Árstíðir – Klub Akademicki ARKA, Krakow; December 9th, 2024
Árstíðir’s show in Krakow was my favorite one yet and all because they made a small change to the setlist. I loved it before that, but until then Brno was still the top one. Lovely club, nice audience, great vibes overall – perfect concert.
It was an easy trip to Krakow and when I arrived, I even had some time to relax at my hotel. First I checked the shortest route to the train station though – I would need it in the morning. Was happy to find out that it took five minutes to get from my room to the platform. 🙂 Left for the venue around 17:00 to get there an hour before the doors opened. Was a bit confused when I got there, because, while my ticket and the poster on the door said the concert would start at 19:00, a sign said 20:00 – WHAT? Doors were closed, but luckily Jean_Samuel came out for a smoke and let me in. Someone had already ben sitting there and we’d met before at a Krakow concert, so we spent some time chatting. Then went up to the bar, which was in the same room as the concert. We could order drinks and were allowed to stay. Nobody ever checked our tickets. Oh, and the concert started at 19:00 after all.
The stage looked lovely, with Christmassy lights at the back and I reserved a seat for myself at the front. Said hello to A. and Marta, chatted for a while and eventually it was time for the show to start. The guy walked on stage and I was surprised when Ragnar sat down at the piano. Had they changed the setlist. Nope, turns out he had momentarily forgotten that they started with a cappella song and only realized it when the others called him over. 😀
‘Grafskrift’ sounded wonderful as ever and I was into it from the first moment – no distraction this time. I just love watching them perform so much and this time I looked at the little details like how each of them held their hands while singing. <3 Ragnar greeted us, in Polish and English, introduced Guillaume and Jean-Samuel right away, then told us about the new album. We got an amazing version of ‘Ljóð í sand’ and an equally great one of ‘Nú gleymist ég’. I really loved every minute of it, singing along as much as i could.
Ragnar spoke about their obsession with the weather and seasons and the influence they have on their music, hence the bandname. With ‘Hvenær kemur sól’ we had finally arrived in winter, waiting for the sun to come back. It sounded fantastic too. <3 The first Christmas song of the night was ‘Allt er hjlótt’ of course, but Ragnar joked they were going to play ‘Last Christmas’. I was never so happy that they wrote their own Christmas song. 😉 It is such a great song too, really fits the season.
Ragnar introduced the a capella songs and suddenly the sound from his mic was gone, so he tapped it and said “raz, raz” (Polish for one). I laughed, because I remembered him making that joke at his solo concerts. He then asked if we knew what the word means in Icelandic. As Gunnar shook his head, he continued “we’ll tell you after the show. The people, who just laughed know what it means”. 😀 Then he mentioned how it had taken them 11 years to finally record the album people had been asking for since singing a song at the trains station in Wuppertal.
‘Heyr himna smiður’ sounded so good. I have always had a love/hate relationship with this song, but right now I fall on the side of love. They have really made it their own. <3 We then learned that most of the songs they sing on the Vetrarsól album are arranged for mixed choirs, but for one song Daníel called the composed “and said What’s up?” – that lead to jokes of Icelanders talking a lot of slang, before we gor the lovely ‘Ljósfaðir’. It has quickly become a favorite of mine. *sigh*
Ragnar tried some more Polish and spoke about how music transcends language and you can feel what they are singing about, even f you don’t understand. True. ‘Heiðin’ followed, then the “title track of our 2021 album Pendull”, ‘Lifsins Pendúll – this time if was so beautiful it brought tears to my eyes. Such a powerful song. ‘Meanderings’ was a really nice closer to the first set, it really spoke to me this time.
During the break I walked around a bit and decided to take a few pictures from the bak, so I stayed on the side when Jean-Samuel and Guillaume came back for the second set. They played a beautiful version of ‘Chante, Ô Peuple Misérable‘ – it feels like the song is getting better every day. 🙂 I’m really looking forward to listening to their full album when I get home. They got their well deserved applause. ‘Ró’ was fantastic as well. This show was definitely on par with Brno. <3
I was back in my seat in time for ‘Lost in you’ and got lost in the music right away. When Gunnar said the next song was from the Nivalis album, I was confused for a moment, because I had forgotten, that ‘While this Way’ is not the only song on the setlist from that album. Gunnar mentioned it had been released in 2018 and Ragnar added they had been to Krakow last in 2019, saying “it’s been too long, we’ll never do it again… stay away so long I mean”. We all laughed. “What we keep doing, “Gunnar continued, “is creating song titles no non-Icelandic person can pronounce.” well, mostly true. 😀 ‘Þar Sem Enginn Fer’ is always amazing. 🙂
Ragnar introduced the next a capella songs and kept talking for so long that Jean-Samuel chose to sit down on Guillaumes chair while waiting. 😀 Considering he wanted to “keep a long story short”, he talked quite a lot. 😉 It is always interesting to hear about the development of Icelandic music though. ‘O min flaska friðda’ is another song I like more very night and ‘Hátið fer að höndum ein’ I always enjoy. Of course, this audience got a taste of the “strange lullaby ‘Krummi Svaf í Klettagjá’ as well. It was fun.
‘Nóttin var sú ágæt ein’ is also a favorite every night. It lead us back from Christmas songs to their own compositions. We got an awesome rendition of ‘Endatafl’, hen the wonderful ‘While this way’ and finally they had arrived at the last song. There was enough “aww” that Ragnar said “if you don’t want t to end, it means we did a good job”. Daníel quipped “It would be horrible if the reaction was “YES!” 😀 They added that in Iceland people clap and yell “meira!”, if they want more and Gunnar thanked us all for coming.
‘Things you said’ was fantastic. Every note was right. We did clap loudly and after I started yelling “Meira! Meira!” everyone joined in. They gladly came back ans we got the biggest surprise of the night. Gunnar said they had sang this during rehearsals and would change the setlist now to a song by Paul Simon. “Billy Joel” Daníel corrected and Gunnar was like “I think everything is by Paul Simon”. They gave us a gorgeous rendition of ‘And so it goes’. I loved it so much, it made me cry and also made me decide that this was my favorite show so far. “Shall we leave you with one Christmas song?” Daníel asked. Yes please! ‘Góða veislu gjöra skal’ is always perfect.
I spoke to every one after the show, got a few hugs and we all hoped we’d manage the long trip to Aschaffenburg the next day. I told them this was my favorite show so far because of ‘And so it goes’, then spoke to Gunnar about the previous show and that I had heard the subwoofer sound he had mentioned on my recording (but not at the show). From Jean-Samuel I learned that Guillaume had written the duo arrangement for ‘Chante, Ô Peuple Misérable ‘ on the way to Hannover and they had played it with no rehearsal. Wow, much impressed. Final hugs ans goodbyes and “see you tomorrow”. What a wonderful evening!
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
And so it goes
Góða veislu gjöra skal
Vetrarsól tour: 4 gigs down, 7 to go. Next stop: Aschaffenburg