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elcoleccionista
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Joined: 28 November 2005
Location: Germany
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| Posted: 05 March 2010 at 12:48pm | IP Logged
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Last night I attended opening night of a-ha's "Farewell Tour-Ending On A High Note" in Buenos Aires.
Incredibly enough they are a "one hit wonder" in the US with two top 40 hits, while they enjoyed twenty five years of success in Europe, Asia and South America. A-ha announced they would retire after this tour ends in December 2010.
I know they will perform shows in the US during May (New York, Chicago and Los Angeles), so just a couple of lines to encourage any of you who like them to see the show.
It was an amazing performance, Morten Haarket's high vocals are still intact.
Here is last night's setlist, which included their Hot 100 #1 "Take On Me" and Top 20 "The Sun Always Shines on TV".
Bandstand
Foot of the Mountain
Analogue
Forever Not Yours
Summer Moved On
Move To Memphis
Crying in the Rain
Stay On These Roads
The Blood That Moves The Body
The 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 on TV
Take on Me
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Hykker
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| Posted: 05 March 2010 at 4:16pm | IP Logged
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No offense, but what I find incredible is that they aren't considered a one-hit wonder in other parts of the world. Indeed, I wasn't even aware that they were a "real" act...I just figured they were strictly a studio creation like the Ron Dante or Tony Burrows-fronted "acts" of the early 70s.
Even their one hit "Take On Me" owes much of its popularity to the fact that it had a cool video.
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jimct
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| Posted: 05 March 2010 at 4:57pm | IP Logged
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Thanks for the concert update, Johann. Long an A-ha fan myself, I never heard any other of their songs that sounded even one iota like "Take On Me" did. Both "Train Of Thought" and "Living A Boy's Adventure Tale" are currently on my iPod's "Jim's Holy Grail Favorites" rotation, and I would've love to have been there in the audience with you, my friend!
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elcoleccionista
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Joined: 28 November 2005
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| Posted: 07 March 2010 at 12:38pm | IP Logged
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Hykker, none taken. I understand your point, it all depends on the view from where you stand.
Radio stations in Argentina (and Latin America in general) always played more music from Europe than from US. For example, when Janet Jackson was enjoying tremendous success in 1986-1990, she was barely if at all heard in radio stations here. She got very limited airplay from 1993-2001. The average listener may recognize "Together Again" or say "All For You".
Very successful R&B and hip-hop/rap artists in the US are not traditionally popular in Latin America or Europe.
Beyoncé performed in Buenos Aires a couple of weeks ago and they were giving tickets away for free near the concert, the crowd was around 5,000. Meanwhile, The Cranberries and A-ha had sold out shows.
Kylie Minogue got little attention in the US, not so in Europe (particularly UK) and Australia.
Pet Shop Boys, Erasure, and Roxette have a big fanbase in South America.
Swing Out Sister, a one hit wonder in the US, with some more popularity in Europe, and little attention in South America, have released nine studio albums and were big in Asia, particularly Japan. They last toured the country in 2009.
Back to A-ha, here are some facts:
**Nine Studio Albums (1985-2009). Each certified Silver, Gold, or Multi platinum in the UK, Germany, Switzerland, France, or Brazil, except their 1993 release which was a commercial failure.
**UK Singles Chart Performance:
One #1 single (The Sun Always Shines On TV)
Nine top 10 singles (last one was "Analogue" in February 2006)
Nine top 40 singles
**At the Rock in Rio II festival in January 1991, a-ha drew an audience of 198,000 at Maracanã stadium for their top-billed evening concert—a Guinness World Record for paying audiences. In contrast, the other performers (George Michael, Prince, and Guns N' Roses) drew only 60,000 each.
**As of November 2009, a-ha have held 488 concerts around the world.
**Quote from Coldplay's Chris Martin: "Everyone asks what inspired us, what we've been trying to steal from and what we listened to as we were growing up - the first band I ever loved was A-Ha."
**In 2008, Coldplay bassist Guy Berryman formed a side project which includes A-Ha's Magne Furuholmen, the group is called Apparatjik.
Thanks Jim, those are great tracks! "Train of Thought" was part of the setlist.
Edited by elcoleccionista on 07 March 2010 at 12:42pm
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Topic: A-ha’s "Farewelll Tour"
