A-ha bring their a-ha play Hunting High And Low live tour to Cape Town on 14 February 2020 at the Green Point A Track and to Johannesburg on 15 February 2020 at Marks Park, Emmarentia.
A-ha support acts for Cape Town are Grassy Spark, Sean Koch and The World Of Birds; and Ard Matthews, Absinthè, James Deacon and Werner Bekker for Joburg.
This Breakout Events gig sees the first time since 1994 that the band is visiting the country. In 2018, their MTV Unplugged tour proved that their songs could be given new settings.
Hunting High And Low
Magne Furuholmen, Morten Harket and Pål Waaktaar-Savoy will be performing new and old, familiar and less-familiar songs, as well as 10 songs off their 1985 debut album Hunting High And Low.
Back in October 2010, a-ha had played the whole of Hunting High And Low just twice, first at Oslo’s Konserthus and then at London’s Royal Albert Hall. Now, from France to Poland and from Germany to SA, audiences have the chance to experience a-ha revisiting their first album.
Together, Hunting High And Low’s 10 songs are more than a debut album. Take On Me, Train Of Thought, Hunting High And Low, The Blue Sky, Living A Boy’s Adventure Tale, The Sun Always Shines On T.V., And You Tell Me, Love Is Reason, Dream Myself Alive and Here I Stand And Face The Rain captured a-ha’s heart and soul.
“We played the full Hunting High And Low album live once before and that was a great experience,” says Pål, looking back on how he, Magne and Morten feel now. “There’s not one song on that album that we’re not looking forward to playing live. We had done quite a few versions of the songs before recording the actual album and they all contain great bits and cool ideas which will be nice to incorporate into the new show.”
“Recording Hunting High And Low was such a defining moment and an exciting time in our career and joint collaboration,” stresses Magne. “So revisiting this body of work now – more than 30 years later – feels like inspiration rather than obligation. I just need to dust off the old synths a little…”
“With the song selection and the set in the album’s running order, it will turn it into a totally different type of show to anything we have done before,” adds Pål , saying a-ha also appreciate the tour will “pull your mind and mood back to when Hunting High And Low was made, which for us was a time when we were living in the same tiny apartment in London and working on the songs 24/7. By when the album was finally released it had been a long and bumpy ride, and we poured all our ambitions into the record as if it would be our one and only shot.”
The tour is timed to celebrate the 35th anniversary of the release of the original version of Take On Me – issued in the UK in 1984 to sales of 300 copies. The re-recorded Take On Me was released in Britain during April 1985 to little fanfare, and in America that May where it hit big after its promo video was seen on TV. It was reissued in the UK that September and, finally, the British hit came. The Hunting High And Low album was on sale in the US in June 1985, and in the UK in October 1985.
a-ha Cape Town tickets
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More Cape Town bands and live music.
What: a-ha play Hunting High And Low live tour South Africa
When:
Cape Town 14 February 2020, Green Point A Track
Johannesburg 15 February 2020, Marks Park, Emmarentia
Info: https://breakoutevents.co.za/
WS
