Árstíðir – Treibhaus, Innsbruck; May 11th, 2016
Árstíðir’s concert in Innsbruck took place at one of the nicest venue’s of the tour, a tower with several floors. It looked nondescript from the outside, but was rather amazing once you got in. The concert was fun, but end of the tour exhaustion was noticeable among the guys. Needless to say it didn’t show on stage, but I have seen them more talkative than this. It didn’t matter, all was good and being there made me rather happy. Getting to know new venues is always something I look forward too and when they turn out to be as cool as this one it’s a big plus. 🙂
Immediately after arriving in Innsbruck I went looking for the venue and had just found it when I ran into P. who was on her way from the train station. We asked when tickets would be available and could have bought some right there, but since ours were already paid for we’d have to wait until the evening to pick them up. OK then, time to get to our hotel and relax, then do a little sightseeing. We were back at the venue way too early and spent a lot of time waiting. I tried to negotiate going to the top floor to take pictures but it was only allowed if that floor was opened to the audience. Luckily, that turned out to be the case once they started letting people in. Thus, I secured a spot in front row, but went upstairs for a while to shoot from there. It proved difficult with so many people around, but allowed for some nice perspectives. Eventually the disadvantage of a multi floor venue became clear: People kept moving upstairs and down with banging doors being heard during the concert – sometimes it was a bit too much noise for my liking.
I started upstairs, wanting to take pictures from above. With people sitting there it was a bit difficult to get a good view, but I managed eventually and stayed for two or three dongs before moving downstairs where I had a front row seat. It felt like forever until people calmed down and the first notes of ‘Himinhvel’ rang out. The sound was really good and I found myself smiling. The evening felt bittersweet overall, because the tour was coming to an end, but looking back I spent more time smiling than being sad.
Before ‘Someone who cares’ Gunnar said the first words of the night and made people laugh by first saying how happy they were to play in Innsbruck and as and afterthought adding “We’re Árstíðir from Iceland by the way.” 😀 Somewhere around then I ended up in my seat, enjoying the music and the lights which were again pretty good that night. Again I noticed how well Laura fit in with the others. She only got a break during the a cappella songs with ‘Land míns föður’ being the first. Daníel told us the story this time and added that the this song, the winner of the contest for national anthem in 1944 wasn’t chosen, because the writer was a communist and neither was the second place, because the writer was a woman, whereas in today’s Iceland the song might be called “Land of my father and my mother”.
‘Systir’ was the first song that brought tears to my eyes that night. It is always very powerful, but some nights it gets to me especially. One of those songs I could hear a gazillion times and still be moved by it. Some goes for ‘Nú gleymist ég’ which ended the first set.
The second set started with the haunting string intro to ‘You just have to know of me’ and after the song the audience response seemed even more enthusiastic than it had been during the first part of the show. ‘Silfurskin’ brought more tears to my eyes and I felt like being on a train journey through Russia like Gunnar talked about when introducing the song. It took my right back to touring there and riding trains through long winter nights. ‘Days & Nights’ brought he smile back to my face, even though it is not exactly a happy song. Must be the funny story about getting stuck in Iowa. It was a bit longer this time with Ragnar explaining that there are so many Icelandic bands that break up after touring the US because things go wrong and that while everything went wrong on their tour, they are still here. 🙂
After ‘Danny Boy’ Karl told us how they were pretty intimidated when Anneke suggested doing this song, because it is such a well known traditional tune and how were always scared they might get killed up by angry Irish folks for screwing it up. Gunnar managed it just fine though. 🙂 Only three more songs and the second set was over too. It went by in a breeze, despite stories being told. Nobody wanted to leave and we called them back out, again being treated to ‘And so it goes’ before ‘Góða veislu gjöra skal’ sent us home. I took a deep breath: Only one more before a long break between tours.
As we got up to leave we learned that a few Icelanders had been sitting in our row. They are everywhere! We spent some time chatting with the guys, but all of them were really tired and not very much for long conversations. Karl told a bad (and really funny joke though): A kid and a clown walk through the woods and the kid says “Clownie, I’m scared!” The Clown replies: “You’re scared? I’m gonna have to walk home all alone!” 😀 Soon P. and I said our goodbyes and had pizza in the venue’s restaurant. Pretty damn good pizza too! 🙂
Setlist:
Himinhvel
Things you said
Someone who cares
Á meðan jörðin sjefur
Land míns föður
Næturylur
Moonlight
Orð að eigin vali
Systir
Nú gleymist ég
You just have to know of me
Ljoð í sand
Silfurskin
Heyr, Himna Smiður
Days & Nights
Londonerry Air (Danny Boy)
Við dagsins hnig
Shine
You again
Shades
And so it goes
Góða veislu gjöra skal
Árstíðir spring tour: 19 concerts down, 1 to go, next stop: Dornbirn