Posts Tagged ‘ending on a high note’

73.000 tickets sold

a-ha playing at Ullevaal in 2002.

a-ha playing at Ullevaal in 2002.

A total of 73.000 tickets have now been sold for the four stadium concerts in Norway in the next few weeks.

Here are the latest numbers:
Ullevaal Stadium, Oslo: 25.000
Brann Stadium, Bergen: 23.500
Lerkendal Stadium, Trondheim: 12.500
Sør Arena, Kristiansand: 12.000

They’ll be using a screen that’s 18 meters tall and 63 meters wide. The concerts will be monumental, intimate and warm. The audience will get a club-feeling at a stadium concert. The production is quite simply insane“, promoter Arne Svare tells Fædrelandsvennen’s print edition.

Sales numbers for the festival concerts in Stavanger and Tromsø are not available at the moment.

Tour update

“(Seemingly) Nonstop July” made a rare appearance at the concert in Dresden on Sunday, as it was performed live for the first time since 1994:

 

Dresden, 25 July.

Dresden, 25 July.

Pictures and info from the Dresden concert, 25 July:
YouTube videos
SZ-online.de
DNN online
Photo gallery

Halle concert, 24 July:
YouTube videos
Borkener Zeitung
nw-news.de
Westfalen Blatt
mt-online.de
neue-oz.de
ImageShack album by Gosia

Emmendingen concert, 23 July:
YouTube videos
Badische Zeitung
Baden Online
Photobucket album by Claudia
Photobucket album by basi9

Stimme.de – video interview with Morten and Paul.

Concerts in Ukraine and Belarus

Two additional concerts have now been announced – not on a-ha.com, but in the farewell tour book (which is available from the official store).

The dates are:
4 November: Palace of Sports, Kiev, Ukraine
6 November: Palace of Sports, Minsk, Belarus

This means that the total number of concerts on the farewell tour ends up at 70.

Tour update

Salem, Germany, 18 July.

Salem, Germany, 18 July.

The tour continued this past weekend with concerts in Austria, Switzerland and Germany.

On Friday they played for 3.500 people by Clam Castle near Linz. Some reviews and pictures are available here, here and here.

 
Some great pictures from Saturday’s concert at the Live at Sunset Festival in Zurich can be seen on Flickr (taken by Monica).

And be sure to watch the excellent HD clips from Zurich that Judith has posted on YouTube:
Move To Memphis
We’re Looking For The Whales
Stay On These Roads
The Living Daylights
Hunting High And Low
The Sun Always Shines On TV

A short clip from the soundcheck, filmed by Carole.

 
Pictures from Sunday’s concert in Salem have been posted here and here

Possibly the funniest moment of the tour occurred in Salem, when Morten experienced problems with the megaphone that he uses on “Manhattan Skyline”. The hilarious video can be seen here.

Apparently the setlists at these concerts were the same as in Budapest.

Budapest concert

Budapest, July 14th

Budapest, July 14th

a-ha played their very first (and last…) concert in Hungary on Wednesday night. Around 7000 people were present at the Papp Laszlo Sportarena in Budapest as a-ha entered the stage.

The set opened with the first live performance of “Butterfly, Butterfly”, as can be seen in this YouTube video. Unfortunately, the rest of the setlist is getting very stale, and there was only one song from the 90s this time. Despite Paul recently saying that the European setlist would be different from the concerts in North America, we have yet to see any significant changes. Let’s hope they have some surprises in store for the upcoming shows.

Budapest, July 14th

Budapest, July 14th

Setlist:
1. Butterfly, Butterfly
2. Foot Of The Mountain
3. The Bandstand
4. Analogue
5. Forever Not Yours
6. Minor Earth Major Sky
7. Summer Moved On
8. Move To Memphis
9. The Blood That Moves The Body
10. Stay On These Roads
11. The Living Daylights
12. Scoundrel Days
13. The Swing of Things
14. We’re Looking For The Whales
15. And You Tell Me
16. Manhattan Skyline
17. I’ve Been Losing You
18. Cry Wolf
19. Hunting High And Low
20. The Sun Always Shines On TV
21. Take On Me

 
Leading up the concert, there were several interviews in the Hungarian media.

Paul was interviewed by Radio Juventus. Audio and picture here.

RTL Klub had an interview with Magne. Video here.

And Morten appeared on Hungary’s TV2. Video here.

Quart.hu has a review of the concert here. Another good review appeared at Nepszabadsag Online. Overall the Hungarian press was very positive toward the concert, Tamas reports.

 
Today the band travelled by train to Linz, Austria. The trip has been thoroughly documented by Augie on Twitter.

(Thanks to Qouda, Tamas and Lorien)

a-ha concert in Stadtallendorf

Stadtallendorf, June 6th

Stadtallendorf, June 6th

The rescheduled concert in Stadtallendorf, as part of the Hessentag festival, ended up being a wet experience for 8000 people yesterday, despite promises of good weather earlier in the week.

Heavy wind, rain and thunder a few hours before the concert had the organizers pondering a possible cancellation. Apparently there were concerns about the safety of the audience as things came flying through the air, and people had to leave the area in front of the stage.

But the weather improved and a-ha eventually went on stage, slightly delayed. Some of the stage equipment and Magne’s synths had to be covered in plastic to avoid the rain. Morten’s voice was considerably better this time, and “Early Morning” was back in the setlist.

Press:
8000 a-ha-Fans durchnässt aber glücklich   a-ha spielt auf dem Hessentag
a-ha live auf dem Hessentag

YouTube:
Soundcheck 1   Soundcheck 2   Soundcheck 3   Soundcheck 4
The Bandstand   Summer Moved On   Minor Earth Major Sky   Move To Memphis
And You Tell Me   Early Morning   Stay On These Roads   The Sun Always Shines On TV

Kiel concert

Morten letting the audience sing in Kiel, June 1st

Morten letting the audience sing in Kiel, June 1st

Yesterday’s concert at the Sparkassen Arena in Kiel went ahead as planned, with around 5500 people in the audience.

Fan reports say that Morten’s voice was in better shape last night, although he did say that he went on stage against his doctors’ advice.

Like in Trier “Early Morning” was left out of the setlist, and the audience helped sing along when Morten needed to rest his voice.

The Hessentag concert in Stadtallendorf has now been officially rescheduled for Sunday, June 6th, according to NH24.de, among others. Tickets from last Sunday remain valid and there are also tickets left. Luckily, the weather is expected to be much better this time – warm and sunny.

Magne in Kiel, June 1st

Magne in Kiel, June 1st

Magne will now travel back to Norway to play with Apparatjik at Flø on Saturday, June 5th – and hopefully he’ll be able to get back to Germany in time.

Press:
a-ha-Effekt in Kiel (NDR2)    Picture set 1 (NDR2)    Picture set 2 (NDR2)

 
BTW, here’s a small update on the new song; according to Irene’s a-ha fan café blog, “Butterfly” will be included on a new and updated “Best of” 2CD album with 36 tracks. The Norwegian release date is said to be September 20th.

Trier concert

Trier, 29 May (Picture by Sandra - more pictures here)

Trier, 29 May
(Picture by Sandra – more pictures here)

Morten had problems with his voice during last night’s indoor concert at Arena Trier. Apparently it was not a problem with his vocal chords, but rather an inflammation at the back of his throat that prevented him from singing at full power.

By the end of the concert, his voice was almost completely gone, according to fans who were in the audience. However, “Early Morning” was the only song that was left out. And it was still a really good show despite Morten’s voice issues, fans said afterwards.

Trier, 29 May (Picture by Sandra)

Trier, 29 May
(Picture by Sandra)

Setlist (with YouTube-links):

1. The Bandstand
2. Foot Of The Mountain
3. Analogue
4. Forever Not Yours
5. Minor Earth, Major Sky
6. Summer Moved On
7. Move To Memphis
8. The Blood That Moves The Body
9. Stay On These Roads
10. The Living Daylights
11. And You Tell Me
12. Scoundrel Days
13. The Swing Of Things
14. We’re Looking For The Whales
15. Manhattan Skyline
16. I’ve Been Losing You
17. Cry Wolf
18. The Sun Always Shines On TV
19. Hunting High and Low
20. Take On Me

Mönchengladbach concert

Mönchengladbach, 28 May (Picture by Sandra)

Mönchengladbach, 28 May (Picture by Sandra)

a-ha played the first of four German concerts in front of 8000 people outdoors at the Warsteiner HockeyPark in Mönchengladbach last night.

They opened with “The Bandstand” and the rest of the setlist was similar to the recent concerts in USA and Canada. The new song that Paul mentioned in the RTL radio interview was nowhere to be heard, but there’s another chance tonight, as the band moves on to Trier to play indoors at the city’s sports arena.

More pictures taken by Sandra can be seen here. There are also many pictures from the concert on the German forum here.

New interviews and concert reviews

a-ha taking a break from rehearsals at Crown Heights in Brooklyn, May 4th. (Picture by Janne Møller-Hansen for VG)

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)

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