Lanxess Arena, Cologne, Germany15th May 2022
A-HA - “Hunting High and Low” 2022
In 1985, a music video by a Norwegian Pop band caused a sensation. A mixture of real people and drawing comic. Here, singer and heartthrob Morten Harket walked between both worlds. At that time, this art was a speciality. With the accompanying song ‘Take On Me’ and the album ‘Hunting High And Low’, the band A-HA conquered the world. That evening in Cologne, keyboard player Magne Furuholmen, guitarist Pål Waaktaar-Savoy and singer Morten Harket played their best-known songs. https://a-ha.com / https://www.facebook.com/officialaha
Music & Performance
When the lights went out in the sold-out Lanxsses Arena in Cologne that evening, the band was expected on stage. But before that, the audience watched the film ‘Commuter’ by Michael Patterson, one of the illustrators of the music video ‘Take On Me’. Then the three Norwegians and their band finally entered the stage. The guys were welcomed by the whole audience and started with the song ‘Sycamore Leaves’ from 1990. During the concert, a huge video wall showed the band in split screen or one of the musicians over the complete screen. There was also shown close-ups of Magne Furuholmen how he played his keyboards. But it wasn’t just the video wall that impressed, but also the light show.
Until a small break, A-HA also played songs like ‘Crying In The Rain’ and ‘I’ve Been Losing You’ and many other hits from the last 35 years. The last song of the first part, ‘The Living Daylights’, was the title song of a James Bond Movie and this theme was also shown on the video wall. Already during the break, some spectators stood up from the chairs and came to the front of the stage. In the second part, A-HA played the songs from the album ‘Hunting High And Low’, with which the Norwegian trio became famous. From this point on, the audience sang along with almost every song. The hits of the album, like ‘Hunting High and Low’ or ‘The Sun Always Shines on T.V.’, came more towards the end.
The people waiting for ‘Take On Me’ unfortunately had to wait until the end. Because the hit only came at the end as an encore. On this evening you could experience the icons of the 80s like in the old days and you had the feeling that time had stood still.
Setlist
01. Commuter ( Movie )
02. Sycamore Leaves
03. The Swing of Things
04. Crying in the Rain (Carole King cover)
05. Analogue
06. Forest for the Trees
07. You Have What It Takes
08. I’ve Been Losing You
09. Scoundrel Days
10. The Living Daylights
-Break-
11. Train of Thought
12. The Blue Sky
13. Living a Boy’s Adventure Tale
14. And You Tell Me
15. Love Is Reason
16. I Dream Myself Alive
17. Here I Stand and Face the Rain
18. Hunting High and Low
19. The Sun Always Shines on T.V.
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20. Take On Me
Rating
Music: 9
Performance: 8
Light: 10
Sound: 10
Total: 9.3 / 10
All Pictures and text by Andreas Klüppelberg
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