Árstíðir – Club Stereo, Nuremberg; December 11th

The concert in Nuremberg was my 250th Árstíðir show and it was an amazing one. It tool place at a small club with a small stage, but the sound was great and nothing else mattered. I was flooded with memories of the early days on tour with the guys and also enjoyed just being there, lost in music and close to tears more than once. Thank you!

Traveling to Nuremberg was asy. I left Aschaffenburg after 10 and got there at noon, had a good lunch, then dessert at a local cat cafe and still some time to relax at my hostel before meeting G. at the Christmas market for Glühwein. With that and some food in our stomachs we went to the venue, where we soon met up with C. It got quite cold, before they let us in, but once inside I warmed up.

The club was about the same size as the one in Brno. C. and I chose to stood in front of the stage, while G. sat down on the side. The guys had changed the stage set up with Ragnar being on the left this time. I guess it was the best way to fit all the instruments on stage. Soon, C. joined us there – it was a happy reunion.

They started with the wonderful ‘Grafskrift’ and I was immediately caught up in the music. That doesn’t always happen so effortlessly, but this night everything was right. 🙂 As usual, Ragnar said hello and introduced the show, telling us all about the Icelandic winter sun. During ‘Ljóð í sand’ I was singing  along as best as I could and Ragnar looked at me, smiling. I felt every song so much and also felt myself drifting off into memories from long ago, remembering a concert at Schlachthof in Wiesbaden, where the room had been as small as this one and we had sat on the floor in front of the stage and many other shows.

I could not recall when Gunnar had started singing ‘Nú gleymist ég’ like he does it now, but I do remember loving it the very first time I heard it and telling him as much. It was brilliant! Ragnar told us how they had written their first album without having a band name and noticing the common denominator of the songs was expressing complicated emotions while borrowing metaphors from the nature and especially the changing seasons. With the seasons, the light changes and therefore, the lovely ‘Hvenær kemur sól’ followed.

The first Christmas song was announced and Ragnar joked that they thought Mariah Carey or Wham hit the spot. Of course we got ‘Allt er hjlótt’ instead and they played it beautifully. They told us how the next song had influence their career a little bit “when we found ourselves kinda tipsy at a train station in  Wuppertal. you’ve probably seen the video.” I have, and I’m in it too. 😉 ‘Heyr himna smiður’ really works for me on this tour. It was beautiful!

With ‘Ljósfaðir’ we got the story of the one song where they could not work with the mixed choir arrangement and Daníel calling the composer and thus getting an all male choir arrangement. It is definitely one of my favorite songs in the set. 🙂 Rganr spoke about Iceland being so small that everyone is within reach – “yes, we know Björk”. Then Gunnar added that she lives in the same area and he often sees her when he goes for walks and always tries to look elsewhere, because Icelanders like to pretend they don’t care about famous people.

‘Heiðin’ followed by ‘Lifsins Pendúll’ is just the perfect combination. From the old dramatic one o the new dramatic one. Daníel told us that the title means “pendulum of lfe” and that it’s thought about what happens in the afterlife. I did not know that and it makes the song even better. Such a great version too. Unexpectedly, the first set was already coming to a close with ‘Meanderings’ – how does it always go by so quickly? I loved it and I had the feeling they guys were having a good time as well. When the walked off stage, Ragnar gave C. a fist bump and me a quick friendly touch on the arm. He was all smiles.

The break went by as we chatted and Guillaume and Jean-Samuel played the wonderful ‘Chante, Ô Peuple Misérable‘ for us. I can absolutely get lost in that piece of music. <3 After the rest of the band joined them again, they got another chance to shine during ‘Ró’. It has really grown on me this tour. ‘Lost in you’ and ‘Þar Sem Enginn Fer’ were both brilliant. It still amazed me, how they always make their music sound good, no matter what venue they are at. This show was making me so happy, I was smiling the entires time.

Ragnar gave us a “short history of the music of Iceland” and what folk music in Iceland is like. I rather like the combo of ‘O min flaska friðda’ and ‘Hátið fer að höndum ein’. They may sound “viking-y”, but especially the second one is really beautiful. “Did it sound weird”? Ragnar asked, “do you feel like drinking?” 😀 Of course they gave us a sample of ‘Krummi Svaf í Klettagjá’ as well. Gunnar set the stage “It’s late at night, it’s snowing outside. You’re two years old and you’ve just been put to bed” Apparently it takes years of practice to fall asleep to it “when you finally get used to it you’re too old for lullabies”. Ragnar talked some more and meanwhile Guillaume and Daníel both were playing a little bit, like “come one, get on with it”. With ‘Nóttin var sú ágæt ein’ the traditional song part ended.

‘Endatafl’ was wonderful and o course I was singing along to the “oooh” and “aaaah” part in the end. I can’t help it. There is nothing I have not said about While this Way’ yet – it still fully captures me every night. <3 The last song came around and Gunnar said it warmed his heart when we expressed how sad we were about it. If all things must end, they should always end with a song as good as ‘Things you said’. *happy sigh*

We cheered loudly and they didn’t even bother leaving the stage, before they asked us if we wanted one more. One? Give me three! 😉 “Since it’s Wednesday, we’ll do two for you,” Daníel said. They had kept  the beautiful ‘And so it goes’ on the setlist and did it perfectly, then ended with the fun ‘Góða veislu gjöra skal’. What a great show. I was super happy with it.

I had talked to Ragnar briefly before the show and told him I wanted to take a picture after, because it was my 250th concert. Now, I said the same to Gunnar and he already know. First there was some chatting with everyone and a round of hugs. Finally we all gathered for a picture and I even had a sign prepared saying “This is my 250th concert”. Since he guys all stood together now, several other took the chance to get a picture too.

I talked with Ragnar a bit more, who was about to pull an all-nighter to work on the TV soundtrack is is doing right now. He told me how he had recorded Guillaume for it and that it sounded great at this club.

Finally, they were packing and I announced to Gunnar that I would steal the setlist. He joked that he would allow it. Jean-Samuel noted that it should say the title and not just “string piece”. “You have to tell me the title the,” Gunnar said and G. supplied ‘Chante, Ô Peuple Misérable‘. Gunnar was like “Jean Sam miserable?” and we got a good laugh out of it. Then it was time to say goodbye. Thank you, it was wonderful.

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: 6 gigs down, 5 to go. Next stop: Cologne