It was early December when A-ha arrived back in the U.K. to start the final leg of their tour with seven concerts in nine days. Starting in Birmingham on December 3rd, it was obvious, this was going to be an amazing nine days. Many groups of fans chose to travel from concert to concert. All the usual faces were amongst them which would be great support for the band and the band did not let any of them down.
The set list remained as it was from the rest of Europe except for the loss of 'Holy Ground' which was well received by the fans their. The different venues each night, from arenas like the NEC Birmingham to the concert hall Glasgow, provided many different atmospheres and energies.
The low point for myself would have been the Wembley concert, London. I know many people said it would be the highlight, to quote U2 "as sort of homecoming", but the venue was just not good enough. Even Magne said "we're home" resulting in a massive cheer you would expect to echo through the venue, instead, it simply filtered through the canvas walls and roof of the over sized 'TENT'. I understand that there is heavey construction in progress but I think that a venue is part of the performance of any artist, something that they feed off. As the seating for the first half of the TENT was all level, the sound simply drifted over the crowd. The voices of people talking around us during songs they did not know, the sound of the air conditioning and the odd low flying plane drowned out much of the show. A-ha should have performed somewhere else and left the 'TENT' for the boy scouts.
As for highlights, well there are too many to mention. Each great concert was enriched with excitement when the guys gave autographs after the show. For example, at Manchester, Fans waited and waited even though the tour bus had left and were rewarded by Morten who came out in the car- stopped and got out to say hello. He took time to speak to everyone there gave autographs to whoever wanted one while ameras snapped. When we all got an autograph he thanked us and said goodnight, leaving to a huge cheer.
Outside Nottingham, Pal came to the gates and signed for a while, followed by Morten who did the same. It took some time for Magne to appear as he was celebrating the birthday of Sven. He was very supprised to see us all there when he came out and he too spent time at the gates signing for people.
Cardiff, the last night, was for me the best show. Knowing it was the last night, the band were in good form and enjoyed the night. At one point, all three stepped off the stage onto the bass bins at the front, getting lost in the music. Having thanked everyone from the crew, A-ha finished the night with 'Dark is the night' and said goodbye for now. Afterwards, all three again came to the barriers and spent time talking and signing.
Having traveled around to each concert, we met old friends and made some new ones too. Great people all intent on having a good time, sharing stories as we traveled. After the Cardiff show, we all said our goodbyes, hoping that it wont be long untill we are back on the road again.
With the latest album and tour behind them, 2006 is looking good for A-ha.
Kevin Deane
A-ha Ireland |
