Marina Ósk & Ragnar Ólafsson – Græni Hatturinn, Akureyri; April 18th, 2024

I think it was early this year that my friend Ragnar told me he’d tour Iceland with fellow musician Marina Ósk in April and as soon as I knew the first date I booked a flight. Not only was this something new for me, but also I will take any opportunity to go to Iceland in the spring. I was wrong about the spring part, but the trip was totally worth it. Such a beautiful concert.

After spending one day in Reykjavik, relaxing and going out for ice cream with M., I was on my way to Akureyri and had some time to rest before the show. Went to find out when the doors would pen and ran into Raggi, who was just leaving the venue. We hugged, chatted a bit, I said hello to Kjartan and he introduced me to Marina, before we said goodbye until later.

I was back just before the doors open and found myself a table at the front. soon, some more people showed up. Sadly, they venue was not sold out, but those who came were in for a treat and clearly enjoyed the show. Raggi talked to me for a bit beforehand and told me they would have two guests on bass and drums that night so the second half would be a full band show. Nice. 🙂

Shortly after 9 pm, Marina, Raggi and Kjartan took their spots on stage and Raggi introduced all of them. Until that moment I hadn’t even thought about the fact that they would be speaking Icelandic. 😉 They started the show with ‘Hugsanir’, sung by Marina. It sounded so beautiful, it brought tears to my eyes – I immediately loved her voice. Next up was ‘Er kólna fer’, the duet they had recorded – getting to hear it live put a huge smile on my face. Not only did their voices harmonize beautifully, but Kjartan’s guitar playing was excellent.

They switched places, with Marina now at the piano and continued with ‘Warsaw’, with Kjartan’s pedal steel guitar being the perfect addition to the song. 🙂 This is a song I have liked from the beginning – I love it to hear Raggi use his baritone voice. On the last verse, he sang the wrong line first, but then immediately corrected himself. Tiny mistakes always make for a special evening.

There was a surprising amount of banter that evening, of which I didn’t understand anything. Still, sometimes I got the gist of what was going on and the main thing was that they were having a lot of fun on stage. 🙂 ‘Message’ was outstanding. Having just recovered from losing his voice, Raggi had a hard time reaching the high notes, but he got there are the song gave me goose bumps. <3

They switched places again and played some of Marina’s songs next, starting with the jazzy ‘I have a heart that’s blue’. It had me moving along in my seat. They joked a lot before they continued playing and everyone in the room was giggling. It all felt like sitting in someone’s living room more than at a music venue. ‘Lítil nótt’ was a waltz, i.e. a song in 3/4 time that I really enjoyed.

For ‘Haflinna’ Kjartan decided to put on a hat. Maybe the pedal steel guitar demanded it. 😉 It was a lovely song. It was Ragnar’s turn again and they gave us ‘Petals’. No matter how many times I hear this song, I always love it. <3 In the end, he went right into ‘Hallelujah’. It was beautiful. Afterwards he told the story of Dylan and Cohen talking about songwriting and how it took Dylan 10 minutes tow wrote ‘Just like a woman’ while Cohen was continuously writing ‘Hallelujah’. I’d heard him tell the story before so I knew what it was about.

While Marina announced the next some, someone’s phone was ringing and jokes ensued. ‘The Moon and the Sky’ was lovely too and this time she played piano, before she picked up the guitar once again for the final song of the first set. It was the only one she didn’t announce, so I have no clue what it is called, but it was wonderful with a really happy, upbeat melody. She and Ragnar traded lead vocals. Maybe it was a cover song, but I forgot to ask

After a break, they were joined by the bassist and drummer on stage for a more rocking part two. I very much enjoyed the full band sound. Again, there was some banter before they started and a lot of it in-between. I enjoyed seeing them bounce joke off of each other. Marina started the second set. she talked about a podcast about “the Swedish Jack the ripper” or at least that’s what I made of it. The upbeat ‘Nobody but me’ followed and I felt like dancing. 🙂

A jazzy number followed and again, I have no idea what it was called, but enjoyed it. ‘Things like this don’t happen’ was a bluesy song about Mr. Right and seemingly impossible events. That one was a lot of fun. She switched places with Ragnar again and he spoke about floating down the Mississippi on a boat and how he wrote a song for good luck. Of course, ‘Southern Nights’ was next and we got a decent sing-along going. 🙂 After that, it was the first time all night, he spoke English to thank me for coming, joking I knew his music better than he did. 😉 I confirmed that it was a special gig and the song had worked really well with the full band. <3

Next up was ‘Deva’ and it was excellent. I found it fascinating how easily those song could be transformed into full band arrangements. Kjartan nailed the guitar solo in the end. ‘Bravery’ followed and sounded fantastic too. 🙂 Always a great song. After that, the bassist and drummer left and they were a trio again. For the last time that night, he sat down at the piano and Marina took the lead once more, playing a beautiful version of ‘Time after time’.

They thanked us and took a bow, once as a trio and then as a full band with bassist and drummer jokingly standing in front of the others. The audience cheered for more and wanted something Icelandic so we got a cover song that I didn’t know, but everyone in the room did. It sounded somehow familiar to me too and was the perfect ending to a great night. 😀

Setlist

Hugsanir
Er kólna fer
Warsaw
Message
I have a Heart that’s blue
Lítil nótt
Haflinna (?)
Petals
Hallelujah
The Moon and the Sky
?

Nobody but me
?
Things like this don’t happen
Southern Nights
Deva
Bravery
Time after time

?

Once the show was over, I bought Marina’s CDs and sat with Raggi and his friends B.and M. – they had enjoyed the sow so much that they were  considering going to the next one and we made plans. Raggi mentioned that they were staying in Akureyri that night too, so if I could get there, they could take me back. That sounded like a great offer. 🙂

Since there was packing to do, M., B. and I left and went to the bar next door. However, their babysiter called and they had to rush home before Raggi and Kjartan arrived. We hung out for one last drink, before the bar closed. I helped them carry guitars to their hotel and we hugged goodbye. Happily I walked home, not only smiling about the great concert I had just seen, but the possibility of another one tomorrow.