Árstíðir – Ten Verde Festival, Diksmuide; August 31st, 2013
It was a long journey to this one-off show in Belgium, but since it was a weekend, I just had no excuse for not going there. It turned out to be a great decision. I had a wonderful time. 😀
All train connections on time I got there close to four in the afternoon. On the way to my hotel I found everyone sitting at a cafe, enjoying a beer. It was a nice way to get into the mood and forget the long trip. 🙂 Hung out for a while before finally checking in at my hotel. After a short break I went to the festival. It was a nice area and to my surprise the concert took place in a tent. Found my spot at the front, chatted with Linda fo a bit, waited – the usual.
The guys had their soundcheck directly before the concert started, the transition between the two almost seamless. The previous concert had happened only 6 weeks ago, but somehow it felt a lot longer than that. I had really missed the guys. They started with ‘Sunday Morning’, a song that changes meaning for me from time to time. It has a certain melancholia that rings with me and makes it good for sad moments. This time around the hopefulness of the song hit home with me. 🙂
Despite walking around to take pictures I was so caught up in the music, I didn’t even notice the rest of the audience. I could not even tell how many people were there. Judging by the applause, quite a few. This time around the guys hardly translated any of the song titles. Jón refused, but told people to go and ask Daníel after the show. Daníel cracked up laughing and the joke returned several times during the concert. 😀
‘Days and Nights’ was introduced as “a song about just being happy to be alive.” I don’t think I would have ever described it that way, but it does make sense. Either way, it’s always been one of my favorites and remains the first English song I fell in love with. It made me quite happy to have both ‘Orð að eigin vali’ and ‘Við dagsins hnig’ in the setlist. Not that I have any clue what they are about, but they sound beautiful and that’s enough for now. 🙂
Together with the other photographer I spent quite some time on the floor in front of the stage, trying to get some good shots, while not missing anything. It’s always hard to do, because if I focus on pictures the music will move to the background for me. I had good balance between the two though, watching and listening and still capturing some nice moments. 😀
The guys got two encores, both a cappella, the last song without microphones and close to the audience. <3 It never fails to amaze me and I can’t imagine ever getting tired of watching Árstíðir work. Once again I was lucky enough to hang out with them after the show. It was a night of discussions and laughter, but that’s another story to be told another time. 😉
Setlist (somewhat out of order)
Sunday Morning
Heiðin
þér ég unni
Á meðan jörðin sefur
Brestir
Days and Nights
Ljoð í Sand
Orð að eigin vali
Við dagsins hnig
You just have to know of me
Nú gleymist ég
Shades/Tárin
Encore:
Land mins föður
Góða veislu gjöra skal