Árstíðir – Frikirkjan í Reykjavík; December 30th, 2023

After seeing every single concert on Árstíðir’s Blik tour, that included a few Christmas songs towards the end, I still didn’t have enough and absolutely needed to go to Reykjavik to see heir only real Christmas show this year. After two live streamed shows due to Covid and the great return to live concerts the previous year, I was really looking forward to this one and was not disappointed. What a glorious show that was.

Having arrived in Reykjavik the day prior to the show, I had a lot of tie to relax before going ad standing outside Frikirkjan. The first person I met was N., who had flown in from the States and was there the previous year as well (or was that pre Covid already?) It was nice having someone to talk to and time passed quickly. We got in and my usual seat on the right was free so this is were I sat, setting up my camera to film the whole thing. The church filled up, I said hello to Marta and waved at C. and J., who sat upstairs.

Like the previous year, Jean-Samuel had flown in to play violin with them and Petur supported them with his beautiful voice. The band walked out to he middle of the church and started singing there, giving us a great kick-off with ‘Góða veislu gjöra skal’, before continuing to the stage.

Ragnar greeted us, then started playing ‘Ljóð í sand’ on the piano, before the violin set in. It sounded really beautiful and I was already smiling, lost in the music. ‘Hvenær kemur sól’ followed and sounded amazing too. Strangely, I was not missing the cello so far. Gunnar called Petur out to the stage and they joined around the double mic for ‘Hátið fer að höndum ein’. They sounded so good together, I got goosebumps. <3

The next one was a surprise: They played ‘Auld Lang Syne’ and not only did they take turns, singing lead, but Jean-Samuel added a verse in French. <3 For the final chorus, they all sang together. It was gorgeous. For the non-Icelanders, Gunnar decided to introduce the next song in English and spoke about the albums they had made during the pandemic. It was ‘Glitsky’ and before they could start we had to wait a moment, because there were fireworks going off outside. “You’re not in a hurry, are you?” Gunni joked. The song was still amazing.

Ragnar introduced Jean-Samuel and Daníel added that he sang in French as well as Icelandic with them. They spoke about their albums again, adding that Glitsky also had English lyrics under the name ‘All is well’, but now they were gonna play ‘Bringing back the Feel’. That song is always awesome. I never get tired of its quirky-happy vibes. They stuck with Blik, playing Later On’ next. I really felt it that night, almost like the first time I had heard it, when it brought tears to my eyes.

The next one was a song they had been meaning to do for a while, but didn’t have the guts and now felt they had to. It was The Pogues’ ‘Fairytale of New York’. I thought they did a great job and I could have really loved it, if only they had left out the homophobic slur. I am sorry guys, but there is no need to keep that in. Nobody else seemed to care though. ‘Scarborough Fair / Canticle’ followed and I absolutely adored it. It’s one of the covers I can never get enough of. <3

Petur joined them again for more a cappella songs, the first of which was the truly beautiful ‘Smávinir fagrir’ – I can’t remember them singing this song before. ‘Heyr, hymna smiður’ and this time it really worked for me. Maybe it was Peturs voice in the mix or the special church atmosphere. They joked about how the song had needed 800 years to reach top chart position as opposed to Wham’s ‘Last Christmas’ that only needed about 40 years.

Gunnar told about the way they write songs, which isn’t always a linear process and sometimes ideas get shelved for years. ‘Mute’ originated from an old piano melody that Ragnar had written, but did nit become a song until Gunnar traveled to Japan and felt the deep loneliness of not being able to communicate and craving human interaction. With that in mind, the song is even more powerful. The beautiful ‘Endatafl’ followed – it really seemed to rise up to the ceiling and come back down. I could not help but join in on the finale. <3

Their own Christmas song ‘Allt er hljótt’ was next. I have always really enjoyed this one. The lovely ‘Jólin alls staðar’ followed, complete with glockenspiel in the beginning. Daníel told us that they usually pick songs and connect them to something that happened during the past year. He said they had played the next one, ‘The Christmas Song’ was an English song, but he’d do it in Icelandic and declared it the best Christmas song ever. According to the setlist, it’s called ‘Þorláksmessunótt’ in Icelandic and Daníel gave it his all – it was fantastic. When it was over, Gunnar mentioned how he did a good job crooning and Daníel answered it had to be done with Nat King Cole feel. Ragnar claimed that every time they played that song the band was just completely in awe.

We got more from Blik with ‘Home’ that Ragnar introduced as a song dealing with nostalgia. It really worked well that night – I felt it. ‘Kirin’ was pretty awesome too. When Gunnar introduced the next song, I was smiling already, before he mentioned the titled, because he said it was a Billy Joel song, but in the arrangement by The King’s Singers. Of course I knew it was ‘And so it goes’. The song has a special place in my heart and made me cry that night. <3

As every year the grand finale was ‘Heims um ból’. Before, they thanked us all and mentioned how they had done it it so many languages on their last Christmas tour. As always, it was the perfect ending of the night. It’s just lovely to hear everyone sing.

Setlist

Góða veislu gjöra skal
Ljóð í sand
Hvenær kemur sól
Hátið fer að höndum ein
Auld Lang Syne
Glitsky
Bringing back the feel
Later On
Fairytale of New York
Scarborough Fair/Canticle
Smávinir fagrir
Heyr, hymna smiður
Mute
Endatafl
Allt er hljótt
Jólin alls staðar
Þorláksmessunótt
Home pt. 2
Kirin
And so it goes

Heims um ból

We hung out while they were packing, then helped carry some stuff to the cars. Daníel hugged everyone goodbye (surprise) and so did Ragnar (the usual). The rest of us, namely Gunnar, Jean-Sam, Petur, N. and myself went onwards to Ölstofa, where we met some of Gunni’s friends. It was a great night out, discussing the concert, music in general, The Lord of the Rings, knitting and more. It ended for me when N. brought out shots. Goodnight, goodbye, see you next year.