Árstíðir – Schlachthof, Wiesbaden; September 24th, 2014
The Árstíðir concert in Wiesbaden took place at the first real Rock venue of the tour, the Schlachthof. Interestingly enough most of the audience chose to sit down, even though there were no seats. It was a small club and – as often with such venues – the lights were really dark. It was not sold out either but the people who came clearly loved it, coming closer after the first song, cheering, laughing at the jokes and enjoying the night. It was wonderful to see them up so close as if they were playing in our living room. That alone made it all worthwhile. <3
For a tour night I got quite a lot of sleep, full seven hours, before I had to go to the train station and leave Erlangen. Thus, I felt unusually well rested when I arrived and even managed to get a workout in. Went to the venue around 6 to meet with A. and K., had the first warm meal in 3 days. Time went by quickly as we chatted along and soon we needed to go in. There was confusion about which entrance was the right one, but the stage in the bigger hall clearly did not have any familiar instruments on it so we quickly learned it was the other, smaller one. I immediately loved the fact that it was a standing venue and wondered which song could possibly work for some jumping around.
The stage was rather low though and when the guys walked out I felt rather uncomfortable standing up, knowing I’d block the view of everyone behind me. Thus, I sat down on the floor after ‘Heiðin’. K. and A. did the same and soon it felt as if they were playing just for us. Somewhere during the show, Ragnar even mentioned that we are following the tour, claiming they had to change the setlist each night so we would not get bored. 😉 As if we ever could…
Maybe it was because of the small venue, maybe it was due to just being able to go with the flow a few days into the tour, or maybe for an entirely different reason, but the mood was very relaxed that night. The guys were joking and got some laughs from the audience too. Many small funny or otherwise wonderful moments happened, not all of which I still remember, I just know that I was happy and shared many smiles with K., A. and the band.
One of many things making me smile was Karl announcing “The next song is called ‘Lost in you’”, then, realizing his mistake “but today it’s called ‘Days & Nights’” 🙂 and Ragnar adding “It’s about all the good things in life and how you’ll miss them when you are gone.” The lights may not have been much brighter than candles, but the sound was good. ‘Silfurskin’ was just otherworldly that night. <3 Eventually I gave up on trying to take pictures and settled for just watching the guys work. At the end of the first set, I was the one who got to announce ‘Shades’.
For the start of the second set I decided to sit on stage with my back against the speaker. The view was great, but unfortunately I got the sound from Ragnar’s monitor so I went back to my spot on the floor after one song. When Gunnar started announcing ‘The Cannon’ I thought for a moment he was going to tell the story this time, but he didn’t. It got even more dramatic than before with Ragnar adding that after being hit in the head with the scope he almost knocked himself out “and was bleeding all over”. He’s such a born storyteller. <3 After that, the song’s new incarnation finally won me over today. 🙂
For ‘Á meðan jörðin sjefur ’ we didn’t only learn that it contains the title line of the second album, but also that it is difficult to pronounce for non-Icelanders. Karl did a great job on it though. The second set ended with a powerful rendition of ‘Nú gleymist ég’ and people got up to clap, asking for more. When the guys came back they wanted to know if we had any requests so I called ‘Sunday Morning’. I have really been missing that song. Karl joked they only played that on Sunday Mornings so some woman said “Wednesday Evening then”. Ragnar took the cue, claiming that was easy and made up a Wednesday Evening song on the spot. Awesome!
Other than that the encores were the same as always, with ‘Kill us’ nearly blowing the roof off the place. It just keeps getting better every night. Who would have thought this song was such a killer after only listening to it on the album. It was a fun night and the few people who attended the concert were much rewarded.
Strangle enough most of the audience left directly after the show so I had the time for a nice long chat with Ragnar before saying goodbye to everyone. A. and K. had a band interview to arrange for the next day so we agreed to text in the morning, since I was going to go to Aschaffenburg with them. A final hug goodnight and a good night’s sleep after only a few hours the previous night.
Setlist (not sure if it’s in the correct order)
Heiðin
You just have to know of me
Orð að eigin vali
Days & Nights
Lost in you
Silfurskin
Moonlight
Næturylur
Shades
Ró
Someone who cares
The Cannon
Á meðan jörðin sjefur
You again
Shine
Nú gleymist ég
Encore:
Ljoð í sand
Kill us
Because
Árstíðir Germany Tour 2014: 5 concerts down, 5 to go. Next stop: Aschaffenburg