Svavar Knútur – Neues Schauspiel, Leipzig; September 21st, 2024
Leipzig was the second stop on my little Svavar Knútur weekend tour and a completely different show from the one in Dresden. Not only did Svavar change the setlist, but the vibes were entirely different too. It felt a bit lighter and less serious, even though both shows had some serious songs songs as well as much laughter. I really loved it.
The day started with sleeping late in Dresden, then taking a local train to Leipzig around noon. Arrived, walked to my hotel, checked in and relaxed for a few hours before going to the venue. Met some nice women there and we sat in the beer garden chatting until it was time to go in. Svavar and Uwe got a little delayed by a traffic jam, but still arrived on time. Once we had all settled down, the show was on the road.
Like the previous day, Svavar started with ‘Orgar brim’ and explained that it translates to “the waves are screaming”. It’s always nice to have the first song in Icelandic. He thanked us for coming and talked about rather having a sold out show than a bigger venue that is only half full. Interestingly, a lot of people had not seen him before, so he asked them to not leave in a very funny way. Then he talked about finishing a 15 year project of writing himself out of grief.
‘Clementine’, the song that started it all was next. It is a good introduction to his music, showing off the beautiful melodies and emotional lyrics he does so well. He spoke about breakup songs and the opportunities to learn about oneself through a breakup. The “half girlfriend” was mentioned again and we laughed a lot. From talking about the bridge jokes in Dresden we got to avoiding fights and “Beer-Fu”, the most amazing martial art. It’s a secret though, I can’t make it public. 😉 He played ‘Goodbye my lovely’, a song I hadn’t heard in a long time.
We learned the alien way of saying “cheers” in passing and were taught about the importance of saying “Skál” in Iceland. It may sound almost the same as “skål”, but it’s about as far apart as “Zauber” (magic) and “sauber” (clean). It brought up a funny story about playing in Bochum that I hadn’t heard before. 😀 Svavar then talked about the sibling song she writes and how they are connected through he lyrics or topics. He showed us by playing ‘Morgunn’ and ‘Refur’. <3
He surprised us with playing ‘Dansa’ and told us about writing them after two of his best friends died and he was in a dark place himself. Yet, he found that you can choose how you want to dance in your life – from the top down (i.e. hanging from a noose) or from the feet up and wrote the song. Wow. I could not remember ever hearing it live before and enjoyed it a lot. I also found the melody similar to ‘The glorious Catastrophe’. I have to go and play both of those next to each other, to see if the original versions are this similar as well or just the live versions.
We got two more sister songs, the wonderful ‘Lady Winter’ and ‘Hope and Fortune’. Introducing them he mentioned that he could not imagine living in a place where he could never see the Northern Lights again. Both were sung beautifully. He spoke about his love for winter and how for him, hell is not dark but bright, then ended the set with a great rendition of ‘November’
The second set started with musings about summer versus winter and how the Icelandic word for happiness translates to “having a thick fur”. We also learned that the people who first settled in Iceland were those who didn’t want to fight a war. Svavar also demonstrated how music sounds in different countries. After all those jokes we managed a lovely sing-along to ‘Janúar’. It really adds to the song, I am so glad he taught us. 🙂
He told us that he has started a project writing about monsters and gave a few examples of Icelandic ones. ‘Medusa’ is a song I have really grown to like and I was happy to hear it. Svavar spoke about one of his favorite cousins, who had recently dies, what a wonderful person she was and how she did not give up on living her best life when she got cancer. He played Leonard Cohen’s ‘So long, Marianne’ for her. It was fantastic.
‘Wanderlust’ was a welcome request. It always puts a smile on my face and is such fun to sing along to. He told us about the band Grandaddy and decided to play their song ‘Nature Anthem’ for us – it led to another good sing-along. He urged us to check out the video. I did and can confirm that is indeed really cute. <3
“One love song for you guys. I fucking hate love songs!” he said and continued that he liked this one, because it was his own, but otherwise love songs were pretty boring. It was ‘While the World burns’ of course and that is always beautiful. After that we learned a little bit about Norse Religion and how it is often misunderstood, including the gods. I love these bits of information that Svavar just weaves into his concerts.
He wanted to play two breakup songs for us, starting with ‘Emotional Anorexic’. It makes any concert instantly better for me. <3 After that, Svavar realized it was late already and decided to only play one more song, ‘Slow Dance’, the one about his daughter’s birth. He told us the dramatic story the song recounts and how he has to make fun of it to be able to tell the story at all. It was well told, so much that I felt like i was there. He snag it beautifully and the sing-along in the end was a highlight of the show. 🙂
Thanking everyone, he left, only to come right back to our loud cheers and playing a fantastic, funny and really long version of ‘Leipzig’, including a great story and a few covers. I laughed really hard. We cheered and clapped him back to the stage, he asked us to support small artists and small venues. We got one final song to send us home, ‘Krummi Svaf í Klettagjá’, including jokes about “raven Twitter”, It was the perfect end to the show.
He invited everyone to come have a beer with him, but only a few stayed. I was tired, so I said my goodbyes, thanked him for the great show and walked back to my hotel, knowing I’d get another one the next day. 😀
Setlist
Orgar brim
Clementine
Goodbye my lovely
Morgúnn
Refur
Dansa
Lady Winter
Hope and Fortune
November
Janúar
Medusa
So long Marianne (Leonard Cohen)
Wanderlust
Nature Anthem (Grandaddy)
While the World burns
Emotional Anorexic
Slow Dance
Leipzig
Krummi Svaf í Klettagjá