Árstíðir – Artbar, Brno; December 7th, 2024

Árstíðir’s show at Artbar in Brno was everything! It took m mind of the long and somewhat stressful travel to get there and just made me happy. The club was really small, only had red backlighting and a few candles, but the sound was amazing. The guys had found their footing since Hannover and the setlist was just about perfect. I loved it.

It had been a long day. After returning from London on Friday, I caught up on a few hours of sleep, only to leave home just before midnight to catch the night train to Berlin. Unfortunately, the train was an hour delayed, before we finally left. I did my best to sleep a bit, hoping we would make up for some of the lost time, but halfway there, someone pulled the emergency break, police had to be notified and it was bye bye connecting train, even though I had 40 minutes to change and the connecting train was also more than 40 minutes delayed. Oh well, it meant taking the next one and changing trains again in Prague, which went alright.

When I finally made it to my hostel I just wanted to sleep, but there was no time for that, so I showered, had some food and went on to the venue. Doors were supposed to open at 18:00, but they let me in half an hour early and I got a nice spot. There were some stair like seats on one side and I was happy not to have to stand. I immediately liked the venue with the stone walls and I liked the lighting too – it all felt very cozy.

I had expected the show to start at 19:00, but the guys walked on stage at 18:45, surprising everyone. Alright then! They started with ‘Grafskrift’ – no double mic this time – and it sounded amazing. I was mesmerized and forgot all about being dead tired. Ragnar talked about being happy to be back in the Czech Republic and good memories of their early days when they used to come for a few weeks each summer. Now of course they had brought a winter album full of Icelandic songs and some of their own music too.

They continued with a beautiful version of ‘Ljóð í sand’, immediately followed by  ‘Nú gleymist ég’. The new piano sounded much better this time – or maybe I had gotten used to the different sound. either way, I loved it and already was sighing happily. Ragnar spoked about the Icelandic obsession with “the concept of the sun” and the winter sun, saying the next one asks the question when the sun will return and Daníel added that it had been written in March while trapped in the studio with the cold outside. ‘Hvenær kemur sól’ was a perfect fit for the setlist and sounded lovely.

“The first Christmas song of the evening is our own, so we don’t have to play Wham or Maria Carey” 😀 I’ve always liked ‘Allt er hjlótt’ and really enjoyed it. I remember the story too, that it describes all the animals coming together in a winter’s night. And that’s what I see in my head when I hear the song. They gathered center stage again for more a cappella songs and they spoke about more and more of them being added to their setlist and the impromptu performance of ‘Heyr himna smiður’ in Wuppertal and they sang it for us. It fit much better in the middle of the setlist than at the end and they performed it flawlessly.

Next Gunnar told us about always having wanted to perform the next song, but not having a fitting arrangement, Thus, as you do in a small country like Iceland, Daníel called the composer and he made a new arrangement for them. It was ‘Ljósfaðir’. Such a beautiful song. 🙂 Gunnar noted that they don’t often get the oportunity without a microphone, but this was the perfect opportunity for it.

Next, we took a trip back in time to the first album and ‘Heiðin’. Suddenly I was flooded with old tour memories and the song moved me to tears. It really hit the right chords for me this evening. ‘Lifsins Pendúll’ followed, one of my favorites and wonderfully done. It really feels like a move, a rather dramatic and sad one. The first set ended with ‘Meanderings’, which felt like the odd one out in the Icelandic first half of the show, so I half expected them to do the Icelandic version. They didn’t and it was really nice. I could not believe how quickly 45 minutes had gone by.

After a short break, Guillaume and Jean-Samuel were back on stage, playing a fabulous string piece from their Trio Spilliaert album ‘Augusta’ – it was gorgeous and sounded even better than the first time around. Ragnar introduced them and mentioned that they have many other projects too. Right after, we got ‘Ró’ from the Hvel album and he mentioned that some of the songs on there were written in Czech Republic and the cover art was from a photo session in Ostrava. Only when the song started playing and none ofthe guys did, I remembered that they used to play the piano four handed and this time they had the second piano part pre recorded. It sounds good that way.

‘Lost in you’ is another sog that has many memories connected to it. I#m really happy they are playing it again. Much to my liking, ‘Moonlight’ had been replaced by ‘Þar Sem Enginn Fer’ and Gunnar mentioned how it was written while driving in the Westfjords, where it takes a long time to get anywhere, because you have to drive along the fjords. He jokes about them always making song titles that nobody can pronounce. 😀 This one I don’t find so difficult – maybe I am doing it wrong? Either way, it was fantastic. I love the song.

It was time for the next a cappella set with songs that  contain parallel fifth. The first one was the fun ‘O min flaska friðda’ followed by the gorgeous ‘Hátið fer að höndum ein’. when the mentioned that  the first one was a drinking song a few people shouted “Skál!” and we all laughed at the title’s meaning – “Oh my lovely bottle”. ‘Hátið fer að höndum ein’ is always one of my favorites and had been playing in my head all day long. They asked after how we liked it and the audience agreed it sounded beautiful. Again, they gave us an example of a lullaby with ‘Krummi Svaf í Klettagjá’ and we agreed that we’d not be able to fall asleep to that.

They told us that since, Icelanders have composed more modern Christmas songs too and one of their favorites was ‘Nóttin var sú ágæt ein’ – a 50 year old tune. I really like it, it reminds me of Christmas trees with real candles and sitting in the living room with my family as a child, waiting for presents to be exchanged.

After that, we returned to their own songs with ‘Endatafl’ and I could not help but sing along. <3 ‘While this Way’ is still always a highlight for me. Gunnar told us they were down to their last song, noted howamazing it was to come back to Czech after 6 years and how he felt all the love that was still here thanked us for being such a good audience that kept really quiet while they played. ‘Things you said’ is perfect to end the set with, because it has such amazing string parts. In fact those last three songs showcase everyone’s talents. 🙂

We clapped and cheered for more. They did not eve bother really leaving and gave us ‘Land mins föður’ and finally ‘Góða veislu gjöra skal’, always a fun song to end with. 🙂 It was such a great show.

Everyone went to the merch stand but Daníel so I spoke to him briefly, saying how much I had loved the show and how much better they had gotten since Hannover. That one was one they just had to survive, he said. Sounds fair after not playin together since August and having only the same day to rehearse. said hi to Guillaume and Jean-Samuel, bought their new album and asked which song it was they had played. I learned that the cover design was by Marta. 🙂 Gunnar wanted a rating for the show or rather my opinion, because the setlist had been changed to something I must like. I gave a 9 out of 10 and mentioned that I felt it flowed much better now overall. He was happy. And finally, I learned why Ragnar has a new piano – he needed something lighter and now had one in Iceland and one in Poland so that saves travel costs. I talked about how this one sounded a bit harsher than the other one, but I felt it had gotten better since the first concert. A few hugs goodbye and I was off to my hostel and finally sleep.

Setlist

Grafskrift
Ljóð í sand
Nú gleymist ég
Hvenær kemur sól
Allt er hjlótt
Heyr himna smiður
Ljósfaðir
Heiðin
Lifsins Pendúll
Meanderings

Chante, Ô Peuple Misérable (Néstor Romero Clemente)
Ró
Lost in you
Þar Sem Enginn Fer
O min flaska friðda
Hátið fer að höndum ein
Nóttin var sú ágæt ein
Endatafl
While this Way
Things you said

Land mins föður
Góða veislu gjöra skal

Vetrarsól tour: 2 gigs down, 9 to go. Next stop: Warsaw (Marki)