2005 - time for analogue

Morten Harket holds the record for the longest held note in a hit song, with a duration of 20.2 seconds for the note "ask" in "Summer Moved On".

January 2005      

The DVD "Headlines And Deadlines" is re-released in Germany with a new sound mix and the same cover as "The singles 1984-2004".

3       On the Norwegian TV show "Store Studio live" (00:10, NRK1) they broadcast highlights of the autumn shows including interviews and performances previously unseen. Savoy are not amongst the artists shown, but they show Magne performing one song "Kryptonite" (recorded 20 September 2004). This is a repeat of the show broadcast on 21 December 2004.
4       NRK shows a 30 minute special on artist Magne Furuholmen "Billedkunstneren Magne Furuholmen" (NRK1, 22.30), seen from the artistic side rather than the musical side. The show mainly reports about Magne's ceramic and glassworks, the jars he made for different occasions and for different exhibitions; sheets of glass which he used to decorate the 11 floors of the cruise ship "M/S Adventure of the Seas" from the Royal Caribbean Cruise Lines and the big jar he made for the square in Bergen. The programme will be repeated on 5 and 10 January.
5       The show "Billedkunstneren Magne Furuholmen" is repeated on NRK2.
6       The TV2 programme "Absolutt Underholdning" has a report on the soundcheck for the charity show "En Ny Hverdag" which is taking place at TV2's studios in Nydalen, Oslo. Magne is already there and they show clips of him rehearsing "Little Angels" plus a short interview. They also show the 12 paintings from the series "Payne's Gray" which will be included in the auction taking place during the TV-show.

In London's Kensal Town Studios, Magne was involved in the recording of a new single "Indian Ocean" with Yusuf Islam (formerly Cat Stevens). The song was written in the wake of the Tsunami disaster to raise money for children orphaned by the earthquake. It's the first new song which Yusuf has recorded since 1978 and will be released in February. Martin Terefe, who has also worked with Magne on his solo album, was called to help out with the project. He put together a small band with Ed Harcourt, Neil Primrose (Travis), Magne, Jed Lynch and himself. Strings were added by David Davidson in Nashville and some vocals were added by AR Rahman in India. The song was recorded, mixed and sent to George Marino at Sterling, New York for mastering in less than a week.

The January/February issue of the Norwegian magazine "Henne" features a long article on Magne.

February 2005      

2       The Norwegian newspaper "VG" reports that a-ha are going back into studio again in the course of the year.
The Livsvernpris 2005 is awarded in Oslo; this year's prize winner is mongoloid Hanne Mathiassen who writes poems and fights for the rights of people with down syndrome. Morten is at the awards and is there to congratulate her (which she appreciates as she has always liked a-ha's music). The Livsvernpris ("Protect-life-award") is presented every year by the organisation Menneskeverd ("Human Dignity") to people, institutions or organisations who contribute to protect human dignity and create hope and courage.
3       Magne's official website, magne-f.net, set up their own forum which is run by drummer Frode Lamöy and fan, Adele (who runs the Irish forum). Magne also posts his own messages on the forum. During the first 24 hours, there were already over 100 people registered on the new forum and there were over 1000 posts on the forum in five days.
6       The programme "100 best pop videos" (channel 4) is broadcast on UK TV; a-ha's video for "Take On Me" is at number 3, beaten only by Michael Jackson's "Thriller" (number 1) and Peter Gabriel's "Sledgehammer" (number 2).
7       The school "Åsveien Skole" in Trondheim celebrates its 90th anniversary with an exhibition lasting for one week. It is held in the gym and includes paintings they have collected over the years. A "Furuholmen" painting is amongst the pictures, donated by former pupil and owner of Galleri Ismene, Per Høyem. The exhibition is open to the public in the evening on 7, 8 and 10 February.
10       Graham Nash and David Crosby from Crosby, Stills & Nash play a concert at Rockefeller. Morten attends the concert and goes backstage afterwards. Morten and Graham Nash talk about Nash doing a vocal job for the new a-ha album.
12       As a warm-up for the concert at The Cobden Club in London on 16 February, Magne and band did a surprise free concert at Café Mono, Oslo, Norway. The concert starts around 6 p.m. and they play in front of a packed full café. As a special surprise, Magne ends the concert with a very different version of the a-ha song "Manhattan Skyline". The setlist consists of the following tracks: a friend like me; obsolete; you don't have to change; 2cU shine; all the time; nothing here to hold you; past perfect future tense; kryptonite; no one gets me but U; envelop me; never sweeter; with encore: little angels; manhattan skyline.

16       Magne F concert at The Cobden Club, West London. The club, situated just down the road from where the album "Past Perfect Future Tense" was recorded, is usually only open to members, but tickets are on sale to the general public for this event and sell out in advance. The set list for this show is the same as Café Mono. A film crew films the crowd arriving and the show itself.
17       On the Norwegian TV show "Rikets Røst med Otto Jespersen" (TV2), Morten is one of the people that the host of the show is making fun of: several interviews are cut together (including the famous one before the Trondheim concert in 2003 where Morten talked about the non-existing matter in the world) with fake questions to go with some answers Morten gave during an "Absolutt Underholdning" interview. (repeated 19.02.2005)
18       TV2 News reports on the discussion on whether every Norwegian hospital should allow mothers to tap the blood from there child's unbilical cord. Pål and Lauren were one of the first couples to have this done when Augie was born in 1999 and so they are mentioned on the news, some clips with Lauren playing with Augie in the garden are shown.
Issue 64 of the UK music industry magazine "The Hit Sheet" includes a CD which features Magne's "Kryptonite" plus other artists such as Stereophonics, Beverly Knight, B-Unique and Michael Buhlé. The Norwegian web magazine "side 2" has a list of the top 25 most sexy men in Norway; Morten is at number 8. The top three are Kåre Conradi (number 1), Trond Espen Seim (number 2) and Mads Ousdal (number 3).
19       A new Norwegian TV series "Johnny & Johanna" (NRK1) starts. Jonathan M. Harket plays the part of Jack. This series will run for 12 episodes.
23       After some snow boarding in the mountains, Magne finds some time to write on his forum and reveals some lyrics of a new poem, "Don't do me any favours".
24       Magne adds more poems to the forum and reveals that he is currently working on three separate series of poems titled "Building Ruins", "Ember", and "Birthrigtis" - as follow ups to "Exaltations", "Words in Waiting" and "Victorian songs". The poems he adds are entitled "I forgive you", "Old self", "Mock-epic for a Modern-day Quixote" and "Bright shining star".
26       The Spellemann awards take place at the Oslo Spektrum and are shown live on Norwegian TV. Savoy are nominated in the pop category for their album "Savoy", together with Kings of convenience and The National Bank. The award is won by The National Bank.

March 2005      

1       The UK TV show "Never Mind The Buzzcocks" is recorded. Magne is one of the guests.
3       Magne performs at "Fresh Air", the festival of rock, pop, jazz and electronica which has been organised to celebrate 100 years of Norwegian independence. This concert, presented by Sunkissed Live, takes place at Fabric in London. Besides Magne, many other Norwegian artists are involved including Annie, Jan Bang, Frost, WE, King Midas, Satyricon and special guests Turboneger. Magne performed a shortened 30 minute set for this event: a friend like me; obsolete; past perfect future tense; kryptonite; all the time; nothing here to hold you; 2cU shine. A free promotional "Sunkissed Live" CD is available which includes 15 album tracks by some of the artists who appeared at Fabric. Magne's song "All The Time" is included.
4       Magne's exhibition "Morceaux Choisis" opens at Timothy Everest, London. In the evening (6-8pm) there is a private view of the exhibition. The exhibition will be on for several weeks and viewings are available by appointment.
7       A hearing about Magne's jar takes place at the court of Bergen. The argument is between Bergen municipiality and the company Tuwi Viggen. The company claim that they received only a third of the cost of the stone base of the jar from Bergen municipiality.
8       a-ha.com is updated with information about a-ha being back in the studio to work on their next album. The report includes pictures of them in Paul's studio in Oslo.

 

 

April 2005      

1       The "Kelly" show featuring Magne is broadcast on Irish UTV. The Norwegian comedian talkshow "Senkveld med Thomas og Harald" is broadcast. During the show, one of the journalists working there has the mission to interview Sandra Bullock and to sneak in as many a-ha song titles as possible during the questions without her realising. He manages 10 songtitles.
2       To celebrate the 200th anniversary of fairy-tale writer Hans Christian Andersen, the show "Once upon a time" (approx 120 minutes long) takes place at Parken in Copenhagen, Denmark. Film clips about Andersen's life are shown and his fairy-tales are performed in dance and music by international artists. Tina Turner, Daniel Bedingfield, Olivia Newton-John, Jean Michel Jarré, Renée Fleming, Safri Duo, Ennio Marchetto, Sir Roger Moore, Harry Belafonte and Isabel Allende appear during the show which is hosted by Connie Nielsen. Morten sings a duet, the official "Unicef" title song "Children First", with New Zealand's singer Hayley Westenra. It is the premiere of this song which was written by Danish songwriter Carsten Johs Mørch and his wife Sissel in collaboration with American lyric writer Lisa Freemann. The song was originally recorded with Antonio Banderas and Anne Sophie von Otter to sing, but as they couldn't make the premiere, Morten and Hayley stepped in to sing at this event. They are accompagnied by 350 children from five different Danish children choirs. The show is broadcast live on Danish TV DR1.
3       The recorded online interview with Magne (recorded 31 March) is broadcast on Rob Wheeler's evening show on Radio South Hamp. The album tracks "Obsolete" and "You Don't Have To Change" are played. The German TV channel "SAT1" broadcasts the show "Die Hit Giganten: Pop & Wave der 80er". a-ha's "The Sun Always Shines On TV" is one of the songs featured on the double CD which accompanies the show.
4       Anneli Drecker releases her second solo-album "Frolic", featuring Lauren Savoy on vocals on the song "Monkey Trap".
7       The film "Hawaii Oslo" is awarded with the "Filmkritikerprisen" as best Norwegian film of 2004.
9       The film "Øyenstikker" is broadcast on Norwegian NRK1.
11       The singles collection "The definitive singles collection 1984-2004" is released in the UK. It has a slightly different track list compared to the European release with "You Are The One" and the "Take On Me" video replacing "Move To Memphis", "Minor Earth Major Sky" and "Forever Not Yours". The album release is accompanied by a big advertising campaign by Warner Music and it enters the chart at number 14.
13       a-ha hold a press conference at Hydro head quarters in Vækerø, Oslo. They announce a free concert which they will do in Frognerpark on 27 August. They reveal that a single will be released in the summer, around the time of the concert, and the album is due for release in October.
14       On the TV2 show "Absolutt Underholdning", environmentalists protest about the a-ha concert announced the day before. In particular, they react against Morten's involvement, as an environmentalist, with "Hydro".
16       The German TV channel "MDR" broadcasts the show "Es leben die 80er", hosted by Uwe Hübner and Ronny Krappmann. They take their viewers with them on a trip through the 80s, with a-ha, Nena, Bon Jovi, BAP and Modern Talking.
19       During an interview with Pete and Geoff on Virgin Radio, Chris Martin from Coldplay acknowledges a-ha as one of his biggest musical influences and says that Morten is the most handsome man. This is picked up by newspapers around the world (UK, Norway, South Africa) who print articles the next day.
26       Magne's single "Kryptonite" is released in Italy.
27       Three more concerts are announced for the UK leg of the tour in December (Nottingham, Brighton and Cardiff).

The DVD "Headlines And Deadlines" is re-released in the UK with a new sound mix and the same cover as "The singles 1984-2004"?

May 2005      

6       The album "The Definitive Single Collection 1984 - 2004" goes silver in the UK with over 60,000 copies sold.
7       The local UK radio station "Phoenix FM" broadcasts an a-ha special with their top 20 songs. Listeners were invited to vote for their favourites in advance and the top 20 songs are played on the show. The top 3 are: "Hunting High And Low" (number 1), "The Sun Always Shines On TV" (number 2) and "Scoundrel Days" (number 3).
9       Magne's second single "2cU Shine" is released in the UK. This single is not readily available in the shops, but can be bought on Magne's website.
10?       a-ha spend a week in London at Martin Terefe's studio where they work on the new album. Also in the studio with them are the Lindvall brothers Sven and Per.

June 2005      

1       Magne confirms to "VG" that they will play at Live 8 in Berlin and this news is also confirmed on a-ha.com.
3       In celebration of the 100 year anniversary of Norway's independence, the 100 "best" Norwegian songs were listed on "TV2" and on their website. Three of a-ha's songs are featured in the top 100 ("Take On Me" at 5, "Velvet" (a-ha and Savoy) at 7 and "Manhattan Sykline" at 38).
4       On the BBC2 special show "Hello, we are Coldplay", Chris Martin again praises a-ha and the album "Hunting High And Low" as a collection of excellent song writing and music pearls.
The German TV channel "RTL" broadcasts the show "Die besten Musikvideos aller Zeiten" ("The best music videos of all times"). "Take on me" is at number 36.
7       A 10 CD-box set called "Norsk populærmusikk i 100" is released in Norway to celebrate the 100th anniversary of independence with 200 Norwegian songs from 1905 until 2005, including a-ha and Savoy.
At a press conference in hotel Grand Hyatt, Berlin, Bob Geldof presents the Berlin line-up for Live 8. Besides a-ha, other artists recently confirmed include Die Söhne Mannheims, Green Day and Wir sind Helden. Also Ottawa and Tokyo are added to the list of towns where concerts will take place.
8       Morten calls Graham Nash (from the group Crosby, Stills & Nash) when Nash arrives in Oslo (from Hawaii). They go to the studio together and Graham does the backing vocals to a brand new a-ha song. The German TV channel "Kabel 1" repeats the show "Best of Formel Eins" with clips of the success show "Formel Eins" of the 80s and 90s; today "Crying In The Rain" is the "wish-clip of the week" that was chosen by the audience phoning in.
9?       a-ha are back in London to mix their new album. They work with producer and engineer "Flood" (Mark Ellis) who has previously worked with U2, Smashing Pumpkins, Nick Cave, Depeche Mode, PJ Harvey and others.
10       Baron von Bulldog organises a special fashion show for his new commercial collection "Stars & Groupies". Morten is one of the exclusively invited guests for the V.I.P. party at the Mirror Room, Grand Hotel, Oslo, although he doesn't attend(?).
11       The 46664 Nelson Mandela concert takes place in Tromsø. It was speculated that Morten would attend the concert as special guest for "Earth Affair" (with whom he worked on the album "Chapter One" and single "Guilda's Prayer"). Even though this news was reported by the press and on the Earth Affair website, Morten does not attend.
18       Magne plays an intimate concert in the area of the Quart festival, Kristiansand. The set list consists of "You Don't Have To Change", "2cU Shine", "Obsolete", "Summers Of Our Youth", "A Friend Like Me", "Past Perfect Future Tense", "Kryptonite".
30       a-ha fly to Berlin and spend some time sightseeing. They also spend some time in an old studio in Berlin Lichterfeld to rehearse the songs as they didn't play them for over a year.

July 2005      

1       The free "Metro" newspaper prints a 60 second interview with Magne.
2       a-ha take part in the Live 8 - 'The Long Walk to Justice' concert. This event takes place simultaneously in different locations around the world. a-ha play in Berlin at the Street of 17th June with the stage at the "Siegessäule" (not at the historic monument Brandenburger Tor, as originally planned, due to road works) and entry is free. Other artists performing world-wide include U2, Madonna, Coldplay, Paul McCartney, REM, Prince, Sting, Robbie Williams, Scissor Sisters, Keane, Elton John, Dido, The Cure, Velvet Revolver, Snow Patrol, Stereophonics, Muse, Razorlight, Maria Carey (London), Will Smith, Bon Jovi, 50 Cent, Kaiser Chiefs, Puff Daddy, Stevie Wonder (Philadelphia), Duran Duran, Laura Pausini, Vasco Rossi, Zucchero, Jovanotti, Faith Hill, Tim McGraw (Rome), Placebo, Jamiroquai, Andrea Bocelli, Craig David, Johnny Halliday, Youssou N'Dour and Yannick Noah (Paris), a-ha, Die Toten Hosen, Audioslave, Chris de Burgh, Green Day, Roxy Music, BAP, Herbert Grönemeyer, Reamonn, Brian Wilson and others (Berlin). Organised by Bob Geldof, the purpose of this event is to gain awareness of the poor and starving people in the world and is taking place just a few days before the G8-conference. a-ha perform "Hunting High And Low", "Take On Me" and "Summer Moved On" in front of a crowd of around 150,000 people who fill the long 1.5 km street. A fourth song ("a song going years back") was planned, but there is no time due to the technical problems with Morten's ear pieces earlier in the show. a-ha's set is broadcast interactively by SKY and via a web stream on aol. The international BBC broadcast includes "Take On Me", but this is not included in the UK BBC broadcast. "Hunting High and Low" is also broadcast to the crowd in Hyde Park, London during one of the breaks. Backstage in Berlin, Morten is interviewed by a reporter from The Sunday Times, by the German radio channel Radio Eins and by Cherno Jobatai for a backstage-stream on aol.

After the concert, a-ha do a press conference in Berlin. They confirmed Morten didn't have any sound during the show, but they stressed the importance of what the event was about and how proud they were to contribute.
3       During the day, many German and Norwegian TV channels feature a-ha's performance at Live 8 in their news section (SAT1, RTL, TVNorge). In the evening, the German TV channel "Pro7" broadcasts a report about a-ha in the programme "Focus TV" in which they show a-ha in the studio in Lichterfeld rehearsing; then Magne is interviewed in the hotel and in the car going to the event, while Morten is interviewed after the performance.
4       In the early hours of the morning, the German private TV channel "RBB" broadcasts a-ha's whole performance. On "ZDF-Morgenmagazin", they show a-ha in Berlin. The "SAT1" Livestyle magazine "Blitz" shows a-ha and a short interview with Morten in a report about Live 8.
5       The Norwegian radio channel "P4" put some early Morten interview clips together with some "funny" questions for a fake interview about the Live 8 concert and the sound problems. Such fake interviews are done regularly as a part of their programme.
6       The ticket sale for a-ha's concert Irving Plaza, New York in September (the first concert on American soil since 1986) starts at noon New York time. After about 1 hour, the concert is already sold out.
13       The German TV channel "Kabel 1" repeats the TV show "Best of Formel Eins". This time, a-ha are represented in the column "Starschnitt": an old interview which was originally broadcast 26th April 1988 is shown (a-ha sit on a pink cadillac and Morten answers to the question about him and Camilla splitting up in German ("I wanted to marry her, but she didn't want to").
16       The cartoon show "Family Guy" contains original scenes of a-ha's "Take On Me" video, clipped together with the characters of the show.
23       The TV channel "Phoenix" repeats the Live 8 concert because of the fantastic viewing figures they had when it was broadcast the first time.
25       Magne's single "Kryptonite" is released for websale in Germany by the record label "ZYX-Music". The video for "Kryptonite" is included on this single.
27       Paul and Lauren attend the U2 concert at Valle Hovin in Oslo. At the show, Bono incorporated the line "Touch me... The sun always shines on TV" at the end of their song "Beautiful Day".
29       Paul and Lauren attend Sondre Lerche and Julian Berntzen's concert at Rockefeller in Oslo.

Following the Live 8 concert and intense work on their new album in the studio, a-ha spend some time with their families. They are due to meet up again in August to rehearse for the Frognerpark concert.

The movie "Kamilla og tyven" is shown four times at the Barnefilmfestival (children's film festival) in Kistiansand. It is also shown again at Norwegian cinemas during the summer holidays.

August 2005      

7       On the UK TV show "Top of the Pops", guest presenter, Richard Bacon, chooses two clips from the Top of the Pops archive, one of them is a-ha's performance of "Take On Me" from November 1985.
12       The German radio station "Radio Eins live" previews the new a-ha single "Celice" which is due to have its official radio release on 15 August in Germany.
15       The new a-ha single "Celice" is officially released to German radio stations.
18       "Celice" has its premiere on the Norwegian radio stations "Kanal 24" and "P4" (on "Fornøyelig formiddag"). "Fornøyelig formiddag" also ask the listeners to text in with their opinions, the comments are very positive.
21-26       a-ha rent the Oslo Spektrum to rehearse for the forthcoming concerts.
21       Magne's single "Kryptonite" premieres on German radio.
22       The new a-ha single "Celice" is released officially to Norwegian radio stations.
In connection with the release of the "Kamilla" films, a remix of the single "Kamilla og Tyven", sung by Morten, was due to be re-released in Norway. The release is postponed until 29th August and then the release is cancelled due to problems with the rights and so as not to interfere with a-ha's new single.
The German radio channel "NDR2" broadcasts a-ha live in 2002 on "NDR2 Sondcheck Live" as a teaser for the upcoming concerts.
23       The new a-ha song "Analogue" has its premiere on the Norwegian TV news "Dagsrevyen" (NRK1). They also show parts of the rehearsal at Oslo Spektrum.

25       In the evening, a-ha soundcheck for 4.5 hours at Frognerparken in Oslo.
26       The Norwegian TV show "Absolutt Underholdning" (TV2) broadcasts an interview with Morten which was recorded at Frognerpark the same morning. Also NRK1 reports about a-ha in "Distriktsnyheter". New promo photos are released to the press and the tour title is announced as the "Analogue Tour". A new tour poster is released by the tour promoter in Germany.
27       a-ha play a free concert in front of an audience of over 120,000 people at Frognerparken in Oslo, Norway. In the morning, they do a soundcheck for over 1.5 hours at Frognerparken, after which, Magne does a short interview for TV Norge news. The concert is sponsored by Hydro and is part of Hydro's Centennial Festival. The public also has the opportunity to hear Howard Shore's film score for "Lord of the Rings", played by the Oslo Philharmonic Orchestra with Sissel Kyrkjebø as soloist and see an international art project, reflecting Hydro's activities throughout the world. As part of the Hydro celebrations, Morten has also been hired to do two more internal solo concerts and to sing at the big anniversary celebration at Oslo Rådhuset. a-ha's set includes 21 songs, 5 of them from the forthcoming album: Celice, Move To Memphis, Soundrel Days, Weight Of the Wind, Living A Boy's Adventure Tale, Cosy Prisons, Crying In The Rain, Keeper Of The Flame, Early Morning, I Call Your Name, Manhattan Skyline, I've Been Losing You, Holy Ground, Summer Moved On, Hunting High And Low, Take On Me, Stay On These Roads, Analogue, The Sun Always Shines On TV, The Living Daylights and Dark Is The Night.

Both "Kamilla" movies are re-released, this time on DVD with some bonus material.

September 2005      

2       Norwegian TV "NRK 1" broadcasts an hour of a-ha's concert in Frognerparkern from 27 August. The following 11 songs are broadcast: Celice, Manhattan Skyline, I've Been Losing You, Hunting High and Low, Take On Me, Holy Ground, Dark Is the Night, Analogue, Summer Moved On, The Sun Always Shines On TV and The Living Daylights.
3       NRK again broadcasts a clip of "The Sun Always Shines On TV" from the Frogernparken concert during a report about Hydro in their news show.
Magne is one of the guests at the 50th birthday party of artist Kjell Nupen in Kristiansand.
7       The Norwegian TV show "Lydverket" (NRK1) broadcasts the history of the Norwegian charts and shows some old pictures of a-ha from 1985-1986, amongst them Norwegian newspaper "Dagsrevyen" from 10 October 1985 when it was known that a-ha were at number 1 in the US Billboard chart and a clip where a-ha meets the Queen ("Lydverket" is repeated on 9 September 2005).
9       Norwegian TV broadcasts a "Høydepunkter fra Senkveld" best of show, during which they repeat a clip of the interview with Morten from 22 October 2004.
10       Morten takes a flight from Gardermoen/Oslo to New York.
11       All three of a-ha attend the Strenesse Spring 2006 fashion show at Bryant Park, New York City.

 

12       a-ha play a concert at the sold out Irving Plaza, New York, USA. Lauren arrives at the venue early afternoon to prepare for the filming of the show in the evening. a-ha arrive at around 5pm to do the soundcheck. The setlist for this concert differs slightly from the Frognerparken concert and the songs "Summer Moved On" and "Stay On These Roads" are excluded: Celice - Move to Memphis - Scoundrel Days - The Weight of the Wind - Cozy Prison - Manhattan Skyline - I Call Your Name - I've Been Losing You - Holy Ground - Keeper of the Flame - Early Morning - Living a Boy's Adventure Tale - Crying in the Rain - Hunting High and Low - The Sun Always Shines on TV - Take on Me - Analogue - The Living Daylights - Dark is the Night for All. As well as around 1000 fans, there are also people from the US music business at the show. The concert is filmed for a possible DVD release. After the show, the band, friends and others gathered for a long after-party at Pål's appartment in Soho.
The Norwegian newspapers, "VG" and "Dagbladet" feature long articles on a-ha in New York.
The German TV show "Leute Heute" (ZDF) broadcasts a report on a-ha at the Fashion week in New York.
13       The Norwegian newspaper "Aftenposten" features a long article on a-ha in New York.
The German TV show "RTL Exclusiv" broadcasts a short interview with a-ha in Times Square, New York. The German TV show "Leute Heute" (ZDF) reports on the New York Fashion Show and includes a clip of a-ha at the show and short interviews with them.
The Norwegian TV show "Slå på ring" (NRK2) broadcasts a funny imitation of Morten as a computer animated guest in a computer animated talk show.
14       The Norwegian newspapers "VG" and "Dagbladet" feature long articles on the New York concert.
16       On the German TV show "Leute Heute" (ZDF), there is a little preview for the weekend magazine with a clip of a-ha.
17       The German TV show "Leute Heute" (ZDF) reports about the spontanous performance of "Take On Me" in Times Square (postponed from 14 September). The German TV report "Explosiv Weekend" shows a clip of a-ha in the streets of New York and of Morten at the Fashion week.
On the Norwegian TV show "God kveld Norge" (TV2), there is a report about Morten's new necklace which was designed by Lars Marius Larsen. It is made of silver and contains a cylinder which can be filled. It costs 4,000 NOK (around 500 Euros). They also show a clip of "Move to Memphis" live at Frognerparken.
The German TV channel "RTL" broadcasts the show "Die ultimative Chart show - Das Beste der 80er Jahre". a-ha are at number 33 in the "best of the 80ies charts".
19       The first of three different 12" vinyls of "Celice" is released in Germany, it features mixes by Thomas Schumacher.
20?       The new Podcast (a music programme for use with an IPod) "Pop Exclusiv" from Universal features the new a-ha-single "Celice" in its first programme.
21       On the German TV show "Blitz" (SAT1), there is a report about an a-ha fan going to see the New York gig. The show includes clips from the soundcheck, the gig and the meeting between the band and the fan backstage after the gig. A recorded interview with Morten is broadcast in the morning on the German radio channel "Radio Sender Eins" (Berlin-Brandenburg).
23       The new video for "Celice" has its premiere on the German music show "Neu bei Viva". It is produced by Jörn Heiman (who already did videos for Rammstein) and was filmed at the nightclub "Mon Chérie" in Berlin and in a studio in Berlin-Moabit, with drummer Sebastian Schmidt. There are two slightly different versions of the clip, one of them contains more scenes of drug abuse.
24       The German TV channel "Pro7" broadcasts the show "Die 100 nervigsten Bands" (The charts of the 100 most annoying bands), a-ha are at number 47.
25       The German boulevard magazine "VIVA BamS" prints a report about the filming of the video for "Celice" in Berlin.
26       The new album by Nils Petter Molvær, "ER", is released in Norway; Magne participates as a guest musician (he plays piano on the song "Only These Things Count").
27       Morten is in Belém, Pará state of Brasil to visit the new Hydro office there. Hydro is one of the shareholders of Brazilian Alunorte which Morten also visits in Barcarena.
28       "VG" reports about the "shocking" new a-ha video.
30       The video for "Celice" has its premiere in Norway on the news magazine "Nyhetene 21" (TV2). Here, the second version of the video is shown.

a-ha sign a record contract with Polydor UK.

October 2005      

1       The Norwegian TV show "God kveld Norge" (TV2) reports about the "shocking" a-ha video.
3       The results of the German WDR2 radio vote for the "Top best singers" are announced. Morten is at number 29, with the top three as Bryan Adams (number 3), Robbie Williams (number 2) and Freddy Mercury (number 1).
Magne's album "Past Perfect Future Tense" is released in France.

6       a-ha are in Köln, Germany to record "Celice" and "Analogue" for "Top of The Pops" at the Ossendorf Coloneum, they are also co-presenters.
7       The new a-ha single "Celice" is released in Germany, there are three different CD singles available.
A short interview, recorded backstage at "Top of the Pops" and some clips from "Analogue" live at the Frognerpark concert are shown on the RTL news programme "Punkt 6" and "Punkt 9". Another interview clip is broadcast on "V.I.P.-News" show during "Punkt 12" (RTL). In some regions of Germany (only in NRW), the news programme "Guten Abend RTL" broadcasts a short "Making of" the video for "Celice". On "RTL II News" (RTL II) there is a short clip of the interview recorded backstage at "Top of the Pops". a-ha do an interview with the German radio channel "Berlin-Brandenburger Radio Sender Eins" (broadcast 21 October).
8       "Top of the Pops" (RTL) is broadcast in Germany and features a-ha performing "Celice" and a short interview with a-ha.
The German music channel VIVA broadcasts a "videospecial" on a-ha on the show "Planet Viva". They show "Hunting High and Low", "Summer Moved On", "Take On Me", the rarer version of "Crying In The Rain" and "Forever Not Yours".
9       Two CD single versions of "Celice" are released in Norway (delayed one week).
a-ha are in Rome, Italy to do some promotion. They record "Celice" for the TV show "Domenica In". While they perform it, the studio has problems with electricity and a-ha have to perform it again (brodcast 13 November). The news programme "RTL II NEWS" (RTL II) again shows a small clip on a-ha; this time about the making of the "Celice" video in Berlin.
9-19       a-ha's promotion continues and takes them to six different countries during this period.
10       The promotion continues in Italy, they do interviews for the newspaper "Il Giornale", the magazines "Vanity Fair", "Rockstar", "Il tempo", "Frequency", "All Music Beat", for the TV programme "Magic" and for "Radio Città Futura". From Italy, they go on to Vienna for more promotion.
11       In Vienna, a-ha do a press conference and leave their hand prints in the "Walk of fame" in "Wiener Gasometer". They also get presented with a typical Viennese cake, the "Sachertorte". Late evening, they fly to Zürich in Switzerland.
The German TV channel "SAT1" broadcasts clips of the "Celice" video and a short interview with Morten several times during the show "SAT1 Frühstücksfernsehen".
12       a-ha are in Switzerland for promotion, they do interviews for the newspapers "Blick", "Basler Zeitung", "Basler Stab", "Tagblatt der Stadt Zürich"; for the radio channels "DRS3", "Radio Zürisee", "RSR La Premiere", "Radio 24", "Radio NRJ"; and for "20 Minuten", "Trend Magazin" and "Music@". Late afternoon, at their hotel, they meet some fans, who won a "meet&greet" in a competition run by the newspaper "Blick". In the evening, a-ha fly to Amsterdam.
13       a-ha are in The Netherlands for more promotion,they do interviews with Hans Schiffers for Radio 2 (broadcast 4 November), the national news agency "ANP", the websites "Planet.nl" and "kindamuzik.nl", the newspapers "Algemeen Dagblad" and "Telegraaf" and the magazines "Revu", "Mojo Magazine" and "Veronica magazine".
14       Another 12" vinyl of "Celice" is released in Germany and a third one is released soon afterwards. These 12" releases feature mixes by Paul van Dyk and Boris Dlugosch respectively.

 

a-ha are in Copenhagen to do promotion, they are on the morning TV show "Good morgen Danmark" (TV2) and do interviews for printed media. After this, they fly to Warsaw.
15       Morten and Magne play a closed gig for the 15th anniversary of the Polish radio station "Eska" in Warsaw. They perform "Summer Moved On", "Celice" and "Analouge". To be able to go to the gig, listeners have to win a competition. "Eska" broadcasts the mini-gig live in the whole country and the Polish TV station "TVP2" films it.
A clip of a-ha being interviewed at TOTP Germany is shown on "Top News" (RTL).
16       Morten and Magne leave Warsaw.
16?       a-ha go to Greece where they are interviewed by "To Vima", "Ethnos", "City", "Eikones" and "RSO"
17       "Celice" enters the Geramn chart at number 21.
17-18       Morten and Magne are in France to do radio and press-promotion.
18 "Celice" enters the Swiss charts at number 38 and goes straight to the top of the official Norwegian VG singles chart.

19       The Norwegian music show "Lydverket" broadcasts a special about "music phenomenons", with "Take on me" as the example. It also shows interviews with former members of the band Bridges and the original Bridges song "The juicyfruit song" (later better known as "Take On Me") plus interviews with Morten, Magne and Paul, recorded in autumn 2004 in connection with an episode of the programme "Norsk Rocks Historie" ("History of the Norwegian Rock") (repeated 20 October).
In the morning, there is a report about a-ha and "Take On Me" on NRK's "Frokost TV". In the afternoon, there is another report on TV2's &quiot;Absolutt Underholdning", this is all to "celebrate" the 20th anniversary of a-ha's number 1 hit on the US billboard chart.
21       Magne's single "Kryptonite" is released to German record stores.
A recorded interview (from 7 October) is broadcast on the German radio channel "Berlin-Brandenburger Radio Sender Eins" in the show "Radio Eins am Vormittag" They also play the track "Don't Do Me Any Favours" from the new album.
The German radio show "Soundfiles" (WDR2) broadcasts an interview with a-ha and some live clips from "How Can I Sleep With Your Voice In My Head" as a teaser for the upcoming concert in Cologne.
23       a-ha are guests on the German sports show "Deutsche Tourwagenmeisterschaft" (ARD). a-ha perform three songs; "Celice", "Analogue" and "Summer Moved On" (playback) on stage in the pit lane. One of the songs, "Celice", is broadcast at the end of the car race. Again, Paul is not with Morten and Magne, instead a stand-in "plays" guitar.
25       On the Germn TV news report "Heute Journal" (ZDF), there is a report about a-ha which was recorded at the Frognerpark concert. They show clips from the soundcheck, backstage, interviews with the band and from the concert ("Celice", "Holy Ground", "I've Been Losing You", "Take On Me").
27       a-ha arrive in Cologne. In the evening, a-ha record their performance for "RTL Comedy Nacht" (broadcast 5 November). The new Norwegian TV channel "TV2 ZEBRA TV" broadcasts the portrait "Hele historien: Morten Harket". On the Norwegian radio show "Petremorgen" (P3), they broadcasts the song "Birthright" as a preview for the forthcoming album "Analogue". The German morning TV show "Volle Kanne Susanne" (ZDF) does a report on a-ha. Also, the German TV programme "WDR Punkt Köln" broadcasts a short report on a-ha as an advert for the tour, they show "Analogue" live at Frognerparken.
28       A report about a-ha with snippets of "Analogue" live at Frognerparken are broadcast on the German TV show "Guten Abend RTL".
a-ha rehearse for the concert in Cologne. The promo only single "Birthright" is released to Norwegian radio stations.
29       a-ha play another concert for Hydro and their corresponding Centennial Festival at Kölnarena, Cologne, Germany. This time the show is not free entry, but half of the venue is booked for Hydro employees and the remaining tickets are on public sale. This show kicks off a-ha's European tour. The setlist is the same as the Oslo show.

 

The Norwegian TV show "Absolutt Underholdning" reports about the concert in Cologne and shows clips of "The Weight Of The Wind" from the soundcheck plus "Celice" and "Move To Memphis" live and backstage interviews after the gig.
Magne and Paul go to see the Coldplay concert at the Oslo Spektrum. Coldplay sang a verse of "The Living Daylights" and "Take On Me" during the concert, greeted Magne from the stage and dedicated two songs by Johnny Cash ("Til Kingdom Comes" and "Ring Of Fire") to them.
31- 3 November       The German music store "Mediamarkt.online" offers the album "Analogue" for an exclusive pre-download before the actual album release.

The November issue of the Gothic magazine "Orkus" prints an interview with a-ha and an album review of "Analogue". The German "Rolling Stone" magazine reviews the album "Analogue".

November 2005      

The Swiss radio channel "Radio 24" broadcasts an interview with a-ha, recorded during the promotion tour on 12 October in Zürich.

1       On their show "at home", the Austrian TV channel "goTV" organises a competition to win tickets for the a-ha concert in Vienna.
2       The Norwegian net-paper "VG" presents 60 second soundclips of some of the new a-ha-songs, one new song is added each day at midnight ("Analogue", "Birthright", "Cosy Prisons", "Holy Ground" and "Don't Do Me Any Favours").
The German radio channel "SWR3" previews the new a-ha album.
3       Peace & Friendship Stadion, Athens, Greece. At the end of the show, a-ha do a Sirtaki-dance, innitiated by Magne. The setlist is the same as the Oslo concert. The Swiss radio channel "Radio Zürisee" broadcasts parts of a recorded interview with a-ha. A 5 minute long report about a-ha, with interviews with Morten and Magne, is broadcast on the Austrian music channel "GoTV". The report is repeated several times over the next few days, until 10 November.
4       The new a-ha album "Analogue" is released in Germany and The Netherlands. A "Premium Edition" with bonus 25 minute long DVD is also released. The album cover was desiged by Martin Kvamme who has already done the latest Savoy-cover (and the latest Popium-cover). The Dutch radio channel "Radio 2" broadcasts an interview with a-ha (recorded 13 October) in their programme "Schiffers.FM" (2pm til 5pm).
5       Paok Sports Arena, Thessaloniki, Greece. An interview with a-ha is broadcast during the radio show "Corso" on German channel "Deutschlandfunk". The German TV show "Top of the pops" (RTL) reviews the 80ies and shows a-ha's performance of "Take on me". The comedy show "RTL-Comedynacht", during which a-ha perform, is broadcast on German TV (recorded 27 October).
6       The German TV channel "WDR" broadcasts the show "Vorhang auf... das Jahr 1985" during which they talk about politics, sport events, fashion and music from the year 1985. a-ha's "Take On Me" is said to be one of the videos that started a new era. The German radio channel "HR3" again broadcasts an interview, this time only with Paul and Magne, in the programme "Soundcheck" and plays the songs "Forever Not Yours" and "Birthright". There is also a competition to win concert tickets for the a-ha concert in Frankfurt.
7       The album "Analogue" is released in Norway. The Norwegian TV show "Absolutt Underholdning" (TV2) broadcasts clips from the press conference with Magne and Paul in Cologne, interview snippets with Magne from the backstage party in Cologne and an album review. "Analogue" gets 4 out of six points.
a-ha are guests on Stefan Raab's German TV show "TV Total" (Pro7) and sing "Analogue" live at the end of the show. The show is recorded in Köln in the afternoon and broadcast the same evening (repeated 8 November). The German TV channel "Premiere" broadcasts an a-ha-special on its underchannel "Hit24". The programme is called "a-ha on tour - musicclips" (20:00-21:00) (repeated 9, 10 November 2005). Also, the German radio channel "WDR2" broadcasts an interview with a-ha during the show "WDR Soundfiles". The Swiss radio channel "Radio Basel 1" starts a one-week special of a-ha in the programme "Musikflash" and broadcasts new album songs each day. They start with "Don't Do Me Any Favours". The album is also the German radio channels "SWR3" and "NDR2" "CD of the week" - one albumsong is played each day. EMI releases the Live08 DVDs, a-ha are on the Berlin DVD with "Take on me".
8       The album "Analogue" is presented on the radio show "kult-komplex" on the German radio channel "Eins Live".

9       The video for "Analogue" is filmed at Littlebrook Power Station in Dartford, Kent, UK. It is directed by Howard Greenhalgh. In its radio show "Radio 24 am Nachmittag", the Swiss radio channel "Radio 24" broadcasts an interview with Magne and Paul in which they speak about the new album and how their music generally has developped over the years, recorded earlier in Zurich.
10       The German TV channel "Premiere" broadcasts one hour of the Frognershow on its underchannel "Hit 24" (repeated the same night and on 13 November).
11       Wiener Stadthalle, Vienna, Austria. The set list for this leg of the tour is the same as the Frognerpark show, but excludes "Early Morning" and the order of the songs has changed. A new rockier version of "Stay On These Roads" is introduced. The album "Analogue" is released in Italy.
12       The German TV channel "Premiere Direkt" broadcasts 66 minutes (the part already shown by NRK plus "Cosy Prisons" and "Keeper Of The Flame") of the Frognerpark concert (for a fee of 8 Euros) for the first time; this is part of the series "Premiere in concert". The gig will be broadcast eight more times in the following week week (12th at 21:00; 13th at 15.00, 19.00 and 21.00; 18th. at 21:00; 19th at 19:00 and 21:00; 20th at 15:00 and 19:00) and is accompanied by a big marketing campaign. The German radio channel "SWR3" broadcasts an interview with Morten and Magne and announces "Analogue" as the new single.
13       Forest National, Brussels, Belgium.
The album "Analogue" is released in Australia.
14       Le Grand Rex, Paris, France. At this show, "Manhattan Skyline" is given a new rocky beginning.
"Analogue" is released in the UK, although the "official" release and promotional campaign won't begin until February 2006.
16       AVO Session, Basel, Switzerland. This concert is filmed and will be broadcast on TV later. This show is part of a 2 week long festival with two bands playing every night, a famous and a local one. a-ha's support band is the Basel group Mañana. Others artists performing during the 2 weeks are Simply Red, Herbert Grönemeyer, Seal and Status Quo. Bass player, Sven Lindvall, is unwell and has to sit on a chair for the rest of the show. "Analogue" enters the Norwegian chart at number one.
18       Heineken Music Hall, Amsterdam, The Netherlands. a-ha bring back some of the video screens for this show and a similar lightshow to Frognerpark. Due to the TV appearance directly after the show, a-ha's set is shortened by four songs (Weight Of The Wind, Living A Boy's Adventure Tale, Crying In The Rain and Holy Ground). Immediately after the show, a-ha and Per Lindvall go by helicopter to Leeuwarden (two hours from Amsetrdam) to record "Analogue" for the live TV programme "Domino Day".

 

19       Jahrhunderthalle, Frankfurt, Germany.
20       Arena Treptow, Berlin, Germany. There is an aftershow party at the Universal studios where a-ha show up briefly.
22       Boerdelandhalle, Magdeburg, Germany. From this point on, "Holy Ground" is dropped from the setlist. Also dropped is the crowd sing-along during "Hunting High And Low".
23       Color Line Arena, Hamburg, Germany.
25       Olympiahalle, Munich, Germany.
26       Messehalle, Friedrichshafen, Germany.
The German TV report "Blitz" (SAT1) reports on the two German actresses of telenovela "Verliebt in Berlin", Bianca Hein and Bärbel Schleker, who attended the Berlin concert and were allowed to meet the band backstage after the show.
28       Schleyerhalle, Stuttgart, Germany.
29       Messehalle, Dresden, Germany.
30       Stadthalle, Rostock, Germany.

December 2005      

The German magazine "Coolibri" prints an interview with Morten from October 2005.

1       a-ha are in Munich to perform "Celice" at the award show "Bambi 2005" (broadcast live on ARD).
2       Morten sings a new song, "Slanted Floor", at the anniversary celebration of Hydro at Oslo Rådhuset.
The Norwegian TV channel "TV2" broadcasts the programme about Morten, "Hele historien om... Morten Harket" which was shown on its sister channel "Zebra TV" previously.
3       NEC, Birmingham, England. At the UK shows, "Analogue" postcards are left on each seat. These postcards give information on signing up to the official a-ha database to win an ipod nano preloaded with a-ha's new album 'Analogue'.
4       Clyde Auditorium, Glasgow, Scotland.
6       MEN, Manchester, England.
7       Wembley Arena Pavilion, London, England.
8       Magne and Pål are interviewed by journalists from VG in their hotel in London.
9       Nottingham Arena, Nottingham, England.
The finished video for "Analogue" is delivered to Polydor. It has its premiere the same evening on the German music channel "VIVA".
10       Brighton Centre, Brighton, England.

 

14       Lorraine Kelly (GMTV) reviews a-ha's new album "Analougue".
11       Cardiff Arena, Cardiff, Wales.
17       In Berlin, a-ha perform at the German "ARD Boxgala" ("boxing gala") for the German TV channel "ARD". a-ha, minus Paul who has gone back to New York, perform "Analogue" for the entrance of Russian boxer Nikolai Walujew (who later won the fight).
17-17 April 2006       The exhibition "Rock!" takes place at museum "Zeitgeschichtliches Forum Leipzig", Germany. It follows the origins of rock music and one part of the exhibition is the re-construction of a teenie-room from the 80's which features a lifesize poster of a-ha from the teen magazine "Bravo".
20       "Analogue" is added to the GCap network playlist as well as Forth FM and a variety of other ILR stations.
21       The French talkshow "Cà se discute" (France 2) reports about people whose lives changed after meeting a famous person. They report about a French a-ha fan who was filmed during the Stuttgart concert in November and who went backstage to meet Morten.
30       The single "Analogue (All I Want)" is released in Germany.
31       The song "Analogue" is a new entry on UK BBC Radio 2's playlist (A list) and will be played at least 20 times during the week.

October 2005 - June 2006 Kayne West plays "Take On Me" on his 2005-2006 tour.

Continue the story: 2006