what not a "ah-hah" or a "uh-huh"

surprised nobody has ever heard of Sondre before

since I won't be seeing the US leg of the farewell tour I did the next best thing and watched their 'Live at Vallhall' 2001 Oslo concert - which was a lot of fun, the live cut of 'The Sun Always Shines on TV' rocks out. I forgot how much I liked 'The Living Daylights' - the song that is, I can't remember a single thing about the movie, but it's the song that memorable. I also didn't remember that 'Velvet' - a great beautiful song (the video's creepy though) was featured in the movie 'One Night at McCool's' - thankfully the band included it on their 'Minor Earth, Major Sky' album. 'Summer's Moved On' is another top ten song of theirs for me, but 'live' it doesn't translate as well as the album cut, which soars and crescendos with Morten's great high vocals. I hope some of the New York City DVDTalkers who are going to the show over the next three days can chime in on how it is/was.

I couldn't make it to the May 6 show because I was sick so I gave my tickets away

I'm hoping to make it to the May 7 show now.

Anyone have the setlist?

Vallhall dvd- yes that's a pretty good representation of what they still sound like today. My favorite period for them live was in the 90s. I know it's not going to happen probably but they need to re-release "live in South America" and some of the stuff from back then. The guitar was so much heavier and Morten's vocals were stronger and he wasn't fidgeting with an earpiece like he does a lot now.

got this info from a blog,

Video Intro / Foot of the Mountain / Bandstand / Analogue / Forever Not Yours / Minor Earth Major Sky / Summer Moved On / Move To Memphis / Blood That Moves the Body / Stay On These Roads / The Living Daylights / Video Montage / And You Tell Me (Acoustic) / Early Morning (Acoustic) / The Swing of Things / We’re Looking For The Whales / Manhattan Skyline / I’ve Been Losing You / Cry Wolf.

Encore: The Sun Always Shines On TV / Hunting High And Low

2nd Encore: Take On Me.

sounds pretty decent but I wish they would throw in a few surprises for hardcore fans (like Out of the Blue Comes Green..yeah that's a dream) or other stuff they usually never play (like they did with You Are the One recently) Disappointed to see Train of Thought not on the list anymore as well.

Can't wait to go tomorrow.. even though it's going to be hell with the drive to and from!

Okay, a little easy research and I found some answers I was looking for for our trip to NY! On another note, have you guys seen there's going to be a two-disc reissue of "Hunting High & Low" and "Scoundrel Days" exclusively on rhino.com next week??

No. Where did you see that, I don't find anything on Rhino.com?

Sorry, I'm bad when it comes to remembering to add sources! I found it here (and I mistakenly typed they'd be available, but it's actually pre-ordering):

http://a-ha.com/news/

Down at May 6th! Very exciting news!

Does anyone know if the band allows pics at the shows?

it's good they're doing this finally as this has been "in the works" for years but never happened but I'm not excited that their idea of remastering might be just to amp everything up to the max volume. The bonus tracks are all out there already. It will be interesting to see if they do this with the other albums.

Just got back from tonight's show in NY and here's some things I liked and didn't like:

the bad

- Sondre Lerche- I thought this guy would be better honestly. It reminded me of cafe music. It was nice of him to do Seemingly Nonstop July though.
- the loudness- thought the bass and backing beats and tones (as well as drumming) were way too loud and hid the stuff I wanted to hear like Paul's guitar which was most of the time drowned out.
- the setlist was the same as the previous night
- The history montage they did had mostly pictures from 80s teen magazines (something I thought they would be happy with burying) and could of been better done than just generic page turns.
- the backing screens during the songs flashed parts of the music videos almost always with freaky cheesy posterized effects, some of that stuff was really annoying. What was with the lizard video during Forever Not Yours?

the good

- thought there were some interesting moments like when Morten pulled out a microphone on Manhattan Skyline, how often they all had guitars
- the kind of acoustic part with and you tell me and early morning.
- Morten remembered most of the words and did pretty well holding the notes on almost all the songs.

would be interested to hear any thoughts from others that attended these shows.

Well, we survived! Me, my wife & two friends left about 5 a.m. Saturday for New York. I landed up driving the whole way there, which was thankfully smooth sailing, with the exception of getting into the Lincoln Tunnel (what a nightmare!). By time we got in line, it was halfway around the block. I was surprised at the diversity in ages and ethnicities I saw waiting in line. So doors opened at 7, and Sondre went on at 8:30.. after a day in the car, the standing around was really hurting the back and feet. But I thought he was decent, and he knew why people were there.. other openers I've seen in the past I couldn't say the same for. I probably would have picked up a cd afterwards if the only thing on my mind wasn't getting out of there and sitting down/eating.

So anyway - the show! It was amazing, and it may be blasphemy to say, but I liked the newer stuff more than the older (never been a fan of "Soundrel Days" through "Memorial Day" much). And yeah, I'm not sure what the iguana was all about in "Forever Not Yours". Really though I didn't pay a ton of attention to the screen.. only every so often. The bass was *way* booming in parts, but I don't have any complaints of the sound at all, but I did notice at some point that there really wasn't any guitar coming through. The music was terrific, and the band seemed in good spirits. Having never seen them live, I was surprised at how only Mags really interacted with the audience.. he seemed like a really cool guy. We were a little disturbed at the crying women at the end of the night though.

From there it was back out to Times Square for a few (a friend wanted to do some quick souvenir shopping), and then off to dinner shortly into PA at 2 a.m., having not eaten since noon on Saturday. I got about a 2 1/2 hour nap on the way home, and landed up driving most of it again. Pulled up at home at noon on Sunday, and slept all but five hours for the rest of the day!

All-in-all a fun time and a terrific concert! I'll post some pics when I get the time at home to do so.

yeah pure blaphemy! I was personally thrilled when they were playing all those scoundrel days songs, that's my favorite album by them. Mags usually always does a lot of the talking, even in the early days.

One of the friends who we went with loves Scoundrel Days as well. Not that I didn't like hearing them.. even the songs I've always been so-so on I loved hearing that night! But I think I always enjoy live music better anyway.

So I take it no one else here went to New York? Chicago's tomorrow night.. much closer, but I can't do it after NY. (on the plus side, we are going to see Sue Foley play Ann Arbor this coming Monday!)

I saw all 3 shows in NY at the nokia theatre... first time to times square so it was definitely an experience... just got home sunday night and am still compiling my thoughts & reviews of all 3 shows... let's just say the trip was worth every penny... and now I want to go to the Royal Albert Hall in October where they've announced they'll play their entire "Hunting High & Low" album in order!

review to follow of the NY shows... with pictures (took almost 400 pictures over the 3 nights!)

400 pictures - damn! oh - I can't wait to see them!!!

That had to be awesome to see all three shows. Can't wait to see your photos! Here's a few from my vantage point..

Still recuperating from my night out after seeing the Chicago show, so I'll post more later. But I can say that it was an amazing show. Morten was in tremendous voice and the whole band seemed pretty happy. They sounded ten times better last night than in any of the recorded live shows that I've seen or heard before. Just amazing. One of the top three concert experiences of my life, I'd say.

even the 90s ones? They're still good but just nowhere near that level of energy or focus anymore IMO. Supposedly the NY shows got better as they progressed with Thursday being the worst of the bunch.

Yep, like I said. Sure, the show wasn't as extravagant, and they weren't engaging the audience as much, but it SOUNDED better. Manhattan Skyline (my favorite a-ha song), for instance, has never satisfied me live before. I had even mentioned before the show that it's going to stick out because it just doesn't make a good live track. But the other night it sounded amazing. Perfect. And it was the same with all the tracks. No off-key notes, Morten was hitting it all night. And when he held the one particular "...stay" in Summer Moved On for what seemed like 30 seconds (and really doing it as you could see his face go blood red), it gave me chills.

I guess what I'm missing is when they actually used a real bass player and Paul used to play solos/leads and you could hear him. For the past decade he's been just kind of "there" and not taking control anymore.

here's the concert poster, I framed it and hung it up just before:



were these sold at all the venues? It says 17/200 at the bottom.

The concert poster was sold in NY.. but I couldn't justify spending.. what was it, $40.. on it. Especially trying to keep it safe 'til the end of the show.

yeah, I too bought the poster for $40.00 at the ny show... somehow was able to keep it in perfect shape! it's at the framers here locally now - getting it done right!

I got number 21/200

wish the band had signed them instead of just the artist

I've framed all of my posters myself using acid free paper. Framers around here are a huge ripoff and I'd rather save my money for more posters. I got the poster as a gift but I think it's a much cooler thing to have than say the t shirt which was $35! I know $30 and over is the standard for concert t shirts these days though.

yeah I wish it was autographed by the band. Wish they would of done that considering it was only 200.

oh I thought you did a fine job with the framing! when I said "getting it done right", I was only referring to the fact that the poster was not a "standard" size and I was unable to get a frame it would fit without matting it... so I went the custom frame route... yeah, I spent too much, but I spent too much on the entire trip to new york just to see them all 3 nights so that was really the least of my expenses! (also had to buy 1 each of the 3 shirts!)

still need to post my review of all 3 shows & pictures that I took - it'll happen - I promise!