When a-ha announced (yet another) farewell tour, it was my guess that the best place to…
When a-ha announced (yet another) farewell tour, it was my guess that the best place to see them live would be in Oslo, Norway. After all they formed in that very city in 1982 and the public there is always that little bit more enthusiast.
I quickly booked my wife and I seats for the April 30 concert at the Spectrum venue near the Oslo Central Station, got some really cheap Ryanair tickets and found a good Airbnb flat in the Majorstuen area (just a few minutes by tram from the city center and in walking distance from the Vigeland park) to spend a few days. At the same moment we also took some time to meet up with Norwegian correspondent Jan Ronald Stange and family, producer John Fryer and his wife, plus the members of the Norwegian acts Kant Kino, Essence Of Mind and Electro Spectre.
The support act for the a-ha’s shows in Oslo on April 30 and May 1 was Frøkedal & Familien. Frøkedal is a Norwegian songstress who mixes minimal pop music with folk, traditional music and bits of electronics. It was quite well received by the public, not in the least thanks to Frøkedal’s very modest way of talking to the public. Whilst watching the support act I noticed that there was free wifi available (a service unknown in Belgium) with some pretty good connection, so instead of just taking pictures I decided to just start tweeting out live. As a result you can follow the concert below via the tweets sent out. Enjoy!
For those still in Norway tomorrow night (May 3rd), know that a-ha will play a one-off live show called “Afterglow” with advanced scenography by Void. The concert will equally take place in Oslo at the Spectrum venue. For the show, a-ha will clear away their normal stage-production to give room to a very different concert performance in collaboration with Void, a computational design studio working in the intersection between design, architecture, art and technology.
If the live show we saw this weekend was already offering an excellent visual experience (Anton Corbijn should have a close look to get some inspiration) then the “Afterglow” show will probably be stunning. Judge for yourself below.
Since you’re here …
… we have a small favour to ask. More people are reading Side-Line Magazine than ever but advertising revenues across the media are falling fast. And unlike many news organisations, we haven’t put up a paywall – we want to keep our journalism as open as we can. So you can see why we need to ask for your help.
Side-Line’s independent journalism takes a lot of time, money and hard work to produce. But we do it because we want to push the artists we like and who are equally fighting to survive.
If everyone who reads our reporting, who likes it, helps fund it, our future would be much more secure. For as little as 5 US$, you can support Side-Line Magazine – and it only takes a minute. Thank you.
The donations are safely powered by Paypal.
This website uses cookies to improve your experience. We'll assume you're ok with this, but you can opt-out if you wish. Cookie settingsACCEPT
Privacy & Cookies Policy
Privacy Overview
This website uses cookies to improve your experience while you navigate through the website. Out of these cookies, the cookies that are categorized as necessary are stored on your browser as they are essential for the working of basic functionalities of the website. We also use third-party cookies that help us analyze and understand how you use this website. These cookies will be stored in your browser only with your consent. You also have the option to opt-out of these cookies. But opting out of some of these cookies may have an effect on your browsing experience.
Necessary cookies are absolutely essential for the website to function properly. This category only includes cookies that ensures basic functionalities and security features of the website. These cookies do not store any personal information.
Any cookies that may not be particularly necessary for the website to function and is used specifically to collect user personal data via analytics, ads, other embedded contents are termed as non-necessary cookies. It is mandatory to procure user consent prior to running these cookies on your website.