Birthday cake, champagne and a beautiful concert

Árstíðir – Club Congress, Tucson; August 1st, 2015

After barely two hours of sleep and still drunk from the after-party, I am sitting at my hotel in Tucson until it is time to leave. So many thoughts are swirling chaotically through my head and I’m not entirely sure I can get them in the right order, but let me start by telling you that my birthday was awesome! It had absolutely everything I could have wished for and then some.

So how did I end up in Tucson, Arizona – 9000 km flight distance and 9 hours time difference from home for just one weekend? It all started when I first saw Árstíðir’s tentative US tour dates and read “August 1st” on that schedule. A birthday show? WHERE? Even though nothing was confirmed I started making and then discarding plans. Touring the west coast? Would have loved to go back there, but travel distances were too far and flying over there to expensive. Only that one show? Nooo! I wanted to tour with them and East coast was cheaper and easier. Finally I decided to do the first ten shows and leave it at that. Only to book a flight to Phoenix and back as soon as Tucson got confirmed. I mean, who was I kidding, really? Árstíðir playing a show on my birthday and me not going there? Not gonna happen!

In the weeks counting down to this trip I was excited and nervous about it in equal measures. Excited, because I could not wait to see they guys again and having them play on my birthday was a dream come true and nervous, because I know they are not good at remembering birthdays and I knew I would have been terribly disappointed if they’d forgotten. I grew calmer as the time drew near, finding that I had faith in them after all (and I made sure to remind them on a regular basis 😉 ). After the visa disaster in the beginning of the tour, the band had felt they were just starting when I left. I would have given a lot to continue the tour with them at that point, but sometimes even I have to work. =P Thus, excitement won over and I could hardly wait to see them again. Of course I had followed their progress on social media, but it’s nowhere near the same as being there.

So, early on a Friday morning I took a train to Dusseldorf airport and flew out to Chicago and onwards to Phoenix from there – or so I though. Due to bad weather we could not land and flew to Tucson to refuel. Then the plane had technical problems and the flight was canceled, so I had accidentally landed where I wanted to be. As these sorts of mishaps usually are it was somewhat entertaining to talk to the other people on the plane, sharing jokes and generally just taking things as they came. Eventually we got our luggage, I took a bus downtown, made it to my hotel by 10 pm local and just collapsed into bed – I had been on the road for 26 hours.

Thanks to jet lag I was up early enough to take a nice walk before the midday heat set in. I spent it walking along a dried riverbed, actually singing Springsteen’s ‘The River’ out loud. It was the first song that popped up in my head. I wish I’d had the time to actually go for a hike in the mountains, but I had to be content with just seeing them from afar. The day before someone had told me this was Tucson’s monsoon season and in the afternoon I learned they were not kidding. Heavy rain set in and the road outside my hotel got so flooded some cars had trouble getting through. Luckily it stopped before I had to leave, but for getting to the venue I combined my nice summer dress with flip-flops, because my sandals would not have survived wading through water.

From the moment I arrived at the hotel, everything was absolutely perfect. I ran into Karl or rather he snuck up on me and got a birthday hug. Spent some time outside having a drink, got a piece of amazing chocolate cake the hotel gave out for free because their café turned 25 that day, and went to check out the venue. Bumped into Ragnar, who hugged me, showed me his latest tattoo and invited me to sit with him an Unnur at the bar until it was show time. Gunnar joined us, more hugs and colorful tour stories from everyone.

We actually sat there until Marina V started playing and I hurried over to the club. To my great surprise and delight, the seat in front row center was still empty so I took it – perfect. Marina’s songs were lovely, I enjoyed her set very much. She played piano and sang, Nick played guitar. One song was a beautiful ballad in Russian that she played guitar on. For one song early on, Karl and Unnur played with them and when they covered Guns ‘n’ Roses’ ‘Don’t cry’, Ragnar walked on stage singing backing vocals. He came back later for more backing vocals and Karl for more violin on the last song, ‘Speak’. That song immediately struck a chord with me and would have made me cry had not the rest of the band snuck up on stage during it and joined it. Thus it ended in laughter and lots of hugs on stage. An awesome start to the concert. 😀

During the break I picked up Marina’s CD and learned she’s gonna play in Cologne in September – I’ll do my best to make it there. Said hello to Esther too and got a quick hug from Daníel before it was time to return to my seat. It was a small venue and not completely filled, but people where enthusiastic from the beginning and the sound was fantastic. I had decided beforehand not to take any pictures and just enjoyed the show – it was incredibly beautiful. One of those shows where everything fits and absolutely nothing can spoil the enjoyment.

The moment they started with ‘Himinhvel’ all worries fell away from me and I breathed easier. The last two times I had heard them (on youTube video from Reno and on a radio show) they all sounded tired and I’d been worried about them. Not the case now, they sounded in perfect shape. California seemed to have done them good. The setlist was pretty much the same as at the other shows, continuing right into ‘Things you said’. After that, the entire audience erupted in cheers. 😀

For the first time in a long time I fell right into the music and let it carry me through. I thought I was going to cry, and came close a few times, but every time they made me laugh instead. I looked closely every one of them during the show, amazed at the beautiful work they do. No matter how many concerts I see, I can never get enough of seeing their hands move, watching their faces changing from total concentrations to moments where they just go with the flow. They way this band brings their music to life is still a miracle to me.

Every song was beautiful, even the ones I usually don’t care for as much and the ones I love were exceptional. Somewhere early on, Karl taught us, how to pronounce the band name “Hours, like on the clock, teeth like in your mouth and ear. And if you roll your Rs, your gonna sound Icelandic.” – everyone said it and it actually sounded pretty much right. 😀 When it was time for ‘Day & Nights’, Ragnar told the story of getting stuck in Iowa when the bus broke down and joked that he realized this song was about that. When he started singing, he changed the second line to “…and I’ve been stuck in one place”. It put a huge smile on my face. The song segued right into ‘Sunday Morning’ – it was just perfect.

Towards the end of their set they got up to sing a cappella. I was convinced it was going to be ‘Heyr, himna smiður’ and even contemplated getting out my camera, because for once none of them was blocked by a microphone. Moments later, I was glad I didn’t. They announced: “This is a very special song. You’re gonna figure it out halfway through” and they started singing “Happy Birthday” in Icelandic. I was so happily surprised, it came totally unexpected. When they were done, Gunnar pointed me out and explained how I’m following them and how happy they were to have me there. <3 ‘Nú gleymist ég’ ended the set perfectly.

During the break a few people came up to me and wished me a happy birthday and I had a good time chatting with the people sitting next to me. The second set started with ‘Ró’, and the guys walking back on stage one by one. As soon as Karl walked out and picked up his violin, I knew it was not going to be the version they had been playing at all the other shows I have seen. This time, Unnur joined Ragnar on the piano. It was beautiful. 🙂

The second set was just as brilliant as the first with me being totally caught up in the music and the moment. ‘Shine’ killed me and ‘Silfurskin’ was absolutely gorgeous. Even the older songs seemed to have a special spark that night, and everyone looked like they thoroughly enjoyed being on stage and playing for us. Towards the end, Ragnar thanked me again for coming all the way and gave a shout out to G. who had traveled from Chicago. They played ‘Heyr, himna smiður’ too, eventually and it was a great version as well. When they ended with ‘You again’ and ‘Shades’ the audience went nuts and they got standing ovations.

Once more the band returned for ‘Islands far…’ and of course ‘Kill us’. With the reception they got I thought they might treat us to ‘Góða veislu gjöra skal’, but then people stopped clapping too soon after all. I am not complaining though, it was bloody amazing and totally worth the trip.

After the gig it was time for more hugs and chats and there was even champagne that G. had brought. We all went to an after party at a fan’s home where some of the guys were staying the night. Before we got there we started on the Salmiakki I had brought and at the party there was wine and nacho chips and a pool to dip in too. It was a fun night and I had the most awesome conversations with other fans. I left around four in the morning while the party was still going on and could not get to sleep for a long time, my head spinning with amazing memories. As I finish this I have reached Phoenix, my last stop on this trip before I return home tomorrow. Thank you, Árstíðir for making my birthday wonderful. I love you and miss you already.

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