The stage at Rock in Rio Lisboa

a-ha were in Lisbon yesterday to play at the Rock in Rio Lisboa Festival – their first ever concert in Portugal. And with 70,000 people in the audience, it was the largest show of the current tour.

“Thank you very much for inviting us to this beautiful city today! It’s a great honour to be here”, Magne greeted the Portuguese audience.

Going into stadium-mode they did a focused and excellent performance, creating some stellar moments along the way. A week off since the concerts in Norway seemed to have worked wonders, and Morten’s voice now sounded much better.

They were joined on stage by Anneli Drecker, who has been with them on tour since Bergen on June 15th, doing backing vocals. She last toured with a-ha in 2016.

Magne leading the audience singalong on “The Living Daylights”

Before “Crying In The Rain”, Magne talked about the shooting tragedy that had occured in Oslo on Friday night:

“It was a sad day in Norway today, where some stupid terrorist started shooting people because they dare to be different. And I just want to say that we stand together with the right for everyone to decide how to express themselves. And I want to dedicate this next song to the victims.”

The setlist was the same as the festivals in Norway, only replacing “Scoundrel Days” with “Train of Thought”. There was a live stream and TV broadcast of the concert in certain areas, which has been uploaded to YouTube in full HD.

Paul has also posted some video clips from last night on Instagram, filmed from the audience by his son Augie.

Lisbon setlist:
1. Sycamore Leaves
2. The Swing Of Things
3. Crying In The Rain
4. The Blood That Moves The Body
5. Train of Thought
6. Foot Of The Mountain
7. We’re Looking For The Whales
8. Cry Wolf
9. Here I Stand and Face the Rain
10. Hunting High and Low
11. The Sun Always Shines on TV
12. I’ve Been Losing You
13. The Living Daylights
14. Take On Me