Svavar Knútur – Societätstheater, Dresden; September 20th, 2024
For a few years now, whenever Svavar Knútur plays in my area, I have other plans already and end up going east for a weekend to catch a few shows. Thus, I was back in Dresden at the Societätstheater to see him. It was a lovely sow at a beautiful location and I enjoyed it thoroughly.
As usual I arrived too early and first checked where the Gartenbühne was, since he had played inside the last time around. Ran into Uwe, who told me he’d let us in at 7. Got a drink while I waited and returned in tome for the opening, joining some others who were already waiting. Ended up sitting next to S., having interesting conversations with her all evening.
The show was slightly delayed, because Svavar had realized it was too cold without his lopapeysa, so he went back to the hotel to get it. Shortly after Uwe had told us, Svavar arrived and someone told him he ha a nice sweater. 😀 We learned that his lime bike broke down and he had to run some of the way. First song of the night was based on a poem by Látra-Björg about screaming waves.
He spoke about finishing a 15 year project about grief and that he was so happy to be done with this journey. Theoretically, he could now work a different job and stop making music, but he assured us he would not. Good. 🙂 “Let’s start at the beginning,” he said and played ‘Clementine’, which I always love. The sister song to it, ‘Humble Hymn’ is all about mistakes and Svavar mentioned how much they had sent him on the path he is on and how it has made him happy. He wrote it with Kaja Bremnes, a Norwegian singer and mentioned how hungover they were when they did. It was beautifully sung and our sing-along was great too.
We heard more about all the sister songs he writes and how they have a story that is combining. He explained how ‘Morgunn’ is about the joy of waking up to your family and how he gelt something was missing from he song until his son Refur was born and with his song, the picture became complete. Both songs were lovely. He taught us about 40% of Icelanders having Irish ancestors and which traits they had inherited, complete with a short scene from an Icelandic bar, all to explain the importance of knowing the word “Skál!” (not skål). It was hilarious.
Next up were the sister songs about refugees and Svavar said how he could not imagine leaving Iceland. ‘Lady Winter’ was beautiful, even though he fucked up a verse. I somehow thought a few lines were missing, but later checked the lyrics and realized I was wrong. I should know better, it’s one of my favorite songs. ‘Hope and Fortune’ then, was wonderful and I remembered the show in Vienna when we had all sang along.
He told us that the curfew was ten and he’d play us one more song before the break. First though, we learned that he has bought a laminator, which has made him very popular in his family and beyond. Therefore, the merch sheet is laminated now (and contains a QR code for Bandcamp too). 😀 Inexplicably it lead to talking about AI images and a joke about Dresden only having two bridges now (since one broke down recently) – “too soon?” he asked. Lots us us laughed, so maybe not. Of course he told us why he prefers winter to summer and ‘November was the perfect ending to the first set. <3
After a short break, Svavar was back, telling us about the different kind of humor in Iceland versus Germany. We all got to sing along to ‘Janúar’ and it surprises me each time how well it works. It makes the song even better than it already is. Afterwards we learned where the word “you” came from historically. I love how Svavar just throws out these pieces of trivia from time to time.
‘While thenWorld burns’ was announced as one of his favorite songs and I understand why. It is a truly beautiful song despite all the dark imagery. Somehow we got from love songs to more bridge jokes and it was hilarious. Love songs, f course, must be followed by breakup songs, together with Svavar’s views on breakups being good for you and sometimes the right thing to do. True, two people should not be miserable together. And what does it mean to have had 5 and a half girlfriends? You have to ask him to find out. One of them he wrote three songs about and he played two of them, the fantastic and slightly depressed ‘Emotional Anorexic’ and the more upbeat ‘A glorious Catastrophe’.
‘Yfir hóla og yfir hæðir’ came as a surprise for me – I hadn’t heard that one in a while. It is such a happy song. He talked about the Ward, Knútur, Townes project and how he wanted a different band name, which lead to speaking about Icelandic monsters and how uncool they are, including some funny examples. We learned about mermaid sex too, at least how Svavar imagines it. Icelandic merfolk apparently look like gollum and their power is laughter so obviously their song is ‘isn’t it funny?’ 😀
The main set ended with ‘Slow Dance’ the song about his daughter Emma’s birth, but first he told us the dramatic story of ho it happened, making light of it, because it is the only way to deal with it. Luckily Emma was and is fine. The song is great and makes for a good finale. <3 During the story, the clock of the neearby church chimed ten. We still got one more song, ‘Krummi Svaf í Klettagjá’ and learned that he considers the raven his spirit animal. He also spoke about the raven that comes to visit his home every morning. Svavar thanked us and asked us to support small musicians everywhere, because making a living is hard for them
Afterwards I told him, how lovely it had been, hugged him goodbye and left together with S. until our ways parted. We agreed that it had been a wonderful concert.
Setlist
Orgar brim
Clementine
Humble Hymn
Morgúnn
Refur
Lady Winter
Hope and Fortune
November
Janúar
While the World burns
Emotional Anorexic
A glorious Catastrophe
Yfir hóla og yfir hæðir
isn’t it funny
Slow Dance
Krummi Svaf í Klettagjá