Can you believe it's a live version? (Take on Me - by a-ha)

a-ha - Live version of "Take on Me" - 28.09.2010 - BBC Radio 2 (Maida vale)

Topshop abusing a-ha

Topshop in London is selling t-shirts with a-ha prints without having asked the band for permission. Topshop has got 300 stores in Britain and 100 abroad. According to a-ha’s manager Harald Wiik this is an infringement of copyright. Neither Topshop nor their subcontractor wants to pay for the use of the photos. “This only shows how difficult it is to administer rights globally”, Wiik says.

(Source: e24)

a-ha - Live cover of "Say Hello Wave Goodbye" by Soft Cell

28.09.2010 - BBC Radio 2

… take your hands off me. I don’t belong to you, you see. Take a look at my face for the last time. I never knew you, you never knew me. Say hello, goodbye. Say hello, wave goodbye. Say hello, then wave goodbye…

[Listen] a-ha interview Smooth Radio Glasgow

Listen

[Listen] a-ha on Radio 2 Maida Vale Studios earlier today

a-ha live - BBC Radio 2 Maida Vale Studios, London 28/09/2010 Stereo... . Tracks cut from itw... Listen

01 - Itw
02 - The sun always shines on tv
03 - Itw
04 - Butterfly Butterfly
05 - Itw
06 - Analogue
07 - Itw
08 - Say hello wave goodbye (Soft Cell cover)
09 - Itw
10 - Take on me
11 - Itw and goodbye

(Thanks to stefbaz)

Still a few tickets left for a-ha's charity concert!

Here are a few photos of Morten from interviews done in connection with a-ha's charity concert at Oslo Konserthus October 4th, where a-ha is going to perform the entire Hunting High and Low album. There are still a very few tickets left. You can order through Billettservice.

Read more about the concert here: Oslo Konserthus

Read more about Mercy Ships here: http://www.mercyships.com/

(Image source: Dagbladet)

a-ha on BBC Radio 2 on the 28th September

... from the Maida Vale studio in London! Don't forget to listen! http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio2/ Please, spread the word! ;-)

(Thanks to Martin for the info).

a-ha 's Butterfly Butterfly still on Radio 2 playlist - the A list !!!!! Please keep on requesting radioplay of Butterfly!!

Look: Radio 2 A List !! Please keep on e-mailing Ken and Janice to request airplay of Butterfly Butterfly for their radio shows. This is how to help the single onto the UK charts, which is where we all think a-ha belong, isn't it?!! Eventhough you may not live in the UK you can listen to their shows online, so please help requesting!

Ken Bruce (ken.bruce@bbc.co.uk)
Janice Long (janice.long@bbc.co.uk)

Harket Fashion...

Oct 16, 1986; Scarborough, Ontario, Canada; Music - A-ha. Photo of Morten Harket, lead singer of A-ha. Mandatory Credit: Photo by Rick Eglinton/Toronto Star/ZUMA Press. (©) Copyright 1986 by Rick Eglinton/Toronto Star

Magne Furuholmen skiing... (1987)

Photo: Per Nygaard / VG

My goodness!! Seen this photo of a-ha?

Morten Harket, Magne Furuholmen and Paul Waaktaar-Savoy hanging from a bridge! 1985. Photo: Svein Oppheim / VG

a-ha flashbacks: Pål Waaktaar-Savoy (Japan 1985)

a-ha in Kristiansand: "It was so cool", their drummer says.

Interview with Karl Oluf in today’s fvn. I have translated the main part of it.

- It was so cool, Karl bursts out.

He tells the drum sticks shivered a little extra by the thought of performing in front of friends and family in Kristiansand.

- Yes it was big! I was extra nervous and was tenser in the body, I have to admit that. I will look back on this as a sick experience, he says.

(…)

- When I was 15 I said: I am going to be the best – and one day I will play with a-ha. I had leather bracelets around my wrists and thought Morten Harket looked tough, he said.

Yesterday Magne Furuholmen presented the drummer twice, and shouted out:

- Our drummer is absolutely fantastic, and he is actually on home ground now!

- Yes, it was a little humor, that I am a local “kid” on home ground and stuff, Wennerberg says.

(…)

- I do feel the concert in my body. Imagine running in water up to your waist. That heavy is it like to be drummer when everything is wet, he says, and explains he is impressed by the audience defying the rainy weather.

- The audience sang loud and made a great atmosphere even though it rained cats and dogs. It was fun. Magne (Furuholmen) was super happy afterwards, and Morten (Harket) found it special, as Kristiansand partly is home ground to him, he says.

- You played to some of those who have waited for the a-ha concert for several years. How does that feel?

- It says something about how much the a-ha music can mean to people, and that is how it has been like since I went out with them. I have to relate to fans from Argentina, Germany, Japan and Brazil following the band on the tour, the drummer says.

- Now I need a double espresso to recover. I have been pregnant with this concert for a pretty long time, and even though it is a good delivery now when it is over, I am exhausted.

Morten Harket: "You have been a big part of our lives…"

a-ha ended their spectacular stadium tour in Kristiansand tonight. Morten Harket thanked the fans for being a big part of the band’s life for 25 years. The concert got 5 out of 6 by fvn : "Thank you for everything, it was extremely okay, and do never come back". (The journalist claims the band would never bear senile vocals).

Watch "The Sun Always Shines on TV" here: fvn
Watch the audience right before a-ha went on stage here: fvn
Watch the audience throwing the dice here: fvn

A-HA'S "BUTTERFLY BUTTERFLY" ON BBC RADIO 2 A LIST!!!

Look!!! Huge congratulations to a-ha! If you want to keep a-ha on the A list, please do keep on requesting airplay of "Butterfly Butterfly" by contacting BBC Radio 2 !!! This can definitely make the song to the charts!!! Please please please spread the word!!!! By the way, the single is out September 20, and available to pre-order NOW at HMV. (Big thanks to Karen for the great news!)

Ken Bruce (ken.bruce@bbc.co.uk)
Janice Long (janice.long@bbc.co.uk)

;-)

Morten Harket: "The history is being sealed".

Interview with Morten and Magne in todays Fædrelandsvennen. (Click to watch video interview). Here is a quick translation of the main parts.

The guys are looking forward to play for friends, family and the audience in Kristiansand.

- We are performing in Kristiansand on Saturday, and then we do not come back. Then it is full stop, and the history is being sealed, Morten Harket says.

- We are bringing the coolest production with us, and I think people will leave gobsmacked. Norway has never seen anything similar, and I do not think any other bands, but us, could have done the same. I also do not think anyone has been as “crazy” as us to pay for this huge production for such few concerts. You do tour for a whole year to pay back such a production. It is our gift to the audience, Furuholmen says.

- It has always been important to us to reach new heights, and we have really taken a grip with this production. It is sharper and we have weeded everything we do not find good enough. No matter how people see it, there is no doubt we are writing history with this. If we had not felt we delivered the goods we would have ended a long time ago, and it feels good ending this way, Harket says.

- How is it really like to say farewell for good?

- First of all it is special turning 180 degrees watching what has been and what it has meant to us. We have never done that before. Earlier we have always been looking forward towards new things. But we have had incredibly many good experiences so far, Harket says.


The guys also say they do notice the audience is saying farewell with an epoch, and that they express both love and respect for the band in a totally new way.

- We are in a way used to be in an aggressive position with a new album to prove how good we are. Now it feels like an embracing of the whole history, and I do notice I too do look at what we have gained in a new way than I did for instance ten years ago. We really do feel we are on top, and it is a good feeling, Furuholmen ends.

So.... will you be among the most lucky a-ha fans?

Are you going to be there: at HMV London October 6??? Check out this facebook site: a-ha at hmv Oxford Street and please do spread the word!!


A-ha will be meeting fans and signing copies of their latest album 25:The Very Best Of A-ha at hmv, 150 Oxford Street, LONDON on Wednesday 6th October at 6pm.

Due to limited time available 350 wristbands will be issued for access to the queue, which will be available from the store on the day of the event from 9am on a first-come first-served basis, no reservations , in person only, one per customer, subject to availability.

Ple...ase note that the band will only be signing copies of the album 25:The Very Best Of A-ha. Please do not bring other items of merchandise to be signed as you will be politely asked not to present these items.

The first 25 lucky customers in the queue for wristbands will also win a pair of tickets to a live show at Heaven later in the evening of 6th October

Were you there? At the HMV a-ha signing in 1986?

Watch loads of photos here: hmv flickr (So young there were!)

Check out this web camera!

Watch a-ha's stage being put up in Kristiansand at this web camera: fvn Hmm, wonder for how long this camera will be up! Would have been great to see the rehearsal and concert too! :-)

a-ha - a sparkling band!

Great review of a-ha at Lerkendal last night: Adressa

"A mighty swan song".

"A gold chain of songs, a sparkling band and a fantastic stage show. a-ha secured their posthumous reputation in Trøndelag".

(…)

"A feeling of having taken part in something important and valuable".
(…)

"A triumph, a big and powerful experience and a reminder that this is not anybody, but a band of international importance".

Have a look at this!!! Fantastic! Congratulations a-ha!!!

You have to read this!!! The a-ha concert at Valhall (Tromsø) got 6 out 6 !!!

“A majestic travel through the history to Norway’s biggest band”.
“Atmosphere: religious”.

(…)

The band appears as charismatic, humble, grateful and above all fantastic. There was no doubta-ha’s concert at Valhall would be great. It was just a question how great?

Sing-along from the first line

The minutes before a-ha entered the stage the atmosphere was electric, and when the band drives off with “The Sun Always Shines on TV” it is sing-along from the very first line. There is no doubt the audience is excited. From here on and onwards the concerts is one single long highlight.

(…)

- Were you among those who hesitated and did not get a ticket for a-ha’s farewell concert at Vahlall? That you will regret.

(Source: Bladet Tromsø- 04.09.2010 – paper edition)


By the way, Anneli Drecker joined Morten Harket in a duet at Valhall. (Her band Ble Canto were performing at the same festival).

“25” is selling big!

Soon 100 000. The decision selling the album exclusively through Coop has been a success. (Source: Bergensavisen 04.09.2010 paper editon)

Gymnastics and taekwondo...

a-ha fan Hartvigsen used to live in Asker, and was lucky enough to be Morten Harket’s neighbor.

- "He did a lot o f gymnastics and taekwondo", she grins.

(Source: Bladet Tromsø paperedition 04.09.2010)

a-ha about the USA...

From an interview with NRK:

(...)

- It is a career choice and we chose. I remember we faced that; you can choose the USA or if you rather want to continue living in Europe. To me that was the choice, I did not want to live in the USA.

- I would have chosen similar also today, but we do not agree on that in the band – on what was best, Harket says.

- I am also “happy” with how things turned out, Furuholmen adds.

- But the one living in the USA (Pål Waaktaar-Savoy) may have chosen differently, he thinks.

(...)

Feeling strange the critics are on their side...

Here is another interview today in Trønder-Avisa, paper edition. Here is a translation of the main parts.

- It feels a little strange we this time do also have the critics on our side. Earlier we have seen them with skeptical looks in the audience. They just had to hold back in a way. Always. Now they seem to be the most enthusiastic of everyone, Magne Furuholmen laughs…

(…)

Praised by the critics

- Still you are saying stop. Why?

- Because it feels right. We have taken part in everything and we bearly thought we would keep on this long when we came back together again in 2000. Now, ten new years have gone, and it feels lovely entering stage looking backwards. We have taken part in improbable much fun, and now there is also something beautiful with saying enough is enough, Harket says. He admits everyone in the band are very present this time on exactly this tour, just because it is so definitive.

- Earlier we have had the feeling of always being on our way towards something else. When playing the hits our heads and hearts have been on the way to another goal, the newest project. Now we are very present, and it is great being able to give some of all these highlights back to the fans, Harket says.

Morten (!) Furuholmen thinks it is about the band together managing to enjoy what they have achieved.

- I guess we at times have struggled both with the business and ourselves. Maybe it is not until now we may comprehend what we have actually been involved in.

Interview snippet (video) with a-ha

Here is a snippet of an interview with Magne Furuholmen and Morten Harket for Adresseavisen. Watch the video here: Adresseavisen. Here is a translation of the main contents.

What would life have been without a-ha?

Magne: Life without a-ha would have been different, yes.

Magne: You will get to chance to experience that in your life time. That is our gift to you.

(…)

Magne: We have created something that will always be a part of our lives. So you have to decide in a way, either you are okay with that or not.

Morten: We would never ever have kept on for this long, if it didn’t bear it. We would have been very far away many other places.

(…)

a-ha is touched by Norwegian response

Here is a translation of the complete article/interview from today's NRK.

a-ha is touched by the Norwegian response to the bands farewell tour. On Saturday they will be standing on the stage at Lerkendal.

- It is special to us to be at home in Norway being met this way. I am proud of the band, Morten Harket says to NRK.

After 28 years a-ha is soon history, but first they are touring the world with a grand farewell concert. The response has been enormous in Norway, and the band has sold out several arenas.

- The atmosphere is great, we do notice we are being embraced and that it is important to people, Furuholmen says.

A journey through life

But he admits it has been hard to make a tour summing up the whole career.

- It is a journey through time, he says.

- A journey through life, Harket adds.

In the weekend they will be standing on the stage at Lerkendal Stadium, and today Morten Harket and Magne Furuholmen visited Rockheim for the first time. The national center for pop and rock woke many memories from a long career.

- We have not though of ourselves as a part of the Norwegian music tradition, but when seeing ourselves here, we do understand we are, Furuholmen says

Eternal common destiny

The success started in 1985, with high hair and “Take on Me”. Soon the boys are going in separate directions, but they do realize a-ha will always be with them.

- It is a common destiny connecting us together. We are a lot prouder and calmer when it comes to that today than we have been earlier, Furuholmen says.

a-ha is ending their world tour in December with three sold-out concerts in Oslo Spektrum.