Árstíðir / Anneke van Giersbergen / Pain of Salvation – Szene, Vienna; April 8th 2013

Third day in a row, leaving sunny Budapest around noon to go on to Vienna – I had the departure times wrong, but luckily I arrived at the train station early. Three hours later my friend S. picked me up at the Westbahnhof station. We went to her place, had lunch and I talked her into joining me for the concert. 🙂

We arrived at the Szene early, with only two other people waiting. It was colder than expected and we were freezing, but had lots of fun nonetheless. Together, we always come up with the craziest ideas and conversations. 😉 Met Karl and Hallgrímur before the gig and said hello.

They were running late this time around and let us in at the time the concert was supposed to start. Bad news for us since we had to catch the last train at 00:30 to make it back to S.’s place at all. Everything else worked fine though: I got a photopass (thanks to Maria!) and we made it to the front.

For this night there was a fourth band, the local Conxious, who had apparently invited Pain of Salvation to come to Vienna. They were OK and fun to watch, but not really my cup of tea. I took the time to go out during their set and chat with Maria a little bit.

When Daniel G. walked out to open the show I already knew we would not be able to stay until the end. Pitty. There was a barrier this time around so I actually got to walk around between stage and front row to take pictures. There were only two of us so it was easy not to get in each other’s way.

The doorbell rang and to my surprise Árstíðir were up first this time around. Daniel G. stayed with them for ‘Road Salt’, then left. I felt much more like listening than taking pictures and spent quite some time just leaning on to the barriers and enjoying the moment. Maria came in to watch their set too and we smiled at each other briefly.

As much as I loved listening to the guys I loved watching the audience’s reaction. It was clear how impressed they were – the clapping and cheering growing louder with each song. Seeing Árstíðir take an audience by storm makes me feel happy and proud of them every time. The most important verdict that night came from S. though – if I drag someone to a concert I want them to enjoy it of course. She did – success! 😀

The setlist was one song shorter than the previous night, but did not grab me any less. Anneke joined them for the Anathema song ‘Everwake’ and I remembered taking pictures for a change. After that I let the music carry me away once again, once again close to tears. One day the beauty of their music might just kill me. Until then I will enjoy it as much as I can. When they ended the set with ‘Tárin’ I didn’t want them to leave.

Setlist

Road Salt
Á Meðan Jörðin Sefur
Heiðin
Ljóð í Sand
Everwake (Anathema cover)
Þér eg unni
Nú Gleymist Ég
Shades/Tárin

It was time for Anneke though so I took a deep breath to get ready. Before she could start, however, she realized that her guitar effects were still on and she wasn’t sure how to shut them off so she had to wait until Ragnar came to the rescue and changed the settings. 🙂

Her songs were beautifully delivered once again. She played ‘My Electricity’ and ‘4 Years’ on her own before she was joined by different members of Árstíðir again for the next two songs. A few more songs on her own followed. I loved her set, but do admit that it worked better for me when she played first

Setlist

My Electricity
Yalin
4 Years
Time After Time (Cyndi Lauper cover)
Beautiful One
Locked Away
Circles
Drowning Man (U2 cover)

During the break I took the chance for a brief chat with Ragnar since there would not be a chance after the concert. It wasn’t long before everything was set up for Pain of Salvation though. The anticipation was palbable.

The show was amazing, the mixtures of songs works really well. 🙂 I found a few new favorites that night and heard a few new stories too. For ‘Perfect Day’ Daniel G. was telling us he was once asked to perform it at a wedding and didn’t think it was going to work, but it did. I don’t remember many details, but the audience was good and I enjoyed hearing all the – now somewhat familiar – Songs once again.

Unfortunately we had to leave between ‘Iter Impius’ and “The Perfect Element’. I would have loved to stay, but it was not possible this time around so S. and I made our way outside. I hugged Maria goodbye before I left and told her I’d see her next week.

Setlist