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Take a breath it will come later on, just have to wait, it’s never too late, uncertainty lingering on

Árstíðir – Opderschmelz, Dudelange; November 14th, 2023

Árstíðir’s show in Dudelange / Luxembourg took place at a lovely venue and was really nice overall, but I was a bit too distracted to enjoy it fully, being worried about how to get to the next two shows. I still was happy to be there and get to listen to beautiful music.

Luxembourg was one of the longest trips on this tour and I had a comparably early start. With the usual delays I didn’t have all that much time eft to relax at my hotel, before I had to leave again. I was raining a lot, but luckily the venue was inside a culture house, so I could wait where it was dry. 🙂

When he doors opened there were only four people, but luckily the venue filled up some more. There were sofas set up as well as tables with seats so I sat on a sofa in front. Just as I had settled down, I received a news alert that German railways would be on strike from 10 pm Wednesday to 6 pm Thursday. It was Tuesday evening now and my original plan hat been to go straight to Cologne, travel home after the concert and go to Hamburg from Dortmund the next day. Now there was no way I was going to get home to Dortmund after the show so everything had to be rearranged. Thus, I spent the waiting time researching alternatives and wasn’t helped by the shitty Internet connection at the venue. Before the show stated I knew I had to options: Leave really early in the morning, get to Dortmund, pack for the rest  of the tour, spend the night in Cologne and figure out ow to get from there to Hamburg or skip Cologne altogether and try to get to Hamburg from Dortmund. Neither was great and left my head spinning.

When the band stepped on stage and started with ‘Himinhvel’, my head was still elsewhere and while I realized that the sound was good, everything else sort of went past me. The same was the case with ‘Ljóð í sand’. I concentrated on taking pictures and even though the stage lights were challenging, because they were mostly monochromatic and often switched between very bright and very dark, I liked trying to capture the mood.

Daníel introduced the band and since it was the first time they were playing there, he asked if anyone had seen them before – there were a few. He spoke about ‘Bringing back the feel’ as “the anthem of their songwriting”. They had a wrong start which made me laugh and then I realized the song was exactly what I needed to finally get into concert mood – it brought back the feel! ‘Later on’ was also very fitting, because I had “the need to know, the need to know, the need to know” how I was going to get to the next two shows. 🙂 Perfect song was perfect.

Ragnar talked about how they had never played in Luxembourg before and should have maybe come here earlier. ‘Sanity’ was great, but it seemed to me his voice sounded a little strained. Was going to ask him about it after the show, but never got around to it. ‘Figure’ keeps on getting better and ‘Nú gleymist ég’ is always fantastic.

Ragnar asked how many people spoke Icelandic and a few hands went up. Someone said “not yet”, which he declared a good answer. Daníel asked about Icelanders in Luxembourg working there and revealed that he had lived there in 2000 and worked at Britania Pub – that lead to loud cheers. Thus, the next song was dedicated to said pub and declared “a love song that takes place at a pub in Luxembourg” and here I was thinking, ‘Lover’ was just a fantasy. 😉

Gunnar introduced ‘Þar sem enginn fer’, telling us we were supposed to pictured a trip through the Westfjords of Iceland where you have mountains on one side of the road and the fjord on the other, but not much else. It was wonderful and at one point I had the feeling, Dani was playing it a little differently than usual. The picking somehow stood out more. Could be it was just the first time I noticed his picking. Either way, I loved it.

After the break, Raggi talked about their sister albums Pendúll and Blik and how they were going to play two songs from the all Icelandic album now. ‘Glitsky’ was played as a trio and they got Guillaume and Jen-Samuel back on stage for ‘Hvenar kemur sól’. Both songs were beautiful. They went straight into ‘While this Way’ from there and continued with ‘Mute’. Gunnar said a few words about the song while Ragnar played the melody on piano.

‘Friðþægingin’ was still in the set and Daníel declared it Árstíðir’s Rock ‘n’ Roll song. It rocks for sure. Raggi added it was the only song that made him want to play air violin. And here I thought it was an air cello. 😉 They continued with more Blik songs – ‘Home’, ‘Kirin’ and ‘A new Tomorrow’. The last one was again introduced as a fairy tale, because Dani didn’t want to say anything more about it. 😀 ‘Shades’ was brilliant and people were happy with it so much they gave standing ovations and shouted “Meira, Meira” (more in Icelandic).

The guys happily came back and played their encore of ‘Kill us’ as a trie before giving the final word to the string players with ‘Things you said’. It was a lovely show overall and by the end I really enjoyed it.

Talked to Raggi afterwards that I didn’t know yet how to get to the next two shows, but would manage, spoke to Gunni and Guillaume briefly, then left to get at least some sleep before traveling. I was determined to get to Cologne and Hamburg, soI needed to travel early.

pictures of this concert

Setlist

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

Glitsky
Hvenar kemur sól
While this Way
Mute
Friðþægingin
Home
Kirin
A new Tomorrow
Shades

Kill us
Things you said

Familiar T-Shirt, perfect version of Figure and a great conversation about Blik

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Árstíðir – Zentrum Altenberg, Oberhausen; November 13th, 2023

With day four of the Árstíðir Blik tour, I finally got a show close to home, in Oberhausen. It was a nice venue with good sound. Sadly, it wasn’t full, but they delivered a great show and obviously were having a lot of fun. So did I. 🙂

After a good night’s sleep in my own bed (yay!) I had lots of time to relax before I needed to leave for Oberhausen. I even took a later train than originally intended, because it was raining so hard. Upon arrival I got momentarily confused, because there was a construction site near the venue that I needed to walk around. I was the first at the door, but soon others came and we chatted. Soundcheck could be heard quite well and I heard them rehearse ‘Let’s pretend’ and I think ‘Seven Years’. It got me really excited, because they had not played those two yet.

G. joined me eventually and when we got in we were surprised they had set up chairs in the venue. I had only ever seen that place with standing room. The front row was almost too far from the stage, but with a nice view and I sat in my new favorite spot on the right hand side of the stage (left of Daníel from his point of view). I wondered if and how the setlist would change today.

When they stepped on stage the first thing that happened was Gunnar bumping the micstand and apologizing for the noise. It was funny. ‘Himinhvel’ sounded great and the lights were nice too – I liked it already. My view was greta too and all evening Daníel move out  of the way a lot to give us a view of the string players. I approve! ‘Ljóð í sand’ was next to easy everyone into the show and I am really liking this. I can remember a time when I didn’t want to hear the song any more, but this tour it fits perfectly.

The journey into Blik started with ‘Bringing back the Fell’ again. I just love it so much. The song is so far from anything Árstíðir has done before and yet incorporates all the recognizable elements of their music. ❤️ Daníel told us that they had been playing with the piano melody for ‘Later on’ for years before it became a song. It was sure worth the wait and I fell in love with it all over again. As Gunni turned sideways I suddenly realized he was wearing te T-Shirt I had painted for him years ago. It made me so happy to see that and the shirt still looked great too. ❤️

‘Sanity’ is always fun, because Ragnar gets so into miming along to the lyrics. It would be a great song either way, but that makes it even better. 😀 He held the final note for really long too – awesome! ‘Figure’ was amazing that night. They absolutely nailed it. Definitely a highlight!

The had said they’d play four Blik songs, so I did not expect them to add another just yet and they didn’t. ‘Nú gleymist ég’ followed was a perfect as it gets. *happy sigh* ‘Lover’ got a long introduction, with Raggi explaining how it is about a person you only meet in your dreams and how you imagine your perfect partner to be. He added that he met her in real life later, but that was a different story. Awww! With the wonderful ‘Þar sem enginn fer’ they brought the first set to a close.

Spent the break chatting with G. and asking the people I’d met outside earlier, how they liked the show. All was well this far. Spotted Raggi’s friends from Essen, but didn’t say hello yet and talked to a woman I had met at Konzerthaus in Dortmund. Time went by quickly.

They were going to play songs from Pendúll now and we learned that ‘Glitsky’ is a weather phenomenon that can be seen in Iceland. It always makes me smile when they go back to their roots and play songs just as a trio. It’s such a nice contrast to Blik songs. Ragnar told us about the good times they are having on the tour bus and how much they like working with Guillaume and Jean-Samuel. They were back for ‘Hvenar kemur sól’, which immediately flowed into ‘While this Way’. I felt it very much too. 🙂

“There are two ways of losing your voice,” Gunnar told us, one as a musician and the other one when you are unable to communicate because nobody speaks your language. It gets to be strange after a while and that’s what ‘Mute’ is about. Now was the point in the setlist where I thought they might play something they had not played yet, but as soon as they mentioned the game of offering beer for the correct pronunciation of the next song’s title, I knew it was ‘Friðþægingin’. I love the song, so it was great that it stayed. 😀

I found myself laughing a lot that night and the rest of the audience reacted too, when the guys asked something. Jean-Sam pointed out after the show that they were more responsive that the people in the Netherlands in that way. Ragnar told us about the Árstíðir runes came about and also that Blik can mean “a moment in time, a glimpse” – so like “Augenblick”. That’s what the word made me think of without knowing the meaning. 🙂

‘Home’ was lovely and ‘Kirin’ is fun, but my favorite of the trio is ‘A new Tomorrow’ – everything about it has the qualities of a good ear worm. 😀 Gunnar thanked us for coming out and announced the last song. Time really does fly and ‘hades’ was fantastic.

We loudly demanded “Zugabe” and they deemed it their second favorite word after “ausverkauft” when they came back. Ragnar told us how they had changed over the years and how, in the early days of the band they hung out at Daníel’s place because he had a sofa. He quipped taht he was the richest one in the band. 😀 It was time for the understated ‘Kill us’, followed by a powerful rendition of ‘Things you said’. I truly enjoyed watching them perform, seeing Dani stand aside to give the string players space and Raggi playing air cello, while Jean-Sam and Guillaume gave their all. 🙂 There was so much joy in it.

After the show I had a lovely conversation with Guillaume about which was the night’s song (we agreed on ‘Figure’) and my opinion on the Blik album. I enjoyed digging into the different songs and how I felt about them. I spoke to Jean-Sam about how much fun they had had and that I’m always curious when I see them whisper to each other. 😉 Gunni came over and asked if I remembered the T-Shirt. Of course and I told him it made me happy he was wearing it. Said hello to the “Essen crew” briefly and there was a round of hugs before I left. See you tomorrow.

pictures of this concert

Setlist

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

Glitsky
Hvenar kemur sól
While this Way
Mute
Friðþægingin
Home
Kirin
A new Tomorrow
Shades

Kill us
Things you said