Árstíðir – Dum kultury mesta Ostravi, Ostrava; May 1st, 2014
Back in the Czech Republic, Árstíðir played at the Ostrava House of Culture. It was a pretty nice place that reminded me a lot of the venues in Belgium last year. Only that there was nowhere near as much room between the front row and the stage. It wasn’t sold out, but filled up nicely, once again drawing people of all ages, new fans as well as old. It was an enjoyable concert. I sure had fun. 🙂
Luckily there is a direct train from Warsaw to Ostrava so getting there was easy. Had I not gotten out of the train at the wrong station, I might have even been able to walk to my hotel. As it was, I found a local cafe and asked them to order me taxi. People were extremely helpful, even though I was unable to speak their language – sometimes I really wish I had a Babel fish translating for me. 😉 Finally at my hotel, I checked in and made my way to the venue. The area was a bit boring and unfortunately there was not enough time to see more of the city. Part of its long history is coal and steel industry just like it is in the area of Germany I live in. Hopefully I get to see more of that the next time around.
Arriving at the venue I spent some time walking around, trying to figure out if the guys had arrived already. They hadn’t, but I met Alice who told me they’d have a photo session the next day at the site of Colors of Ostrava (an old industrial site) before going on to Rožnov. Soon the guys arrived, we unpacked and it was time to explore the venue. There were a lot of steel stairs, levers and buttons and all sorts of interesting stuff to see. Mostly I hung out with Masha, because the guys seemed to need some time on their own. The venue had an upper gallery, which would be great to take pictures from, especially because the downstairs seats were too close together to walk around.
There was some confusion as to when the concert was supposed to start. The band counted on 7:30 pm, but the tickets said 7. Thus, they started a little late. The mood was good from the beginning and so was the sound. The audience loved them and the guys played beautifully. I walked around too much though, always trying to find a good spot for the next pictures, trying to capture the shadows on the wall, because they might look interesting. Therefore, it was difficult to get into the concert and took me quite some time. The first part seemed to be over in a heartbeat.
During the break I hung out with Masha and friends, chatting, then went back upstairs where I spent most of the concert. It made me happy to see and hear people’s responses to the music. It felt like the guys were talking a lot, telling the audience how after the tour they’d spent some time in a cabin in the woods on Czech to work on the songs. People apparently liked the idea. Had I thought the setlist was pretty much fixed now, I was proven wrong. They dug out ‘Vetur að vori’, which I had not heard since their second gig in Iceland this year. It seemed to have totally changed since and only much later I realized that it wasn’t as different as I had though. Proves only that I don’t know all the new songs really well yet.
Either way, the mixture of songs was again close to perfect, even though I could not remember the setlist the minute it was over (the one listed below is only a rough guess 😉 ). No matter how many times I hear them live, I never get tired of the music, despite songs I like better than others. It may take a long time at some concerts, but the guys always manage to get to me in a good way that makes me forget any worries and pains I might have. Not all music moves me equally in any mood I’m in, but Árstíðir is one of the few bands that always work for me and that’s where their magic is. 😀 The concert made me happy and looking at the audience I knew I wasn’t the only one.
Setlist (out of order)
Heidin
Látum okkur sjá
The Cannon
Moonlight
Ljoð í sand
Eris
You just have to know of me
Siðasta Kveðjan
Ró
Someone who cares (formerly known as “Kings of Gersbergen”)
Vetur að vori
Á meðan jörðin sjefur
Days and Nights
Shine
Shades
Tárin
Kill us
Nú gleymist ég
Góða veislu gjöra skal
Of course they spent time with their fans after and it was late already when we went out for dinner. The first restaurant was closed already, but we found a nice bar and had a nice evening out. The evening was full of jokes and stories. Also it was Guillaume’s last night with the guys, since he had an early train to catch the next morning. We didn’t stay all that long, but long enough to unwind. It ended up being a quick goodbye with a last hug for Guillaume before I left, not wanting to think about the fact that the tour was ending the following day.
Árstíðir spring tour: 7 concerts down, 1 to go. Next stop: Roznov pod Radosthem