Up to the very end a-ha were a "class" act. this is what every concert review stated, a-ha did not go on this tour bitter, arguing, they went out celebrating from show number one, all the way to show number 80.

A tour that began in March 2010 in South America (a market that excelled in from 1989-current) and along the way went to every corner of the world, hitting places like America, Japan, the Uk, Netherlands, Russia, Germany and ending in Norway for 4 final shows, 3 of which i was lucky enough to be in presence of, and along the way was also lucky to spend moments with the members and at their NYC shows, be in best possible spot for all the shows.

a-ha has had varied success in each part of the world, some places they are top 10 royality, like Norway, Germany and South America, and here in America they are a VH1 show lumped in with Dead or Alive and Tpau as one-hit wonders. But as most people know a-ha is more than one hit, one video. A catalog that includes 9 studio albums, 1 live album, 3 best of packages, 16 solo outings, 35 million albums sold, 19 million singles sold, 43 videos made, and 41 charted singles worldwide, including a 13 straight top 20 run in the UK from 1985-1988 and then returning to the Top 5 in 2006 and in 2009.

But in late 2009 a-ha announced they were going to make the 25th year (2010) of recording their last run as a band, and were going every place possible to pay respect to their fans. And they made 2010's run one of the top tours of 2010 and showed how much of a class act they are, and showed that they have not survived just on ONE HIT. Lets be real that idea is just not possible, it cannot be done, if so then Men Without Hats would be millionares constantly touring, but they arent, a-ha are, and deserve to be right in the class of 80's band like Depeche Duran u2, and to me, a-ha need to be front and center in that class.

Some things from the final shows....but first CLASS words from MAGS of a-ha

December 4th2010

Posted By: Ed

Tags: Farewell, Magne, Morten, Norway, Oslo, Paul

Comments: (251)

Thank You All

A message from a-ha:

where to begin…
i suppose ‘thank you, all’ for once sums it up perfectly.

thank you is really the only thing that makes any sense at this point. thank you fans and friends – for giving us your time, your minds, your passion, in some cases a good chunk of your respective lives, and no doubt considerable amounts of your money.

you have made it possible for us to do what we loved in the way we had hoped to do it.

this is the end for us, and we will not know what a future together could have brought.

but we do know what the past has held; it was pretty amazing to be a part of it.
from the start as childhood friends, to the peak of our career, and all the points inbetween,
a-ha has coloured our lives in ways we don’t even seem to comprehend ourselves.

this is as far as the road took us – but hey, we came a fair distance by any standard!

one thing is certain: we did it together. now a-ha will be a memory of a life we once shared.

so thank you all " />
we will not forget you and we hope that you do not forget us.

snipp snapp snute…
magne f (on behalf of a-ha)

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To further their "class" act status, a-ha didnt have to do this, they went to great measures for this tour, sure they made millions off of it, but those of you who know, they gave away about 4 million in a contest to get 4 new "norway" acts started in their own recording careers, where have we seen another act doing that? giving back to their countrymen? and that large sum too. a-ha also didnt have to pull out and do 2 special shows for the Royal Albert Hall doing their first two albums with an orchestra, beginning to end, they also didnt have to do a benefit show in Norway for Shipworkers, they also didnt have to come back to America for 6 shows, a market that let them go, despite having a following, evidenced by the record breaking sellouts at the NYC venues. a-ha did all this because it is, unlike others who have done "final" tours, the real end of a-ha, any REAL a-ha fan knows this, just hearing them interview, speak and carry themselves the last year, it is a done deal, signed sealed and delivered, but still with respect, no bad feelings, no he said she said crap, no FU statements, just pure celebration of a great career, and rewards to their fans.

at the outset a-ha set up new communities on their official website for their fans to share memories with them, also, the final 2 shows of this tour were specifically filmed to be edited into a FINAL DVD due out early next year, as a reward to the fans. And from their who knows, solo work is definite from all, possible work together here and there, not as a-ha, but as individuals.

More from a-ha and the last setlist

News

Pictures from Oslo Spektrum

December 7, 2010

Below is a slideshow of some of the pictures I took at the concerts in Oslo Spektrum:

---

The final concerts

December 6, 2010

a-ha - in red, white and blue - saying goodbye at the end of the last concert, December 4th
(Picture by Jakob)

"one thing is certain: we did it together.
now a-ha will be a memory of a life we once shared."
- read the whole message from Magne on a-ha.com

(Picture by Jakob)

Fans from all over the world gathered in Oslo this past week to celebrate a-ha's music, as the band played their last four concerts at the Oslo Spektrum arena.

Although it was a sad moment when the guys walked off the stage on December 4th, the overall atmosphere during these concerts was a joyful appreciation of a long and unique career.

For those of you who couldn't be there, the last two nights were filmed and will be edited into a live DVD to be released sometime next year.

As a special surprise on the last night, and as a tribute to their first manager Terry Slater (1983 - 1994), they played an acoustic version of the Everly Brothers song "Bowling Green". Slater, who was in the audience, was a musician for the Everly Brothers back in the 60s and wrote that song in 1967.

It's up on YouTube here (thanks Chris).

(Picture by Jakob)

Here is the full setlist from the last concert:

1. The Sun Always Shines On TV
2. Move To Memphis
3. The Blood That Moves The Body
4. Scoundrel Days
5. The Swing Of Things
6. Forever Not Yours
7. Stay On These Roads
8. Manhattan Skyline
9. Hunting High And Low
10. The Bandstand
11. We're Looking for the Whales
12. Butterfly, Butterfly
13. Crying In The Rain
14. Minor Earth Major Sky
15. Summer Moved On
16. I've Been Losing You
17. Foot Of The Mountain
---------------
18. Cry Wolf
19. Analogue
20. The Living Daylights
---------------
21. Bowling Green
22. Take On Me

"Bowling Green" is an Everly Brother cover, Terry Slater was an early manager of a-ha and the reason they came to be, he took them on and under his wing, and a-ha performed this song as tribute to him with him in the crowd.

and the end.........

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[Edited 12/9/10 15:59pm]

I am sad the run is over. I was at 2 of the final shows in NYC and also the NYC show they had done a few years before. Minor Earth Major Sky is one of my favorite albums of the last decade. I don't think I would put them in the same categery as U2 but they were a really good group. I will miss them. Morten will still make albums but it just is not the same without his bandmates.

OLDHATJ said:

I am sad the run is over. I was at 2 of the final shows in NYC and also the NYC show they had done a few years before. Minor Earth Major Sky is one of my favorite albums of the last decade. I don't think I would put them in the same categery as U2 but they were a really good group. I will miss them. Morten will still make albums but it just is not the same without his bandmates.

well all 3 will record, i actually, so far, have enjoyed MAGS and his solo work the most, Morten seems to be more experimental with beats on his solo stuff at times, Paul is more rock oriented with his other band Savoy with his wife, but MAGS has his acoustic side, quirky side, and then Apparatjik side project with Guy Berryman, which is the best thing Coldplay has never done.

As far as the u2 thing to me i would put them there on the basis of being able to go into all these markets, i dont even think DUran and Depeche could do the markets that a-ha does, to me u2 would be the only ones, now, u think u2 is obviously different, more arena rock like and political than a-ha, a-ha was more pop, but had its dark side, which is unrivaled by anyone

Congrats to those guys. Wish them well on their solo endeavors.

Glad you got back safely. I was looking forward to your sum up. Was the fan party good too?

I love the way a-ha have done it, going out at the top of their game, but from a studio point of view I think its a shame, because I so want another album! Its almost criminal for them not to record togther.

I think the track "The Last Hurrah" gave indications of sound I would have loved, a sort of lovechild of Foot of the Mountain and Scoundrel Days.

I don't think they will, but I'm hoping they break their promise and reform at some point after a break. Even if they go under anther band name.

Sorry, but I've never understood these "farewell tours- this is it" endgames...

how could they know that, somewhere in the future (8 or 10 years from here, for example), they won't feel the need to work together again??...

sounds like a marketing strategy for me...

anyway, I'm glad this "farewell" shows have been so strong, I saw them back in 2002 and I thought they were solid...

^^^Jeez, what's the problem with a farewell tour? Right now they feel that this is the end of A-Ha... and so they have a farewell tour. It doesn't matter how they will feel in 10 or 15 years... right now they feel it's the end (at least two of them) and every fan, who wanted to see them, should get a chance to see them! What would be the alternative? Them knowing that they won't tour again for a long time or maybe forever and announcing after the last show that its over! How is that better??

Thanks for the report. One of the best pop/rock bands of the last 25 years, no question about it. I'm glad they went out on such a high note.

JoeTyler said:

Sorry, but I've never understood these "farewell tours- this is it" endgames...

how could they know that, somewhere in the future (8 or 10 years from here, for example), they won't feel the need to work together again??...

sounds like a marketing strategy for me...

anyway, I'm glad this "farewell" shows have been so strong, I saw them back in 2002 and I thought they were solid...

Nah, i dont think its marketing, i think there was a supreme marketing job done to make this farewell a major money maker for them and rightly so. But the thing is had a-ha not been doing anything and then said, oh its over, lets go on tour, or been in a state of struggling moneywise or chartwise i would agree, but knowing the ins and outs of this band through interviews, personal books written, their relationship is very complex and this is not a band with a lead singer and the other two pitching in, this is 3 very very determined people creatively and all have major differences in what their vision is, so right there, major conflicts have been since the very early days, thats not saying they hate each other, its saying that there was a major chance that this could have gotten ugly soon, since they did their 2000 album after a four year break (not breakup) they have been a different type band, its been all 3 giving in the ideas not just one major source and the other two chiming in, but since 2000's album they also have had alot of solo work and that has led them to on occasion utilize a-ha as a vehicle to test material, or use certain material for a-ha and certain for their own work.

To put it simply it was better to go this way then with a real breakup and hate and "i will never play with those two guys again" its not like that, all 3 have been class acts and not uttered any ill feelings even though this decision to call it a day, was not a unanimous one, it was really 1 to 1 and 1 casting the last vote, but as one said, once one guy didnt think we should go on, that was the end. And going out on top of your game, was another unique thing, most bands limp along till the end, a-ha did not.

Now as Mags of a-ha said, "no one can say what the future will bring" and thats the way to approach it, but i think the idea of a-ha as a unit is done, that name, the whole thing is a closed book. Now do i think they will work together in some form, YES, i think there is a great chance that Paul and Morten or Morten and Mags at some point may hook up on something, but it wont e under the a-ha name.

PatrickS77 said:

^^^Jeez, what's the problem with a farewell tour? Right now they feel that this is the end of A-Ha... and so they have a farewell tour. It doesn't matter how they will feel in 10 or 15 years... right now they feel it's the end (at least two of them) and every fan, who wanted to see them, should get a chance to see them! What would be the alternative? Them knowing that they won't tour again for a long time or maybe forever and announcing after the last show that its over! How is that better??

Yeah i am glad that they "thought" of the fans when they did this, i mean, i may be going overboard with it, but i think, like them or not, it was really a great gesture to go into all these countries to freaking play, that expense isnt cheap, and im sure some of these ventures, like coming to the USA, cost them more than they made on those dates. I mean shit, they played Lithuania on this tour?? really, i mean just for that they should be commended!

SquirrelMeat said:

Glad you got back safely. I was looking forward to your sum up. Was the fan party good too?

I love the way a-ha have done it, going out at the top of their game, but from a studio point of view I think its a shame, because I so want another album! Its almost criminal for them not to record togther.

I think the track "The Last Hurrah" gave indications of sound I would have loved, a sort of lovechild of Foot of the Mountain and Scoundrel Days.

I don't think they will, but I'm hoping they break their promise and reform at some point after a break. Even if they go under anther band name.

I agree, "the last hurrah" as one fan put it that called in a radio show, "that song sounds like u guys had written it ages ago, but brought it out now", and Morten totally agreed, he said he felt that spirit of the early days, with the "age" of now in it when he became one with the singing of the song. I do too agree on the studio front, i felt that since 2000 and Minor Earth, that a-ha possibly was the best band overall, that run of albums showed the growth of the three, but underneath the surface and reading into "the swing of things" book i feel there was also alot of battles going on during each record, sometimes heated, i just think at some point after "Foot of the mountain" was complete and released, there were some battles in the sound of the record, Paul is very vocal at saying that some songs are still not "mixed" the way he thinks they should have been done the best, he feels as an example that "Start the Simulator" was one of the best songs and that the mix on the album does it no justice, and he is working with universal on a reissue with demos. But somewhere after the first single, "Foot of the Mountain" and getting to the second single, something happend, there were major delays on the release of the album in certain markets, Norway got the album first, and the single, then Germany, it was held off in the UK for a bit, then issued three months later, there were issues with what the second single would be and the video, it led to the second and third singles coming right on top of each other and the announcement that they would call it quits that next year came right after this. BUT no bitterness spoken at all, i mean they still toured for "Foot of the mountain" even after announcing the break up after 2010? and then took 2 months off and planned out the last tour, so, no one will ever really know exactly what set it off, i dont think it was ONE thing, i just think it was alot of the old politics in the band coming up again, and MAGS seeing that this could get ugly and wasnt going to get better, and why not go out on top rather than fight their way out.

Timmy84 said:

Congrats to those guys. Wish them well on their solo endeavors.

Yeah there solo work has been very varied to say the least over the years, including this year's album from Magne Furuholmen, with the band APPARATJIK, which is him and Guy Berryman of Coldplay and Jonas Bjere of the band the Mew. Its very "artsy" but amazing in its construction to make the "experimenting" into songs, alot of times "experimenting" is nothing but noise with no direction, but they did a great job in not doing that. I really look forward to what all 3 will do next.

lastdecember said:

I mean shit, they played Lithuania on this tour?? really, i mean just for that they should be commended!

Well, many people play Lithuania these days... it's up and coming!

But yeah... I probably wouldn't have went to see them, hadn't I not known that it's the last tour... I wanted to go the last time around, but in the end didn't as there was no urgency for me! So I thank them for announcing it as a farewell tour!

what's wrong with "Men Without Hats"?

Some of my favorite moments.......

a-ha members speak to the crowd during final show, yes even paul who never talks

once in a lifetimes cover

they go back to the beginning to END

from 3:19 to 3:40 the greatest note ever on a recorded song, and a record breaker too!

the final show in NYC one of their most beatiful songs, and like "troopers" with sound issues keeping it in tact!

such a great version they do of this classic, one of their biggest and best songs, done in a simple setting.

the amazing opening sequence, the sun always shines on tv!

great live festival performance televised in Japan

Much more to come!!

Pal talking to the crowd! At last!

lastdecember said:

SquirrelMeat said:

Glad you got back safely. I was looking forward to your sum up. Was the fan party good too?

I love the way a-ha have done it, going out at the top of their game, but from a studio point of view I think its a shame, because I so want another album! Its almost criminal for them not to record togther.

I think the track "The Last Hurrah" gave indications of sound I would have loved, a sort of lovechild of Foot of the Mountain and Scoundrel Days.

I don't think they will, but I'm hoping they break their promise and reform at some point after a break. Even if they go under anther band name.

I agree, "the last hurrah" as one fan put it that called in a radio show, "that song sounds like u guys had written it ages ago, but brought it out now", and Morten totally agreed, he said he felt that spirit of the early days, with the "age" of now in it when he became one with the singing of the song. I do too agree on the studio front, i felt that since 2000 and Minor Earth, that a-ha possibly was the best band overall, that run of albums showed the growth of the three, but underneath the surface and reading into "the swing of things" book i feel there was also alot of battles going on during each record, sometimes heated, i just think at some point after "Foot of the mountain" was complete and released, there were some battles in the sound of the record, Paul is very vocal at saying that some songs are still not "mixed" the way he thinks they should have been done the best, he feels as an example that "Start the Simulator" was one of the best songs and that the mix on the album does it no justice, and he is working with universal on a reissue with demos. But somewhere after the first single, "Foot of the Mountain" and getting to the second single, something happend, there were major delays on the release of the album in certain markets, Norway got the album first, and the single, then Germany, it was held off in the UK for a bit, then issued three months later, there were issues with what the second single would be and the video, it led to the second and third singles coming right on top of each other and the announcement that they would call it quits that next year came right after this. BUT no bitterness spoken at all, i mean they still toured for "Foot of the mountain" even after announcing the break up after 2010? and then took 2 months off and planned out the last tour, so, no one will ever really know exactly what set it off, i dont think it was ONE thing, i just think it was alot of the old politics in the band coming up again, and MAGS seeing that this could get ugly and wasnt going to get better, and why not go out on top rather than fight their way out.

Interesting. I have the first edition of the book, but not the updated version.

I agree with Mags. I love Foot of the mountain, but think they got the sound slightly wrong. Seems Mags might agree. Maybe the third version of "nothing is keeping us here" is how it should have sounded and the version on the album is a "rushed for release" version.

SquirrelMeat said:

Pal talking to the crowd! At last!

yeah it only took 25 years considering hes been the major writing force in the band i guess he feels that has spoken enough for him! I have met paul a few times, in nyc, hes a very shy guy, but very cool, and approachable!

SquirrelMeat said:

lastdecember said:

I agree, "the last hurrah" as one fan put it that called in a radio show, "that song sounds like u guys had written it ages ago, but brought it out now", and Morten totally agreed, he said he felt that spirit of the early days, with the "age" of now in it when he became one with the singing of the song. I do too agree on the studio front, i felt that since 2000 and Minor Earth, that a-ha possibly was the best band overall, that run of albums showed the growth of the three, but underneath the surface and reading into "the swing of things" book i feel there was also alot of battles going on during each record, sometimes heated, i just think at some point after "Foot of the mountain" was complete and released, there were some battles in the sound of the record, Paul is very vocal at saying that some songs are still not "mixed" the way he thinks they should have been done the best, he feels as an example that "Start the Simulator" was one of the best songs and that the mix on the album does it no justice, and he is working with universal on a reissue with demos. But somewhere after the first single, "Foot of the Mountain" and getting to the second single, something happend, there were major delays on the release of the album in certain markets, Norway got the album first, and the single, then Germany, it was held off in the UK for a bit, then issued three months later, there were issues with what the second single would be and the video, it led to the second and third singles coming right on top of each other and the announcement that they would call it quits that next year came right after this. BUT no bitterness spoken at all, i mean they still toured for "Foot of the mountain" even after announcing the break up after 2010? and then took 2 months off and planned out the last tour, so, no one will ever really know exactly what set it off, i dont think it was ONE thing, i just think it was alot of the old politics in the band coming up again, and MAGS seeing that this could get ugly and wasnt going to get better, and why not go out on top rather than fight their way out.

Interesting. I have the first edition of the book, but not the updated version.

I agree with Mags. I love Foot of the mountain, but think they got the sound slightly wrong. Seems Mags might agree. Maybe the third version of "nothing is keeping us here" is how it should have sounded and the version on the album is a "rushed for release" version.

Yeah i love the book, amazing stuff, great stuff talking about the end and things like that and how they see it, at the time of the book and probably still now, Paul was not in favor of ending, but understands the reasoning. and the new photos, especially the NYC tour shots, and the photo session they did, was witness to some of that, and found myself in crowd shots! But one of the humourous things about this was hearing Morten talking about the "lifelines" album, saying how "lifelines" was one of their classic songs but trapped on that album that should have been chopped down to 9-10 songs as opposed to 15, and the fact that the songs paul was delivering to Morten, Morten was refusing to sing them because he didnt think they were up to par.

This is/was the most intelligent Interview i have ever seen/heard, it first aired on radio, its from early on in the last tour, done by canada radio, the interviewer was professional, educated, and asked great questions, and a-ha came off as total pro's and showed their intelligence...its long, well, if you like them its not long..