Hamburg:September 12th
Maybe September was summer this year although the sun had long gone from those German skies: but the music raged on inside us all, thawing the autumnal chills with hot blinding passion and the tears of an emotional time rained down. The power of music can overcome language barriers, cultural differences and inspire the nomad in us all. Next stop - Hamburg!
There’s something to be said about being a stranger in a strange land, an air of mystery, a taste of really living engulfs your senses. Travelling can be rough, arduous and a challenge to your own survival, but for the fanclub travellers touching Foreign soil for the first time, a club atmosphere is the only needed incentive.
The heat was stifling on the September 12th and it had nothing to do with the weather. The Hamburg Docks club stood in brown and black dullness surrounded by the flamboyant and vibrant sex shops and condomeries openly advertising what was on sale. The musically driven a-ha fans, on the other hand abstained from sexual temptation, minds only on the show to come :-Germany's first a-ha performance in over two years. The excitement hung in the air as a buzz of adrenalated expectancy, the queue formed early huddled together to fight off the cold. It was like a mass communion, a family community sharing the days enthusiasm and the mystery surrounding a club atmosphere. For others, memories of The Subterrania burned still with the sticky heat of that sweat dripping evening. “Subterrania Blues”, it was hard to resist a second taste of the a-ha oncoming. Only in a club can the true intimacy between the music and the listener be met and courted for all its worth. It is inspiring to see successful bands casting off those big time robes to adopt a more down to earth portrayal - what you see is what you get - a true band meeting a true crowd - abandoned all the hype and big stage productions for the benefit of communicating the music that comes from deep inside. The Subterrania and Månefisket received the new approach to a-ha’s live gig well. For the mature fan element seating can be a bit too formal and restrictive. Music is about freedom and a lack of atmosphere is gained from a band giving their all to a crowd stood in line without the liberty to really express how the music makes them feel.
The Hamburg docks was a larger venue than it first appeared from its outer view. Subterrania capacity 450 (around 800 after a mad crush) the Docks was around 2000! With a-ha’s two previous nights in Copenhagen and Amsterdam not filling out as expected, it was an uplifting surprise for the band to stand before a crammed and roasting crowd, watching as the steam from their clammy bodies rose into the air.
“It’s like fucking Rio De Janeiro!”Magne thused to the expectant small club gathering stretching out with the sense of the Maracana revisited. The party mood was enhanced by Radio Hamburg, whose balloons rose into the heavens coming to rest upon the small stage. It was all being captured for a breakfast TV report to remind the public that a-ha were back. At 9pm the return was declared and six silhouettes - figures outlined in the darkness sent a spark that travelled through the music hungry to ignite a harboured two year explosion of festivity. “The Blood That Moves The Body” flowed hot and urgent through our veins. A-HA were dead, but the dead had risen with a fresh sound and a wild impassioned need to be on the road again.
For many, 1987 seemed almost like yesterday. Good music, music with a gift for engulfing you with emotion and atmosphere, never loses strength through time, but feeds on it and grows with intensity. A-HA that night proved that by bringing with them to Deutschland a revised back catalogue and blew us away by giving each a fresher feel and a deja vu aura of all “Memorial Beach” stood for and felt like. 1993 has aged songs such as “The Swing Of Things”, “Scoundrel Days” and “The Weight Of The Wind” by seven years, yet older, more experienced, with a great deal of expressionist knowledge, a-ha brought out the strong, moving and capturing melodies of each and a change of approach b reathed into the versions inspired new life.
“The Weight Of The Wind” was only ever given a live airing to a Japanese crowd in 1987, with most European fans given only a second hand preview on circulated live bootlegs. That night it became one of the most touching, mellow, emotion filled a-ha live tracks. Performed with a faster tempo than in the Eastern Land, a half acoustic version kept the songs dream like simplicity and added a foot tapping groove. Morten resounded the lyrical desperation, whilst Pål breezed in a warm, sweet and somehow eerie backing vocal to add a final touch to that unique brand of melancholia “You want to lose...” carried you off on a wave of light hypnosis, but as always your heart cracked around the edges. A-HA that afternoon may have anti socially avoided fan confrontation by entering by the back door, but that night they gave every high spirited disciple of the a-ha sound something rare and outstanding to take home.
With every live performance, it is over almost as quickly as it began. Before too long you’re cast back onto that street offering bodily pleasure with your needs already sated. Youth Hostel bound, your heart refuse to slow. Mindblown and uplifted, you roam the streets on a high. Passing a sex shop and peep show, you smile at the inhibited display and all that fills your head is Magne’s wicked smile and his playful voice putting a statement to the occasion. “It’s hot...” he had smiled, wiping his brow and we agree with Magne - “It must be the area!”
Koln 13th September
And the rain fell gently on the town and on the heads of all of us imprisoned slaves to the vibe and guaranteed adrenaline rush. It may come as a surprise for a-ha to learn that so many are driven from gig to gig, but it is something that should be celebrated as a following is a reflection of your worth and power to survive.
The Koln E-Werks had been labelled the best club out of the five and with the success of Hamburg firmly implanted inside band and fan recollections, anticipation was riding high and for many the soundcheck rehearsal of “Between Your Mamma & Yourself” added more enthusiasm for the show to come.
It wasn’t the rain that chilled the burning excitement, a lack of turn out and response made it a dismal day for all. The over 2000 capacity club held spaces the size of dance floors and the only traditional concert atmosphere was created by the eight to nine rows at the front with their hands reaching out to grasp the moment. A-HA seemed dismayed by the lack of mood and response and the apparent drop of popularity dimmed their desire to really give. While an aloof group of people stood at the bar drinking as if it were their usual Monday routine, life just drained from the set and only the well rehearsed “Between Your..” and “The Sun Always Shines..” two to three songs from the end was an indication of the vitality a-ha sets usually hold. The earlier soundcheck had been spent productively and that fun, up rock track was turned into a lively mix of funk and sexuality. This was the latest addition to a very alternated set listing, with different eras combined and yet a more united alive and distinct sound. Naturally it was disappointing that “Locust” was dropped from the German shows and that more of the stronger tracks from “memorial Beach” were passed over - making the advertised Memorial Beach Tour a tad ironic, but nevertheless the improvisation of the older material made up the loss.
“The Sun Always Shines..” had an astonishing revitalisation. A powerful single from ‘85, this song felt to have it’s day aired at every a-ha concert ever played, but that night it was awe inspired and brought a rush of pure musical madness to set fire to the crowd. Pål raised the roof with an extended solo, his wild, screechingly expressive guitar echoing around the club with such energy..!
The Koln concert was not a-ha’s best show. those watching from the far side to the back saw what appeared an unrealistic display of concert images back dropped onto an empty warehouse. Magne way back in South America 1991 summed up this night with great knowing....
In order for it (gigging) to be lifestyle you enjoy, you have to be able to let the audience give you something as well as you giving the audience something.”
He was right.
Berlin 14th September.
Religion doesn’t have to relate to God, the Devil or all things holy. Religion is about belief and we believe in ourselves, believe that rain falls and believe in the potency of music. Everybody needs something to live by and on that evening of September 14th, faith was placed in the melodious refrains; Angel the purest.
Earlier that day the German sun dried the rain from the dark cloud and gave Magne an excuse to wear his dark glasses - a trait usually left to the Waaktaar man only. It was a bright day that signified the half way point of the tour and that day that saw Morten’s 34th Birthday, with not a walking frame in sight.
The optimism was tinted by aggression as the queue took shape. A country reared on standing venues, they have adopted a more kill or be killed attitude and those unfamiliar with the set up were taught the hard way, with almost broken bones the opening lesson. The front row of such a huge hall is a valuable place and you have to want it badly to put up such a fight.
“The Blood That Moves The Body” again began the show, a selection of fans close to the front all nervously awaiting their cue to put on a little performance of their own. It started hushed, two or three people singing out from the crowd, but “Happy Birthday” grew more audible, sounding remarkably strong even though ‘Huxleys’ as with the ‘E Werks’ was only half full. Morten almost blushed, embarrassed by he show of remembrance and obvious affection. Eight years on he still cannot take those portrayals gracefully, and Pål adds to his blushes by strumming a rendition of his own. The greeting’s end, the show must go on and “I Call Your Name” begins to add one of the weaker spots on the set.
With “Take On Me” finally laid to rest, many followers were hoping that the three would realise what they played strongest and adopt a set of if not new, then their more confident numbers. “Hurry Home” played last in Oslo in 1991 with a Doors sounding excellence as well as “This Alone Is Love” with the sorrowful guitar melody played with a fullness and energy missing from the album version and the Bridges ‘Last Dance’, were valuable pieces of the a-ha live experience and were greatly missed from the European 91 trek. Where “I Call Your Name” and “Hunting High and Low” are classic songs in their own right, sadly on stage they seem a little uninspired and lose impact. Releasing them from the set to make way for the two songs that never failed to send chills of pure rapture down our spines, the a-ha hour could be the most moving created yet. But, granted, a-ha had more on their minds than the track listing. That evening guitar feedback, the fusing of Morten’s microphone and other sound problems were naturally more important than whether they played “Locust” or “Driftwood” and further more, the band appeared worried about the lack of turn out once again. The crowd that did show nevertheless let a-ha know what really got them going, the newer tracks were forever greeted by roaring cheers of enthusiastic appreciation, in particular “Move To Memphis” and “Cold As Stone” which gave a scintillating mix of raunch and morose laments for lost roots to always capture the loudest and always lingering applause.
A-HA have many live strengths, (a more guitar oriented sound putting an enriched edge on the album versions) and will learn to iron out their weaknesses. With every tour or even every gig, they have learned, grown and progressed, and as Magne Furuholmen knows only too well - “..to embrace something new you have to let go of the old.”
Hannover 15th September
The strangers came and they were not like us. Something else, but wearing the skins of men, the eyes of men, their hands. We took to collecting the sound of them in our flesh, the aorisms of power, without substance; and unexplained integrity of sound. In these wave forms of kalestic symmetry, we felt the remote passing into the indefinite. We saw the wings of change form from within the ichor of the sound; a thick smoke, sweet upon the tongue, curling into unimagined shapes that suggested surrender, ecstasy, pain, renewal.
We stand together in the wildest places of the Earth and form a forest of hands against a black sky, stretching up, reaching for what is our to take, yet never to attain. Our bodies begin to pulsate to a subliminal rhythm and we feel the imminence of contained energy soon to be released. We are all content to relax as the waves of “Memorial Beach” with its haunting sound washing over us with its tender tide. We are content to relax ...... and drown within ourselves.
Adapted from an extract from ‘The Coming Of The Watchers’ - a testimony of the temple scribe. Mesopotamia ca. 4000 B.C
Dedicated to the old philosopher - Magne F.
Frankfurt 16th September
The Frankfurt Music Hall was bursting at the seams, alive with the party atmosphere of people making the most of what little time they had left. It was a-ha’s last gig and no one knew how much time they would spend retired into their own private creative world, or how long would go by without the touring opportunity coming around again.
2000 individual people stood in a darkened venue, rubbing shoulders and sharing memories. Each person alone in a crowd gazing around to see a mass of sweat sheened elated, engrossed faces, yet all feeling that isolated lull of privilege and selfishness. Every note, every chord and every lyric sung is suddenly yours alone, played for your ears, your emotions and your perceptions. Once those house lights have faded into black and your skin has begun to prickle with the electricity hanging on the air, this moment belongs to you.
the music moves and lifts you higher, encouraging a wave of emotional energies and inward freedom and personal release. There is no room for inhibition here and all your adopted guises - walls of protection come tumbling down because the only pains here are good and true and somehow healing.
It is not easy for any of us to describe those feelings inside connected to music; The way it makes us feel, body reacting physically to the sounds and how they touch us. Not the greatest poet, most intellectual soul or the inciting musician can find an array of words to describe those emotions. Some things must speak for themselves without a vocabulary, but music is all powerful. It is strong enough to pull us across oceans, across boundaries of understanding and open our eyes to the problems of the world. It can lift us from down moods, as Jim Morrison wrote can be our 'special friend' and it can even be as a lover to comfort us on our darkest nights. But on September 16th it was everything and we were hanging on the words, living on its breath, feeling with its skin and always wanted to be there. But, what starts ends and as a-ha state - ‘There’s Never A Forever Thing’.
But a-ha are wrong. Four months later the memories linger. September was summer that year and it was an emotional time we can never forget. We will always have that sexual air of Hamburg to warm us, the energy that was created on that stage and fun of Siggy’s drunken fall and Pål jumping at a popped balloon, professionally never missing a note. Koln will always remain a reminder of a-ha’s ability to give edge to their album versions and the intensity of the explosive “..Sun Always Shines..”. In Berlin, Morten falling to his knees in desperation as he couldn’t deny the passion played. Hannover, Magne’s energy and the loud guitar he so playfully offered us and finally - Frankfurt, the sentiments of “Stay On These Roads” and the deep synth undertone of “Cold As Stone” that made its atmosphere more unbearably moving and added a new dimension to a song that is, for the time being at least, a-ha’s greatest live track.
Until 94 tour dates we will hold on to these recollections just as we have never let go of the memories of 86, 88 and 91. What more is there to say except - a-ha’s tours are unforgettable, mind blowing and always worth the wait.
N.B reflecting back on the tours over the years, “A Forever Thing” would like to pass on our appreciation to all those who made it possible for a-ha to play and to those who make a tour a successful one. From the Roadies to the Sound technicians, from the Tour Management to the talented backing Musicians... you are all the people that made it possible. Unforgettable Thanks!!
Written by Jude:- October‘93 - January'94
