Great album by a great band who recently made a comeback with two strong studio albums. This double live album provides a good overview of their career, featuring many of their hits, and well-recorded strong performances by the band.

Unfortunately, the music is presented in a 'copy-protected' format (not a 'redbook' standard CD), in which the audio signal is corrupted to discourage digital copying. This leads to a loss in sound quality when the errors are corrected on an ordinary CD player. Moreover, the first disc will not play at all on a computer - instead you must use the included proprietary software player to play 'compressed' versions of the tracks. Not only are these tracks badly edited, cutting off a second or two earlier than they should, but they are also VERY poor in sound quality, playing at only 22 kHz. We should not all be made to suffer because some people copy music.

In summary, great music, but a lousy format. Buyer BEWARE if you want to play this disc in your computer or high-end audio system.

Unfortunately for the usa ...and a-ha, this band will always be known for "take on me" here in the states. and that is very unfortunate, because their last two studio albums are masterpieces.absolute perfection.A-ha is a band that gets better with each album, never giving signs of weakness in their material.I'm not a big fan of live albums, but having seen last years live dvd of a-ha's homecoming concert,i was blown away.I knew i had to order this live cd, because living in America, the chances of seeing A-ha live are slim to none. The bottom line to this review is that A-ha is one of those bands that sound a hundred times better live. So much passion and emotion come through Morten Harket's vocals that to this day i still get goosebumps listening to "Hunting High and Low". wait till you hear the live version! even their 80's hits sound fresh live. nothing here sounds dated. theo only dissapointment for me is that "the blood that moves the body", which is one of my favorites is not included here. but thats ok, because "scoundrel days" and "manhattan skyline" are. Quick, get this limited edition double cd. it is worth the 30 bucks. and spread the word.

I remember seeing this band in 85 in Concord,Ca. I was broke. I sold a bunch of records to buy a ticket. I had just enough money for the train to the venue and a Norwegian soldier gave me the quarter for the bus. He told me that this band had to be seen to be appreciated because they were being labeled as a kind of teen idol band and they might not survive the label. I was floored by the show. I became an AF pilot and was absolutely the only person I knew of that was an A-ha fan. I bought every record and found something to like about them all. I was ribbed mercilessly by my fellow fliers when it was discovered that I had A-ha records. I took many of them to see the band while in Europe and they also became fans. This live CD illustrates what this band is. Just fabulous musicians, songwriters and performers. Its as simple as that. America needs to open its mind and lift this band to its rightful place among serious musicians. Minor Earth, Major Sky is one of the best songs I have heard in at least a decade and it is performed superbly. I'd buy the disc just for that one track but it just so happens that the others are great songs so that would make this one a steal. Run...don't walk to get this one.

When I first listened the CD I was doing so on a PC...big mistake, as the sound through the player provided on this copy-protected CD made it sound terrible. Even still, on a regular player the sound quality could have been better to do justice to this great music. Having said that, the songs are excellent, as you would expect. In most cases, these are harder, edgier versions of the studio versions which is a good thing. We finally get to hear the fantastic guitar work from Pal many of us are familiar with from his work in Savoy. CD2 leaves me wanting more songs, like something from Memorial Beach perhaps? Maybe next live CD. There were a few surprises for me on this CD: Stay on These Roads sounds way, way better live than the studio version. The Sun Always Shines actually sounds as good as the studio version, which I wouldn't have thought possible, and Harkett does indeed actually carry that entire note in Summer Moved On without taking a breath. Worth purchasing the limited edition for the second CD, especially for Sycamore Leaves.

a-ha will play their first U.S. concert since October 1986 on Sept. 12, 2005 at Irving Plaza, New York City. It's been along time coming and you'll get the chance to hear the live album tracks... well, live! This show will surely help re-acquaint the U.S. market to this fantastic band! This live album is well produced and recorded, crowd noise is at a minimum but boosted just at the right moments for full concert effect. Vocally, you're not going to get a better performance than from Morten Harket's voice like an angel. See you at the show!