Árstíðir – Bürgerbahnhof, Wuppertal; August 7th, 2023

Almost ten years after the – now famous – impromptu performance of ‘Heyr, hymna smiður’ in the station hall, Árstíðir returned once again to play at Bürgerbahnhof Wuppertal. The show sold out quickly and people came from all over Europe to see them perform. It was an amazing evening with a great audience and an encore in the station hall. 😀

i had mistakenly assumed the doors would open at 18:30 and left Dortmund early to be there on time. When I arrived I checked my ticket and realized it was 19:30 instead so I had time to take a walk and get some steps in, before I started forming a line. J. arrived and we chatted until the doors opened. I claimed my spot inside and the room filled up quickly with a few familiar faces and some new ones too.

They made us wait a little, but soon enough the venue staff stepped on stage and announced the band – at first only Jean-Samuel and Guillaume stepped on stage and played the instrumental version of ‘Heyr, hymna smiður’. It was fantastic. We cheered them on loudly and even more so when the rest of the band joined them on stage. Gunnar spoke of that fateful night in Wuppertal almost ten years ago and how they had wanted to bring us the song in some form.

The first full band song was ‘Ljóð í sand’ and I loved the show already. As opposed to the gig at Castlefest, everyone here had come t see the band and it showed – good vibes all around. ‘Heiðin’ and ‘Hvenar kemur sól’ followed, for the latter they told us how it worked its magic at Castlefest, bringing out the sun for the duration of their set. Some people around me looked at them in disbelief so I confirmed that every word was true.

Ragnar mentioned that they all write songs, but Daníel writes the most complicated Icelandic title – case in point the next song, ‘Þar sem enginn fer’. 😀 I was already surprised they played so many Icelandic songs in a row when hey added ‘Endatafl’ to the list. No complaints though, everything was beautiful so far. The “ooooh – aaaah” part in the end always gets to me. I can’t not sing along. <3

A quick poll showed how many of us had been there in 2013 and how many had seen the band play before. We learned our only Icelandic word of the night, “skál” and got and got the first song in English, ‘Someone who cares’. I still remember the first time I heard it live when it didn’t even have a title yet and still love it just the same. 🙂 Afterwards Gunnar told us how Guillaume and Jean-Samuel never play the solo the same and how they really surprised him this time.

‘Nú gleymist ég’ was brilliant as always. I can never quite put into words just how much I love that song and how each note pulls on my heartstrings. It left my sighing happily. <3 Ragnar noted that some things change and some stay the same in ten years and how the same goes for them. He mentioned how their albums are a marker for wherever they are in life at that point and how there is an evolution of their music through the years. This lead us to a killer version of ‘Sanity’ closing the first set. Each time I hear the song I fall more in love with it. It’s just so cool and different from everything else they do. When the song ended on a final scream, someone exclaimed “WOW” – word! 😀

Set two started with ‘Himinhvel’, beautiful as always if sounding slightly less good than at Castlefest. It went straight into ‘Things you said’ with the usual shenanigans of Ragnar filming Jean-Samuel during the string solo. 😀 It’s always fun to watch them interact. ‘Mute’ followed, the first song which I felt was taking them into a different yet interesting direction. It’s really powerful.

Gunnar noted how their voices were becoming more rusty with every song and blamed it on the three rainy days at Castlefest, promising they would double down and just keep going. Funny, I hadn’t noticed it, but after he said it, I did. ‘Passion’ was wonderful, showing off their harmony singing as well as the strings. I loved ‘Lover’ and was of course very happy with ‘While this way’. No matter how bad my day is, this song will always cheer me up. This day was already brilliant so the song made it even better. <3

We got another tasted of the upcoming album BLIK with ‘Kirin’, which made me smile even though it’s not exactly a happy song. 😀 Afterwards, Gunnar spoke about all the songs they wrote during the pandemic and how the next song summed up their mission afterwards: “Bringing back the good times”. It’s also the only time he gets to count in the guys. 😀 ‘The Feel’ sure is a song that always brightens my mood. How could it not. Somehow it makes me imagine the guys at Viennese cafe or a basement jazz club, playing in a corner, unfazed by what’s going on around them. 🙂

‘Friðþægingin’ and ‘Shades’ brought the second set to a powerful close. Both were amazing. Gunnar told us how much fun they’d had and emphasized that ‘Shades’ would be the last song they’d play on that stage, but if we walked out into the station hall, we might get to hear some more if we asked kindly enough. 😀

Everyone walked out into the hall and waited for the band to appear. When they did, we cheered extra loud and they treated us to a wonderful version of ‘Ísland farsældafrón’, with pretty much everyone filming and Marta walking around them with two phones in hand. 😀 We did not stop cheering afterwards so the band gave us one more song, ‘Heyr, hymna smiður’, this time the acoustic version. The sound reverberated from the walls. t was gorgeous and a fitting closure to the show. As they took their final bows, we cheered loudly once more and didn’t stop for a while. That was well deserved.

Setlist

Heyr, hymna smiður – strings only
Ljóð í sand
Heiðin
Hvenar kemur sól
Þar sem enginn fer
Endatafl
Someone who cares
Nú gleymist ég
Sanity

Himinhvel
Things you said
Mute
Passion
Lover
While this way
Kirin
The Feel
Friðþægingin
Shades

Encore (at the station hall)

Ísland farsældafrón
Heyr, hymna smiður

Some people left and I went back inside for a chat and some hugs. Thanked them for the show and told them all I#d see them in November. It can’t come soon enough! 😀