Proper theater, a broken bow and a mostly new audience

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Árstíðir – CK Muza, Lubin; November 18th, 2023

With the concert in Lubin we reached the fourth country on Árstíðir’s Blik tour. This time they played at a theater of a culture center and it was wonderful. Completely different vibes from the two previous gigs, but just as great. I absolutely love this tour.

It was a surprisingly easy trip, just a three hour train ride from Berlin with no changes. It was raining when I arrived so all I did was check in to my hotel and relax util it was time to go. The venue was just a few minutes down the road and I could wait inside. There were even some comfy sofas to sit on. Assuming the doors would open about an hour before gig time, I’d arrived way to early and sat around reading while the guys soudchecked. Said hello as they walked out, got a hug from Ragnar and chatted with him briefly.

Closer to the gig, many people arrived and I met A., who I know rom POTF, but had not expected here. Once inside, I tried the front row, but it was too low, so I moved to the fourth one which was about level with the stage. As more people filed in, I realized that a lot of them had assigned seats, whereas I didn’t. Lucky for me though, nobody had bought the seat I was in. The venue was nicely filled and later I heard they had sold 260 tickets.

Everyone settled down and shortly after 7 the band walked on stage. It was a big venue, so they had a lot of space. From the first I noticed how good the sound was and fell in the love with the lights as well. It was a joy taking pictures. After ‘Himinhvel’ people clapped loudly and they were appreciative throughout. Every time the guys announced a song, people clapped.

Ragnar greeted them in Polish and said they were gonna play old and new songs. I enjoyed being able to see the whole band at the same time and everything sounded so good. Whoever the sound person was really knew their job. ‘Bringing back the Feel’ eased us nicely into the new songs and ‘Later on’ followed immediately.

Towards the end of ‘Sanity’ I noticed some people exclaiming and saw that Guillaumes bow had come apart and was now stuck to the microphone on he cello. He struggled to break it free and left the stage. When it was time for ‘Figure’, Daníel turned towards Guillaume’s spot in confusion and was wondering where he was, while Jean-Samuel raised his arms in an “I have no clue” gesture. Then Guillaume returned with a different bow and everyone cheered. A clap-along started in rhythm with the song. Wow, that was new.

Gunnar invited us for a trip back in time with ‘Nú gleymist ég’ and remarked on how much had changed since the song was written. And yet, I still cannot get enough of the song. ❤️ People laughed when Raggi asked how many of them spoke Icelandic and he assured them it was OK and that the band didn’t speak Polish. ‘Þar sem enginn fer’ took us to the Westfjords, ‘Lover’ followed, then Gunnar talked about hard to pronounce song titles and told us to watch the string players for ‘Friðþægingin’. It was a really lovely show so far.

The band did not take a break this time and continues right on with ‘Glitsky’, after introducing Jean-Samuel and Guillaume. Not only the big, full band sound worked at the venue, but also the back to basics trio number. 🙂 Ragnar spoke about being so influence by the weather that hey even named their band seasons as an introduction to ‘Hvenar kemur sól’. If the sun is asked so nicely, it really should come out every time the song is played.

I always loved ‘While this Way’ and ‘Mute’ worked really well for me on this tour. I like, how the others play the melody already during the introduction. The same happened before ‘Home’.It’s nice to hear them talk with the soft music in the background. The song really hit me that night, it was my favorite performance of ‘Home’ this far. ‘Kirin’ was fun, even though the lyrics are not and then, after a short discussion they played ‘Seven Years’ again. It was even better than the previous night! 😀

At this point they asked how many had seen the band before and not many raised their hands. That made it even better how positive the reactions were. We “awwwed” so nicely for the last song, that Ragnar asked us to repeat it and then they played a great version of ‘Shades’ to close the show with…. until we cheered them back for an encore. ‘Kill us’ was awesome and ‘Things you said’ a fitting closer.

Many people came to get autographs and pictures. I stole a poster to get it signed and talked to the guys afterwards. Asked Guillaume about the bow and he said it just exploded and would need to be fixed. Spoke to Daníel about ‘Seven Years’ and how much I enjoyed it, then hinted I’d like to hear ‘Your Shadow’ to. I learned that it is difficult because the singing and the playing rhythm differ. That’s hard! We’ll see if it happens. Told Ragnar how much I had loved ‘Home’ and he told me it was a fairly simple melody, but hard to find the right balance between strong and vulnerable. He sure had found it that night. 🙂 It was lovely, see you soon!

pictures of this concert

Setlist

Himinhvel
Ljóð í sand
Bringing back the Feel
Later on
Sanity
Figure
Nú gleymist ég
Þar sem enginn fer
Lover
Friðþægingin
Glitsky
Hvenar kemur sól
While this Way
Mute
Home
Kirin
Seven Years
Shades

Kill us
Things you said

Just as if what we have tonight will last forever

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Árstíðir – Prachtwerk, Berlin; November 17th, 2023

A day after the most magical show of the tour in Hamburg, The Árstíðir concert in Berlin was the most fun one, where the band had a blast trying new stuff and the audience was the most enthusiastic yet. I could not stop grinning the entire night.

Had a relaxed breakfast with P. in Hamburg an some time to look at my pictures from the tour so far, before I needed to catch a train to Berlin. Checked in to my hostel and had the second warm meal in two days. Yay! Some more relaxing and blogging, then onwards to the venue, where I arrived just in time for soundcheck. The door was open, but I wasn’t allowed to wait inside. i could hear perfectly well though and was happy to hear ‘Let’s Pretend’ as well as ‘Seven Years’. 🙂

G. arrived and had brought Jean-Samuel’s glasses. When I was halfway to Hamburg, he told me he had forgotten them in Cologne and since I could not go back to get them, I told him to ask G. She took a detour and picked them up for him, so we saw a reunion in Berlin. 😀

More people arrived and eventually they let us in. K. was there too and we stood next to each other at the front, while G. chose to sit on the side. This time I was standing to Daníel’s right for a change. The setlist was in plain view so I could not help but look, even though I rather wanted to be surprised. Oh well…

By the time the show started, the small venue had filled up considerably and people were still chatting loudly when the band stepped on stage. However, everyone fell silent quickly when they picked up their instruments and greeted them with applause. i had feared the sound might not be as good at such a small venue, but ‘Himinhvel’ sounded great. Once again, ‘Ljóð í sand’ brought everyone in and cheers grew considerably louder. Win!

Ragnar thanked us in four languages (English, German, Icelandic and Swedish). That made me look where he was looking and I spotted Linda in the crowd. So nice to see her! 😀 ‘Bringing back the Feel’ had me move along with the music and snap my fingers. It really is a feel good song. Daniel asked us if we were in a Friday mood and the cheers grew even louder than before. He asked Gunnar to tell us about the next song and Gunni just mentioned that it was not a Friday song and called ‘Later on’. I always love it and really like how the mood changes throughout the concert.

By now everyone in the audience was into it and really loud. The great energy coming from them was reflected back by the band. They all looked happy. ‘Sanity’ was fun, especially with the awesome strings. For ‘Figure’Gunnar said it was about figuring things out and could be applied to anything we wanted and Raggi asked if it was a guru thing. Again, I was moving with the music. I just love their current sound and all the string arrangements are so good.

‘Nú gleymist ég’ was played with no announcement what soever – the next song needs no introduction! 😀 It was wonderful and so was ‘Þar sem enginn fer’. Next up was ‘Lover’ and the first set ended with ‘Friðþægingin’, for which Ragnar told us it was the only song that made him want to learn violin. So Jean-sam held out his violin to him, but he declined. Probably better that way. 😉 It was fun!

Of course they came back with stories about Pendúll and time, getting back to basics with ‘Glitsky’ after which Gunnar thanked us for keeping so quiet, even though it was not a song for a Friday night. They invited the string players back for ‘Hvenar kemur sól’. It’s always nice how they get their extra moment in the spotlight when they come back. Dani joked that they needed some culture, thus they got French string players. 😀

It made me so happy to have such an appreciative audience and great sound at the same time. It was such a different mood compared to the church gig the previous night, yet just as great. With ‘While this Way’ and ‘Mute’ we got back to the Blik songs and I knew it was now we were going to hear something new.

First were ‘Home’ and ‘Kirin’ though. For the latter Daníel was teasing Gunnar saying he was waiting for him to tell people what the name Kirin is. We learned that Kirin was a beer he was drinking on the way to Okinawa, but of course it’s a metaphor and really about a person. “So you named a special person after a beer?” Ragnar asked and Gunnar explained he thought it sounded cool. Either way, great song!

Ragnar told us that now in the first time of the history of  the band they would all three play keyboards and they were not going to play that song, but had to play it for their friend Linda, because it was her birthday. She came forward and  we all cheered for her. They kept joking while they set up and then played a very fun version of the song, with Raggi being very expressive and dancing around underlining the words. I loved it! Next, they gave us another live premiere with ‘Seven Years’. Daníel told us that it was written in 2018 and also the first time there was a guitar solo in an Árstíðir song. They screwed up the start with Raggi and Gunni singing at the same time, but once they started over it was awesome! Loved the solo too.

When they announced the last song, people yelled “noooo!” – nice. They loved getting ‘Shades’ though and who wouldn’t. even though I do recall a time when I thought they could use another closing song. What was I thinking? It’s perfect!

Not for the first time that night I was amazed at how loudly relatively few people can cheer so we had them back on stage quickly – Gunnar asked if we wanted more and someone shouted “more Shades”. 😀 They played ‘Kill us’ and then ‘Things you said’, a great combination of old and newer, understated and full band arrangement. It was such a fun sho overall, I loved everything about it.

Afterwards I said hello to Linda, wished her a happy birthday and we ended up chatting for some time. Hugged Gunni and Raggi in-between and talked with Guillaume too, who said he was amazed at how I always find a way to the shows. He remembered the one in Robin Hood’s Bay, England and I had to point out that that was relatively easy to get to, because there was a bus. It was lovely, talking to everyone for some time. Then they packed and left for Linda’s birthday party, while I made my way back to my hostel, still smiling.

pictures of this concert

Setlist

Himinhvel
Ljóð í sand
Bringing back the Feel
Later on
Sanity
Figure
Nú gleymist ég
Þar sem enginn fer
Lover
Friðþægingin

Glitsky
Hvenar kemur sól
While this Way
Mute
Home
Kirin
Let’s Pretend
Seven Years
Shades

Kill us
Things you said