A-ha closes the Cast in Steel tour in Norway

May 1, 2016 Per Ole Hagen Live Review, Norway, UK
a-ha © Per Ole Hagen

By Per Ole Hagen (photo and text), Rock At Night, Oslo, Norway Correspondent

Venue: Oslo Spektrum, April 30th 2016

Norway has a small, but eclectic number of bands and artists who are known outside of Scandinavia, a-ha being the foremost and commercially most succesful. So far the band have sold more than 100 million records. They also had the official Guinnes record for the biggest paying audience to one concert in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil in 1991, with 198.000 people paying to see them, three times as many as those who paid for Guns ’n’ Roses or George Michael at the same event, Roci in Rio.

A-ha started as a band in 1984 and their first single, “Take On Me” got some good reviews, but didn’t make it to the charts before they re-relased it with a new mix and a video that combined hand drawn cartoon animation and real video. The song peaked at #1 both in the UK and on the Billboard Hot 100. The video also became one of the easiest recognized music videos of that period, helping to establish the band as one of the biggest 80’s bands. “Living Daylights” is the theme song to the James Bond movie, and the albums from the mid 80s to 1994 all sold well.

From 1994-1998 the band went on a hiatus, focusing on solo albums and other things. They got together again in 1998, but have been on and off since then. Last year they reformed and went on a world wide tour, Cast in Steel in Autumn 20015, and also from March-May 2016. I visited the first of two sold out concerts in Oslo at the end of the tour, which ends in Bergen May 7th.

Live a-ha isn’t necessarily the most exciting band to see. They don’t have much of a stage show, but the sound and lights are always good. I have seen them on two occasions before, at a football stadium in Oslo early 2000, and in Trondheim in 2010. The setup at Oslo Spektrum tonight was remarkably equal to the Trondheim concert, except for the visual effects. A-ha have always been skillful in getting the best musicians to accompany them on stage. As tonight, the songs sounded very much like they do on their albums.

There have been rumors that this will be a-ha’s last tour. I do think the jury is still out on this, since it is based on an interview with Morten Harket in a Swiss newspaper. Paul Waaktar-Savoy has since contradicted this, saying literally that you can’t take everything Morten Harket says on face value. Personally, I think they will come back once more. Their songbook is definitely one of newer pop music’s best, and is well worth listening to–but I have a long list of bands I have seen that I’d rather see live again before a-ha.

A-ha are: Morten Harket – vocals, Magne Furuholmen – keyboard, Paul Waaktaar-Savoy – guitar.

Set List

I’ve been losing you

Cry Wolf

Move to Memphis

Stay on these Roads

The Swing of Things

Cast in Steel

Crying in the Rain

Looking for the Whales

Velvet

Lifelines

Here I stand and face the Rain

Scoundrel Days

Sycamore Leaves

Humming a Tune

Foot of the Mountain

Hunting High and Low

The Sun  Always Shines on TV

Under the Makeup

Living Daylights

Take on Me

 

Photo Gallery

a-ha

 

Video

“Take On Me”

 

WEBSITE

 

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