An old beautiful theater, some new jokes and a carnival song

Anneke van Giersbergen & Árstíðir – Oude Luxor, Rotterdam; March 21st, 2016

With the show in Rotterdam I passed my halfway mark on this tour while the guys and Anneke have started their last week together. Everyone has gotten into a routine now, but that does by no means make the concert less amazing or less fun. The slight insecurities from the beginning have vanished and everyone has comfortably found their place on stage and within the show, some making jokes, some improvising songs and some observing with Anneke in front charming everyone off their feet. It works well – if people were not already smiling when they walked in they will at the end of the night, walking away a little bit happier, a little more emotional and a little more knowledgeable, having heard new songs or learned a few Icelandic words. It’s unbelievable how uplifting a concert with so many dramatic and sad songs can be.

After three days on the road I feel the usual tiredness setting in, despite going home straight away after each gig so far. No party, but not enough sleep anyway. Still working out every day is helping and my eating habits are  – luckily – not fully in tour mode yet. Not complaining though, I am loving this and I am grateful for being able to accompany one of my favorite bands on the road and see them perform almost every night. Traveling by train and bus is mostly pretty nice too and I get to see quite a lot of the Netherlands in the process. This country is pretty. 🙂

Pretty is also a good word to describe the venue. I really liked the setting. Had hoped for a balcony to take pictures, but no such luck. Had a great spot in front row though – on the left as usual – and rather enjoyed the view. They all seemed a little bit tired, maybe due to the radio show they did earlier that day. Nonetheless they played a great concert and looked like they were enjoying it. 🙂 While the setlist stays the same, the mood varies with every show and every audience. So far they have all been receptive and this night was no exception.

All their banter was even funnier than usual this time. When Anneke was talking about how she met Árstíðir and the audience was laughing about her stories she assured the guys she was saying nice things about them. Gunnar replied “but they are laughing…” and Ragnar took the opportunity to say something about her in Icelandic. I have no idea if anyone who was not on stage actually understood what he said, but it was funny. Anneke noted “..but I am really saying nice things about you” and he assured her he was doing the same. I guess I’ll have to take his word for it. 😉 For the Icelandic lesson Guillaume was using the sign again and made everyone laugh.
Later on, when they talked about “lekker” being the only word needed in the Dutch language Anneke’s smile when she said you could use it in any situation was downright mischievous. 😀 Before ‘Four Years’ she mentioned that pretty much every song is about maybe with the exception of the carnival song ‘Er staat een paard in de gang’ – Karl and Guillaume started playing the right away. It made me laugh especially hard because it exists in German as well and I had no idea it was a Dutch thing.

Musically my highlights were ‘Danny Boy’, ‘A simple song’ and ‘Lost in you’ this time around. It changes every night and I can never put my finger on the why, but each night a different song will speak to me. Sometimes they are just played or sung with more intensity than usual or played with more power. Thus two concerts can never be the same, even with the exact same songs being played. There is something new and different every night. I never know what it is going to be, but I always know I will be smiling when it’s over.

Setlist

Solveig’s Song
Everwake
Russian Lullaby
Het Dorp
A Simple Song
Þér ég unni
When I am laid in earth
Shades
Circles
Four years
Londonderry Air (Danny Boy)
Lost in you
Leaves
Bist Du bei mir

Heyr, Himna Smiður
Pavane

pictures of this concert

Verloren, Verleden tour: 7 concerts down, 5 to go. Next stop: Waalwijk

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