a-ha to play 3 rare U.S. concerts in New York, Los Angeles as part of 2010 farewell tour

Norwegian pop giants a-ha will bring their worldwide 2010 farewell tour to the United States for three concerts in New York and Los Angeles in May — a short trek that marks just the second time the trio will have performed on American soil since their U.S. commercial heyday in 1986.

Last fall, a-ha — Morten Harket, Paul Waaktaar-Savoy and Magne Furuholmen — announced it will end its 28-year career with a final concert on Dec. 4 in Oslo, Norway. Beginning on March 4 in Buenos Aires, Argentina, the band embarks on a global farewell tour, hitting South America and Europe, and possibly Australia, before a final Oslo run in December (see full tour dates below).

Friday, the group announced it will play the Nokia Theatre in New York on May 6 and 7, and Club Nokia in Los Angeles on May 15; fan-club presales begin Tuesday. The last time a-ha played the U.S. was in 2005, when the band performed a single concert in New York.

Before that, a-ha hadn’t performed in America since a lengthy 1986 tour that wrapped up in October of that year — around the time of the release of Scoundrel Days, the band’s sophomore album and follow-up to 1985’s massively successful Hunting High and Low and its smash single “Take On Me.”

While a-ha didn’t return to the America for nearly two decades, and never replicated its success here, the band remained extremely popular worldwide — selling a reported 35 million albums over its nearly 30-year run — and remains the biggest-selling Norwegian act of all time. The band last year released its ninth album, Foot of the Mountain. (See video below for the “Foot of the Mountain” single.)

In announcing the band’s break-up, the trio said, “Doing this now will give us a chance to get more involved in other meaningful aspects of life, be it humanitarian work, politics, or whatever else — and of course through new constellations in the field of art and music. We are retiring as a band, not as individuals.”

See full a-ha tour dates and ‘Foot of the Mountain’ video after the jump…

a-ha tour dates:

March 4: Luna Park, Buenos Aires, Argentina
March 9: Alameda Quality Center, Bauru, Brazil
March 10: Credicard Hall, São Paulo, Brazil
March 13: Citibank Hall, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
March 16: Centro de Convenções – Brasília, Brazil
March 18: Chevrolet Hall, Recife, Brazil
March 20: Siara Hall, Fortaleza, Brazil
May 6: Nokia Theatre, New York, NY, USA
May 7: Nokia Theatre, New York, NY, USA
May 15: Club Nokia, Los Angeles, CA, USA
May 28: Warsteiner HockeyPark, Mönchengladbach, Germany
May 29: Arena Trier, Trier, Germany
May 30: Stadtallendorf, Hessentag, Germany
June 1: Sparkassen-Arena-Kiel, Kiel, Germany
July 18: Schloß Salem, Salem, Germany
July 23: Schlossplatz, Emmendingen, Germany
July 24: Gerry Weber Stadion, Halle, Germany
July 25: Filmnächte am Elbufer, Dresden, Germany
Oct. 10: Heineken Music Hall, Amsterdam, Netherlands
Oct. 11: Forest National, Brussels, Belgium
Oct. 18: Olympiahalle München, München, Germany
Oct. 19: Porsche-Arena, Stuttgart, Germany
Oct. 21: Arena Nürnberger, Nürnberg, Germany
Oct. 22: Arena Leipzig, Leipzig, Germany
Oct. 23: Stadthalle Rostock, Rostock, Germany
Oct. 25: Volkswagen Halle, Braunschweig, Germany
Oct. 26: SAP Arena, Mannheim, Germany
Oct. 28: Color Line Arena, Hamburg, Germany
Oct. 29: O2 World, Berlin, Germany
Dec. 2: Oslo Spektrum, Oslo, Norway
Dec. 3: Oslo Spektrum, Oslo, Norway
Dec. 4: Oslo Spektrum, Oslo, Norway

Video: a-ha, “Foot of the Mountain,” single released 2009

Video: a-ha, “Take On Me,” recorded in Times Square, 9/11/05