Árstíðir – Helios 37, Cologne; December 12th, 2024

Seeing any band in Cologne is usually a treat. There is just something about the audiences there that make every gig a great one. Árstíðir’s concert was no exception. The small club was full, they sang their hearts out and the audience had a great time.

I had left Nuremberg early in the morning, so I would have a least a little bit of time at home, before I had to go to Cologne. It worked out, I got home at noon, had lunch, repacked, relaxed for a bit and was on a train yet again, delayed as always. A few days before I had remembered to asked my friend E. if she wanted to come along. She was in Dortmund for a few days, but had not wanted to go alone. She was on a delayed train as well and G. was on her way by car.

To my surprised, there was nobody there shortly before 18:00 and I could not even find he entrance a first. Google guided me to a metal door in the wall, but that did not look like an entrance, so I walked onwards and came to a large gate closed with a huge chain. That did not look like an entrance either. when I walked back, there was an open gate hat had previously been closed and that was where the entrance was. Luckily I wasn’t alone for long. G. joined me soon and after C. and H. arrived. They had brought Glühwein for the band and gave it o Malko when he walked by. E. arrived and we chatted with everyone around. That way, we got offered a ride bak to Dortmund – perfect.

Once inside, we gathered in front of the stage and tried to get warm, but geez it was cold in there. I did not want to keep on my jacket though, because then I’d freeze outside later. A peysa would have been nice. Oh well, it got warmer eventually. The pace filled up nicely and I could not wait for the show to start.

‘Grafskrift’ already sounded amazing and the audience reaction was great. As usual, Ragnar greeted us in German and introduced the full band this time. He looked super tired. The all-nighter really showed. He sounded great though, the voice was definitely there, if a bit lower than usual. With ‘Ljóð í sand’, E. was smiling already. Good. 🙂 I noticed that Daníel stood turned sideways and wondered why. After the show, I learned that there were some feedback issues and therefore he had to turn his guitar away from the front. It helped.

‘Nú gleymist ég’ sounded fantastic! Ragnar asked if we know what their name means. He joked about not choosing their name because it is hard to pronounce, but because they are obsessed with the seasons and the changing weather. ‘Hvenær kemur sól’ is for sure a valid question in December and it made me think of how Svavar Knútur always talks about January bringing two more hours of light.

They spoke about how, when writing a Christmas song you need to check off certain cliches and they felt they hit the mark with ‘Allt er hjlótt’. They can absolutely be proud of this one. It is a wonderful song. When the band got up to gather around the double mic, they silently joked about who should stand where with lots of grand gestures. To my surprised, they sang ‘Ìsland Farsaelda Frón’ and Gunnar told us to listen for the tonality in that one, to see if it sounded strange. It always does, but it’s also beautiful. They told us about getting a new arrangement for ‘Ljósfaðir’ by calling the composer. It was worth it. The arrangement is so good. Daníel added that he had heard the song the first time at Hallgrimskirkja with an organ and a clarinet. A friend from Germany had come to see the concert and asked to sleep a few hours on the couch. Funnily enough, two people asked if that was me. Nope.

‘Heiðin’, we learned, means ridge and Ragnar explained that before they had roads in Iceland in winter it became hard to cross ridges to get supplies or meet others, so “ridge” has a somewhat threatening connotation. And that is what the song feels like – tense, with a sense of danger. Now I finally understood. The went straight into ‘Lifsins Pendúll’ – I just love how the song swings between quiet and dramatic. You don’t need to know the title or understand the words to feel what the song is about.

Introducing ‘Meanderings’, Ragnar talked about Icelandic being such a small language that everyone is at least bi-lingual. Or Duolingo. 😀 When he claimed “some of us speak a little German”, Gunnar face read “not really” – it was quite amusing. After that we got a short break and I asked E. what she though. She told me she understood why I follow them. I spoke to C. about ‘Meanderings’ and she had a similar reaction to me – the song was so familiar that it sounded strange hearing them claim they had never played it together.

Soon, our favorite string players were back, gently easing us into the second set. This, time, they did not only get a special introduction, but Ragnar also asked what the pice was called and Guillaume supplied ‘Chante, Ô Peuple Misérable‘. When they announced ‘Ró’ someone behind me said “das mag ich sehr” (I like that song very much). It sounded lovely.

After a great rendition of ‘Lost in you’, E. wanted to now what that one was called. So far the second half had almost given us a lot of tranquility and then it got a lot more dramatic again with ‘Þar Sem Enginn Fer’. It’s always a highlight. Ragnar told us we would not find the new album on any streaming platform “because we decided no to give it away for free” – fair. He spoke about Icelandic music history and how isolation had lead to their specific way of making folk music. He kinda lost the plot there, forgetting the names of the classical composers that Icelanders did not know about. ‘O min flaska friðda’ and
‘Hátið fer að höndum ein’ followed, both great as always and then we got a taste of ‘Krummi Svaf í Klettagjá’, which led to much laughter. I keep thinking about how different Svavar Knútur’s version of that song is. ‘Nóttin var sú ágæt ein’ sounded really lovely after that.

During ‘Endatafl’ Ragnar closed his eyes and for a moment I was afraid he might just fall asleep and fall off of his chair. He sounded fantastic though. <3 I wasn’t the only one who cheered loudly for ‘While this way’ especially after they had to start over, because something was wrong with the playback on first try. The last song announcement got the usual reaction. Gunna said how Cologne is always a blast and brings great energy. Once agan, they pulled out all stops for ‘Things you said’. It was so good.

They bowed and actually left the stage and walked out as we kept cheering. They did not stay away long, as backstage was partly outside and it was cold. Bringing freezing air, they came back and gave us ‘And so it goes’. I had half expected ‘Heyr hynma smiður’, but wasn’t mad about it. ‘And so it goes’ is a sog I can never get enough of. <3 Gunnar told us that the arrangement of he Kin’s Singers taught them how great a capella music could be. For the grand finale, they stpped out into the audience and sang ‘Góða veislu gjöra skal’. Perfect!

Now it was time for me to get out the vinyl I had brought and get it signe by everyone, get some hugs on the way and told hem what a good show it had been. I asked Ragnar if they had left out ‘Heyr hynma smiður’, because it is hard to sing, but he told me that Gunnar wanted to do some more work on the arrangement. Cool, so it’s going to change. he had gotten very little sleep, but was happy with the show anyway. Good. I needed to say goodbye quickly, because our driver was waiting. No complaints here, I was home an hour earlier than expected and got to spend the drive in a nice warm car, talking about music.

Setlist

Grafskrift
Ljóð í sand
Nú gleymist ég
Hvenær kemur sól
Allt er hjlótt
Ìsland Farsaelda Frón
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: 7 gigs down, 4 to go. Next stop: Karlsruhe