Searching for a heart of gold

Posted on by

Ragnar Ólafsson – Chata M, Dłutówek; August 20th, 2021

The concert at Chata M was one I had been looking forward to since the beginning of the tour. I had good memories of this place. This time around it took place at the barn, not the main house and it proved to be a great location with amazing sound. We got some setlist surprises and an energetic gig overall. It was a fun night.

Pabianice, where I was staying, is only a short train ride from Lodz. Dłutówek then, is some 13 kilometers from there, pretty much in the middle of nowhere. I was supposed to take a bus into the town center and walk the last 2 km, but I spent 15 minutes at the bus stop in the pouring rain (luckily under a roof) and no bus ever showed up. I finally went back to my hotel and took a taxi. With this weather, it was clear that there was not going to be an outside show and that was OK. After the hot summer we had in the first week here, the weather now felt more like early fall and a bit too cold for my liking.

I stayed at the main house, had some tea and some food and played some ukulele. All was nice and quiet. Raggi came by, saying hello and eventually I relocated to the barn, greeting everyone else. We were seated on mats on the floor as well as haystacks which made for great atmosphere. I liked it. I also immediately got cold feet – damn me for not wearing socks.

Bartek made introductions and talked for a long time, while more people kept coming in. The barn was full, I later learned there were 80 guests in total. What a crowd. ‘Wine’ was the first song and sounded amazing. The acoustics in that place were really great, especially considering he sang that song without a microphone or any amplification.

Raggi spoke all the Polish he knew and refrained from the bad words, because there were children present. He continued with ‘SSDD’, a song he had not played at all on this tour yet. To my surprise I really enjoyed it this time. It fit the general mood and is a good song for the start of the concert. He told us he had always wanted to play in a barn because Neil Young had recorded ‘Harvest’ in a barn. He mentioned that ‘SSDD’ was inspired by ‘Harvest’. He asked who’d seen him four years ago and some people raised their hands. I didn’t count, but I’d sure seen a few familiar faces.

‘Deva’ was great and then it was time for love songs in duet form. Kasia, who had helped him sing the day before, was back and less nervous this time. He explained that they were gonna sing about a relationship that had ended and blame each other. That sums it up perfectly. 🙂 Then, feeling like Neil Young, he played ‘Heart of Gold’, harmonica included. The audience wasn’t very reactive when he asked if we liked Neil Young so he joked he was gonna play us all his albums after the show. The song worked really well, it felt like he had found Neil’s spirit in this barn. <3

Raggi explained how every song he writes in Iceland sounds Icelandic and that due to bad weather and bad food all the music from Iceland sounds melancholic or in pain. 😉 Therefore, he goes away from home to write and finds a different sound that way. ‘Bravery’ was powerful as ever. Afterwards he picked up a guitar he had borrowed from the main house, already tuned differently for ‘Time’, written right before the pandemic. He set the scene with telling us about the mechanic in Mexico where they were getting their car fixed. It all sounded great. 🙂

He said he wanted to “sing a few songs on the piano” and when someone repeated it, questioningly, he mused that if he wanted to sing on the piano he might have to lay on top of it for singing, but since it wasn’t his piano, he would not want to try. He did tell us a story about camping in the forest near Nashville instead. ‘Water’ and ‘Hugsanir’ came without a break and were both gorgeous. Only after he talked about the ‘Fractures’ soundtrack.

Continuing with Icelandic, ‘Örlög’ was next and we even wanted to sing with him. It sounded nice. Just as he was going to pick up the guitar again, someone yelled “Play JaJa Ding Dong Song”. His reaction? “I will never forgive you for this, but since it is the Icelandic National Anthem I have to’. Said it, sat down at the piano and played it. The audience even insisted on hearing the second verse as well. People liked it and it was definitely funny. 😀

It was time for Kasia and ‘Petals’, always a highlight. ‘Muddy Waters’ brought us the blues and stories about heading down the Mississippi towards the delta. After, we got a little reprise and some more jokes about ‘Jaja Ding Dong’.Then we were at the end of the set already with ‘Southern Nights’. We “awww”-ed enough and got a good sing-along going too. Having Kasia and Bartek help with the choir sure makes it easier.

He returned for an encore quickly and we had fun with ‘Rocketman’. It really fits the show. At some point, I was sure I saw a dragonfly, but it was too early and did not make another appearance for the song. Maybe I had just imagined it. Either way, ‘Dragonfly’ ended the show with Kasia on glockenspiel, Bartek on the piano and Raggi on his knees playing guitar. Even the fireworks, i.e. the confetti cannon, worked this time after a fail the previous night. Perfect end to a great show.

After show hugs, some talk, good food and songs by the campfire followed. A bunch of people sang in Polish and a nice woman translated the lyrics. 🙂 Eventually it was bedtime and Raggi gave me a lift back to my hotel. <3 Goodnight, see you tomorrow.

pictures of this concert

Setlist

Wine
SSDD
Deva
Dozen
Heart of Gold (Neil Young)
Bravery
Time
Water
Hugsanir
Örlög
Jaja Ding Dong
Petals
Muddy Waters
Southern Nights

Rocketman (Elton John)
Dragonfly

First “we are all vaccinated now” Poland tour – 11 gigs down, 8 to go. Next stop: Żary

No Prayers today

Posted on by

Ragnar Ólafsson – Pogonka House gigs, Łódź; August  19th, 2021

The concert in Łódź was full of memories, because it took us back to the beginning of Raggi’s very first Poland tour four years ago. It was a nice evening among nice people with a solid setlist. An enjoyable show throughout.

It was an easy trip to Łódź. I only had to change trains once and on my way to the station in Kępno, the previous night’s host, Matti, picked me up and drove me there. <3 About two hours later, on my way to my hotel, I realized it was the same one I had stayed at four years ago when Raggi started his first ever Poland tour in the same place he was playing tonight.

Some food shopping and rest time later, I was on my way to the apartment where the gig took place, ready to celebrate, because Raggi had just finished his vocals for the next Árstíðir album. Sadly, he was still hangover from the previous night and not in the mood to party at all. It would be a quiet evening. For now, we were all looking forward to the show. I had a good feeling about it.

The apartment is small and I should have opted for a seat on the sofa, but I chose the floor. Big mistake! I didn’t have enough space to stretch my legs so I spent the entire concert in a rather uncomfortable position and had only myself to blame. 😉

Around 8:30 everyone had settled down and Bartek made introductions. It must have been funny, because people were laughing. Raggi stepped up and started with ‘Wine’. There was no space to stand in front of the stage this time so he stood between the two microphones. Somewhere outside, a dog kept barking strangely in tune.

Raggi told us this was the place where he had played his first solo show ever. That was true only if you take “solo” literally, because he had played at last three concerts in Reykjavik with the same material, just with a band (I know because I was there). He played ‘More will come along’ for M., Bartek’s girlfriend, which is a Łódź tradition of sorts. He explained that it contained three instruments: guitar, vocals and silence. It’s one of the songs that always make me happy when he puts them on the setlist. 🙂

He explained that ‘Deva’ the next song is not only the name of his best friend’s daughter, but also of a Hindu goddess of destruction. It was written as a song of hope and still gives me hope every time I hear it. Somehow, at this point I noticed that today’s Christmas lights were wound around a wooden giraffe. Of course, M. loves giraffes. Next he told us how he loves singing with people and invited Kasia on stage to help him on ‘Dozen’. She was nervous, but did well.

Raggi joked that Bartek’s stories, whatever he told us, were all lies ad we should not trust anything he said. 😀 He then told us about his approach to writing songs: “Grab a guitar, buy a plane ticket and go somewhere in the world to write music”. ‘Bravery’ rocked the house  there was even some clap-along going. In Mexico, he wrote ‘Time’, while waiting for their car to be fixed. First we heard the tuning song though, because it requires different tuning. While he did that, he told us about Ravi Shankar, the sitar player invited to London by George Harrison and how people mistook his tuning for the song. When he was done tuning, people clapped too. 😀 I had forgotten how nice ‘Time’ is. It was a good addition to the setlist.

The piano was next and I had to take my feet out of the way for the micstand to be moved. We learned how he wrote the saddest song on a really happy day. It was ‘Water’ of course, such a glorious song. <3 ‘Hugsanir’ followed and was just as beautiful. He asked who knew Árstíðir and there were a few of us in the room. We wanted to sing with him too and did so for ‘Örlög’. I always enjoy that part of the show. *sigh*

Back to the guitar and retuning it for ‘Petals’. Kasia joined him again and mastered it nicely. We heard that she would sing with him again the following day. That brought about stories about the wedding that Bartek dragged him to four years earlier after his first gig in that place. First Raggi told his version, then Bartel added some more, but I still don’t know this part, because he told it in Polish. Now we all knew he played ‘Living on a Prayer’ at a Polish wedding.

A great version of ‘Muddy Waters’ was next, again with audience participation, finger-snapping this time. 🙂 Raggi told us about the ‘Southern Nights’ and played the song for us. With help of Bartek the sing-along went great. Yay! We also heard that Bartek comes up with new nicknames for Raggi all the time. Raggi invented one on the spot which apparently meant something in Polish, because everyone was laughing, but we did not get an explanation.

When we had cheered him back to the stage for an encore and he said he was gonna play a cover someone called for Bon Jovi, but it didn’t happen. Damn! So ‘Rocketman’ it was. Perfectly done too! ‘Dragonfly’ closed the show as every night. It reminded me of how I don’t like fixed last song, because then I always know that the show is over now. 😉 Otherwise it was fun and both Kasia and Bartek were back on stage. We also learned the Polish and Icelandic words for  dragonfly. And Raggi learned to say “five” in Hindi, thanks to a coke commercial.

We hung out for a bit and chatted, but Raggi was tired so after packing the car we said goodbye soon. This was halftime. From tomorrow onwards there will be more concerts behind than ahead.

pictures of this concert

Setlist

Wine
More will come along
Deva
Dozen
Bravery
Time
Water
Hugsanir
Örlög
Petals
Muddy Waters
Southern Nights

Rocketman
Dragonfly

First “we are all vaccinated now” Poland tour – 10 gigs down, 9 to go. Next stop: Dłutówek