Anneke van Giersbergen & Árstíðir – Philharmonie, Haarlem; March 25th, 2016
The Verloren, Verleden concert in Haarlem turned out to be a repdigit day for me – it was my Árstíðir concert number 111. All the concerts take place in nice venues this tour, mostly theaters, but this one was the Philharmonie, so I had high expectations of the sound. It was good, but not better than at any of the other shows. Nothing to complain about though – had a good seat with an interesting view from the side and the show was lovely too. It left me with goose bumps all over and wanting to go back for more right after it ended.
The previous day had been an off day for me and since it was Good Friday I did not have to go back home to work. I spent it relaxing at P.’s place. It was nice for a change to sleep late and not have to go anywhere. In the late afternoon we left for Haarlem, only a bus ride away. Found the venue right away and were surprised by the long line outside. After a while we realized that the Philharmonie has two halls and there was a performance of the Matthäus-Passion at the bigger one.
The smaller hall was beautiful, the stage round. We sat on the left side – a nice view, but Daníel was barely visible behind the grand piano. Since this place was built for music the acoustics were great. However, Anneke got a bit of feedback from time to time. It didn’t bother me much, but did make the concert a little less perfect. Still, after thinking I had gotten past the goose bumps phase they suddenly came back – for almost every song. I was really emotional that night, feeling the tour was coming to an end and not wanting to go home. Had to remind myself that it was not over yet.
Overall it was a good concert with a good audience, but it did not come close to the previous one in Delft. I certainly enjoyed every song, but despite the goose bumps I did not feel as much into it as I had been before. It does not matter why, there are always good concerts and great ones. Nothing to criticize though. They played and sang well, the audience seemed to enjoy it and I had as much fun as ever. ‘Danny Boy’ especially got to me this time around. The stories and jokes where funny too, but I missed the part where Anneke asked us for requests. Maybe they got tired of that. Still there were so many moments P. and I grinned at each other. It was a nice night.
After the concert we stayed for a while. I briefly said hello to Gunnar’s family who had come for the show, chatted a bit with Guillame and for a long time with Ragnar. We jokingly made plans for future concerts and were just generally having a good time. 🙂 When they left, we had 45 minutes until our bus came so we went for some Turkish pizza and kebap. For some stupid reason our connecting bus did not run that night an P.’s husband was nice enough to pick us up. It was late when we finally got home, but totally worth it.
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
Verloren, Verleden tour: 10 concerts down, 2 to go. Next stop: Sneek