Árstíðir – Speicher, Husum; September 27th, 2013

The northmost concert of this tour took place right by the harbor of Husum at a small, darkish venue run by a great bunch of people. The atmosphere was great, the audience too and the guys fed of this energy to create a beautiful, intimate concert. For me it was a lovely evening with lovely people, but for some reason it left me really sad – I felt the end of the tour coming.

My original plan had been to see a little bit of Husum, find food and check out the venue, but as I walked past it the guys arrived and I helped them carry their stuff inside. And then, I stayed. It just sorta happened. Talked to the people of the venue, who do all the work there for free and for the love of music. They were super nice and invited me for dinner. Unfortunately I had been back to my hotel in-between to get my small camera and had eaten on the way. Bad luck, the food looked and smelled great.

Either way, I had fun just being around during soundcheck and after. Positioned my small camera to film, found myself a seat in the front, waited. The lights were way too dark to take pictures, not better than candles, especially after Myrra asked them to turn it down a bit, because they were too warm.

As every night, her set was lovely and as every night she asked people if they wanted to sing. They did and they did it well. Afterwards I  chatted with a couple next to me and they told me how much thy enjoyed it. 🙂 I did too. Even with the same songs every night there are subtle differences in the songs that make each concert unique. 🙂 Tonight, Myrra had decided she wanted new hair, so she was wearing a wig. It looked pretty awesome too – totally different from her usual style. Her beautiful performance was well received.

Setlist:

Insomniac
Animal
Kveldúlfur
Sail on
Við og við tvö
Láru lag

During the break I noticed how packed the venue was – sold out, every seat taken and people standing by the wall. Success! The guys started some time after 9 pm, taking their now almost usual places with Ragnar on piano and Gunnar on baritone guitar. I took a deep breath and silently wished them good luck.

They were tired, the touring taking its toll, but that doesn’t mean they were any less brilliant. Every night they put their hearts and souls into the performance and every night they leave a happy and astounded audience behind. Still finding themselves in new roles, they had to work harder than just a week ago. All their efforts paid off – it was a wonderful show.

I remembered how Karl had told me in Diksmuide that he always wanted to sing ‘Á meðan jörðin sefur’ and now he got his wish and was visibly happy with it. Gunnar joked about learning a new instrument, the baritone guitar and played it well. Daníel and Hallgrímur more or less stayed comfortably in their old roles, building the foundation for the other three to rest upon. Ragnar was especially nervous that night, but visibly relaxed during the course of it.

Not every song was perfect, but every song was performed lovingly and many were brilliant that night. It made me happy that ‘þér ég unni’ was back on the set. My fears it may not work without Jón had been wrong – it worked just fine. ‘Shine’ was slower than the previous night and thus even more goosebump-inducing. Karl sang ‘Brestir’ this time which worked well and ‘Tárin’ was much better than the previous night, where Myrra had to struggle with some technical difficulties.

The audience was also better than in Osnabrück. Compared to the previous year they had been a bit lame, while here, at this small club they showed their appreciation. <3 It was a mixed group of people that had come for this gig, all united by the music they heard. Only few of them knew Árstíðir beforehand, but most walked away smiling. When it was over I was proud of the guys, felt they had not only survived, but done well.

Setlist:

Heiðin
Á meðan jörðin sefur
You just have to know of me
Brestir
þér ég unni
Sunday Morning
Days and Nights
Land mins föður
Við dagsins hnig
Shine
Orð að eigin vali
Ljoð í Sand
Látum okkur sjá
Næturylur
Nú gleymist ég
Shades/Tárin

Encore:
Ages
Góða veislu gjöra skal

The evening ended with quiet conversations, watching Karl and Daníel work, having leftover food, Linda and Myrra playing foosball, spilling red wine, hugs and the knowledge that one more show lay ahead. 🙂

Árstíðir  Germany tour fall 2013 – 10 concerts down, 1 to go. Next stop: Oyten