Universal released 3 promo vids from the soon to be released DVD/CD package from a-ha' 2010 final tour. The dvd was filmed in Norway at the last two shows they did.

An amazing version of the "Living Daylights" one of their concert highlights and with the exception of AMerica, one of their biggest hits worldwide. THe story behind this song is interesting, when the BOND film was due to come out, a-ha was on a Tour of JAPAN, the common thing done was since this was the theme, the Band was invited to the BOND premiere in America, a-ha declined because to do so would be cancelling dates in Japan that were booked and they were in the middle of the tour, The reaction from WB in America wasnt good, they decided NOT to promote this as the BOnd theme instead chose a song by the Pretenders to be the main theme in America, which further killed a-ha here, and also killed that Bond movie since the Pretenders song wasnt written to be a "theme"

Scoundrel Days to this day remains MAGS (keyboardist/vocals/guitars) favorites in the a-ha catalog, never a single but always a live highlight

Stay on these Roads, one of their biggest hits worldwide (but here) here its a montage of moments from other shows around the world and also clips from the documentary on the dvd too.

Interesting tale - I've always dug "The Living Daylights," one of my favorite Bond themes.

I'd heard there was all sorts of friction between the band and John Barry, but I hadn't heard this part of the story.

lastdecember said:

An amazing version of the "Living Daylights" one of their concert highlights and with the exception of AMerica, one of their biggest hits worldwide. THe story behind this song is interesting, when the BOND film was due to come out, a-ha was on a Tour of JAPAN, the common thing done was since this was the theme, the Band was invited to the BOND premiere in America, a-ha declined because to do so would be cancelling dates in Japan that were booked and they were in the middle of the tour, The reaction from WB in America wasnt good, they decided NOT to promote this as the BOnd theme instead chose a song by the Pretenders to be the main theme in America, which further killed a-ha here, and also killed that Bond movie since the Pretenders song wasnt written to be a "theme"

Interesting story but the part about the Pretenders song being chosen as the main theme in America is not true. I saw the 'The Living Daylights' in the theater when it came out and countless times on TV and VHS and DVD. I assure you "The Living Daylights" by a-ha was and has always been the opening theme in America. The Prentenders' song is played over the end credits. If there is a print of the movie that uses the Pretenders' song as the main theme, I've never seen it.

As for a-ha not wanting to cancel Japanese tour dates to appear at the US premiere of the film, I can understand their decision. I can't imagine they had a good relationship with their US label. WB America stopped promoting a-ha long before "The Living Daylights". Though the music video for "The Living Daylights" received a bit of play on MTV, I don't recall any a-ha singles or videos getting any airplay in the US after "The Sun Always Shines on T.V.". And I thought that was extremely odd considering the phenomenal success of "Take On Me".

therevolutionwillnotbe said:

lastdecember said:

An amazing version of the "Living Daylights" one of their concert highlights and with the exception of AMerica, one of their biggest hits worldwide. THe story behind this song is interesting, when the BOND film was due to come out, a-ha was on a Tour of JAPAN, the common thing done was since this was the theme, the Band was invited to the BOND premiere in America, a-ha declined because to do so would be cancelling dates in Japan that were booked and they were in the middle of the tour, The reaction from WB in America wasnt good, they decided NOT to promote this as the BOnd theme instead chose a song by the Pretenders to be the main theme in America, which further killed a-ha here, and also killed that Bond movie since the Pretenders song wasnt written to be a "theme"

Interesting story but the part about the Pretenders song being chosen as the main theme in America is not true. I saw the 'The Living Daylights' in the theater when it came out and countless times on TV and VHS and DVD. I assure you "The Living Daylights" by a-ha was and has always been the opening theme in America. The Prentenders' song is played over the end credits. If there is a print of the movie that uses the Pretenders' song as the main theme, I've never seen it.

As for a-ha not wanting to cancel Japanese tour dates to appear at the US premiere of the film, I can understand their decision. I can't imagine they had a good relationship with their US label. WB America stopped promoting a-ha long before "The Living Daylights". Though the music video for "The Living Daylights" received a bit of play on MTV, I don't recall any a-ha singles or videos getting any airplay in the US after "The Sun Always Shines on T.V.". And I thought that was extremely odd considering the phenomenal success of "Take On Me".

No you misunderstood what im saying and this is from the Band themselves, its not that they were dropped as the main theme in America, its that when it came time for the Promo in the states, the Pretenders song was promoted as the theme/single, not the a-ha, which to me, is a firs that the artist with the title theme doesnt get promoted, but they did piss off WB in america and this was probably the last straw, after their second album not being "Take on Me" part 2 which is what the label wanted.

As for airplay and things of that nature, nothing was really a hit after "Sun ALways Shines on TV" and domestically none of their albums after 1992 were issued in the USA, its imports only. They did chart a few more times, and recently the re-issues of their first 2 albums charted pretty high on the "Internet Charts" since they were only available on the Rhino website. So that really was the only chart appearances outside of "Cry Wolf" in 1986 and "Crying in the Rain" in 1990 making an appearance on the AC charts.