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Friday, March 29, 2024

Harket just couldn’t bow out

Morten Harket, former lead singer of the retired Norwegian rock band “a-ha,” either misses the spotlight, seeks new sources of fresh income or simply still loves to sing. Whatever the reason, he’s re-launching a solo career and embarking on an extensive concert tour.

Singer Morten Harket is mounting a comeback. PHOTO: Views and News

Harket has an album coming out in Norway next month, timed to coincide with the concert tour that begins in Russia on April 16. The tour will swing through Belarus and Germany before moving on to Switzerland, Belgium, France and the UK in mid-May.

After a four-month hiatus, Harket will reappear on stage back home in Oslo on September 14, when, as newspaper Dagsavisen noted, he’ll be celebrating his 53rd birthday. Harket’s new website (external link) also duly notes that a-ha itself would have been celebrating the band’s 30th anniversary if its three Norwegians had stayed together.

The mid-September weekend will thus feature several other band-related activities, in conjunction with an international fan club meeting in Oslo. Photographer Stian Andersen is also publishing a new book with his pictures of the group for fans who just can’t get enough of the band. Some of them will also be exhibited at the Oslo gallery where former band member Magne Furuholmen is involved, Stolper + Friends, from September 1-16.

Then Harket will resume his solo concert tour in Brazil, Argentina and Chile, where it will end in Santiago on September 30.

The band itself held a lengthy farewell tour in 2010 for what were supposed to be their last concerts ever. Many fans and music industry commentators didn’t believe it and indeed, the band re-united briefly to perform at a memorial following last summer’s terrorist attacks in Norway.

Now Harket claims “the spirit of a-ha is deep inside me.” The band’s “grand finale,” he said, “has left all options open.”

Views and News staff

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