Árstíðir – Openluchttheater de Goffert, Nijmegen; August 6th, 2021
My 200th Árstíðir concert had finally arrived one year late and it was absolutely everything I could have hoped for. The band picked the perfect setlist and were received by an enthusiastic audience. They played and sang their hearts out, told stories and even dedicated a song to me. It truly felt like coming home, leaving me happy beyond words. ❤️
Until about a week before the show I wasn’t entirely sure I would go. The Netherlands had had crazy high Covid numbers for a while and despite them going down, the whole country was declared a high risk area shortly before I left. It made me feel uncomfortable and unsafe, despite being vaccinated, especially because I knew there were no distancing measures in place. Yes, people had to be vaccinated, tested or recovered to attend, but that doesn’t mean one could not get infected. So I argued with myself between thinking that going was somewhat irresponsible and knowing it would kill me to miss the concert. In the end my compromise was wearing a mask throughout, which made me feel considerably less anxious.
Getting to Nijmegen was supposed to be easy and it was until one of my trains was canceled. Luckily I found out early enough to take an alternative route and got there even earlier than planned. Found my hotel, had food, would have loved to sleep a bit but was too scared I would not wake up on time. Eventually I decided to make my way to the venue and met P., who had just arrived. We chatted for a bit and went our separate ways. The venue was an open air theater in a park and despite getting there less than an hour before the doors opened, I was all alone for a while.
When the doors opened, I picked he perfect spot in front row and sitting there I finally felt excited about the show to come. Even though I had just seen them n Lithuania this show felt different and much more like the first one after the long break. The band was reunited with Guillaume, it would be a full set and I saw familiar faces in the crowd. Raggi dropped by for a chat that involved several good hugs and helped us both feel ready for the show. 🙂 🙏🏻
Just before they were supposed to start, P. arrived, happy to have made it on time. The air was buzzing with excitement and I was already smiling.
Around 20 to 9 the curtains opened and the band stepped on stage to many cheers. My heart did a somersault just seeing them together again. Raggi was the first to speak and mentioned how strange the past 18 months had been and how happy they were to be back on a stage finally. We were all happy to have them back too. The first song was ‘Himinhvel’ and the sound was perfect. Everything was clear, sounded beautiful and went straight into my soul. I get goosebumps now, writing about it. ‘Things you said’ followed and it has never sounded so good – the guys were on a roll and any rustiness they might have felt earlier was gone.
Next was ‘Ljóð í sand’ and Raggi talked about how they have played it at almost every show since 2011 and people in the audience who have seen them before will know the song. He then dedicated it to me because it was my 200th show. The choice could not have been better since it was one of the first songs I fell in love with all these years ago. Everyone clapped for me too. ❤️ I looked at him and mouthed “thank you” then realized that he could not see it through my mask and gestured with my hands. What a beautiful moment that was. The tears I was too happy to cry last night, are coming now as I think back on it.
As usual I sang along to everything, not bothered by the fact that nobody could see it. ‘Someone who cares’ was gorgeous, every note perfect. It felt like the audience was cheering louder after every song. 😀 Raggi asked if anyone in the audience spoke Iceland and talked about how they write 50:50 in Icelandic and English, always making sure nobody can pronounce the song titles. Gunni threw in that it started with the name of the band. Everyone laughed and they told the story about touring the US where nobody was able to pronounce or remember the band name which led to them having icelandicbandname.com as a second home page. ‘Þar sem enginn fer’ is always a highlight for me and I especially loved the strings.
Gunni explained how the title of the second album means the state between sleeping and waking and then joked that ‘Days & Nights’, the next song, was written in Iowa. He and Raggi told the story of how their tour bus had broken down. Loved having the song in the setlist and played air ukulele along with it. 😀 I think it was here that Raggi rested his head on the keyboard in the end as if going to sleep.
They talked about playing at a bar in a train station in Germany and then going out into he train station hall after to sing. People confirmed having seen the video. I grinned, knowing I am one of a lucky few who are in it. The band gathered around the microphones and sang ‘Heyr, hymna smiður’ for us. Right then and there I absolutely loved it. Afterwards Raggi explained how the studio recording of the song is with Anneke van Giersbergen and that as a reprimand for having to sing Icelandic she made Gunni sing ‘Het Dorp’.
Gunni then spoke about how he was trying to figure out what other languages Dutch reminds him of and that it is actually similar to Icelandic in some ways. Some sounds are so much the same that it feels like home, but then you stay left out of the conversation. He introduced the next song saying that it was about a person stuck somewhere in the wilderness of Iceland, inside buried under snow. So very Icelandic. I can’t remember him ever explaining ‘Nú gleymist ég’ in that way. It was an awesome rendition too. ❤️
The last song before the break was ‘Shades’. The song was, is, and always will be brilliant. They were absolutely on fire, working furiously towards the finale and ending on the dot. It was mesmerizing and the audience responded with loud cheers.
P. and I spent the break talking until Guillaume and Jeam-Samuel walked back on stage and I knew they were going to play something for us. As soon as they started playing everyone grew quiet and listened. It was a beautiful piece of music with softer and more dramatic parts and even a break where many of us clapped too early. ☺️ I don’t know jack about classical music, but I loved it and asked Guillaume later what it was – Castillo Interior by Pēteris Vasks. They did not play the whole thing though. Speaking of Guillaume, he was wearing the most awesome sneakers. I stared at them for a bit, because I was so fascinated.
Danni, Gunni and Raggi joined them on stage again and took us back to the beginning of the band. First of course they had to tell us about sitting on Danni’s couch, drinking his home brewed red wine and playing guitar. The three of them gathered around one microphone with their guitars and sang a beautiful version ‘Með hallandi höfði’, their Icelandic version of Crosby, Stills and Nash’s ‘Helplessly hoping’. The string players joined in for ‘Ages’, one of the first songs they wrote. It made me think of the early days of seeing them and filled me with nostalgia. I do love the songs on their first album.
Raggi explained how said album was recorded live with microphones at the center like they just played it. Their sound has evolved since and to show us how they were going to premiere a new song. Raggi was not sure if they were allowed to tell us the name of he new album yet, but finally decided to do it anyway. It is the Icelandic word for pendulum – I have no idea how to spell it though. 😉 The new song was ‘En Hvenær kemur sól’ sounded very much like traditional Árstíðir with a modern twist, beautifully sung with Danni in the lead. I loved it.
What made me just as happy was that ‘Silfurskin’ was next. ❤️ A happy sigh might have escaped me when they started playing it. ‘Mute’ was next. Gunni introduced it by telling us that it was written in Japan and how you don’t have a voice when nobody understands you and you always need someone else to speak for you, so you are alone with your thoughts all the time. It really spoke to me that night.
‘Lover’ was amazing and followed by my favorite ‘While this Way’. Words are not enough to describe how I felt. It was beyond happiness. 🙂 I had thought it would be the last song, but it was not. ‘Friðþægingin’ followed, complete with the offer of a beer in case anyone managed to pronounce it correctly. Gunni added that it was the second hardest word in Icelandic, right after umferðaröngþveiti and before Ejafjallajökull. 😀 The song was fun as always.
“We are down to our last song” got the appropriate amount of “awwwww” and Gunni told us how strange the past year has been for artists and how they had to move away from music for a while. Now it was nerve wrecking to “stand in front of people and try to remember who you used to be”. He said they found it again that night and thanked us for helping. It was a wonderfully fitting speech and lead to ending the show with ‘Passion’ because their passion for music has taken them to so many paces. It was the absolutely perfect last song. :’)
We could not let them go of course. Everyone was out of their seats for standing ovations and cheered for them to play more. They gladly obliged and moved to the very front of the stage for ‘Góða veislu gjöra skal’ before stepping back to their instruments one last time for ‘Heiðin’. Raggi and Gunni told us the story how they had written it as a song of hope after the bank crash in Iceland and they joked about how dramatic they had been. It was a lovely blast from the past. After that they finally left to more standing ovations.
There were long lines at the merch stand, but eventually I got to chat with them for a bit, told them how much I had loved it. We agreed it had been better than Klaipeda by a mile. As much as I had loved and needed that show, in comparison it seems more like the dress rehearsal for this one. I would not have wanted to miss it, but the show to see was clearly the one in Nijmegen. I am so glad I decided to go. What a truly beautiful comeback show. Thank you Árstíðir, you gave me just what I needed. ❤️
Setlist
Himinhvel
Things you said
Ljóð í sand
Someone who cares
Þar sem enginn fer
Days & Nights
Heyr, hymna smiður
Nú gleymist ég
Shades
Castillo Interior (string piece by Pēteris Vasks)
Með hallandi höfði (Crosby, Stills & Nash cover)
Ages
En Hvenær kemur sól
Silfurskin
Mute
Lover
While this Way
Friðþægingin
Passion
Góða veislu gjöra skal
Heiðin