I really like her voice and her earnestness.
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I heard this during the ending credits to last episode, season 4 of The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel. Utterly amazing. I’ve never heard anything by them before.
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Sorry, not sorry. 
Took a weekend trip to LA to see a-ha. While they are pretty much relegated to one hit wonder status in the US for Take on Me they had continued recording long after and amassed a big following in Europe and a massive following in South and Central America. After breaking up in the aughts, they got back together and have been touring and recording ever since.
Their US tour is confined to 3 nights in LA and NY, before coming back to LA to make a stop at the Hollywood Bowl later this summer. They have been on Mrs. Ficus’ concert bucket list so with LA being a 3 hour flight that was the best choice. The show was at the Wiltern in west LA. It’s a beautiful Art Deco building both inside and out. We caught the final show on Saturday.
For this tour they played their debut Hunting High and Low album (yes, the one with that song) in its entirety. Hunting High and Low is definitely what I would consider a “perfect” album: there’s no filler, it’s not too short (or too long), and every single track is great. I’ve probably listened to it in its entirety hundreds of times throughout my life and it never gets old. I wouldn’t say I’m a super fan or anything; I really never followed their other than having awareness that they continued recording long after HH&L and that they were hugely successful outside of America. Still, given my love for that album and it being the focus of the tour I was more than willing to take the trip and go see them.
Anyway - for the show they started with some newer songs and ended the set with The Living Daylights before going to a brief intermission. This was a departure from the previous shows that had been in Central and South America — and even the first night in LA. I’m guessing they changed things up for the last two nights to keep people from leaving after the HH&L set but that’s just me.
Now of course the question with any group that’s been recording for some nearly 40 years now and the band members in their 60s is how do they sound? I’m pleased to say they sounded fucking excellent. Morten Harket can still hit those falsettos and did every single one for every single song in HH&L. And he looked damn good doing it too, I might add. (Dude is looking ripped.) HH&L was performed out of order - another strategy to keep folks around, I’m assuming since Take on Me is the side A album opener, and Sun Always Shines on TV is the side B track 6 (that ended up being the penultimate song).
Here is the full setlist:
A couple of snaps from the show:
I had reasonably good seats - like 5th row, but it was behind the GA pit area. Still, the Wiltern isn’t a huge theater so it was still a good view. Acoustics were great.
Definitely a worthwhile show. I can’t say in really enjoy traveling for concerts - it’s exhausting. I’ll be traveling to Vancouver BC to see the co-headlined New Order and Pet Shop Boys show later this year (I also got tickets to the Seattle show back when it was uncertain if the border would be open so I’ll be seeing them twice in the same week). But at least that’s only an hour flight or three hour drive which isn’t so bad.
Next show for me is in May when we’ll be seeing OMD - which thankfully is only a 15 mile drive to Seattle.
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It’s worth goth day, so…
New Christian Death?
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I like this song. It’s got a good beat and one can dance to it.
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I know the man in the front singing and playing guitar via FB. Really fab guy.
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All the story with none of the Spielberg.
Henry Goodman fooled me. His accent is flawless.
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For a recent trip I purchased Hunky Dory. I was familiar with tracks from it, but had not heard the entire thing. Quite good. I liked it aside from “Kooks,” which sounds like montage music from a bad Hal Ashby film.
I can never remember the name of this album. It seems to me it should have been titled “Changes” or “Oh, You Pretty Things.” Either title would go well with the cover art. But I guess I’m not David Bowie.
Thanks to Bowie I realized I have been mispronouncing Andy Warhol’s name. I had been pronouncing it Wore-hall. But it’s not. It is actually War-hole. Somehow I transposed the vowels. Thanks, David.
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“Kooks” is an ode to he and Angela’s son while he was still in utero (their son, not David).
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