Manchester Arena, March 25th
(Picture by Lisa)

a-ha kicked off the UK leg of the tour at Manchester Arena on Friday night, this time with a larger stage production than in South America and East Europe; four additional video screens on the sides and more lighting.

There were two changes in the setlist since Minsk last week; the new live version of “Cast In Steel”, which they premiered at the BBC concert the day before, and the very first live performance of “She’s Humming A Tune” – at the expense of “Living At The End Of The World” and “You Are The One”.

This means there are now only four songs from the Cast In Steel album they haven’t performed live so far; “Objects in the Mirror”, “Door Ajar”, “Shadow Endeavors” and “Goodbye Thompson”.

At the O2 Arena in London on Saturday night, they added an additional song they haven’t played much in recent years – “Here I Stand And Face The Rain” – but with Anneli Drecker on vocals instead of Morten. With Paul and Magne still doing “Velvet” and “Lifelines”, this gave Morten a 3-song break backstage in the middle of the show.

Morten said before the tour started that he wanted more breaks during the shows this time, as he felt there was too much emphasis on his voice:

“There’s just too much of my vocals, there are no breaks. Every song has me at full power in one way or another, it’s too much for me. Moreover, it doesn’t work dramaturgically. I prefer instrumental parts without vocals. There’s a lot of great things to be heard in the music itself”, Morten told VG before the opening concert in Buenos Aires last year.

Video clips from Manchester:
I’ve Been Losing You    Cast In Steel    Stay On These Roads
Crying In The Rain    We’re Looking For The Whales
She’s Humming A Tune    Scoundrel Days    Under The Makeup

Video clips from London:
I’ve Been Losing You    Cast In Steel    Velvet    Lifelines
Here I Stand And Face The Rain    She’s Humming A Tune
Sycamore Leaves    The Living Daylights

Press reviews:
The Guardian    The Northern Chords    The Telegraph

The complete setlists for both Manchester (20 songs) and London (21 songs) have been posted on a-ha.com.