Árstíðir & Kyle Woolard – e-Werk,Erlangen; April 24th, 2016
After Aschaffenburg I explained to Kyle that every time I claim that it does not get any better than this, it does get better and asked him if I should say it. He never answered my question, but I said it anyway and it did indeed get better. Both shows are very close in my mind, but I think overall Esslingen had the better setlist and thus wins by a very small margin. It was absolutely magical: lights, sound, audience and my own mood were perfect. Kyle’s set was my favorite one yet and Árstíðir just outdid themselves. This is how a show should be!
Getting to Erlangen was no problem and I was there way too early considering it was a Sunday. It took me some time to find a café that was open, but then I had tea and wifi and that was all I needed. While I tried to catch up on blogging about the past concerts the weather did funny stuff outside and winter came back. It got considerably colder so I was freezing when it was time to stand in line. Luckily it didn’t take long and the reward was a good spot in front row. Chatted with Masha and A. before it was time for the concert to start.
Kyle was absolutely wonderful that night. He played the best set of the tour yet, veering from the one he had played on most days. It worked out wonderfully and made me rather happy. He started with ‘Blury’ though and called Karl on stage to help him with ‘Minnesota part 1’ – Daníel and Gunnar snuck up behind him and sang along. Then Kyle played ‘Diagonal North America’, one of my favorites from the last tour. It’s a great song, I have no idea why they did not put that on the North America album. I loved it!
The audience response was great from the start too. Everyone was really into it and for ‘Fools rush in’ there was even some singing along. Kyle generated much laughter too, especially with the magic trick gone wrong. 😀 Afterwards he played an unexpected ‘Minnesota part 2’. It had me in tears from the start – such a beautiful song. 🙂 For ‘Occupy Anchorage’ Árstíðir were back on stage to support and of course the set ended with ‘Vancouver’ – I can not get enough of this song. It is really never to late to follow your dreams.
Setlist:
Blurry
Minnesota 1
Diagonal North America
Fools rush in
Minnesota 2
Occupy Anchorage
Vancouver
I had forgotten how amazing the venue is: Great sound, great lights and even a balcony that I could take pictures from. The audience was pretty amazing too, very much feeding off and multiplying the energy that came from stage. As usual some had seen the guys before and some were new to the party, but all enjoyed the concert.
It was a special atmosphere that night, one that felt like nothing could go wrong. Yet maybe something had, because they started with ‘Someone who cares’ again like they had in Aschaffenburg. However, if it was indeed not planned that way originally, being forced to change the order of songs made them better. Absolutely every song, every note was spot on 🙂 Despite walking around and taking pictures I was completely sucked into the music and drifted away on waves of melodies, often closing my eyes in the process and smiling the entire time.
I loved every song this time around, even the ones I usually do not care for as much. It was just the perfect combination of songs. ‘Þér ég unni’ was the first highlight for. Being treated to that song makes me so happy and I still believe this is the best a cappella piece they sing. ‘Nú gleymist ég’ and ‘Sunday Morning’ are of course two songs I could hear on repeat for a week and never get tired of them. They were amazing once again. The next highlight though was an unexpected rendition of ‘Danny Boy’ sung by Gunnar. I had heard they’d done it in Dresden and hoped for a repetition. He did a great job on it too. 🙂 Needless to say that ‘Silfurskin’ was lovely as well.
‘Shine’ had me in tears for the second time that night. It was exceptional. The song is always great, but once in a while it raises high above that level and becomes something else entirely. <3 Kyle once again nailed ‘Ljoð í sand’. His voice makes the song sound so much fresher and it feels like everyone is enjoying it once again like they haven’t in some time. With ‘Systir’ the tear were back. I keep thinking I must have heard the best version of this song, and then it transforms again into something bigger than the sum of its parts and I can feel it tugging at my heartstrings, speaking to my soul in a language I cannot fully understand but still experience as a part of me. <3
‘You again’ and ‘Shades’ followed and had me thinking the set would end here, but to my surprise they announced two more songs. Karl had difficulties with the sample though and decided on a joke instead. Unfortunately people either didn’t get it or didn’t think it was funny. It was the only time that night the audience let the band down. Nobody minded the interruption though and the regularly scheduled programming continued with ‘Himinhvel’ and ended with ‘Things you said’. I hadn’t expected those two songs here, but they fit. 🙂
Of course we did not let them go without an encore. People jumped out of their seats, cheering, clapping and calling for more. ‘Heyr, himna smiður’ worked well and ‘Heiðin’ is a good closer. Funnily enough the ‘Himinhvel’ sample choose to start playing just when the song had finished and the band was taking their bows. It was the perfect outro and people might have thought it was planned had the guys not been laughing so much about it. More loud cheering from the audience called them back for one last song: ‘Góða veislu gjöra skal’. And thus ended a magical night.
Afterwards I stayed as long as I could, chatting with they guys and telling them just how amazing it was. Sadly I had to leave eventually. During the long waiting time at Nuremberg train station I started editing my pictures and let the memories carry me back to the show.
Setlist:
Someone who cares
Við dagsins hnig
Sunday Morning
Þér ég unni
Á meðan jörðin sjefur
Nú gleymist ég
Danny Boy
Silfurskin
Shine
Ljoð í sand
Systir
You again
Shades
Himinhvel
Things you said
Heyr, himna smiður
Heiðin
Góða veislu gjöra skal
Árstíðir spring tour: 7 concerts down, 13 to go, next stop: Berlin