a-ha
[font=arial,helvetica,sans-serif] Manchester Arena[/font]
[font=Geneva,Arial,sans-serif]Dave Simpson
Thursday December 8, 2005
The Guardian
[/font]
[font=Geneva,Arial,sans-serif]There seems to be a campaign to make a-ha hip. Morrissey and U2 have mentioned the Norwegian trio in interviews. The band have individually collaborated with members of Coldplay and Travis. Their latest press biography claims that they have become "a key influence on today's biggest acts - Keane, Bloc Party and the Darkness." Alas, this hasn't translated to a-ha's audience, which is mostly composed of 30-something housewives with suspiciously 1980s perms.
But a-ha were never cool. They sold bucketloads of records, the fans screamed and bank clerks copied singer Morten Harket's leather wrist laces. Two decades on, a-ha's pop offers perfect nostalgia, but the band are determined to prove how they gave birth to Keane and Coldplay. Manhattan Skyline, with its rotating guitar riff, could be straight from Coldplay's X&Y. Keeper of the Flame from new album Analogue is unutterably lovely, although some songs have euro-rock riffs and conjure visions of moustaches and lederhosen. The audience shuffle patiently as a-ha drench everything in echo and refuse to trade on Harket's looks - the absence of screens means that the trim 40-something is a microscopic dot on stage. The atmosphere is slightly eerie until the old hits give people something to scream at. Hunting High and Low seems slower. Perms tighten for Take On Me. The forgotten Crying in the Rain suggests they were actually a huge influence on Westlife. Attempts at revising history are abandoned for Freddie Mercury-type singalongs, which would have any passing hipster who has snuck into the gig denying ever liking them and creeping home in disguise.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/arts/reviews/s…1661598,00.html
[/font]