Great support, killer version of Deva and the perfect send off

Ragnar Ólafsson – Gaukurinn, Reykjavik; October 13th, 2022

It had been 5 years since Ragnar last played his solo songs with a band and he had never worked with this particular band outside of the studio so the show in Reykjavik was a premiere of bigger sounds. I had been excited about this show already and wa even happier when I heard Beebee and the Bluebirds were going to play a well. The line up was great, the show was fun and it turned into a great night overall. I’m glad I made the track to Reykjavik.

When Raggi told me about the gig on Octoer 13th, Inthought I wasn’t going to be able to make it. I also knew I wanted to the moment I told hom that it was all “very tempting” – of course I made it work in the end and boarded a plane to Copenhagen in the early morning. All went smoothly, I had an hour to connect and landed in Reykjavík shortly before 10. An hour and a helf later, Raggi picked me up at the BSÍ, because I was going to spend the nigt (or waht was left of it after the show) st his place.

Hugged Marta on arrival, chatted with both of them for a bit, before Raggi had to go to a radio interview and rehearsals, then hung out with Marta, went for a swim and came back for lunch. We had a lovely afternoon with music, chats and even a nap before we all took off towards Gaukurinn. When we arrived, C. was already there and we got to catch up for a bit. More familiar people arrived and there were hellos and hugs all around.

At aroud 8:30 Beebee and the Blueird started and they were just as good as I remembered them form Iceland Airwaves a few years ago, with bluesy rock sounds. It was beyond me, however, why they turned the music up so loud since the venue wasn’t packed and a little less volume would have been fine. The mix wasn’t great either with the voice being drowned out at times. None of that kept me from enjoying the set. They had a nice variety of songs and played well. We all laughed when Beebee explained how the net song was about the different experiences of a one night stand where one party is convinced it was amazing while the other is underwhelmed. 😀 They had once Icelandic song on the set as well and I was surprised when they played a full hour. It was great!

Ragnar and the band (Hálfdan, Kjartan and Skuli) took te stage at 10 and when he started singing we could already hear the mix was better this time. Still too loud though. 😉 They started out with ‘Time’ (“Your favorite,” as Raggi had joked to me before the gig) and I already liked the full band sound. It was so different from him just playing solo, everything fitting together so well, making him sound better.

‘Needle and Thread’ was next, a songs that hasn’t been played much lately. Now I understood why. It just sounds so much better with a band. 🙂 This was going great already and the guys seemed to be enjoying it. After those first tow songs (open D tuning), the guitar needed to be retuned for the next to. I forgot which tuning those were, but Raggi had explained to me before the gig that the tuning inspired the order of songs on the setlist.

‘Scar’, interestongly enough, did not feel so different. It sure benefits from the full band sound, but it usually only gets played when there is an additional musician on tour like David, Kjartan or Baldvin. Of cours ethe bass and drums added an extra layer to it. It seemed to me they did nt drag out the ending as long as they used to, but it mighthave been my imagination. ‘Mexico’ sounded very much liked it does on the single. It’s much more interesting that way than it is as a solo song.

The biggest surprise of the night was ‘Deva’. The song has power, but t is still very delicate, almost fragile in parts. For the band it was completely changed, but it worked perfectly. I really loved what they did to the song- this was a killer version. Ragggi announced they were going to take us to church next adn I knew what was coming. ‘A Prayer’, of course, is always a highlight for me. It remains one of my favorite songs onthe ‘Urges’ album as well as overall and always feels like a special treat when it gets played. They rocked.

‘Message’ was very cool as well. I had expected Solveig to join them for the gig., but she wasn’t there. Kjartan did a great job on harmony singing and it sounded different, yet amazing. I love this song in any incarnation. Raggi didn’t really say all that much during the show and we did not get a story for ‘Bravery’ either. If that is what band shows are like, I might prefer the solo ones, because he story telling is such an essential part for me. The songs was great of course, it always is.

With ‘Muddy Waters’ they really leaned into the blues, dragging it out as long as possible and having fun with it. So did the audience, it sounded amazing and showed exactly wat this band was capable of. The final song was ‘Southern Nights’ and Raggi had planned for us to sing-along, but the attempt failed completely. Way to few of us did and we were not loud enough at all. Thus, he let go of the idea and just played, sounding great.

It was all so enjoyable that we demanded an encore. Turns out, they didn’t rehearse and more songs than the ones they had already played, so the only thing they could do was repeat one of them. They settled for ‘Needle and Thread’ and we got the full story this time, with great exaggerations on how the old clothes were falling off of him after his ex had left and he didn’t care. The happ ending was, that after some time had passed, things were looking brighter and now all is well again. 😀

It was a fun show and with a hug I told Raggi he sounds better with a band – he does, they make him play better. He had be nervous during the show, but it wasn’t noticeable. They are definitely planning to do more of these gigs and I hope they will. The kick of was surely a success. Taking the band on tour is still a dream, but hopefully one day it will happen, I am personally dreaming of a set that combines the best of both worlds: solo sets and and band sets.

We stayed at Gaulkurinn until they closed, saying goodbye to acquaintances and friends as the night went on and talking with the ones that stayed. Once they sent us on our way, we walked to Raggi’s place for an after party. Since my bed wa sthe living room couch, he showed me the couch upstairs in case i needed some rest before my flight in the morning. <3 For now though, we had snacks, wine and good company. We were talking bands and music, kistened to songs and generally had a good time.

Around 3 am I got really tired and excused myself for a bit. Took a power nap for an hour and went back downstairs were everyone was still talking excitedly, just as if I’d never left. Two people dais goodbye, before I did, but then it was time for me to go and catch a bus. Final big hugs and off I went into a cold morning. Iceland gave me the perfact send off with Northen Lights dancing above my head all the way to BSÍ. It could not have ended any better. Once on the bus, I messaged a final thank you and was on the road towards new adventures.

pictures of this concert

Setlist

Time
Needle and Thread
Scar
Mexico
Deva
A Prayer
Message
Bravery
Muddy Waters
Southern Nights

Needle and Thread

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