Brazil 2002

When a-ha entered the stage at the Credicard Hall in São Paulo on Wednesday, August 14, it had been 11 years since a-ha performed live for their Brazilian followers. Here you can read the reports from the concerts in Säo Paulo, Rio de Janeiro and Barretos.

The capacity of the concert venues in Brazil for the 2002 tour was between 10-15, apart from the arena in Barretos, which accommodated more than 30 spectators. Brazilian fans could see the same show as in Europe in June, and Anneli Drecker, who was replaced by May Kristin Kaspersen for the concerts in Moscow and Minsk, was again doing the backing vocals.

a-ha performing for 23 000 spectators in Oslo on June 8. 75 000 South American fans had the chance to see a-ha on stage during the second leg of the 2002 tour in Brazil.

a-ha visited Brazil for the first time in March 1989, with two concerts in Rio de Janeiro and three concerts in São Paulo. The band caused quite a stir on the international scene during the Rock in Rio II Festival in January 1991: a-ha broke all records when they gathered more than 190 fans at the Maracanã stadium, one of the largest football arenas in the world. In May and June the same year, the band toured South America, with concerts in Chile and Argentina, and had as many as 14 concerts covering most of the Brazilian territory.

Dates and venues in Brazil, August 2002:

August 14: Credicard Hall in São Paulo
August 15: Credicard Hall in São Paulo
August 16: ATL Hall in Rio de Janeiro
August 17: Rodeio de Barretos, Barretos
August 20: Gigantinho Ginasium in Porto Alegre

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The fervent fan trio JPJ, being Judith Heinrich, Petra Meier and Judith Fasler, have followed a-ha on tour since 1987, and attended more then 70 concerts all around the world. a-ha.com published their reports from the first leg of the 2002 tour in Europe in June. Judith, Petra and Judith attended the concerts in São Paulo, Rio de Janeiro and Barretos. On August 14, they waited for the arrival of a-ha at the São Paulo International Airport. Here you can read their reports:

Bem vindos ao Brasil (Welcome to Brazil)!

by Judith Heinrich, Petra Meier and Judith Fasler

Early morning, 5 o`clock precise, Sao Paulo International Airport, 20 degrees. Varig 8721 from Paris is approaching Sao Paulo carrying precious luggage: a-ha! A couple of Brazilian and Argentinian fans gather in the arrivals hall to welcome a-ha back in Brazil after 11 years.

The endless waiting comes to an end – the sliding doors open at last and finally the band members meet the happily waiting fans. Pictures are taken and autographs signed. Just like in good old times, 2 bodyguards have joined the a-ha trek to ensure the band is safe throughout their stay in Brazil.

Morten Harket with two Brazilian fans after arrival at the Sao Paulo International Airport

Temperatures are hottening up with a-ha heading for the waiting cars, followed by the fans closely behind. While the a-ha crew is sorting out the luggage, the fans surround the band van and more autographs are given and the amused crew keeps photographic evidence of the enthusiastic fans who are screaming ‘Thank you a-ha, you are the one!’

a-ha are battling their way through traffic jams and crazy motorist drivers to their hotel and leave lots of smiling faces behind at the airport…

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Reports from the São Paulo concerts:

Brazil – now and then
São Paulo, August 14

Sao Paulo – while 20 million people are waking up to the usual traffic jams and smog, a-ha arrive at their hotel oasis to relax and prepare for the gig tonight.

Tonight’s concert at the Credicard Hall is the first a-ha concert in Brazil for 11 years. Flashback to 1991 – there was no air condition, street sellers were selling food and drinks in plastic boxes in and around the venue, fake a-ha t-shirts were on offer and last but not least there was no organisation and total chaos. Fans tried to climb over fences and pushed their way through security in order to get to the biggest party Brazil had on offer in the 90′s.

a-ha have changed and so has Brazil. The lower half of the air-conditioned venue (which reminds us more of an auditorium than a concert hall) is set up with tables and chairs, waiters surround the arriving guests and offer drinks from the menu. It seems weird to everybody and it looks more like a Celine Dion concert in Las Vegas than an a-ha concert. Fact is that as soon as a-ha enter the stage with the opening track “Minor Earth Major Sky’, the fans get up and climb over tables and chairs to stand in front of the stage!

On the reduced stage set up, a-ha perform a nearly identical set list as they did on the recent European tour. The fans are slowly warming up to the tunes of the recent album and Magne has not forgotten his Portuguese and welcomes the audience with “Boa Noite” and adds ‘Thanks for giving us the chance to come back to Brazil!”‘ And as the concert continues with songs like ‘Stay On These Roads’ and ‘Hunting High And Low’, Morten shakes hands and signs some t-shirts, making the fans in the front row even happier.

a-ha reach the end of the show with ‘Living Daylights’ but of course the fans want more and won’t let them go. And Magne, Paul and Morten do not disappoint them, treating them to a three-song encore.

Back at the hotel, the waiting fans get another special treat. Even though it has been a long day for a-ha, Magne and Paul come back down to the hotel lobby to chat to the fans and have their pictures taken.

More smiling faces are left behind…

Smiling fans!
São Paulo, August 15

Sleeping in, extensive breakfasts, swimming pool and shopping are today’s focus for the band and their crew.

More and more fans gather in the hotel lobby, eagerly waiting to catch a glimpse of a-ha. As Paul heads to the hotel lobby, the enthusiastic fans seem a bit too scary to him, so he takes a u-turn. While being quiet and reserved is very much against the Brazilian temperament, the fans soon realize that this is the way to get most out of it. The next time Paul and a-ha’s bodyguards come back to the lobby, they are more than astonished to see one of the guys coming up to them to explain how much it means to them that a-ha are back in Brazil, adding how happy they are and of course everybody would like the band’s pictures and autographs. Paul promises to give them some time later on before the sound check – and Paul did keep his promise!

Each band member dedicates some quality time to the fans, chatting, signing, having their pictures taken. As all this happens in a very relaxed and calm atmosphere, even a-ha’s bodyguards take some personal snapshots. However as soon as a-ha were out of sight, the fans show their real temperament: they hugged, they kissed, they danced, they cheered! Everybody is now in the right mood for tonight’s concert!

Credicard Hall day 2 – the tables that almost killed the atmosphere yesterday are gone! It is amazing what difference this changed set up makes to the concert – and a-ha in addition have also turned the set list completely upside down!

As soon as a-ha start the concert, you can feel that tonight’s show is going into a different direction – the enthusiastic crowd is clapping along from the start and especially cheers when it comes to the older songs. One of the highlights is ‘Dark Is The Night’ – sung by Anneli Drecker and the fans give her a very warm welcome! Anneli says: “I was very nervous, I felt like a 16 year old fan and my whole body was shaking. ‘Dark Is The Night’ is one of my favourite songs and when Paul started playing it on the sound check, the idea me singing it tonight was born.”

After a very rocky version of “Locust”, a-ha head towards the climax of the show, consisting of ‘Scoundrel Days’, ‘Take On Me’ and ‘The Living Daylights’. a-ha are overwhelmed by the reaction from the audience – Magne says: “One of our best memories back in the 90′s was touring in South America, thank you for inviting us back” and Morten adds: “Thank you for a great evening!”

For more pictures from the São Paulo show, check out this web address: http://www.terra.com.br/musica/2002/08/15/004.htm
Click on the link: Fotos do show em SP

 

And more: http://www.uol.com.br/folha/galeria/album/p_15aha_01.shtml
Click on the little cubes on the left

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Report from the Rio concert:

Just as we had expected it!
Rio de Janeiro, August 16

Everybody is relieved to leave São Paulo and move on to sunny Rio de Janeiro – and so are we! Sugar Loaf, Copacabana and Corcovado (Jesus), here we come!

As soon as the doors open, fans are streaming into the sold-out venue. Unlike the other venues, the ATL Hall accommodates about 90% of the audience standing which will make a huge difference to previous shows. Among the crowd we see some familiar fan faces who were not scared about the 6-hour bus journey from São Paulo to witness another a-ha concert and they would not be disappointed.

The party is in full swing when a-ha walk on stage and the band is welcomed by thunderous applause. Right from the start, Morten gets vocal support, he does not even have to sing the ‘Minor Earth Major Sky’ chorus, the audience takes on that part for him. The Brazilian promoter is busy sorting out local photographers and TV crews but even he cannot resist swinging his hips to the sounds of a-ha.

The party continues with ‘Forever Not Yours’, fans are throwing confetti into the air and are waving banners and flags representing a variety of South American countries. During ‘I’ve Been Losing You’, the Brazilian audience shows their real hot temperament by jumping up and down and we know that this is exactly what we had expected it to be! ‘Did Anyone Approach You’ becomes more and more one of the highlights of the shows; Magne and Paul give their utmost, going to the ultimate limit with their guitars and if any critics say a-ha are not a rock band, this song will prove them wrong.

An ocean of waving hands accompanies ‘Stay On These Roads’ and during ‘Hunting High And Low’, the fans even sing louder than the band which Magne really seems to appreciate, commenting: ‘It’s good to hear you sing!’ With the all time classics ‘Scoundrel Days’, ‘Take On Me’ and ‘The Living Daylights’, the audience erupts and we finally have ‘that’ Brazilian feeling…

The encore consisting of ‘Manhattan Skyline’, ‘The Sun Never Shown That Day’ and ‘The Sun Always Shines On TV’ make the grand finale to an outstanding show and leaves us even more excited to make the long way to Barretos tomorrow (get your maps out!).

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New! Report from the Barretos concert:

A show to remember – for whatever reasons!
Barretos, August 17

Barretos – somewhere in Brazil. If you could not locate it on a map, no worries, we could not locate it either at first! Originally thinking it was just on the outskirts of Sao Paulo, we were proved wrong to eventually find the place about 500km away!

The closest airport Ribeirao Preto is about 100km away from Barretos and the city itself only offers about 5 hotels while the majority of guests of the festival would overnight in tents. It almost proved like a logistical nightmare to get from Rio to Barretos in time, however we decided to go for the ‘Russian roulette option’: driving!

While a-ha are still catching up on some sleep after the Rio concert, we get up a the crack of dawn, fly to Sao Paulo and jump into our air-conditioned car, clocking up the miles towards Barretos. To our very (positive) surprise, the Brazilian roads are extremely good and remind us more of the German Autobahn than the roads off the beaten track that we had expected. And along the way, huge posters are advertising the rodeo festival and a-ha headlining one of the shows.
Being ahead of schedule (ergh…. which schedule?!), we decide on a pit-stop at Ribeirao Preto airport. a-ha’s crew has just arrived and makes its way by bus to the festival site to ensure everything is set up for tonight’s show.

a-ha land in Ribeirao Preto in the early afternoon by plane from Rio via Sao Paulo however they don’t even get a bus to pick them up from the plane to the terminal building, they have to walk! And this all after Magne and Paul had to sit in economy class while the backing band enjoyed the luxury of flying business class… back to basics!

Since accommodation in the Barretos area is limited, the organiser of the event has arranged a hotel for a-ha and their crew in Bebedouro, halfway between the airport and Barretos, however some people are under the impression, they are already at their final destination when they reach the hotel – no guys, you have another 50km bus journey to the venue!

The ‘Festa Do Peao’ www.independentes.com.br was established in the 1950s and has become the 2nd largest rodeo festival in the world. Over the recent years, international artists such as Shania Twain and Garth Brooks have performed during the 10 day festival. The festival site reminds us of a massive fun fair with food stands, merry-go-rounds and thousands of people dressed in cowboy outfits!

In the early hours of the evening, a-ha’s crew set up the stage and do the sound check. A confused cowboy girl approaches us, asking if this was a-ha already on stage – to be honest, we were a bit dubious at this stage if this was actually the right place for a-ha to perform…
Approximately 30 people fill the seats and the grounds of the stadium, which looks pretty amazing, especially when a Brazilian cowboy enters the stage and encourages the audience to a Mexican wave.

This is definitely not the average audience a-ha would expect to come to their show, therefore the band slightly change their set list; they kept ‘Manhattan Skyline’ and added ‘Early Morning’.
We are sure every Brazilian a-ha fans knows the new a-ha material, however the majority of the Barretos audience still lives in the a-ha world of 1991, singing along to the major hits such as ‘Take On Me’, ‘Stay On These Roads’ and ‘Hunting High And Low’. The band tries their utmost to get the audience going (Magne even tries a dance on stage!) however a-ha are not a Country & Western band which would have been more suitable for such event. This was a very different a-ha concert for all of us – and we will all remember it, even if it is for the wrong reasons.

The morning after… sleepy heads are shortly risen for breakfast. And while we are heading back to Europe, a-ha have to spend their day off in Bebedouro before travelling to Porto Alegre in the evening for their final Brazilian show.

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Set list for São Paulo, August 14

Minor Earth Major Sky
You Wanted More
The Sun Never Shone That Day
Lifelines
Manhattan Skyline
I’ve Been Losing You
Time And Again
Did Anyone Approach You
Turn The Lights Down
Stay On These Roads
Hunting High And Low
Locust
Take On Me
The Living Daylights

Forever Not Yours
Summer Moved On
The Sun Always Shines On TV

Set list for São Paulo, August 15

Minor Earth Major Sky
Forever Not Yours
Lifelines
I’ve Been Losing You
Time And Again
Summer Moved On
Did Anyone Approach You
Dark Is The Night (sung by Anneli Drecker)
Stay On These Roads
Hunting High And Low
Locust
Scoundrel Days
Take On Me
The Living Daylights

You Wanted More
The Sun Never Shone That Day
The Sun Always Shines On TV

Set list for Rio de Janeiro, August 16

Minor Earth Major Sky
Forever Not Yours
Lifelines
I’ve Been Losing You
Time And Again
Summer Moved On
Did Anyone Approach You
Dark Is The Night (sung by Anneli Drecker)
Stay On These Roads
Hunting High And Low
Locust
Scoundrel Days
Take On Me
The Living Daylights

Manhattan Skyline
The Sun Never Shone That Day
The Sun Always Shines On TV

Set list for Barretos, August 17

Minor Earth Major Sky
Forever Not Yours
Lifelines
Manhattan Skyline
I’ve Been Losing You
Time And Again
Did Anyone Approach You
Dark Is The Night (performed by Anneli Drecker)
Stay On These Roads
Early Morning
Hunting High And Low
Scoundrel Days
The Living Daylights

Summer Moved on
The Sun Always Shines On TV
Take On Me