2015 - Reunited in Rio

January 2015

A new 30 minute documentary about a-ha airs on "NRK1" in Norway. It focuses on the beginning of a-ha's careeer, the success of "Take On Me" in America in 1985 and includes clips from the NRK archive plus interviews with Tor Marcussen and P.A. Stenersen.

7       Morten's album "Brother" is available on vinyl.
29       Magne attends the opening of a new exhibition at the Rockheim pop and rock museum in Trondheim. The exhibition tells the story of his father Kåre Furuholmen’s dance orchestra "Bent Sølves Orkester".
30       Morten is a guest at a government meeting in Oslo and speaks about his experience of bullying at school for the launch of a new campaign against bullying in Norwegian schools.

March 2015

6 - 25 April       Magne's exhibition of works will take place at Dovecot, Edinburgh. His print titled "Glass Onion" has been made into a tapestry which will form the centre piece of the exhibition. The tapestry took approximately five months to weave and is approximately 2x1.5m. A time lapse film of the making of the tapestry was made.
25       a-ha announce their comeback, new album and tour at a press conference at the Norwegian Embassy in Berlin.
26       Morten and Magne attend the Echo Awards in Berlin, Germany. They present the award for Best German Music Blu-ray or DVD.

April 2015

18       "Take On Me" is released on 7" picture disc as part of Record store day. 6,500 copies were made available at independent record stores across the country. The disc features two tracks, the single version and a live version of "Take On Me" from BBC Radio 2 on 25 July 2009.

May 2015

7       Magne Furuholmen and Simen Staalnack launch their new new drink and snacks company "S&M Feelgood Factory" at a launch party in Oslo, Norway. The focus is on making non-alcoholic drinks. Their products include Holy Moly, Holy Moly Energy, Iced Tee. Chill-i-Coffee, Dos Amigos chips, Retox chips and the forthcoming Bloody Mary popcorn and Sweethearts sweet potato snacks.
28       Magne and director, Steve Barron, are at The Arts Club in London to celebrate the release of a new special edition of Steve Barron’s 2014 memoir "Egg n Chips & Billie Jean: A Trip Through the 80s", for which Magne designed the cover.

June 2015

Rehearsals for the forthcoming 30th anniversary Rock in Rio 2015 begin.
Magne Furuholmen and Simen Staalnacke are featured in a 7-page article in the summer issue of Norwegian food and lifestyle magazine "NORD" (issue #3/2015). The article talks about their new drink and snacks company "S&M Feelgood Factory".

26       Aftenposten's weekend magaizine has a 15-page article on Magne's project to create the largest ceramic sculpture park in Scandinavia. The sculptures are being created in Tommerup Ceramic Workshop in Denmark, commissioned by Kjell Inge Røkke’s company Aker. The park will be located outside the new Aker headquarters at Fornebu near Oslo under the name "Imprints". The park will comprise of 40 ceramic statues, including the two largest jars in the world (6 metres tall), nine columns (2–4 metres tall) and a 12 meter long ceramic relief. The first statues will being to appear in August and will develop over the following year.
28-16 August       Magne holds an exhibition of his paintings, graphics and sculptures at the art centre in Sandefjord, Norway.

July 2015

Universal Germany reveal a new cover image for the single "Under The Makeup" as it has been identified that the previous one was too similar to the cover Italian singer Victor’s 2014 single "I'm a Renegade". The new cover features a grey-toned shot of some large rocks on a beach (another stock image) with the titles in white above.

1       The new single "Under The Makeup" premieres on Norwegian radio a few days early due to an online leak on 29 June.
2       Sonicscoop.com publish an article on Paul's new home studio in Brooklyn, USA, designed and built by Jim Keller of Sondhus.
16?       a-ha are in Germany promoting their new album "Cast In Steel" and do various interviews with the press.

August 2015

Magne and Guy Berryman go on a car trip through Italy and Switzerland.
"Under The Makeup" is being used to promote the German TV station's ("Sat.1") Saturday weekly movie ("Samstagskino").

10-12       The new video for a-ha's single "Under The Makeup" is filmed around Nissedal in Telemark, Norway. It is directed by German, Bode Brodmüller, and features actresses Sofie Gråbøl from Denmark and Frida Farrell from Sweden.

21       The new a-ha single "Under The Makeup" is released in Germany and the new video premieres on German TV. It is available on the web via YouTube from 24 August.

September 2015

2       a-ha do a signing session at HMV in Manchester.
3       BBC Radio 2 in the UK broadcast an interview with a-ha on "Steve Wright in the Afternoon".
a-ha perform two songs, "Foot Of The Mountain" and "Forest Fire", live at the "Der Deutscher Radiopreis" (The German Radio Awards) in Hamburg, Germany and they also receive an honorary award. The show is broadcast live on ARD radio and streamed online on NDR2. "Forest Fire" and a short part of "Foot Of The Mountain" was broadcast in the evening on "NRD" TV.
a-ha present their favourite music videos on the hour long Austrian show "Hosted by" special on "GoTV".
4       a-ha release their comeback album "Cast in Steel" in Germany on standard CD, Deluxe Edition, fanbox Deluxe Edition and vinyl LP. The cover features a shot of the band by Just Loomis in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil from December 2014.
a-ha perform live on the ZDF talkshow "Aspekte" in Berlin, this is streamed online.
The TV show "Der Deutsche Radiopreis die Höhepunkte" (N3 - Bremen3) broadcast "Forest Fire" and "Foot of the Mountain".
5       a-ha perform two songs at the "Goldene Henne 2015" awards at Berlin Velodrom, this is broadcast live on the German TV channels "MDR" and "RBB".
6       The six part documentary "Datoen" (The date) premieres on NRK1 in Norway. Each episode focuses on three people born on the same date and time, in the same country, one of whom is well-known. Magne is one of these participants.
12       Apparatijik were due to perform at Pavilion stage, Karlsruhe, Germany. The show is cancelled.
24       a-ha's "Cast In Steel" tour kicks off at Luna Park, Buenos Aires, Argentina. The band joining a-ha on tour are drummer Karl Oluf Wennerberg, keyboardist Erik Ljunggren and bassist Even Ormestad.
27       a-ha do a gig as part of the 30th anniversary Rock in Rio 2015 show.

October 2015

1       a-ha - Barcarena, Brazil (private show for Hydro employees and 30 "Renew your passion for the future" picture competition winners.).
3       a-ha - Paragominas, Brazil (private show for Hydro employees).
6       a-ha - Net Live, Brasilia, Brazil.
8       a-ha - Chevrolet Hall, Recife, Brazil.
10       a-ha - Aquaville Resort, Fortaleza, Brazil.
14       a-ha - Espaço das Américas, São Paulo, Brazil.
15       a-ha - Master Hall, Curitiba, Brazil.
23       Deluxe versions of the albums "Stay on these Roads", "East of the Sun, West of the Moon" and "Memorial Beach" are released
25       Magne is guest on the Norwegian TV show "Lindmo" (21:55 - NRK1).

December 2015

11       a-ha perform five songs at the Nobel Peace Prize concert at Telenor Arena in Oslo, Norway. They perform Scoundrel Days, The Sun Always Shines On T.V., Stay On These Roads, Sycamore Leaves and Take On Me. Take On Me is performed as a remix with Kygo.

Continue the story: 2016