The Ending on a High Note Tour is shaping up to be one of the biggest tours of 2010, with new shows added for Chicago on May13th and Toronto on May 10th, and also more dates in Norway for a special Stadium Festival during the Summer of 2010 (august to be exact) that will include 6 more dates, bringing the total for the tour around 70 shows right now but more could and will be added.

a-ha will close out the tour in December in Norway their hometown of Oslo with Four sold out stadium shows, but not only that a-Ha will be giving away the following to Four Lucky Norwegian Acts...read below


a-ha show support of new artists to the tune of € 500.000!

In connection with the upcoming farewell-tour, a-ha wants to give support for new talent by granting four promising Norwegian artists/acts 1 million Norwegian Kroner each - giving away a total of € 500.000 of the band's own money.

The winners will be presented to a larger audience during the last four stadium shows a-ha ever do in their native Norway in August and September 2010.

Magne Furuholmen says on behalf of the band:

'We have had a fantastic career with lots of people supporting us, and this is a way for us to give something back.
We are excited to see who picks up the torch and feel privileged to be able to make this farewell such a celebration!'




with the first gig hours away for a-ha in Argentina on the start of their "South AMerican" leg of the final tour, a-ha have cancelled the show on March 6th in Chile due to the devastation of the earthquake, the government at this time is not allowing any events to take place for the time being. a-ha have promised the chilean fans a make up show and special event too at the end of the South American run if possible in later march or sometime in April. a-ha is also about to add another 12 shows throughout Russia and Japan.
[b][Edited 3/15/10 21:29pm]

lastdecember said:

First date in Argentina is set to go in about half a day.....Chile concert to be reslotted later in the month or in April, due to safety reasons the Govt is not allowing any events to take place.

The fan ticket "pre sale" for the UK gigs was a complete cock up. Left loads of fans with bad seats and ebay prices rising.

Shame.

SquirrelMeat said:

That is the good thing about the USA shows is that they are in smaller venues as opposed to the uk and others were there is alot more following and alot of stadium like venues being played. As the deal with the NYC show in 2005 there were fans at the show from all over, the girl next to me was from Japan, the dudes behind me from the UK and tons were in from Germany. Im not really sure how many of the "fan seating" seats they had access to, this usually depends on the venue and the way its constructed.

Setlist from opening show in Buenos Aires:


Here is the set list from last night’s concert:
Bandstand
Foot of the Mountain
Analogue
Forever Not Yours
Summer Moved On
Move To Memphis
Crying in the Rain
Stay On These Roads
Blood That Moves The Body
Living Daylights
Early Morning
And You Tell Me
Scoundrel Days
Cry Wolf
Looking For The Whales
Manhattan Skyline
I’ve Been Loosing You
Living A Boys Adventure Tale
Hunting High and Low
Train Of Thought
Sun Always Shines
Take on Me


Some things of Note from the show/set list. The inclusion of "Were Looking for the Whales" was one of the first times they have played the song live, a-ha will be adding and altering songs here and there throughout the tour depending on venues/countries. Another thing of Note is the show takes you through their career as a "Rewind" starting with "The Bandstand" from their new album and what was to be their next single, and closing the show with their first ever demo,recording,joint venture,video, and single together "take on me". Another note would be that a-ha played heavily on the first three albums 14 of the nights 22 songs are from the first 3 albums, while the next 6 have the other 8 tracks, that would be the only drawback for the longtime a-ha fans especially of the later material is that they focus more on the early stuff, but again this could be altered as the tour goes on, but for the most part, do not go expecting to hear album cuts from their career, this pretty much is an all single show with a few rare songs and album cuts tossed in.

I will be posting some YouTube CLips from the opening show and a-ha in the Buenos Aires airport signing autographs for the fans waiting.

lastdecember said:

Hmmmm.

I was hoping for a bit more of a mix up, but of course, as a UK fan and concert goer, I've been a little spoiled, so I understand they are catering for the masses here.

Interestingly, if they just swap a few songs around, they could play out the set in exact reverse of the releases dates. A career in reverse order. I'd like that.

Much as I love the first two albums, I think this set list is a little overkill. The last half of the show is entirely the first two albums.

I'm glad Living a boys adventure tale and I've been losing you are back, but I would like to see....

Drop

Train of thought
Early Morning
Blood Moves the body
Looking for the whales
Move to Memphis

Add

Dark is the night
Minor Earth
Shapes that go together
Nothing is keeping you here
You are the one

SquirrelMeat said:

Yeah they could flip a song or two and then its actually a perfect "reverse" order, i do like the fact that "Bandstand" opens the show, that track is possibly one of their best songs ever. I would like to see "Nothing is Keeping You Here" added but that might be the longest shot, i def think "Dark is the Night" should be played, as a matter of fact, i feel it should be the last song, i think "Take on Me" should end it, but they should return to the stage for "Dark is the Night" i mean the opening lines speak it "Its time we said goodbye its time for you and I" cant get more perfect fit than that. Would love to see "Minor Earth Major Sky", im ok with all of your drops except maybe "Train of thought" at least here for the USA.
[Edited 3/8/10 19:23pm]

a-ha went through RIO the place that they set the Guiness Record for "paying" audience size at a show, 195,000 back in 1991. This time around they played a different venue and for a much different reason. Their final show in RIO was labelled "electrifying" basically because they were playing in the rain and thunder and lightning at points during the show.

a-ha over the first few shows has made a few changes, they dropped "and you tell me" they have now been playing "Minor Earth Major Sky" also they have responded to tons of requests on their revamped tour site, to play "you are the one" by playing a very special acoustic version of it, in which the crowd almost sang the whole song word for word, some one hit wonder.

a report from the show

‘Rock in Rio 2010’
by Judith Henrich, Petra Meier and Judith Fasler
The last 2 days in Rio almost felt like a little touring holiday. Everyone is soaking up the sun (temperatures around 33 degrees!) and views from the roof top pool of the hotel overlooking Copacabana beach and Sugar Loaf certainly make you feel being in paradise. And combining work with pleasure, Magne & Paul take the cable car to Sugar Loaf for a bit of a foggy photo shoot for the upcoming photo book.
We bump into familiar fan faces – loads of them. You don’t really know them though you feel like you’ve known them forever. It’s an instant connection and we’ve made friends for life over the past couple of days. Whenever anyone of the band leaves the hotel it feels like organised chaos – fans appear from everywhere, having their photos taken with Morten, Magne & Paul.
Thunder, lightning & rain fill the electric air in Rio in the evening. A sign of what show to expect – it would be electrifying. Expectations are high for any concert in Rio but a-ha master every second of it. The audience is one of the best ones we have seen so far – energetic, passionate & vocal. The crowd erupts to the beat of ‘The Blood That Moves The Body’. The newly added version of ‘You Are The One’ with Magne and Paul on acoustic guitar receives one of the biggest cheers of the night and Morten doesn’t even have to remember the words to the song, the fans know the lyrics inside out. Undoubtedly the highlight of the evening is ‘Take On Me’ – the audience resembles an ocean of digital cameras and phones, all trying to capture a piece of this historic moment. Memories of ‘Rock in Rio 1991’ come alive and it’s been a tremendous privilege to attend the last ever a-ha show in Rio.

and a performance of You Are The One

Yet another Sold Out South American show tonight, excellent reviews, no setlist change tonight.....Todays clip "The Bandstand" the show opener, from the latest album, possibly their best song ever.



Love the end where Morten jumps on the drum pad, shows how "overrated" Prince's Revolution band where as players, thats how simple it is.

Another Version of the song "you are the one" first time performed in 20+ years

Love how the crowd knows it word for word, helping out morten who has forgotten many of the words
[Edited 3/15/10 21:42pm]