Ending on a High Note: Final Concert

A-ha's "Ending on a High Note: Final Concert" is a very pleasant concert, aurally and visually. The band and the audience are polite, pleasing, and gracious.The stage has three huge and sophisticated high tech backscreens, displaying constantly changing images.Techno pop elements are on most of the songs, including their hit "Take On Me". That is the only song which I and probably most people know, here in the States. Their overall sound is delightful and has a nice feel to it.A-ha has been around for about 25 years, and all three original band members look fairly fit and lean. In addition, there are two new people with the band.Audio options are PCM Stereo and DTS MA 5.1.Here is the song list.1. The Sun Always Shines On TV2. Move To Memphis3. The Blood That Moves The Body4. Scoundrel Days5. The Swing Of Things6. Forever Not Yours7. Stay On These Roads8. Manhattan Skyline9. Hunting High And Low10. We're Looking For The Whales11. Butterfly, Butterfly (The Last Hurrah)12. Crying In The Rain13. Minor Earth, Major Sky14. Summer Moved On15. I've Been Losing You16. Foot Of The Mountain17. Cry Wolf18. Analogue19. The Living Daylights20. Take On MeAt 20 songs, and about one hour and 48 minutes, this concert is long._____________________________________________________________________There are two extra features.The first one is a very brief documentary at just under 15 minutes. It is basicallyfan appreciation, with a few words from the band members.Subtitles are offered only for this documentary.FrenchItalianGermanSpanishNorwegianRussianLatin American SpanishBrazilian PortugueseJapaneseThe second feature is a very brief black and white photo gallery, with just a few pictures.The concert was filmed at the Oslo Spektrum, in Norway, on December 04, 2010.

I like many people here in the U.S. missed out on a-ha for the last 25 years. Hunting High and Low was the first album I ever bought, sadly, it took me until now to rediscover them. This is definitely one of the top five concert blu-rays that I own. The only one I would definitely put ahead of this is Queen Rock Montreal & Live Aid (that film is incredible in itself considering how long ago it was shot). Jeff Beck Live at Ronnie Scott's is a great concert blu-ray, but comparing that to this concert is like comparing apples to oranges. The performance here is stellar. All the band members are at the peak of their game. The sound mixing is excellent. Stage setup and visuals at the concert are incredible. Cinematography and visual mixing is excellent. Can't give this enough stars. Now I'm going back and buying all the albums that I missed out on! Hopefully a-ha will see how much they are missed and somehow see to unretire at some point (30th anniverary tour?), and hopefully make one last visit to the U.S.A. for all the stupid people like me who missed out on them all these years...As an aside, when I first heard the song "We're Looking for the Whales", the song sounded so fresh, I thought it must have been from one of a-ha's last albums...I was shocked when I found out the song was on the album Scoundrel Days...a 26 year old album!!!I've also come to realize one of the factors in a-ha deciding to retire is that for someone Morten's age to continue singing all those impossible high notes...it just can't be done forever...

Great sound and visual of their "last" concert. Lots of energy. A nice addition for a A-ha fan.Note regarding DVD playback requirements.Main production description says: Media Format : Multilpe formats, PAL, Import, and Playback region 2.and in the minor Product Description: NTSC/Region 0.So what will you get??? From my seller, I received a PAL, Region 0. Fortunately I have a DVD player that plays this, and also plays on my computer CD-ROM. Perhaps different sellers, have different versions. Check with seller first, if the DVD format is a concern for you.

This is a nice concert but one can't help but feel that A-ha was right in their decision to retire. 25 years on, it feels like I just bought my first A-ha album last week...but time has flown. As I watched Morten, Mags and Pal in close-up, I realised that an era had come to a close. If their faces were anything to go by in this show, it was time.Despite delivering the hits, I could almost sense the fire and passion smouldering even as the boys played the right songs and hit the right notes. Part of it felt a little funereal. They seem melancholy in this show somehow, only cracking a smile now and then.A-ha has never been less than professional. Yet, despite their tight musicianship, a strange repression of passion in this final act seemed to permeate as one song played after another. No longer young exuberant pop-meisters, the trio looked decidedly more worn but still cut a striking sight.So this was a modest and polite farewell - not about striking a high note. For a band that's delivered many emotive pieces, they kept their feelings in check. Goodbye A-ha.

The release of 'Foot of the mountain' saw my wife & I take an interest in a-ha again. We saw this farewell tour at Nottingham's ice arena & I have to say were pretty impressed.The release here of the end of the tour in, naturally enough, Oslo promises much.The intro. see's a darkened arena lit by blue neon & laser and immediately the extra crispness of Blu Ray is highlighted with just a little shimmering of the light here and there. The sound of the audience surrounds the listener but quite subtly as left & right keyboard effects follow the band doing the usual 'heroic slo-mo' walk to the stage. Once the lights go up the sharp detail is evident everywhere and on occasion can be pretty unforgiving at showing just how many years it's been since 'Hunting high & low' was first released & the band were as popular as pin ups as for their music.The opening track, 'The sun always shines on TV' is a little lacklustre, no surprise here, I remember the Nottingham concert took about 3 tracks to get going and here is no different with both the band & the audience not being fully warmed up until around track 4, 'Scoundrel days',. From here on in things motor along far more freely & less stiffly with vocals being stretched further and a stronger presence from the keyboard.However it has to be said that while nicely detailed and deftly handling the old surround problem of where to place the audience sound & just how loud should they be, the surround mix fails to completely sparkle. The main problem is that the drums are far too recessed in the mix and so the driving rhythm is missing.The echo of the arena is not cancelled out enough in the sound edit and leaves things too lightweight. While earth shattering low frequency was unlikely this really doesn't ever get the sub. going and while it is fine on the quieter tracks it is unlikely to get anyone on their feet during faster & more pop oriented songs. Vocals are clear and centred nicely.The picture is very good with primary colours lighting up the stage as the light show flicks away above the band. One regret is that more of the display cannot be seen. The visuals displayed on the screen were excellent, especially during 'Take on me' and the slow retrospective. Unfortunately too much of this would have spoilt the 'live' atmosphere but an optional 'angle' that showed the display would have been nice and not really too much to ask. A bit of a missed opportunity really.The director gets things just about spot on. All the usual 'live' pitfalls are avoided, too much gawping at the audience, ridiculous angles, stupid effects, seeing what's going on backstage during the concert,(who cares?), and the headache inducing handi-cam are all dumped in the bin and this is so much better for it.The concert track listing is different from the UK and sadly there is only 1 track from the excellent 'foot of the mountain' album, (the title track). The belting live version of 'Bandstand' seen in the UK was sadly chopped from this.The Blu Ray itself has a low key menu that seems more like a DVD one.The extras are a 15 minute last concert documentary and a photo gallery.Audio is either stereo or DTS HD 5.1.There are a lot of subtitles to choose from. French, Spanish, German, Norwegian, Russian, Japanese, Brazilian Portuguese & Latin American Spanish.For the fans this is a pleasant enough farewell. I'm just left feeling that with only a little more effort this could have been so much more. Why no proper retrospective? The picture is top drawer but surely the sound is vital for a concert so why has this been mixed in such a lacklustre fashion?There are times when I despair at the lazy approach that some companies have to Blu-Ray. There is so much potential but they just can't be bothered.The picture, direction & editing and ease of use are all 5*. The extras & especially the sound are barely 3*.For a band that has lasted so well and has such a large & faithful following both they & their fans had a right to expect better than this.

This is a wonderful recording of A-ha's farewell show in Oslo in December 2010. The quality of the production and camera work are simply awesome. The whole atmosphere is captured brilliantly. It is not often that I will watch the same music blu-ray more than once or twice but I keep going back to this one.People underestimate this band. Beyond the Alan Partridge jokes, these guys are really first rate musicians and song writers. The band sing their best material - the hits and great album tracks from the Sun Always Shines to Hunting High and Low, The Living Daylights and, of course, Take on Me. I hope they re-unite because they have a chemistry and atmosphere that is hard to beat.Morten Harkett has a great falsetto voice and he is still very much a bit of a heart throb in his early fifties - he looks twenty years younger. I would totally recommend this blu-ray to any one who likes this great band and if you were not too sure, give it a try. They are not AC|DC or Bon Jovi - they don't sweat and swear or swagger like Jagger but there is a commanding style to their music. I must admit it - I love A-ha and hope they get back together again in the next few years.

They called this "Ending On A High Note - The Final Concert" and they were not wrong at all. They really did end of a "High Note" their performance was truly Stunning, Thought Provoking with fantastic backdrop video animation and great set design.Everything was done to a grand scale and lavish design; their live versions of their songs were amazingly crafted and well executed. The three performers were awesome and gave this concert all they had to offer, they really did put their hearts, minds and souls into their performance and their dedication and commitment shows.If you are new to a-ha or have been a lifelong follower of a-ha then this bluray version of "Ending On A High Note - The Final Concert" is for you, it's something you can enjoy time and time again. I highly recommend this product.

Having seen A-ha play live on a number of occasions, most notably during their last Farewell tour, I was delighted to see this dvd on Amazon. To have a record of what was virtually the same concert we saw them play in Manchester was wonderful.And what an awesome dvd it is. For any A-ha fan this is a must. It is a fantastic recording of a memorable concert, that shows that even 25 or more years on from those early songs Morten can still hit all those notes just as well as he ever could. The music is great, the singing is great, it's a truly superb send off for this great band. Highly recommended.

As a huge admirer of A-ha since the beginning, I really enjoyed this DVD and it's so sad they're calling it a day, but understandable. My only niggle is the selection of songs they chose to play at the gig. Believe me, A-ha have superb songs which never went near the charts and it's a shame they opted to play the more commercialised - arguably overplayed - tracks rather than selecting tracks only their true admirers would know. Moan aside, a huge thank you to A-ha anyway for this DVD and the years and years of quality tunes. We'll miss you!