Original ArticleReviewed by Kjell Henning Thon (translated by cindy kandolf a-ha was the best bit in a mixed bag of candy - with far too many flavors. For a few minutes last night we believed once again that a-ha was the world's most popular band, right now. "The Sun Always Shines On TV" was rough, hard-edged, rocking, nostalgic and modern at the same time. It appears that a-ha are really together again. Because they want to be creative together, because they love to play and have to get it out. Unfortunately the same can't be said about the new song, "Summer Moved On". After a careful introduction, a strange rock ballad appears, and we didn't hear the song that was going to kick-start a new a-ha career. It was weak, tame and unfocused. In that sense it has clear parallels to the rest of the Nobel concert. Though there are many good elements, they weren't sewn together well enough. Alanis Morrissette dedicates "Thank You" to the Northern Irish Nobel prize winners, John Hume and David Trimble, and has the worst sound quality in the world. In terms of volume she's in a class all her own. Even ignoring the question of volume, the arrangers have put together a concert program which is simply not logically connected. The meaningful parts of the concert are the video clips, the greetings and speeches. The musical part is pure and simple entertainment. In addition, we are offered little tastes of many different things, but together they don't go anywhere. This is of course a general danger with so many artists from such different genres, but here there was really too much empty space, too many breaks. The concert arrangers could have worked harder at making the transitions flow more smoothly. As it was, there were too many "advertisements". Greetings from [Norwegian Prime Minister Kjell Magne] Bondevik and [British Prime Minister Tony] Blair, the Irish Prime Minister, from Gerry Adams, and from the Nobel Peace Prize winner from 1976, Mairead Corrigan. From Bono and Elton John. Bill Clinton. And Hume and Trimble were dragged up on stage and said thank you for the prize once again. They stayed there to listen to children from the Steiner School in Oslo sing "O Come All Ye Faithful". In between all this, the artists keep drawing us in different directions. Mali's Oumou Sangare and British Phil Collins have strikingly little in common. And the only similarity between The Cranberries and Espen Lind is the sound problems they both had to deal with. Lind's brand-new "Pop From Hell" is an unoriginal but still very catchy power ballad. But what was the main thought from the concert arrangers? Is the concert only to entertain or should the artists mean something as well? The audience gave their answer in the form of the reception granted the evening's only genuine Irish contribution. They were much more positive to James Galway (flute) and Phil Coulter (piano) than their usual popularity would have predicted. It seems like much of the audience had better reason to be there than most of the artists.