Árstíðir – Projekt Bürgerbanhof, Wuppertal; September 15th, 2013
“I travel with the band” was all I said when I arrived at the venue and suddenly I was sitting backstage, waiting for them. Upon arrival I realized I had won the “race” to Wuppertal. Walking into the train station, I further realized that the venue was not outside, but right there, a part of the station. OK, interesting. Took pictures of the tour poster on tha door when it opened and a friendly woman asked me if I wanted a flyer. So I explained what I was doing there and she asked me in. 🙂 This might have been the strangest thing happening to me so far on this tour. Thus, when the guys arrived about 20 minutes later, I was enjoying a cup of tea, greeting them “I am here already!'” – feeling very much liked the hedgehog from the fairy tale by the Brothers Grimm (“The hare and the hedgehog”).
This was the first time they allowed me backstage before the show and I was in full fangirl mode for a while. Then everything went back to normal, I talked to whoever wanted to talk, but mostly stayed out of their way and did my own thing, snapping afew pictures, waiting for soundcheck. The venue was really small, it would hold about 100 people and many had pre-ordered tickets. Soundcheck was difficult this time around. Something sounded off. They finally managed though, while people were already lining up outside.
I sat down right in front of the stage, at the center, hoping that would be a good spot for pictures. The gang from Solingen arrived a little before they concert started. I was happy to see them again after Essen in April. Soon we learned that the gig was sold out. Yay! When it started, most people stood up, but I chose to remain seated. It was a nice perspective and the stage was quite low anyway. I wondered if people in the back could see anything at all.
Myrra played her usual 6 song set, but without anyone from Árstíðir. It was still beautiful and the sing along to ‘Sail on’ was great this time around. Here was an audience that knew how to sing. I can only repeat myself here: I am really enjoying her music and I’m glad she is supporting the guys on this tour. She surely deserves the exposure. 🙂
Árstíðir were a bit crammed on the small stage, but they did not seem to mind and enjoyed the evening. Ragnar remarked about all the familiar faces in the crowd and they told us jokes again during the concert, even to the point where they asked if we wanted to hear another joke or another song. 😀
They had some strange feedback here and there and in the beginning, they still needed adjustment of the monitor sound. Jón explained that the sound changes when people are in the room and that it wasn’t the sound engineers fault. Therefore, Daníel concluded that it was our fault to which Jón just said dryly: “Daníel! We can’t take you anywhere!’ *giggles*
Gunnar liked the fact that it was “ausverkauft” and told us it was his new favorite German word. Before it used to be “jetzt”. There were many other moments that made me laugh and the audience welcomed them warmly and reacted well to everything. It was the funniest gig so far, such a joy watching the guys being relaxed and laughing all the time. <3 At one point they had a brief discussion and explained they were still debating what to play. With a wink and a smile we were told the advantage of talking Icelandic was that none of us knew what was going on.
Oh the music? It was just awesome. I enjoyed every note of every song as if I was hearing it for the first time. Looking around I saw happy faces everywhere. Myrra and Linda came to watch for a while and even they were in awe. Absolutely amazing performance and great interaction with the audience too. <3 Even though almost everyone was standing up, the attention level was high. It seemed like we were all tuned in to the band that night.
For the encores they had to move a microphone and it was shaky for a while so I jokingly asked them to please not drop it on me. 🙂 For ‘Góða veislu gjöra skal’ they walked among the audience again and since we would not stop cheering after that, they gave us another Icelandic song on top. One “with proper fifths” and all that – this show left me with my jaw on the floor. Well done guys, very well done!
Setlist
Sunday Morning
Heiðin
Á meðan jörðin sefur
Orð að eigin vali
Brestir
þér ég unni
Lost in you
Day and Nights
Við dagsins hnig
Ljoð í Sand
Ages
You just have to know of me
Nú gleymist ég
Shades/Tárin
Encore
Til Hennar
And so it goes
Góða veislu gjöra skal
Ísland farsældafrón?
I walked out of the venue elated, chatted, watched everyone, listened to Karl explain his tattoo to C. (it is a sound wave from a specific song – I had no idea). Also was given a tour posted, but totally forgot to have it signed, because the show was not over just yet. I think it was Myrra who noticed the reverb (echo) in the train station was great and the guys decided to give it a try and spontaneously performed ‘Heyr himna smiður’ for the lucky people who had not left yet. It was beautiful. <3
Most people left, I still hung out talking a bit, not wanting the night to end, despite having to work the next morning. All of a sudden they were in a hurry, but then stopped again to try another song out in the hall. This time they performed ‘And so it goes’ – my own private encore, only shared with the people from the venue. Thank you guys! <3 We said goodbye and with happy memories I waited at the train station in the rain to finally go home. So far, so good. 🙂
Árstíðir Germany tour fall 2013 – 5 concert down, 5 to go. Next stop: Dresden