Posts Tagged ‘karl oluf wennerberg’

Magne Furuholmen appointed honorary doctor at the University of Agder

Now also an honorary doctor

In connection with its 10th anniversary, the University of Agder in Kristiansand, Norway, has appointed Magne Furuholmen as one of five new honorary doctors. The recipients are given the honorary doctorates for their “significant scientific or artistic efforts”.

An article on the university website states:

“Magne Furuholmen is one of Norway’s most recognized and versatile artists. He is an innovative and genre-defying artist, and a person that both our staff members and students are inspired by.

With his large international and national network, his wide experience and artistic qualities within several fields of art, he will be a valuable asset for both the University of Agder and our Faculty of Fine Arts.”

When collaborating with the university, Magne will probably be working closely with Karl Oluf Wennerberg, who – in addition to being the drummer for Magne, Apparatjik and a-ha – is an Associate Professor at the Department of Popular Music.

The five honorary doctors will attend the University of Agder’s 10th anniversary celebration at Kilden concert house in Kristiansand on 28 November.

Magne has previously been a guest professor at the The College of Fine Arts in Shanghai, China and is an honorary mentor at the Gutenberg Academy in Germany. He has also hosted workshops at the Hanoi University of Fine Art in Vietnam, at Burg Giebichenstein University of Art and Design in Germany and at the Trondheim Academy of Fine Art in Norway.

In other news, Magne and Queen Sonja were in Aarhus, Denmark on Thursday this week, for the opening of another of their joint Texture exhibitions.

The exhibition at Galerie MøllerWitt in Aarhus received quite a bit of coverage in the Danish press, and here are some links:

DR: Dronning Sonja udstiller med norsk popstjerne
Horsens Folkeblad: Dronningen og popkongen åbnede udstilling i Aarhus
Jyllands-Posten: Norges dronning i fælles kunstprojekt med popmusiker
Lokalavisen Aarhus: Dronningen og A-ha-stjerne viser kunst i Aarhus
Århus Stiftstidende: Rift om Dronning Sonjas kunst
Kongehuset.no: “Texture” i Århus

Drammen rehearsal concert, September 9th

Union Scene, Drammen, September 9th (Picture by Rune Tønnessen)

Union Scene, Drammen, September 9th
(Picture by Rune Tønnessen)

a-ha played a 50-minute rehearsal concert at Union Scene in Drammen, Norway yesterday, in front of around 600 people – most of which had won tickets at a Platekompaniet signing session in Oslo the day before.

The band has been rehearsing at Union Scene over the last few weeks to prepare for the upcoming South American tour, and this was the final dress rehearsal before heading to Luna Park in Buenos Aires, although the full shows are likely to include twice as many songs.

A 14-minute video with clips from all the songs performed in Drammen has been posted on YouTube, courtesy of Rune Tønnessen.

Three songs from Cast In Steel were played live for the first time last night, while “Sycamore Leaves” appeared in the setlist for the first time since 2004 – now with Morten singing it instead of Paul. “Early Morning” was played as a full band version, instead of the acoustic version they’ve usually done in the 2000s.

The biggest surprise was probably “Soft Rains of April”, which has rarely been played live since the late 80s – apart from the HHAL/SD concerts with the Oslo Philhamonics in 2010.

Setlist:
(with links to other YouTube clips)
1. The Wake
2. I’ve Been Losing You
3. Cry Wolf
4. Hunting High and Low
5. Forest Fire
6. Early Morning
7. Sycamore Leaves
8. Soft Rains of April
9. Under The Makeup
10. The Sun Always Shines on TV
– – – – – – – – – – – –
11. Foot of the Mountain

Just as on the two previous tours, a-ha are joined by Karl Oluf Wennerberg on drums and Erik Ljunggren on synth/programming, while new bassist Even Ormestad is going on tour with the band for the first time.

Reports from some of the fans who were at the show seem to indicate that the sound is less polished and more rock-oriented than it was in 2009-2010, with Paul bringing out his Gibson SG Fano Alt de Facto ML6 guitar for some heavy riffs.

Concert reviews:
VG: Konturene av et nytt a-ha – for tredje gang…
Dagsavisen Fremtiden: Gøy på øving
Rock and Roll Dreams: Klar til avreise

Wennerberg, Ljunggren and Ormestad join a-ha on Cast In Steel tour

Wennerberg and Ljunggren toured with a-ha in 2009 and 2010

Wennerberg and Ljunggren played around 100 concerts with a-ha in 2009 and 2010

Drummer Karl Oluf Wennerberg and keyboardist Erik Ljunggren will once again join a-ha on tour in 2015/16, together with new touring bassist Even Ormestad. This was confirmed in an interview with Ormestad in the newspaper Tønsbergs Blad this week.

Wennerberg, Ljunggren and Ormestad are currently in the process of rehearsing between 20 and 25 a-ha songs, in preparation for the upcoming Cast In Steel concerts in South America.

“This is a comeback we’re talking about here, so our job is to make sure that it will sound fresh. We have to play a-ha’s music in our own way, while also trying to make it sound as ‘a-ha’ as possible”, Ormestad tells the newspaper.

Touring with a-ha is a childhood dream coming true, the bassist says.

“I’ve been standing in front of the mirror and playing bass to a-ha songs since before I was a teenager, so I should be well-prepared”, the 36-year-old bassist says with a laugh.

Morten on Sommeråpent

Sommeråpent, August 15th

Sommeråpent, August 15th

Morten was interviewed and did an acoustic performance of “Do You Remember Me?” on NRK1’s Sommeråpent last night.

He was joined by Karl Oluf Wennerberg and Vicky Singh on the show, which was broadcast live from the roof of the Oslo Opera House.

The episode is available on NRK’s web-TV:
Interview with Morten
Morten and Marte Stokstad on “The Hit”
“Do You Remember Me?”

Pictures and videos from soundcheck and backstage:
NRK Sommer on Instagram – 1
NRK Sommer on Instagram – 2
Karl Oluf on Instagram – 1
Karl Oluf on Instagram – 2
Sommeråpent on Facebook

Paris concert, July 5th

Karl Oluf Wennerberg, Lars Danielsson, Morten, Peter Kvint, Christer Karlsson and Vicky Singh

Karl Oluf Wennerberg, Lars Danielsson, Morten, Peter Kvint, Christer Karlsson and Vicky Singh
(Picture by Chris F. Click to enlarge.)

Morten was back at at l’Olympia in Paris last night, to play the first of nine concerts this month.

The Paris gig was originally going to take place on May 14th, but had to be rescheduled due to Morten’s sudden throat infection.

This time Karl Oluf Wennerberg was sitting in for Per Lindvall on the drums, while both Peter Kvint and Vicky Singh played guitar, which provided a rich sound.

The 18-song set was quite similar to the May concerts, but with “Send Me An Angel” and “Movies” replacing “When I Reached The Moon” and “Should The Rain Fall”.

These video clips from Paris have been posted online so far:
End Of The Line   Darkspace   There Is A Place    Brother

Photo gallery: caribou-photo.fr

Now Morten and the band are off to London tomorrow for another rescheduled gig, before it’s time for more Norwegian festivals, starting on Thursday. The Brother album is still doing really well in Norway, in fact it climbs up from #15 to #10 in its 12th week on the official album chart.

Buenos Aires concert, September 28th

Buenos Aires, Argentina, September 28th

Morten and his band played at the Gran Rex theatre in Buenos Aires yesterday, for an enthusiastic crowd. At the end of the show, he put on an Argentinian football shirt, to much applause from the audience. “Somebody gave me this. It certainly looks better on a footballer, but there you are”, Morten said.

YouTube videos posted so far:
Arriving at the airport   Lightning   Stay On These Roads   We’re Looking For The Whales   Out Of Blue Comes Green   Crying In The Rain   Foot Of The Mountain   Applause at the end

Photo galleries:
Flickr set by Synth 101   Backstage “meet & greet”

Update: Check out this multi-camera edit of the complete Buenos Aires gig, filmed from the front row in excellent HD quality: YouTube playlist

Dorsten concert, June 30th

Morten with Karl Oluf Wennerberg, Erik Ljunggren and Dan Sundhordvik in Dorsten

Morten and his band did a 10-song set at the Sommer Open Air event in Dorsten, Germany tonight, in front of a crowd of around 20.000 people. The concert was streamed live online at wdr2.de.

Unfortunately, Morten’s voice was in pretty bad shape. Therefore, the vocals seemed to be playback on some of the songs, particularly evident on Scared Of Heights. A controversial decision for sure, and possibly the first time Morten has ever used recorded vocals at a live concert.

Dorsten, June 30th

 
Here is the setlist:

1. Burn Money Burn
2. I’m The One
3. Keep The Sun Away
4. Move To Memphis
5. Forever Not Yours
6. Lightning
7. We’re Looking For The Whales
8. Stay On These Roads
9. Scared Of Heights
10. Foot Of The Mountain

The whole concert can be watched again at wdr2.de.
 
 

Krasnoyarsk concert, April 16th

Palace of Sport, Krasnoyarsk, April 16th
(Picture from sibnovosti.ru)

Morten opened his Out Of My Hands solo tour in Krasnoyarsk, Russia last night, backed by Karl Oluf Wennerberg, Erik Ljunggren and Dan Sunhordvik.

The stage production was rather sparse, without any video screens, but Morten appeared to be in fine vocal form – despite some false starts and forgotten lyrics.

Here is the setlist (according to setlist.fm), with links to video clips on YouTube:

1. I’m The One
2. Keep The Sun Away
3. Move To Memphis
4. Scared Of Heights
5. Forever Not Yours
6. Lightning
7. Burn Money Burn
8. Los Angeles
9. Crying In The Rain
10. Spanish Steps
11. A Kind Of Christmas Card
————————-
12. Out Of Blue Comes Green
13. Foot Of The Mountain
14. Stay On These Roads
15. Take On Me

“Out Of Blue Comes Green”, which won the fan voting on Morten’s website, was performed live for the first time since 1989.

This means there were 7 a-ha songs performed, 5 songs from Out Of My Hands and 3 songs from Wild Seed. Nothing from Letter From Egypt or other English-language solo songs.

It had been said beforehand that the tour would include “a selection of a-ha songs”. The fact that this “selection” turns out to be almost half the setlist – 7 out of 15 songs, is sure to disappoint those who had been hoping to hear mostly solo songs at his solo concerts.

Too bad he doesn’t have more confidence in his own material at the moment.

Picture gallery from the concert

Concert review at newslab.ru

Article from Krasnoyarsk press conference

Video from Krasnoyarsk press conference

More tour details

According to a press release posted at music-news.com, Morten’s touring band this time will be the a-ha musicians Karl Oluf Wennerberg on drums and Erik Ljunggren on keyboards/bass, plus Dan Sunhordvik from Magne’s solo band on guitar.

In addition to solo material, he will also perform “some selections from the a-ha catalogue”.

Additional Oslo concert announced / More interviews

Morten on the front page of Stavanger Aftenblad Pluss.

Morten on the front page of Stavanger Aftenblad Pluss.

The second “Hunting High And Low”-concert that Magne mentioned earlier this week, has now been officially announced on a-ha.com.

The concert will be held at Oslo Konserthus on 4 October, and will benefit Mercy Ships – a Christian organization that operates hospital ships in developing nations. Only a limited amount of tickets will be available.

 

There is a lot of promo for the Norwegian concerts going on at the moment.

Morten is on the front page of Stavanger Aftenblad’s weekend magazine today. Inside there is a 3-page interview.

There is also a 2-page article about Morten in Vårt Land today, while Bergensavisen has an article about a purchase agreement for a guitar amplifier that Morten bought in 1976 (!).

Fædrelandsvennen has a 2-page interview with Karl Oluf, who talks about his experiences touring with a-ha over the last two years.

 

Karl Oluf on the front page of Fædrelandsvennen's culture section.

Karl Oluf on the front page of Fædrelandsvennen’s culture section.

In Bergen, the last preparations are being done before the concert at Brann Stadium tomorrow night. Between 25.000 and 30.000 people are expected to attend the largest concert ever held in the city. Bergens Tidende has documented the process of building the stage with an article and slideshow here. You can also view a 360° panorama picture of the stadium.

And here are some more interviews from Magne and Morten’s promo day in Bergen on Tuesday:
NRK Hordaland: – Har hatt en fantastisk karriere
Bergens Tidende: Gleder seg til å ta farvel med Bergen
Bergensavisen: A-ha lover kjempefest

NRK Hordaland: Ettermiddagssending 24.08 (Radio interview – starts after 50 minutes)

There will be a-ha stuff happening in the future as well“, Magne says in the interview with Bergensavisen. “Not albums and concerts. But certain people are interested in making musicals and fictional movies about a-ha. And that’s something that we have to consider.

 

And the 25 collection has finally entered the official Norwegian album chart (at number 9), as it’s now also available outside the COOP chain – earlier than originally planned.

In Europe as a whole, the album is at number 8 in its second week, as Billboard reports. It’s currently number 3 in Germany, 6 in Switzerland and 14 in Austria.

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