Two special club gigs in Spain

On October 3, a-ha landed in Spain, and finally they could do the shows that they were booked to do in June, but unfortunately had to cancel. They played at the Razzmatazz in Barcelona on October 4 and at La Riviera in Madrid the day after. Both clubs were sold out and packed with enthusiastic Spanish fans who started singing long before the band entered the stage. Before the Madrid gig, Morten, Mags and Paul decided to include ‘Crying In The Rain’ in the set. Judith, Petra and Judith, who have seen more than 80 a-ha shows, and who wrote the reports from Brazil, have written about the concert in Madrid.

Ole, Ole, Ole – a concert to remember!
By JPJ

An air traffic strike in June 2002 forced a-ha to postpone their shows in Barcelona and Madrid, but in the beginning of October, a-ha finally reached Spanish shores to present their ‘Lifelines’ tour. Over the years, a-ha has never performed live in Spain, so nobody really knew what to expect – but no one was left disappointed.

In June, a-ha had to face a strike; in October, they had to face cancelled flights! The band’s flight from Barcelona to Madrid was cancelled, and while the airline tried everything possible to book them onto the next possible flight, Magne and his family drew the short straw and had to wait for a later flight. And upon arrival in Madrid, a-ha were then faced with lost luggage!

While a-ha had been playing massive venues throughout their German and Swiss tour, and had a chance to experiment with song material, their production was placed into the much smaller ‘La Riviera’ in Madrid, holding up to 2000 people. Fans had been queuing up since midday to get a place in the front row; however, when the band arrived for their sound check in the late afternoon, a small chaos erupted.

There were many people running after the band’s cars in order to catch a glimpse of them or to get an autograph. And they were not disappointed – glowing, happy, smiling faces rejoined the queue, anxiously waiting for the doors to open. a-ha’s sound check lasted longer than usual – for the 7th time, you could hear the sounds of ‘Cry Wolf’ through the locked doors, and even ‘I Call Your Name’ was spotted; the band seemed to be rehearsing for their forthcoming UK and Ireland concerts…

Razzmatazz, Barcelona October 4, 2002

Even before the band headed to the stage, the audience showed their enthusiasm by singing ‘Ole ole ole’ and we wondered what would happen when the band actually started their show… ‘Forever Not Yours’ was the perfect opening song – a strong intro, mysterious and easy for the audience to sing along – and gosh they did! The band could hardly hear themselves — and this was not just during the first song, the audience knew the words to every single song and sang along from start to finish.

a-ha’s set list nowadays is almost perfect, with additions since their club tour from June this year – ‘The Blood That Moves The Body’ with a blues touch, ‘Swing Of Things’, an all-time favorite from the ‘Scoundrel Days’ album, ‘Oranges On Appletrees’ turning more and more into a musical symphony masterpiece, and last but not least, the most experimental songs of this tour: the rocky ‘Sycamore Leaves’ (sung by Paul) and the melancholic ‘Dragonfly’ (sung by Magne). And a-ha kept surprises for their audience, replacing ‘Turn The Lights Down’ with ‘Crying In The Rain’.

A concert to remember – this time for the right reasons!

La Riviera, Madrid October 5, 2002