{"id":9808,"date":"2018-11-18T19:21:33","date_gmt":"2018-11-18T17:21:33","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/passioncolorseverything.com\/blog\/?p=9808"},"modified":"2022-01-10T19:57:54","modified_gmt":"2022-01-10T17:57:54","slug":"my-garden-my-living-room-my-friends","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/passioncolorseverything.com\/blog\/?p=9808","title":{"rendered":"My garden, my living room, my friends"},"content":{"rendered":"

Magn\u00fas \u00de\u00f3r 70th birthday concert – H\u00e1skolab\u00ed\u00f3, Reykjavik; November 15th and 16th, 2018<\/strong><\/p>\n

The first time I ever heard of\u00a0Magn\u00fas \u00de\u00f3r was when he joined \u00c1rst\u00ed\u00f0ir for their Christmas concert in 2016. He is a legend in Iceland, but with most of his songs being Icelandic, I doubt many people outside the country know who he is. I liked what I heard though and when they announced an album together I was looking forward to hearing it. It came with a Karolina Fund campaign and one of the rewards was a ticket to\u00a0Magn\u00fas \u00de\u00f3r’s 70th birthday \/ Gardurinn minn release concert. “Good idea!” I thought and chose exactly this. Therefore I found myself at H\u00e1skolab\u00ed\u00f3 on a rainy Thursday night, not at all prepared for what was about to come, but happy to be there.<\/p>\n

Talked to Ragnar before the gig and he told me to expect a musical feast spanning songs from the 60ies until today, soft and loud with many different guests. That sounded even more interesting \ud83d\ude42 The ticket I got was sixth row center with a perfect view of the stage, because it was exactly the right height. I had brought my camera, but decided not to use it, since the entire concert was being filmed and shown on TV and a distracting “clack” noise was not what they needed, especially during the first, more quiet half of the show. As we walked in, a guy was sitting at the piano and playing until everyone was seated. The stage was set up like a living room with lamps everywhere and some comfortable chairs. On the right side sat Jenn\u00fd, Magn\u00fas wife, knitting for the duration of the show. It was like he was sitting at home and had invited his friends over to celebrate.<\/p>\n

The venue was sold out and everyone was waiting for the show to start. We clapped as Magn\u00fas walked out, then settled back into our chairs and watched the evening unfold. The first song was just Magn\u00fas on guitar and the piano player. The beauty of it all drew me in right away. I got lost in the sound of the music and his slightly rough voice. I did not understand the words, but I felt them. \ud83d\ude42 He announced guests and out walked\u00a0P\u00e1ll \u00d3skar to much applause. I’d never heard any of his music, but I knew he is quite the Pop star in Iceland and recognized him instantly. Magn\u00fas told a story about him that must have been funny, but of course all that went past me. I wished I understood, it would have made the concert even better. The two of them performed a song together that Ragnar told me later was a song\u00a0P\u00e1ll \u00d3skar is known for, but not everyone knows that Magn\u00fas wrote it. It even seemed slightly familiar to me, but I have no idea where I could have heard it before. Either way, it was lovely.<\/p>\n

Next to join him on stage was\u00a0\u00de\u00f3runn Ant\u00f3n\u00eda and I heard him introduce her as “dottir minn” (my daughter). She, too, is a well known Pop star and sang one beautiful song with him, called ‘Play me’. I was quite surprised that it was in English. Magn\u00fas welcomed\u00a0J\u00f3hann Helgason to the stage who joined him on guitar for another song in English. And here I had been thinking he only wrote in Icelandic. After one song together\u00a0Magn\u00fas Magn\u00fasson played drums with them. His as the first familiar face I saw on that stage after Magn\u00fas \u00de\u00f3r. He has played drums with \u00c1rst\u00ed\u00f0ir a few times. In that constellation they played ‘Blue Jean Queen’ together and in-between Magn\u00fas was telling stories. The whole feeling of it all reminded me very much of being at a Reinhard Mey concert, even though he is usually on stage alone. It must have been the storytelling.<\/p>\n

\u00c1rst\u00ed\u00f0ir walked out to great cheers and got to perform ‘J\u00f3lab\u00e6n einst\u00e6\u00f0ingsins’ on their own, just all three singing into one microphone. It was very beautiful, especially because each one of them had a small solo part. It reminded me of everything I love about them. <3 They joined J\u00f3hann and Magn\u00fas for a few songs. One of them, ‘\u00c1lfar’ they had already performed together on TV. With five voices singing the concert gradually grew a bit louder. One more song,’Sail’ on was in English, the others Icelandic. I loved hearing how their voices harmonized and it amazed me just how different these songs were. It sure was a wide range of material. By that time it had stopped bothering me that I didn’t understand and I just let the music guide me, even closed my eyes from time to time. There is no other description for this than beautiful and I was so happy to be there, felt lucky that I got to witness it.<\/p>\n

After ‘Sumir Dagar’\u00a0\u00c1rst\u00ed\u00f0ir left and Ragga Gr\u00f6ndal joined Magn\u00fas on stage. They joked about how to combine their names into “Magnhei\u00f0ur” or “Ragnus” then sang ‘H\u00famar a\u00f0’ together. Her clear voice rang out across the room, harmonizing beautifully with Magn\u00fas rough one. Everyone was so quiet you could have heard a pin drop. <3 Magn\u00fas got flowers and other birthday presents and Ragga made a speech that ended in much cheering from the crowd. Together they played one more song, the wonderful ‘\u00c1st’, before they sent us off to a break.<\/p>\n

The second half of the concert was much more powerful than the first and gradually grew louder from beginning to end. I liked it even better than the first half.\u00a0\u00c1rst\u00ed\u00f0ir were back on stage and Magn\u00fas as well as Dan\u00edel talked about their collaboration album “Gardurinn minn” for a bit. Again, I wished I understood, but soon I settled for just listening to the music again and not worrying about the words.\u00a0Magn\u00fas Magn\u00fasson was back on drums and they performed several songs together, ‘Ein r\u00f3andi’ and ‘Skaplegur fatna\u00f0ur’, two of my favorites on the album was among them. \ud83d\ude00 In-between songs, there was a lot of talk and some laughter in response.<\/p>\n

In the end of their set Magn\u00fas spoke about his album “Music for Jenny” with T\u00f3mas J\u00f3nsson and played a song I didn’t recognize, but really enjoyed. Afterwards he received a medal of some kind and some more birthday presents. \u00a0Another guest, Sverrir Bergmann, walked out, they talked a bit and then he sang ‘\u00dear sem hjarta\u00f0 sl\u00e6r’. First he was on his own, but then he was joined by\u00a0Fjallabr\u00e6\u00f0ur a men’s choir. If I recall correctly, I counted over 50 people. It was magnificent! Sverrir’s voice alone was beautiful, but backed by the choir it was something else entirely, so good it drove me to tears. He left after this one song, but\u00a0Fjallabr\u00e6\u00f0ur stayed for the rest of the concert. With the choir, more musicians had joined them, including a second drum, a violin, a guitar and a bass.<\/p>\n

After much talking and more laughter, Magn\u00fas and\u00a0Fjallabr\u00e6\u00f0ur sang ‘Freyja’ together, then he greeted J\u00f3nas Sig, who joined for a few songs. A memorable one was ‘\u00edsland er land \u00feitt’ where everyone in the audience joined in and with this song and the last two most of the evenings guests stood with\u00a0Fjallabr\u00e6\u00f0ur to sing together. If I’d known the words, I know I would have sung along too. It was a glorious celebration of music at the end of which everyone in the audience stood for standing ovations. What a night!<\/p>\n

The following day I was back for more. The first concert had sold out and they added another one. This time around I was front row, which was great, but at times the lamp decoration was obstruction my view a bit. It didn’t matter though, I enjoyed it just as much. The setlist remained the same the second time around and the guest were the same except for\u00a0P\u00e1ll \u00d3skar not showing up. There were no presents this time and I believe some of the stories were different. I especially remember Magn\u00fas talking about a jacket, but I have no idea what that was all about. It must have been very funny though. Jenn\u00fd was there again too of corse, knitting a beanie she gave Magn\u00fas during the second half of the show. The same had happened the previous night as well. It was totally worth seeing again and I am glad I went to both concerts.<\/p>\n

pictures of this concert<\/a><\/p>\n

Setlist<\/span><\/p>\n

?? (Magn\u00fas alone)
\n\u00c1st vi\u00f0 fyrstu s\u00fdn (P\u00e1ll \u00d3skar)
\nPlay me (\u00de\u00f3runn Ant\u00f3n\u00eda)
\nMary Jane (with J\u00f3hann Helgason)
\nBlue Jean Queen (with J\u00f3hann Helgason & Magn\u00fas Magn\u00fasson)
\nJ\u00f3lab\u00e6n einst\u00e6\u00f0ingsins (\u00c1rst\u00ed\u00f0ir)
\n\u00c1lfar (with J\u00f3hann Helgason & \u00c1rst\u00ed\u00f0ir & Magn\u00fas Magn\u00fasson)
\nSail on\u00a0(with J\u00f3hann Helgason & \u00c1rst\u00ed\u00f0ir & Magn\u00fas Magn\u00fasson)
\n\u00de\u00fa \u00e1tt mig ein (with J\u00f3hann Helgason & \u00c1rst\u00ed\u00f0ir & Magn\u00fas Magn\u00fasson)
\nSumir Dagar (with J\u00f3hann Helgason & \u00c1rst\u00ed\u00f0ir & Magn\u00fas Magn\u00fasson)
\n<\/strong>H\u00famar a\u00f0\u00a0(with Ragnhei\u00f0ur aka Ragga\u00a0Gr\u00f6ndal)
\n\u00c1st (with Ragga\u00a0Gr\u00f6ndal)<\/p>\n

Gar\u00f0urinn minn (with \u00c1rst\u00ed\u00f0ir & Magn\u00fas Magn\u00fasson)
\nEin r\u00f3andi (with \u00c1rst\u00ed\u00f0ir & Magn\u00fas Magn\u00fasson)
\nEir \u00e9r s\u00fa v\u00edsa (with \u00c1rst\u00ed\u00f0ir & Magn\u00fas Magn\u00fasson)
\nSkaplegur fatna\u00f0ur (with \u00c1rst\u00ed\u00f0ir & Magn\u00fas Magn\u00fasson)
\nM\u00e1lverk (with \u00c1rst\u00ed\u00f0ir & Magn\u00fas Magn\u00fasson)
\nN\u00fdr dagur (\u00c1rst\u00ed\u00f0ir & Magn\u00fas Magn\u00fasson)
\n\u00dear sem hjarta\u00f0 sl\u00e6r\u00a0(Sverrir Bergmann & Fjallabr\u00e6\u00f0ur)
\nFreyja (Fjallabr\u00e6\u00f0ur)
\nEf \u00e9g g\u00e6ti hygsana minna\u00a0(Fjallabr\u00e6\u00f0ur & J\u00f3nas Sig)
\n\u00edsland er land \u00feitt\u00a0(Fjallabr\u00e6\u00f0ur)
\nOg \u00feess vegna erum vi\u00f0 h\u00e9r \u00ed kv\u00f6ld \u00a0(Fjallabr\u00e6\u00f0ur & J\u00f3nas Sig)
\nJ\u00f6r\u00f0in sem \u00e9g ann\u00a0(Fjallabr\u00e6\u00f0ur)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Magn\u00fas \u00de\u00f3r 70th birthday concert – H\u00e1skolab\u00ed\u00f3, Reykjavik; November 15th and 16th, 2018 The first time I ever heard of\u00a0Magn\u00fas \u00de\u00f3r was when he joined \u00c1rst\u00ed\u00f0ir for their Christmas concert in 2016. He is a legend in Iceland, but with … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[222,13,19,293,765,294,14],"class_list":["post-9808","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-concert","tag-arstidir","tag-fan","tag-friends","tag-iceland","tag-magnus-thor","tag-reykjavik","tag-travel"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/passioncolorseverything.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9808","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/passioncolorseverything.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/passioncolorseverything.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/passioncolorseverything.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/passioncolorseverything.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=9808"}],"version-history":[{"count":18,"href":"https:\/\/passioncolorseverything.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9808\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":12869,"href":"https:\/\/passioncolorseverything.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9808\/revisions\/12869"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/passioncolorseverything.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=9808"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/passioncolorseverything.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=9808"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/passioncolorseverything.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=9808"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}