Even more photos from Bergen

More photos at the bottom of this page: natt & dag

More photos of a-ha in Bergen

Watch photos here: NRK1

Bergen a-ha photo

a-ha in Bergen: "Decent goodbye"

5 out of 6 by Bergen Puls

a-ha is more than frilly pop music with a sorrowful undertone. It is more than Morten Harket’s bedroom glance and airy hairdo. On their best a-ha showed that also we Norwegians could grab the world’s attention with something else than pole expeditions and a strategic interesting coastline. Therefore it was so important the bands last concerts in Norway became successful. It is not just about how to remember a-ha as a band, but also about how to remember Norway as a pop nation.

(…)

The ”Ending on a High Note” tour is a worthy farewell with Norway’s biggest export article through times, and the dimensions around how band and audience said goodbye to each other never seemed “gigantomane”. Just very decent.

a-ha in Bergen: "Mighty farewell"

5 out of 6 by BA. Watch some photos from the concert: here

"a pure power demonstration”
“you completely forget it’s a little chilly..”
“Paul barely been better on guitar…”
“a perfect opening”
“the stadium boiled”
“Take on me - the perfect farewell confection”
“dot so thoroughly – and worthy”

Watch the a-ha opening in Bergen!

"The Sun Always Shines on TV" and "Move to Memhis"

Source. NRK

a-ha song by song in Bergen

Song by song with dice score: look.

Watch Brann Stadium from the air!

a-ha concert in Bergen (Right before the guys entered the stage).

a-ha in Bergen: “a-ha owned the Stadium”

First reports:

"The audience was ecstatic during the concert"

"Everything with a-ha’s farewell concert at Brann Stadium became a pure power demonstration.

Source: BT

Bergen want to show a-ha’s last concert live on cinema

According to BA today, Bergen Cinema is working on trying to get a live streaming of a-ha’s very last concert in Oslo Spektrum, December 4th transmitted live. Bergen cinema has earlier shown a Metallica concert, David Bowie, and do frequently transfer from Metropolitan Opera in New York.

According to a-ha manager Harald Wiik there are pretty much remaining till a live transmission of the very last, sold out, a-ha concert in Oslo spectrum December 4. may happen.

– This idea has been discussed with some media parties, but we are far from reaching a goal, neither with the subject to contracts or the production. So, if you want to make sure you do experience a-ha on their farewell tour, you need to meet up at Brann Stadium tonight, the manager says. Among other things it is about being too tight for a bigger camera production at such a totally sold out concert – But there will be made other recordings during the tour. A release of a tour DVD may be more likely, Wiik says to BA.

a-ha in Bergen 23 years ago: "a-ha came, played, and won"

Bergenshallen boiled 23 years ago, when a-ha performed in Bergen for the first time. Youth spent the night in sleeping bags to get the greatest spot in front of the stage. The guys started off with ”Train of Thought” and the first fainting was a fact, BT wrote back then. Headlines: "a-ha came played and won", "WHAT an audience", "Everything went perfect".

Portrait: 45 minutes and 46 seconds with Morten Harket

There was a huge portrait interview with Morten Harket in Stavanger Aftenblad yesterday. Here is a translation of the first part of it.

a-ha’s vocalist Morten Harket showed instinctively he could do what he wanted within music, but was hugely doubting whether it was right of him to do that. A lot indicates it was.

I would like to start with a story I have heard. “A journalist came running into the desk in the Christian newspaper Vårt Land and said: There is a strange guy in the bathroom combing his hair and says he is going to be a world star”. That was apparently you?

- I knew we would become that. I had got go-ahead signals it would happen. This was just an expression of euphoria that I knew it would happen, in all simplicity. I was elated, Morten Harket explains.

How did you know? Did you feel it?

- It clearly had a spiritual aspect. I was a young guy who really wondered what to use myself on. I knew I could do what I wanted within music, but also within formative art and there were also other things that interested me. This is not about career awareness, but about a sense of what you have got available in yourself. What you instinctively do understand. I knew I could throw myself into deep water in the music just to frisk about it. But I was in deep doubt whether it was the right thing for me to do.

If there was a voice telling you to become pop star, what were the arguments?

- It was a lot about conscience. What is right for your conscious to spend your time on? That tore me back and forth. I experienced a forming moment: I suddenly realized there was only one way I could clean that picture. I knew I wanted so badly to go the music road, but I did not know where this drive came from. What was the underlying motivation? Lying in the temptation. The anxiety, if you like. I needed it to be clean. It had to be order down the system, or else this would come to the surface. A very unpleasant knowledge suddenly hit me: I had to let it go to find out. I had to let go of that run.

Hm?

- I studied mathematics, and several other subjects that I found interesting to follow up. However I did not manage to collect myself, because I was all too restless in the body because of the insane crush on music. I could walk around for hours in a state where I experienced music. It was an absolutely fantastic place to be. From I was 17 I was conscious about this, but when I was 19 the question came to the surface. I understood the only answer was that I had to let go of my big love. And so I did.

What did you do instead then?

- Well, this happened in mind, in a process with myself. In the moment where I let myself go and prepare for something else in life – and this happened within a fraction of a second – although the process before that had been long and a hard way to go, very hard – it is actually heavy as led taking those steps till you actually let go.

But you really did let go of this dream?

- Inside of me I did, and that was scary. But in moment I let go, I got what I had let go back. To me it was an enormous powerful cleaning to abandon. That is how it happened.

And then it was unavoidable?

- Yes, then I knew That was going to happen. Because I was willing to it (short laughter), that is really strange you know, but these mechanisms are incredibly strong, and if you do listen to them, it is…

That was a decisive moment?

- Totally decisive. It was a turning point to me. It was a turning point of another caliber. Before this the question I asked myself was why I wanted this so badly. Was it fame and the intoxication followed by it? Was it the enormous energy? But now, I did no longer doubt my own choice and headed off. From now on I just had to instinctively do what was right and did not actually have to lift a finger beyond that for That to happen.

With that attitude he went to England with Pål and Magne.

Have had a fantastic career (Loooong interveiw with Morten and Magne)

Here is a translation of the entire interview:

Last night with the gang: Morten Harket and Magne Furuholmen are looking forward to playing hits from the whole career at Brann Stadium Saturday. – We have had a fantastic career, Morten says.

Saturday is a-ha saying goodbye to more than 25.000 fans in Bergen. – It is about making the moments glow, Morten Harket and Magne Furuholmen says.

The biggest pop fairytale in Norwegian music history is going inexorably towards the end. The self-assured trio from Oslo and Kongsberg, who on national tv in 1984 sincerely answered “yes” on the question whether they really thought they would become world stars, are now out on a stadium tour in the home country to say goodbye to the fans. 25 years after the breakthrough a-ha is now saying thank you.

Watch the groups first TV-appearance here: NRK

Saturday 21. August did the Norwegian legends stand on the stage at Ullevaal stadium and the coming Saturday the group visits around 25.000 fans at Brann stadium. The whole thing ends 2., 3., and 4. of December in Oslo Spektrum. Then it is definitive over.

NRK.no met Morten Harket and Magne Furuholmen in Bergen for a chat about USA-success, hysteria, friendship, arguing and embarrassing moments on video.

This year, it is 25 years ago since “Take on Me” conquered the 1. position on the Billboard chart. On a-ha.com you can read the song has been played three million times on American radio…

MAGNE: It is not just according to our web site. BMI is controlling all playing on American radio and do hand out prizes when you pass such milestones, like one million, three millions and seven millions. And you do get rather shocked when seeing what other names you are along with.

MORTEN: I do remember when we passed one million, and that is a long time ago. I had no idea what that was all about; it was just a number to me. But when Ring Starr entered the stage at the same time being awarded a prize for ”She Loves You” by the Beatles. It hit one million at the same time as ”Take on Me”. But it is quite a long time ago since we passed three millions, so we are probably quite more than that now. And that is fun.

«Take On Me» has been played at almost all tours, but in 1994 you skipped it. Why?

MAGNE: Then we had the need to distance ourselves from our own success, in the belief we could get rid of it by keeping it down. We embraced our history in a little different way.
What relation do you have to the song now?

MORTEN: It lives its own life, obviously, and there are many funny stories appearing around that song. Bands within the most odd music direction have chosen to make a version of it. There it has been a lot of entertaining. When it comes to playing it ourselves, there is no wear and tear there. There was wear and tear for a period, because of a massive focus on it, especially in the beginning and in the wave coming after. But there is nothing left of that now.

«Take On Me» has undoubtedly been a blessing to a-ha. But has it as well been a curse?

MAGNE: When you have a first statement which is as defining as it is, then you do not want all focus to be on that one thing you have done. Well, you work on a lot of exciting things all the time. When we are looking back at it now, we do see it was a genuine ambition from our side to not be caught in our own success, and not make “Take on Me Part II” and “Take on Me Part III”. We wanted to break with our success and do something else. - Which I think we as well have got paid for. But at the end of the day you do have to deny or embrace what you have been involved in creating, and “Take on Me” is undoubtedly a stone monument there.

MORTEN: Yes, it is a flag waving alone up there, and it constantly attracts new people to the band. Thereafter they are often opening up for other things we have done. There are very few having a one-sided relation to exactly “Take on Me”. It is a door opener.

The album «Scoundrel Days», from 1986 showed a more mature and different a-ha than on the debut. What reactions did you get to the change of style?

MORTEN: I am not sure if I agree to it being the more mature musically, but it was a different direction. That was also our goal. None of us listened particularly to pop music to any extent. Not at all, I would almost claim. It was first when we came to England and formed to be a-ha, we were met by hit lists and got interested in pop music. We were also very engaged in how the Beatles went about. Their goal was to break through on the hit lists, to then take the freedom to do what they wanted. That was a little where we were.

MAGNE: Now when we have a 25 year anniversary and do this anniversary tour, it is certainly a richness of musical directions within those 25 years. These shows incorporate all those directions. Even when you play hits from different periods, it is a musical spreading. But at the same time there are enough red threads that people do get an a-ha experience. I think both we and the audience would have been tired of 24 versions of an 80ies song, or if we now on the farewell tour stood and played only songs that would be new to most people.

MAGNE: This time it is full gas, with all albums represented. It is a gigantic production, and we are preparing for this to be our last night with the gang – our last concert-statement in Norway. It is pretty incredible being invited by 25.000 people from Bergen, something we did not expect when announcing the farewell tour – that we would end up doing this many huge concerts in Norway. We had planned three Oslo-concerts at the end. Well, the tickets there disappeared in minutes, mainly to foreign fans. Therefore it got important to us to celebrate with Norwegians. They have been a part of our life, and we of theirs. Now that is over, and then it is time to celebrate that. We have not been as good at that before, but now we are giving everything.


On concert recordings from 1987 it is an enormous enthusiasm and screaming from the fans. It is not directly unusual that it is being cheated with audience sound on live recordings. But is for instance this recording truly authentical or is anything added?

MORTEN: Yes. We have rather removed a little.

MAGNE: We tried toning down the hysteria. Well, we were completely idiots. We were one of the biggest bands in the world, and found it embarrassing. Well, we are Norwegians. Where others added, we removed little to be sure.

How did you cope with all the attention after the breakthrough?

MAGNE: Well, you do get thrown around. I compare it with being in a dryer drum. You can just give up trying to keep your balance. You are swung around and are relatively dizzy when coming out on the other side. We did have a period apart in the 90ies which in many ways was a result of the need to get away from the machinery to breath out a little and to get new inspiration. I think we all have had pleasure and benefit from that later. Morten is the one who have carried the main part of the pressure. Although, during a period in the 80ies none of us could walk on the streets without having to refuge into shops and walk out backdoors. Well, it was completely wild. But that is the price to pay for fame.

The states we see on the video “Live In South America» from 1993 are pretty wild and different from the most we see from the concert audience here at home. How big is the difference between a-ha fans from continent to continent?

MAGNE: There are temperament differences everywhere. But we have been blessed with very enthusiastic fans almost in all parts of the world at one or another point throughout our entire career. South-America was phase two to us. We came there at the end of the 80ies, and reached the top there in 1990-1991. It was wild there, and still is. We were there recently, and we do still touch the old monster when we are there.

You played for 198.000 attendants at Maracana Stadium in Brazil, but it was totally ignored by MTV and other international music press. Why?

MAGNE: At that stage we were past our point of fashion, especially in the USA, and MTV was still very much controlled from there.

MORTEN: It was not just MTV. It was to a large extent missed out here in Norway too.

MAGNE: Yes, then people had had enough of a-ha for a while. So, it is extra nice now at the end getting such enormous enthusiasm for what we are doing. At Ullevaal now on Saturday we did notice Norwegians in all ages came to take farewell to an epoch in their own lives, we felt the loev in a completely different way than we have experienced before. Maybe we are also more receptive to it now. There are very special concerts. It is now or never, to both us and the audience. And it shows.

MORTEN: We have so to speak only had good concert experiences. Strong, great experiences. But they have appeared to could be improved, as that is what we do experience now. Last year, especially, it came a new great lift in the band, which gave us maybe the best tour we have had – this far.

MAGNE: What happened was that we took our own history seriously. While we earlier had had a very organic approach to the song material, we purposely went in and grabbed our own past as a synth driven band. We stopped playing “Take on Me” as a five-piece band. Instead we chose a more electronic expression, like it originally was.

MORTEN: In that way we think it will be a more highlight feeling for the people coming. It does as well mark the concerts. It is a travel through the whole career, where we pull out highlights from all albums – and they are pretty many. It is a full evening of that.

Music videos have been very important to a-ha, and you have done everything from being animated figures (“Take On Me», «Train Of Thought», «I Wish I Cared») to play dead bodies («Velvet») and doing synchronous goose walking dressed in bathing suits («Touchy»). Are there any videos that make you blush a little now in retrospect?

MORTEN: That goes in waves. Things you find embarrassing in one period, you find completely okay later.

MAGNE: I particularily remember when we made «You Are The One» og «Touchy», then we thought of them as such corny videos like the ones the Beatles had in the beginning, and that we maybe ten years later would find it super cool.

MORTEN: Because we did not think that then!

MAGNE: No, we found it damn embarrassing. But that is to a large degree how it has become too. We do pull the smiling muscles a little and wonder what on earth we were thinking. Oftentimes it is the more pretentious things becoming the more embarrassing with time, like the videos being overcool back then.

MORTEN: But then, they do also come back, because you do see what you have tried to achieve, and then you begin getting a little warm feelings for them too. Because you like it the way you stretched yourself that way. So, this goes in waves.

MAGNE: Now when the story ends in such a worthy way, you are surely more including in relation to all the expressions we have been through. You are not on your way from something to something else. You look at everything.

MORTEN: It is a big difference between us too. For 25 years now, I have been like that when I am finished with a song I am finished with it. I do not pick it up again; I do not listen to it. It has changed a little now, the last year, where we have turned the pile and been looking backwards. It has been an interesting and great process.

You are three very strong personalities, and you have been open about having considerable frictions within the band. How is the relationship between the three of you now?

MORTEN: It is not easy to be open, that is a cliché. In media there is an interest for emphasizing such things. When you apparently are open and speak balanced about such things, it is turned inside out. So, doing that, is not simple. It is not easy to communicate what is actually true.
But this is also a very central theme in the book «The Swing Of Things» (2004) by Jan Omdahl, which is being reissued now. Was it a wrong description?

MORTEN: Yes, it is very good actually. It is surprisingly good.

MAGNE: The new edition has a little different tone. The old edition was written in a period where we were very stuck in conflict stuff in between us, also outwards. That was even the more outlined by the book coming and we being involved in promoting it. You learn from things like that. When you do shit in our own nest, it smells for everyone. That is probably not what we are the most proud of, but at same time it was a kind of a cleaning that too. We got things out and put it behind us. There are neither other workplaces demanding you to work together with your childhood mates for a whole life. It is like a marriage, in good and evil.

MORTEN: To understand this, you have to get into it yourself – properly. Because the same tensions are central to the creative process, which makes us what we are.

MAGNE: What is great to see, is that we actually stood on stage on Saturday having a really cool time together. It was a great atmosphere, with subsequent text messages to each other that this was cool.

MORTEN: Now it sounds like that was special?

MAGNE: No, no. But it is special that you after 25 years still can stand there doing that.

MORTEN: Yes, I agree to that.

MAGNE: Oe can disagree on a lot of decisions as you go along, and there have been enough fighting. It will always be, and that is a part of the dynamic in all kinds of cooperation being that tight. But I am very happy we are now actually standing there communicating. We have always communicated the best through the music. And when that is allowed to grow to be something big in us all, like it does at these concerts, it is incredibly cool. The price for our fame is that the friendship has changed. People change, and we have worn down pretty many corners on each other whilst going through all this together. That is the price to pay. But we are here now, standing together on this and we are happy about it. It gives a very good feeling.

How easy was it to agree on ending a-ha now?

MORTEN: That is not easy to agree with yourself on. But you do come to a point where you experience it is more right thinking like that than to consider a new round. We could have made a new album. We could have made three more albums. We know that.

MAGNE: The end of a-ha started the moment we broke through. Then it became 25 years instead of to or ten.

MORTEN: The end of an oak tree lies in the seed. It is like that in all processes in life.
Do you enjoy this tour more than before, because you are not heading off with something new afterwards?

MORTEN: Yes, if that does not mean we did not enjoy it before. We have had a fantastic career. We have had 25 years together officially, we have had even more together as a band. It is fantastic to stand here 25 years later to embrace such a long period with everything that implies. We are lucky. After having released an album last year that made it so good and gave the band a boost and a great tour, we have experienced that The Times is writing the album is so good we have to end, because we will never top it, to Radio 2 writing we should keep on as long as we can. Doing that when you are 50 is a privilege. Well, the others have not reached 50 yet, but I have…

MAGNE: My ambition was not to be chased towards a new project. Being able to keep focus on ”now we are here”, and not drive away another place. Usually we have always done that, and put everything else behind us. Now we are having another consciousness about it. What I seem to see, is that we embrace what we have made in a totally new way, and I think it is extremely important to be able to end this properly.

MORTEN: And probably also because it is the first time we turn around and look back. We have never done that before. It leads to things.

What is a-ha’s best song?

MORTEN: To me that is a totally meaningless question which is impossible to answer. It is living material which I relate to, for example at each concert. All the songs we are playing have been through a process of selection, where they have won and made themselves deserve the position they have got. I have no favourite.

MAGNE: Oftentimes that kind of questions is being answered based on which song you are the most satisfied with the recording of. At least I do. If a song has put up with the recording and not lost anything from the demo or the original intention, then you get very happy. One of the first I felt like that about, was ”The Sun Always Shines on TV”. There I felt we hit the nerve 100 percent. And there are many of those through the years. “Scoundrel Days” for instance.

MORTEN: I remember that with “The Sun Always Shines on TV”. I remember you said “This is a record”, and you started using that as a gauge for the songs, whether you had a “record” or not.

MAGNE: Yes, that was probably something I had picked up from one or another American record company guy. But it was the difference between having a song that was finished recoded, and a “record”, meaning it sounded like an album. Usually it is controlled by things like that, or if the heart bleeds for one or another song that did not make it all the way through. But again, in retrospective perspective, there are many highlights, and it is fun going back to the old songs. On this tour Morten pulled out the one you just played, “We’re Looking for the Whales”, because we have not played it since then. It was one of the songs that contributed to, actually before the first album, making the foundation for the belief in a-ha from people around us.

MORTEN: I remember that very well. We were in a cheap studio outside London. When that song was recorded, I knew we had become a band. With the demo to that song, it was suddenly like something was integrated and incontrovertible. I had been walking around waiting for something like that to happen. I did not know exactly what, but I knew it when I heard that song.

You waited for a moment?

MORTEN: I waited to see an identity that was a-ha. Because then we were still Pål, Magne and Morten doing a band. But from that moment it was…

MAGNE: And that was your argument to include this song this time. It has been a big journey up going back there in the head. You are automatically back there, in that studio, in the middle of the night, one time in 1983-1984, when we play that song.

What does it take to bring a-ha back together one more time?

MAGNE: Then we need invitation from 100.000 people in Bergen, not just 25.000. No we choose not to think about that scenario at all. We feel we have done quite a lot together, and we all know we could have done more. But now we have chosen to put down the weapons. Of course a-ha will follow us for the rest of our lives. We do have a business together. A-ha will keep on living, maybe even the better without us.

MORTEN: Well, we do this for a-ha.

MAGNE: We do it because it is for the best for a-ha. And that is not even a joke.

How do you want to be remembered?

MORTEN: It shall be as it is. We do not control things like that. I do not even want to think of controlling anything like that.

MAGNE: We have done ours, others can throw the dice.

MORTEN: I think it becomes more and more true what is written.

How?

MAGNE: The picture is nuanced, the stereotypes broken down and we are more and more recognizing ourselves in the mentions of the history we have been a part of. There are of course still huge differences maybe internally when it comes to how one has experienced things.

MORTEN: We have lived with the media all this time, and the press has been steered by the agenda the moment gives, which may not give as balanced impression of what is going on. So, I think the real story will gradually come more and more into place. The first real signal on that is this book written by Jan Omdahl, which totally hit me the first time I read it. We did not control it. When I saw it, it was both entertaining and fun. All of a sudden I read the story, and I recognize it.

MAGNE: At the end of the day, this is about making the moments glow, and that is what we are going to do here at Saturday in Bergen. That moment will never come back, neither to us nor to the ones being there. And then we owe each other making it as special as we can.

Source: NRK

a-ha's drummer: "a-ha is like the coolest guys in the class..."

Interview with a-ha’s drummer in todays Fædrelandsvennen (paper edition). Here is a translation of the main parts:

Ever since he heard the a-ha song “The Sun always Shines on TV” for the first time many years ago, his dream has been to play with a-ha. During the “Foot of the Mountain”- tour last year, his childhood dream came true.

- I think it is very sad a-ha is ending. a-ha is like the coolest guys in class, and you surely want to play with the coolest in the class, Wennerberg explains.

The drummer is educated by the Music Conservatoire in Kristiansand and has worked with artists like Lene marlin, Secret Garden, Bel Canto, Maria Arredondo and the Apparatjik (Magne Furuholmens sideproject).

- I am still looking just as much forward to each song and each concert.

- I feel taken very good care of, and that is a special experience in all ways. In addition to having our own cook, baker and people organizing everything from a to å for us, the atmosphere is incredibly good. At the same time I do notice it is more talking about what everyone is going to do next year. At concerts you are a little touched by it is not “Thank you and goodnight”, but actually “Thank you and goodbye”.

Last year he also got a very special surprise by Magne Furuholmen that he will always remember. a-ha was going to perform in Brussels, but got a little transport problems as Morten Harket had to be picked up in Kristiansand. Wennerberg got a message on e-mail they were going to fly a private jet. Wennergerg wrote back telling; “Wow, how incredibly cool. This is my very first time in a private jet”.

- When I did’t get e reply on the mail, I was a little afraid I had crossed the line being too excited. But when the airplane rolled into Gardermoen, I suddenly saw my name written with big letters on the aircraft. Magne had paid for the job from his own pockets, and made everyone keeping their mouths shut so he could surprise me. It was incredibly fun, and do tell a little about the magnanimity and humor to the guys, he says and laughs.

With this many concerts all over the world, are you tired?

- No, I am looking forward to each concert.

- How have the concerts been this far? Anyone being special?

- I can’t remember one specific experience, but it is incredibly fun getting so good critics. The critics say a-ha has never sounded better and both I and Erik Ljunggrenn who is playing keyboard and bass, and have produced the live show, do get a little of the honor for that. It is fantastic working with Erik. We have all the time pulled in the same direction, and agreed on how a-ha shall sound. In addition I have to say I am impressed Morten is still singing the same key as he has always done - which it stands respect of.

a-ha has actually made their own stage!

The stage is special built. It is not a normal stage. a-ha has made it. There are no roof of walls, just a video wall (600 square meter LED-screen), and lights behind the band. There is just a tiny roof above the band to protect them from the rain in Bergen. The stage is 60 meters wide, 20 meters high and 15 meters deep. 40 semi-trailers have brought all the equipment to Bergen, and 200-250 people are working daily setting up a-ha’s stage. The stage is placed on the long side in Bergen, which will make an intimate feeling for the audience. (At Ullevaal the stage was at the short side).

Watch the huge stage being put up in Bergen: here

Watch panorama photo of a-ha's stage: here

Not sufficient electric power in Tromsø for a-ha’s light show!

To avoid blacking out the whole northern part of Tomsøya, the festival organizers have had to look for a power solution. Eventually, they found a mobile stand-by power unit earlier used for some old mines. It will double the capacity. The leadership of the Døgnvill Festival do find the situation a little funny, although they have had huge problems finding a solution. "It will definitely we rock’n roll! Just imagine the power on stage when we push that big button!" (Source: Bladet Tromsø, 26.08.2010)

a-ha.com breakdowns because of huge demand for the a-ha book

The German edition of the a-ha biography «The Swing Of Things 1985—2010» is already sold out. (3000 copies). The new biography is a revised and extended version.

- This time I have been more concerned about clarifying what the band has actually achieved through 25 years, and to come closer to a-ha’s musical formula. Besides, it has been a luxury problem choosing among so many unpublished photos and private material from Paul’s, Magne’s and Morten’s drawers and cabinets, Omdahl says.

Grab a copy of the article in full here: Dagbladet

Read more and purchase the book here: a-ha store

Watch NRK interview with Morten and Magne in Bergen

Watch: NRK Here is a translation of the main contents:

Magne says there have been periods they have been annoyed at certain things they have done, but now they do look at the charm factor of the many corny things.

Morten tells about a fan letter he got in Germany. In the letter it is written: “Good god – thank you for ending, as I cannot stop. Then I finally can do other things.”

Moten is asked how they do pick songs for the concerts, and tells they are going through all albums and do choose all musical highlights. Magne adds they are wrapped in the fattest production we have ever seen. He also ensures they are doing all they can to make it a fantastic night in Bergen.

Morten is a little worried there may only be foreign fans in Bergen, but Magne answers back it is dangerous of an Oslo man talking that way about the Bergen people.

a-ha felt the love at Ullevaal.... (Interview)

Here is a translation of an interview with Morten and Magne in today's paper edition of Bergensavisen.

a-ha: Do promise impressing production.

Gigantic: - when we got the opportunity, it is fun to do it as impressing we can, Magne Furuholmen says about the a-ha konsert at Brann stadium Saturday. Morten harket want it to be a party.

- People from Bergen are known for being good at singing. It is just to give gas, Magne Furuholmen says. a-ha bring loads of hits and the biggest LED-screen in Europe.
Magne Furuholmen does not only play for the fans, but also for his family in-law at Brann stadium.

- Of course they are there. It is my wife’s relatives on the mother side. Therefore we do come early to Bergen and leave late, the keyboardist and songwriter tells.

- Together with the vocalist Morten Harket he is on a short Bergen visit, and do promise to give everything on Saturday.

- It might be the most impressing kind of production in Bergen ever. We are doing what we can to make this a memorable farewell.

- It’s now or never. It is in any case fantastic that this many people are coming. A party, Harket says.

- Super cool, Furuholmen adds.

- It is lovely to end on that feeling – being applauded throughout the door.

Celebrating

24 500 tickets are sold this far to a-ha’s last concert in town.

Will there not be an emptiness after a-ha?

-To you? Morten Harket jokes.

-Emptiness may not be that bad either, Furuholmen continues.

- We are creating a vacuum, building a finale. It provides the possibility to celebrate our own career. It may happen we are so tired of a-ha when the time comes…

He smiles.

- But there is going to happen a-ha things. Not albums and concerts, But people would like to make musicals and fiction movies about a-ha. Which we have to consider.

Felt love.

After the concert at Ullevaal it does actually seem like the big pop stars are looking forward to playing in Bergen.

-We had an enormous feeling of love from the audience. People were there to show we have meant something to them. We did also stretch ourselves as far as we could, Furuholmen says.

- We just wanted to be there, Morten Harket adds.

- I think we will manage to create an unforgettable night. We are not holding our fire. We are doing this as a gale performance, Magne Furuholmen promises.

-It is a gigantic machinery. When we got the opportunity, it is fun to do it as impressing we can. There are no other Norwegians who have done what we have.

In December the pop fairytale is over.

Furuholmen: We're banging the big drum! (Interview with Magne and Morten in Bergen)

Interview in Bergens Tidende last night. Here is translation of the entire interview.

a-ha has during their 9 months long farewell tour put 60 concerts in America, Asia and Europe behind them.

- Now I got tired, when you said that, Morten Harket says.

Saturday it is Bergen and Brann stadium’s turn. That will be a-has last performance in the city.

- We are banging the big drum. This will be a gala performance, Magne Furuholmen promises.


The heydays

- Do you remember the concert in Bergenshallen in 1987?

- I know we have played here. But then we were on a nine months long tour without break. I can’t remember anything from it. The brain was just a grey mass. It still is, but at that time I also experienced it like it, Harket says and laughs.

- We will therefore make sure we do get great memories from Bergen before we end. This concert is the definitive. We do feel invited by the people in Bergen to celebrate ourselves, which is special to us, Furuholmen says.

- More than 24.000 people in Bergen have ensured tickets, and the organizer will make extra 2000 tickets available at the doors. The concert may be the largest culture arrangement for paying guests in the town’s history.

Originally the trio had planned to end their career in Norway with concerts in Oslo Spektrum only. But when these were quickly sold out, mainly to a foreign audience, a larger Norway tour was planned. Last week almost 29.000 people met up at Ullevaal stadium.

We got humble to see that many people. We do not have anything to prove. We are not out with a new album to promote. This is retrospective celebration of something we have taken part in creating, Furuholmen says.


Don’t want to choose between the children

However, the band does not want to range albums or songs they have made during the 25 year long career.

We live by creating highlights. Now we try giving ourselves a worthy exit. It has all the time been a goal to make these farewell concerts to an absolute highlight, Furuholmen says.

- It has been a life. Answering what is the favourite song, is almost as difficult as answering who of your kids you like the most. We have fought for all the songs we have made. They are all special, Harket says.

- And as with all other offspring, the songs can disappoint you a period, to later impress you again, Furuholmen adds.

- And at times the parents disappoint the songs, Harket parries.


But the concert experience then?

- Rio with 200.000 people was huge. That was like we had ten Brann stadiums together. We felt big, but were at the same time small. Musically it wasn’t a highlight, but the atmosphere was great.

a-ha is bringing an almost as big production to Bergen as they had in Rio de Janeiro in Brazil.

The critics from the tour have been really good. Does that make it easier or the more difficult to end?

- Easier. If a-ha is at the best when we end, it is a power demonstration showing we have managed to reinstate our standing. As our career has been swinging, Furuholmen says.

The a-ha members tell they will be missing the moments when they are writing songs, going into studio and standing on stage. But also that the decision to end is liberating.


Freedom to get throat infection

What are you going to do when it’s over?

- I don’t think any of us know that for sure. But what we do know is that a-ha will have a life after us, without our interference, Furuholmen says.

He does not exclude two or three of the bandmembers may cooperate on new projects.

- But that will not be anything similar to a-ha.

- We have given so much. It has cost. I really don’t know what I am going to do after a-ha, but that is exactly what I need, Harket says and continues:

- If I lose my voice, it is not possible to carry on a concert. I can’t get a throat infection for example. I have to be on the alert all the time, to not expose myself to unnecessary risk. I am very tired of exactly that, very tired!

- Magne Furuholmen tells he had heart fibrillation during most of the concert at Ullevaal.

- I was close to a fainting, but I couldn’t just lie down and rest either. But, we are not three nags on our way to the glue fabric, he says and laughs.

- Even though this dog has got three legs, it runs from the most. We are drawing the line whilst being in top shape, Harket says.

Watch a-ha at Førkveld (NRK TV show) tonight

Watch: NRK net TV

hehe - Magne said "hello Birmingham" to Manchester during the Foot of the Mountain Tour last year!! :-)

Morten Harket: "I'm no a-ha expert myself...."

I read in the paper today that we are incompatible. I'm no a-ha expert myself... ...but that statement is not compatible with how I have experienced things. (Thanks to Jacob - a-ha live - for the translation)

Listen (YouTube)

Let's help promote a-ha in the UK! ;-)

Please look at, comment and share this article: a-ha give Sun readers an exclusive look at their last ever music video to single Butterfly, Butterfly...

a-ha totally impressed at Ullevaal!!!

A big concert in short: Huge press coverage. a-ha got 5 out of 6 by all the big newspapers. VG, Aftenposten, Dagbladet. The reviewers described the concert as “power demonstration”, “triumph”, "fantastic"...

Here are some videos from the concert: TV2 Dagbladet Aftenposten.

Absolutely lovely acoustic version of “Butterfly Butterfly (the Last Hurrah)”: Watch

Set-list:

"The Sun Always Shines On TV"
"Move To Memphis"
"The Blood That Moves The Body"
"Scoundrel Days"
"Stay On These Roads"
"Manhattan Skyline"
"Hunting High And Low"
"The Bandstand"
"Looking For The Whales"
"Butterfly, Butterfly"
"Nonstop July"
"Crying In The Rain"
"Minor Earth, Major Sky"
"Forever Not Yours"
"Summer Moved On"
"I've Been Losing You"
"Foot Of The Mountain"

"Cry Wolf"
"Analogue"
"The Living Daylights"
"Take On Me"

Please forward/share/retweet this message...

Last chance - Still exclusive tickets left for the a-ha Afterparty on Saturday. E-mail a-ha fan café: inbox@ahafancafe.no if you are interested!

Last chance - Still exclusive tickets left for the a-ha Afterparty Saturday!

a-ha will most likely be there ;-) e-mail "a-ha fan café" if you are interested! inbox@ahafancafe.no

Radio interview with Magne Furuholmen

NRK P1 Østlandssendingen yesterday: Listen

"There are people who think we should have ended before we released music…"

"I have been lucky when it comes to gifts as having birthday in November when often being on autumn tour…"

"I think a-ha had unlimited potentials, but all human factors do count in…"

Watch a-ha at God Morgen Norge here..

WATCH

Purchase exclusive a-ha photos by Just Loomis!

Just Loomis is offering for sale, for a limited time, some of his favorite a-ha Art photographs! Check out his great photos at his web site: http://www.justloomisahaart.com/. Just Loomis has photographed five a-ha album covers over the years.

Paul has got the a-ha songs you'll never hear...

Interview with a-ha in: Dagbladet. Here is a translation of the most interesting parts.

Paul Waaktaar-Savoy is sitting on the a-ha album you’ll never hear – and he is grieving by the loss of the band.

- I have at least half an a-ha album ready. I made a lot of new songs before we decided to end the band, the composer and guitarist says.

Paul Waaktaar-Savoy is the one grieving the most by the band quitting for good.

He was already working on the follow up album to last year’s critical acclaimed ”Foot of the Mountains” when he was surprised by the decision ending the band.

- I would very much have liked to continue. We have got more to give, at least one more album, Waaktaar-Savoy says.

- It’s a little weird and sad to end, Paul says.

This because the band is the more loved and respected than ever – and because last year’s“Foot of the Mountain” is of the best a-ha has achieved.

- We have just arrived back from Japan. There the fans cried in despair when we left the hotels.
Waaktaar-Savoy tells the USA is finally standing forward wanting to “concert paper” the band.

But there will not be any more concerts in the States.

(…) Magne Furuholmen: a-ha will still be alive, without us.

Want a ticket for the A-HA AFTERPARTY on Saturday? e-mail a-ha fan café!

In agreement with Ny Vri a-ha fan café is now collecting orders from fans in my network to hand over to Ny Vri on a daily basis - this to lessen their amount of work. If you would like to purchase tickets for the a-ha Afterparty on Saturday (after the Ullevaal concert), please e-mail a-ha fan café at: inbox@ahafancafe.no. Please include your name and the number of tickets you want. Price is NOK 200 (Please mind a-ha fan café is not making any profit on this helf offered).

Please spread the word!

By the way, a-ha will much likely be there... ;-)

Locust

http://www.ahafancafe.no/

Paul: “The audience has really shown we have meant something to them…”

Interview with a-ha: Aftenposten (watch video).

Magne about the future: "Luck favours the prepared mind"

Interview with Morten Harket and Magne Furuholmen: TV2

a-ha might be there.... are you?

The afterparty is in co-operations with a-ha Networks AS and Stageway.

There will be sold a limited number of regular tickets. The bands friends and partners are the rest of the guests this evening, and of course we are hoping that the members will attend the party as well.

e-mail me (a-ha fan café: inbox@ahafancafe.no) if you would like a ticket. In agreement with Ny Vri, the café is now collecting orders from the fans to hand over to Ny Vri.

"Chrysalis dreams waiting on the fifth instar"...

Another still picture from a-ha's "Butterfly, Butterfly (the last Hurrah)" video.

Chrysalis version of Morten...

This looks like a piece of art!

Still picture from a-ha's "Butterfly, Butterfly (the last Hurrah)" video...

Who of them got through the hole...?

Watch the a-ha "Butterfly Butterfly (the last Hurrah)" video here: a-ha MySpace (Premiere today). By the way, did you notice two of them were left back in Brighton? hehe. Only one of them got through the hole...

Don't have a ticket for a-ha at Royal Albert Hall? Everything from face value to £1500 on ebay!

There are still tickets available for the Royal Albert Hall concert - on ebay. Great seats are being sold to everything from face value to ridiculously £1500 (a pair at front row - Arena A). There is no doubt the ticket brokers got away with loads of great seats for this event. This is what they do: "If you've ever tried to get tickets to a concert, only to find them sold out three minutes after they went on sale, look no further than a ticket broker. With legions of employees both in line and online, a ticket broker has the resources to buy more tickets and buy them faster than an individual. If you can't find tickets to an event, chances are a ticket broker has them". (Source)

Link to ebay: a-ha tickets for Royal Albert Hall (a-ha performing the entire "Hunting High and Low" album with orchestra).

Japan - back and forth

Next a-ha gig: ULLEVAAL, OSLO, NORWAY!! a-ha's stadium tour kicking off...!!!

Question of the day: What is it?

Watch a-ha '25' artwork at Tinagent and Smog Design

Morten about the final a-ha concert: "I will probably cry"

Interview with Morten Harket in German Gala. Grab a copy. (Tip: Google Translate)

The interview is very much about Mortens looks. Morten says he likes to experiment with facial creams and dietary pills. He does also a lot of sports (Hmm, hasn’t he always said he doesn’t do sports?), although claims he hasn’t needed Botox. Morten says he is a little worried about his hair getting thinner and that he is slowly getting a bald spot. Harket underlines that what you eat is of importance to your looks.He says he is in top shape and therefore looks young. He avoids potatoes; pork and wheat flour. Spelt gives him energy. Morten Harket: "My body is my temple".

a-ha stadium tour to be the most spectacular a-ha shows ever

Morten and Magne were guests at Sommeråpent last night. Magne tells they are going to bring the same production size as they had in Rio back in time in front of 200 000 people to the Norwegian stadium concerts. He says the concerts are going to be the most spectacular a-ha shows ever!!

Morten tells he is rather tired of having to avoid getting a cold, to protect his voice. Like, during this interview, he insisted sitting in the chair to the TV host, to avoid draft! (They were sitting on top of a roof in Oslo). The guys are now heading off to Japan...

Watch the interview here: NRK1- net TV

Is a-ha underestimated? Morten Harket: "Not by the audience, but generally by the media".

Interview with Morten Harket in German Media: Welt Online. Here is an extract:

What is your current favourite music?
Morten: Oh, I do not listen to music.
Never? Not in the car? Not when doing sports?
Morten: No, never.
That’s funny.
Morten: Not really. Music is my job and my passion. I cannot always deal with it. I would like to hear other things. Silence or noise.

Video preview: a-ha "Butterfly, Butterfly"

Watch the preview here, if you haven't already seen it: Youtube

Morten: "Get it now..." ("25")

Watch the ad: Youtube

Bad hair day....?

Which version of Butterfly to you like he best? Listen to the Osborne mix here...

Listen: Steve Osborne mix
Purchase: iTunes Amazon.de

"Butterfly, Butterfly" - different lyrics on Steve Osborne mix!!

Butterfly, Butterfly
Flying into the wind
You can be sure of it
That's no place to begin

Overthinking every little thing
Acknowledge the bell you can't unring

(Tomorrow, you don't have to say what you're thinking
You don't have to mean what you say)
Tomorrow there will come a time in the morning
You will find a way to begin

Butterfly, Butterfly
Flutter in to the skies
Butterfly, butterfly
Their molecular cries

Chrysalis dreams waiting on the fifth instar
These stained glass wings (could) can only take you so far
(You don't have to say that it matters
You don't have to turn something in
Stay with it through thick and thin)
Tomorrow, there will come a time in the morning
There will be a sign (sight? sigh?) from within
Staying with it through thick and thin

Butterfly begins
Butterfly

(Tomorrow, you don't have to mean what you say
Left without a reason to stay
Comes the last hurrah
Here's our last hurrah
Tomorrow, there will come a time in the morning)
Tomorrow, there will be a sign (sight? sigh?) from within
Staying with it through thick and thin

Butterfly begins

Butterfly begins

Butterfly, Butterfly
You can be sure of it
Butterfly