Árstíðir – Klub Paderewski, Karlovy Vary; April 26th, 2014
The day started in Gera where I woke up at 6 in the morning and could not go back to sleep no matter how hard I tried. The original plan had been to take a train at 11, but I spontaneously decided to try for the one at 7 instead. All the way to the Train Station and beyond I had Pain of Salvation’s “First Love” playing in my head “I want you to know I can’t sleep any more”. There was not enough time to buy any Food and I was dead tired when I arrived, but I had won a few hours to go sightseeing. My hotel turned out to be this big wellness thing with sauna, whirlpool and everything, but I never had time for any of that. My room wasn’t ready so I left my suitcase and went on a small tour of the city. The weather was lovely and I enjoyed the beautiful downtown. After lunch I returned to my hotel and finally got a little sleep, waking up around 4 due to a thunderstorm rolling in.
When the rain ceased I got ready and walked to the venue, arriving just in time to see the guys carry their stuff inside. They did not mind me hanging out, so I watched them taking care of some things for their Kickstarter campaign. Like everything else they did this with great enthusiasm and attention to detail. Luckily for me the guys were so excited about the whole thing that they felt the need to share a few little secrets with me. <3 It was all quite relaxed. We enjoyed some tea or coffee, I had a nice chat with Masha and got to see the soundcheck as well. 🙂 Finally Guillaume had a chance to catch up on a few songs that he could not play with them in Gera because they could not practice that day.
As the first few people filed in I secured a nice spot in front row, even though I knew I’d be walking around a lot. The club wasn’t big, my best guess is there were less than 100 seats, but all of those were filled. A full house always makes me happy. 🙂 Not only because I believe these guys are brilliant and deserve a large audience, but also because I know that many of the people in the audience will bring their friends next time around. Without much ado the guys walked on stage, as they always do. They picked up their instruments, tuned for a little while and started playing – no big show, just music. <3
The setlist hadn’t changed much since the previous day, but Guillaume played on more songs this time. I missed a few of my old favorites, but I’m was happy they had kept most of the new ones and having ‘Siðasta Kveðjan’ as a regular on the setlist is nothing I will ever complain about. 😀 As usual I had forgotten the order of songs as soon as the concert was over, but I felt they were flowing nicely. ‘Ages’ appeared back in the set in the second half of the show. 🙂
This time around we got to hear the not so parent friendly version of the story behind ‘The Cannon’ which did not only involve firing guns in the desert but also a bottle of Whiskey. 😀 Ragnar explained that “people think I’m singing about a woman, but I’m actually singing about a gun.” I always like their stories, no matter if the talk about the songs, tell jokes or just mention whatever is on their minds. The previous night we had learned that Gunnar is interested in astronomy and goes watching stars with a telescope whenever their take a break in the studio at night.
Everything was a bit more relaxed than in Gera since they didn’t have to rush to the venue and on stage this time. Still, they had not yet fully settled into the touring routine. After so many concerts I can see the difference, but that does not make one concert better than the other, they just have to work a little harder sometimes. 😉 Anyway, the sound was great and I enjoyed watching the guys work. As often, early on during a tour I didn’t pay so much attention to the audience, but the woman next to me told me she liked it. 🙂 The venue was cozy and the atmosphere was rather nice too.
The second part of the show started and was over too quickly. It felt as if they had just played the first notes of ‘Ró’ when already they were playing the last one of ‘Kill us’. I had no idea where all the songs in-between went so quickly even though I was there for each one of them, listening closely. Time just speeds up during concerts and sometimes I come out of them blinking, not quite knowing what has happened other than feeling content even though I was fully aware of each song and tried to remember every little detail. This was one of those concerts that I loved, but cannot remember much about. It ended with two encores and standing by the merchandise table, watching people chatting asking for autographs.
Setlist (out of order)
Látum okkur sjá
Heiðin
The Cannon
You just have to know of me
Moonlight
Days & Nights
Orð að eigin vali
Ljoð í sand
Siðasta Kveðjan
Ró
Ages
Shine
Shades
Tárin
Næturylur
Kill us
Encore:
Nú geymist ég
Góða veislu gjöra skal
Long after everyone was gone we realized we were hungry and went out food hunting. It was a long walk, but we had some fun during it. The streets were empty considering it was a Saturday night. Finally we met some people who gave us some pointers, but still needed a while to find a place that was open. After the almost midnight snack I brought out a bottle of Salmiakki and we shared a drink before we said goodnight. See you tomorrow!
Árstíðir spring tour: 2 concerts down, 6 to go. Next stop: Prague