at Brann Stadium in Bergen on 28 August are selling surprisingly well. Although it’s more than four months away, 17.350 tickets have already been sold.
Initially 16.000 tickets were made available, but an additional 8.000 tickets have now been added. Although the stadium has a capacity for even more people, the audience limit will be 24.000. This is because the concert will be quite unusual, with the stage placed on one of the long sides, and the organizers want everyone to have a good view.
“a-ha are selling well in all the six Norwegian cities where they’ll be playing. The best-selling concert so far is Ullevaal Stadium in Oslo, with Brann Stadium in Bergen as a very good number two“, Arne Svare from concert organizers Stageway tells Bergens Tidende.
“I’m not surprised by how well a-ha are selling on their farewell tour. But the fact that they have sold so many tickets in such a short time is surprising“, Svare – who had the idea for the Norwegian stadium tour – says.
If all the 24.000 tickets are sold in Bergen, this will be the largest concert ever in the city. The current record is held by Bruce Springsteen, who played two concerts with an audience of 23.500 people each night in 2009.
A Magne F exhibition of 30 graphic prints, probably Alpha Beta, will be held at Galleri Elsa in Namsos from 24 April to 21 May.
“We have been in a dialogue for a while, and it finally worked out. It’s always fun to get someone who hasn’t exhibited here before. It will be interesting for both the audience and the artist, and I’m really looking forward to it“, gallery owner Elsa Elden tells Namdalsavisa.
Magne will also be exhibiting as part of the annual Soddjazz Festival at Inderøy, which is held between 28 April and 2 May. He’s been named this year’s festival artist and Alpha Beta will be on display at Nils Aas Kunstverksted.
It’s not known if Magne will be able to visit Namsos and Inderøy himself.
Magne and Morten first announced the a-ha talent grant at a press conference on 1 March
New details about the a-ha talent grant competition in Norway have been announced today. Instead of having the bands and artists themselves signing up to be nominated, the candidates will be nominated by a jury consisting of a-ha and six other people from the music industry. The jury currently has a list of around 30 bands and artists that will be reduced to 8 finalists over the next month or so – 2 from each part of the country (Northern- and Mid-Norway, Western Norway, Southern Norway and Eastern Norway).
a-ha have teamed up with Norway’s largest newspaper VG for this, and the 8 finalists will compete against each other at the “VG Lista” summer shows that are held in various cities every year. The 4 lucky winners will then be decided by the Norwegian people, who can vote by SMS or online at VG Nett.
“It’s really cool that the audience can participate, and that we’re making this as fun as possible for as many as possible“, Magne tells VG today.
In addition to one million kroner and a support gig for a-ha, the winning bands/artists are given newspaper ads in VG worth one million kroner.
“We’re looking for a combination of distinct artistic expression and a confident attitude – and we think it’d be really fun if we end up with artists that are more of a fresh breath of air than just obvious favorites to win“, Magne says.
This is the jury of six people that will assist a-ha in choosing the eight finalists:
– Tone Lise Skagefoss (Norway) – music journalist and former judge on Norwegian Idol
– Øystein Ronander (Norway) – works for by:Larm and Bureau Storm
– Kristian Riis (Denmark) – manager and musician in the Danish band Nephew
– Martin Terefe (Sweden) – London-based producer and Apparatjik-member
– Marie Dimberg (Sweden) – manager of the band Roxette
– Markus Hartmann (Germany) – head of A & R at Starwatch Records
The July concert at Clam Castle near Linz has now been confirmed by a-ha.com. The first of the Russian concerts in November has also been officially confirmed:
16 July: Clam Castle, Linz, Austria
09 November: Olimpiysky Arena, Moscow, Russia
There was an interview with Morten in a recent issue of Classic Rock Magazine, where he talks about discovering his “prog heroes” Uriah Heep in the mid-70s.
“Heep meant everything to me in those years – on records like Magician’s Birthday, Demons and Wizards and, of course, Wonderworld, their songwriting was so very good – and I still feel the same way“, Morten says.
A scan of the magazine feature can be found on the official Uriah Heep website here.
And Brazilian fan Alek Quissak has made a video tribute to the band and wanted me to post the link: http://www.vimeo.com/10329859
There you go, Alek.
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.
