Árstíðir – Sudhaus, Tübingen; December 12th, 2022
The Árstíðir show in Tübingen took place at a nice venue with great lights and just a little too much artificial fog for my liking. It was a good one though and I enjoyed it otherwise.
My trip from Vienna took some time, but except for the last train everything worked out fine and I got there eventually. In the morning, as I left the hotel I ran into Jean-Samuel, who had just returned from their night out. 😉 Hours later, I finally arrived at my hotel in Tübingen and had just enough time for a tea and some food before setting out to the venue. It was a long walk.
I got there before the doors opened, but was allowed to wait inside. Once in I admired the theater like hall, already noticing the thick artificial fog in the air. I always wonder who decided that this is nice or looks good. It generally just hides the musicians from view and makes for blurry pictures. Sure, a little bit of smoke, mixing with the lights sounds nice, but it seems impossible to keep it at that and more often than not there is thick smoke hanging over the stage. There is nothing mysterious about it, it is just annoying. Anyway, I had a nice chat with the woman in the neighboring seat and enough time to get a drink and some more food so all was well. 🙂
Soon the guys stepped on stage and Ragnar greeted us in German, then claiming that they didn’t speak German at all (in German!). 😉 He continued in English, explaining how the concert would go and what to expect from the two parts. Already knowing what was about to come meant I could relax into it from the start and I did.
‘Ljóð í sand’ was lovely and I smiled when Daníel told us about Iceland’s bright summer and dark winters where you want the sun to come back before treating us to ‘Hvenær kemur sól’. 🙂 ‘Endatafl’ wasn’t introduced at all – the song speaks for itself and left me with a smile on my face despite all the inherent sadness. <3
Daníel started introducing a song from Nivalis until Ragnar interrupted him and noted that the setlist was missing a song. Gunnar took over and talked about all the music they wrote during the pandemic and how they narrowed three album’s worth down to two. This lead us to ‘Later On’ from the upcoming album. It still touched me as deeply as it did when I heard it for the first time. <3
Now it was time for Daníel and the song written “as a tribute to ourselves”, ‘Passion’. I got up for a bit and walked around to the back to take a few pictures from there. The fog was thick, but the lights were beautiful and so was the music. 🙂
Ragnar spoke about inspirations for songs coming from different sources and how each of them has a story. For ‘Shine’, he referred to an article he had read about the first people flying to Mars. I remembered that when I first heard the song I thought it sounded like a breakup song and that’s not too far off, because it is one about saying goodbye. It is still as amazing as it was when I first heard it. 🙂
They kept ‘Þar sem enginn fer’ in the setlist and played it beautifully. ‘While this way’ made me happy as always and ‘Shades’ brought the first set to a powerful close. I never get tired of watching the guys go wild during this song, especially at the very end. 😀
During the break I went to the mixing desks and paid some compliments for the sound and lights. I also asked if maybe they could lessen the fog just a little bit, because by now it was making me cough. They grudgingly agreed. Now I was truly ready for the second half of the show. 😉
Jean-Samuel grabbed the mic and welcomed us to the “Christmas buffet” and joked that this was the hors-d’œuvre because the other guys were still backstage with German beer. They played ‘Heyr, hymna smiður’ for us and the audience loved it. It’s great how they always get their moment to shine and the others introduce them specifically. Of course their were jokes about how the French guys brought culture to the band. 😉
Gunnar welcomed us to part two of the show and explained that Ragnar grew up in Sweden and thus brought a Christmas song from there. After being corrected on the pronunciation the previous day, he left it to Ragnar to tell us the name of the song ‘Gläns över sjö och strand’. 🙂
‘Jólin alls staðar’ was beautiful as always and afterwards we got a bit of history about Icelandic Christmas songs that lead up to the a capella set, starting with ‘Hátið fer að höndum ein’. <3 Of course we got a demonstration of the “Viking sound”, i.e. parallel fifth by Gunnar and Daníel before they continued with ‘Ísland farsældafrón’ and then we ended on the Faroe Islands with ‘Góða veislu gjöra skal’.
They told us a little of what their own Christmas song ‘Allt er hljótt’ is about before playing it and I could pictures the scene in my mind’s eye of animals huddling together in a barn while the world outside is snowy and quiet. The title means “all is quiet”.
With ‘Ro’ we moved away from the Christmas songs for a moment. After Vienna they had kept the two keyboards so Guillaume and Ragnar each got their own instead of playing four-handed on one. I do appreciate the song being back in the set. ‘Things you said’ followed and is the only one that I would maybe put to rest if I had the choice. However, it is a great opportunity for the string players to shine and the audience loves it so I understand why they keep it.
‘Heims um ból’ (Silent Night) marked the end of the second set and brought us a nice sing-along. The guys did well in German too. 🙂 After that, we sure wanted to hear more.
They returned for ‘Bringing back the feel’ and Gunnar explained that they needed it to lift their spirits because “life’s too short not to wear yellow shirts, these kind of hats and dance”. I agree. The song always puts a big smile on my face. I can’t help but groove along and snap my fingers. 😀 It all ended with their version of ‘And so it goes’ – the guys say they can’t do justice to the King’s Singers, but it sure works for me. 🙂
Afterwards I said hello, chatted with them for a bit and then said goodbye, very aware of the long walk home. Originally I had planned to make this my last show and now I was very happy to have decided to go to Switzerland as well. I would not have been ready to leave just yet.
Setlist
Ljóð í sand
Hvenær kemur sól
Endatafl
Later On
Passion
Shine
Þar sem enginn fer
While this way
Shades
Heyr, hymna smiður – strings only
Gläns över sjö och strand
Jólin alls staðar
Hátið fer að höndum ein
Ísland farsældafrón
Góða veislu gjöra skal
Allt er hljótt
Ró
Things you said
Heims um ból
Bringing back the feel
And so it goes
Vetrarsól tour 2022 – seven gigs down, two to go. Next stop: Thun