Picture by Jakob

a-ha.com has announced that all four UK shows this week have to be cancelled, due to Morten recently being diagnosed with laryngitis:

Unfortunately, due to illness, a-ha’s shows at London Wembley The SSE Arena on Friday 27th May and Birmingham Utilita Arena on 28th May have been cancelled along with the already postponed shows at Bournemouth International Centre and Liverpool M&S Bank Arena. Customers for all shows will receive a refund from their point of purchase.

A message from the band:
“The band is absolutely gutted that we have had to cancel our shows in UK – our second home – this week due to continued illness.
Our deepest apologies to friends and fans with whom we were hoping to celebrate. thank you for your kind understanding and continued support!”

This means the next a-ha concerts will be at the sold out Over Oslo Festival with Simple Minds on 10 and 11 June, by which time Morten hopefully will be ready to sing again.

a-ha’s touring schedule in June and July is already packed, which probably made it impossible to reschedule the UK shows before the tour ends on 31 July. And extending the tour into August may not have been an option, as many of the crew may be committed to other tours at that point, the venues may not be available, plus a-ha will soon be shifting focus to the release of True North.

But they are scheduled to return to the UK to play at the Scarborough Open Air Theatre on 3 July and at Cardiff Castle on 5 July, where tickets are still available.

An official update about tomorrow’s and Wednesday’s concerts in the UK has now been posted:

We are sorry to have to inform you that both the a-ha shows in Bournemouth on May 24 and in Liverpool on May 25 have been postponed. Morten is still not fully recovered and is not able to perform.

Please hold on to your tickets and await further information from your point of purchase. We hate to disappoint even more fans with more postponements, but there is unfortunately nothing we can do but wait for Morten to get better and keep our fingers crossed for the shows in London and Birmingham. Stay safe in the meantime, everyone!

Meanwhile, there have been a couple of interesting new interviews in the last few days.

The website americansongwriter.com has talked to Paul about the current tour, his songwriting process and the upcoming True North album. The article also mentions that he’s planning to finally release his long-awaited solo album later this year.

In Germany, Eiken Bruhn has done a new interview with Magne for the newspaper Taz.de about the farm he co-owns in Lofoten, climate change, the carbon footprint of a-ha’s touring and True North.

A new date in Germany has now been added to next year’s a-ha tour:

02 May 2022: ZAG Arena, Hannover, Germany

A total of 39 concerts are currently planned for 2022, taking place in Japan, USA, Sweden, Denmark, Czech Republic, Germany, Netherlands, Belgium, France, Norway, UK, Portugal, Mexico, Brazil, Argentina, Chile and Peru.

The updated list of all dates can be found here.

The seven a-ha concerts in Japan have now been rescheduled again, to January 2022. Here are the new dates:

13 January: Civic Hall, Fukuoka, Japan
15 January: Tokyo Dome City Hall, Tokyo, Japan
16 January: Tokyo Dome City Hall, Tokyo, Japan
18 January: Aichi Arts Center, Nagoya, Japan
19 January: Grand Cube Osaka, Osaka, Japan
21 January: Tokyo Dome City Hall, Tokyo, Japan
22 January: City Culture Hall, Shizuoka, Japan

Original tickets for all shows are still valid – except for the concert in Osaka, where the venue has been changed from Festival Hall to Grand Cube Osaka. All original Osaka tickets will be refunded and new tickets put on sale soon. More info on the website of Japanese concert promoter Creativeman.

Meanwhile in Portugal, the Rock in Rio Lisboa Festival has been postponed once again – to June 2022. It remains to be seen if a-ha will still be a part of the lineup for a third time.

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As expected, the European Hunting High and Low tour planned for April and May this year has now officially been rescheduled for 2022, due to Covid-19.

Here are the new dates, as announced on a-ha.com:

28 April: Partille Arena, Gothenburg, Sweden
29 April: Royal Arena, Copenhagen, Denmark
01 May: O2 Arena, Prague, Czech Republic
04 May: AFAS Live, Amsterdam, Netherlands
05 May: Forest National, Brussels, Belgium
07 May: Le Zenith, Paris, France
09 May: Festhalle, Frankfurt, Germany
11 May: Mercedes-Benz Arena, Berlin, Germany
12 May: Barclaycard Arena, Hamburg, Germany
14 May: Arena Leipzig, Leipzig, Germany
15 May: Lanxess Arena, Cologne, Germany
18 May: DNB Arena, Stavanger, Norway
20 May: Oslo Spektrum, Oslo, Norway
21 May: Oslo Spektrum, Oslo, Norway
24 May: BIC, Bournemouth, UK
25 May: M&S Bank Arena, Liverpool, UK
27 May: The SSE Arena, Wembley, London, UK
28 May: Utilita Arena, Birmingham, UK

Original tickets remain valid. See a list of all upcoming dates here.

Update: The special screening of a-ha – The Movie has also been rescheduled accordingly. The new date is 19 May 2022 at Colosseum Cinema in Oslo. Original tickets remain valid for this screening as well.

Please note that the world premiere of a-ha – The Movie is now planned for sometime in 2021, meaning 19 May 2022 is now billed as a “special screening” instead.

Rescheduled a-ha concert dates for USA and Latin America in 2021 have now been announced, this time starting in the north and ending in the south:

23 May: The Wiltern, Los Angeles, USA (rescheduled from 25.09.20)
24 May: The Wiltern, Los Angeles, USA (rescheduled from 26.09.20)
25 May: The Wiltern, Los Angeles, USA (rescheduled from 27.09.20)

11 August: Auditorio Nacional, Mexico City, Mexico (rescheduled from 22.09.20)
14 August: Arena Fonte Nova, Salvador, Brazil (rescheduled from 19.09.20)
18 August: Expominas Arena, Belo Horizonte, Brazil (rescheduled from 16.09.20)
19 August: Jeunesse Arena, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil (rescheduled from 13.09.20)
21 August: Espaço das Americas, São Paulo, Brazil (rescheduled from 11.09.20)
24 August: Teatro Positivo, Curitiba, Brazil (rescheduled from 08.09.20)
27 August: Movistar Arena, Buenos Aires, Argentina (rescheduled from 05.09.20)
29 August: Movistar Arena, Santiago, Chile (rescheduled from 03.09.20)
31 August: Parque de la Exposición, Lima, Peru (rescheduled from 01.09.20)

Please visit a-ha.com for more info on ticket sales and refunds.

Picture by Stian Andersen

After a long period of silence, the official site has announced rescheduled Hunting High and Low tour dates in Japan and in Europe for 2021, due to Covid-19 preventing large public events from going ahead this year. Rescheduled dates for South- and North America are also expected to follow soon.

In addition to the original five dates in Japan, two extra shows have now been added, in Shizuoka and Tokyo. Additionally, the concert in Nagoya seems to have been moved from the NTK Hall to the Aichi Arts Center.

As for the world premiere of a-ha – The Movie, that event has also been moved to next year: 22 April 2021 at Colosseum Cinema in Oslo (rescheduled from 26.11.20).

Here are the new dates for 2021 so far:

20 January: Civic Hall, Fukuoka, Japan (rescheduled from 14.03.20)
22 January: Festival Hall, Osaka, Japan (rescheduled from 16.03.20)
23 January: City Culture Hall, Shizuoka, Japan (New show added)
25 January: Tokyo Dome City Hall, Tokyo, Japan (rescheduled from 10.03.20)
26 January: Tokyo Dome City Hall, Tokyo, Japan (rescheduled from 11.03.20)
28 January: Aichi Arts Center, Nagoya, Japan (rescheduled from 17.03.20)
30 January: Tokyo Dome City Hall, Tokyo, Japan (New show added)

16 April: Partille Arena, Gothenburg, Sweden (rescheduled from 20.11.20)
17 April: Royal Arena, Copenhagen, Denmark (rescheduled from 21.11.20)
19 April: O2 Arena, Prague, Czech Republic (rescheduled from 28.10.20)
21 April: Forest National, Brussels, Belgium (rescheduled from 17.11.20)
23 April: Oslo Spektrum, Oslo, Norway (rescheduled from 27.11.20)
24 April: Oslo Spektrum, Oslo, Norway (rescheduled from 28.11.20)
26 April: DNB Arena, Stavanger, Norway (rescheduled from 24.11.20)
29 April: Arena Leipzig, Leipzig, Germany (rescheduled from 05.11.20)
30 April: Festhalle, Frankfurt, Germany (rescheduled from 02.11.20)

02 May: Mercedes-Benz Arena, Berlin, Germany (rescheduled from 06.11.20)
03 May: Barclaycard Arena, Hamburg, Germany (rescheduled from 03.11.20)
05 May: AFAS Live, Amsterdam, Netherlands (rescheduled from 18.11.20)
06 May: Lanxess Arena, Cologne, Germany (rescheduled from 31.10.20)
09 May: Le Zenith, Paris, France (rescheduled from 30.10.20)
11 May: BIC, Bournemouth, UK (rescheduled from 10.11.20)
12 May: M&S Bank Arena, Liverpool, UK (rescheduled from 11.11.20)
14 May: The SSE Arena, Wembley, London, UK (rescheduled from 14.11.20)
15 May: Utilita Arena, Birmingham, UK (rescheduled from 13.11.20)

Please visit a-ha.com for more info on ticket sales and refunds.

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The Hunting High And Low Tour has been expanded with nine tour dates in South America in September 2020, the official site announced today:

01 September: Parque de la Exposición, Lima, Peru
03 September: Movistar Arena, Santiago, Chile
05 September: Buenos Aires Arena, Buenos Aires, Argentina
08 September: Teatro Positivo, Curitiba, Brazil
11 September: Espaço das Americas, São Paulo, Brazil
13 September: Jeunesse Arena, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
16 September: Expominas Arena, Belo Horizonte, Brazil
19 September: Arena Fonte Nova, Salvador, Brazil
22 September: Auditorio Nacion, Mexico City, Mexico

This will be the first a-ha tour of Brazil and Argentina since 2015, their first visit to Chile since 2010 and the first ever a-ha concerts in Peru and Mexico. Visit the official site for ticket details.