This will be my, be my final statement

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Árstíðir – Speicher, Husum; September 27th, 2013

The northmost concert of this tour took place right by the harbor of Husum at a small, darkish venue run by a great bunch of people. The atmosphere was great, the audience too and the guys fed of this energy to create a beautiful, intimate concert. For me it was a lovely evening with lovely people, but for some reason it left me really sad – I felt the end of the tour coming.

My original plan had been to see a little bit of Husum, find food and check out the venue, but as I walked past it the guys arrived and I helped them carry their stuff inside. And then, I stayed. It just sorta happened. Talked to the people of the venue, who do all the work there for free and for the love of music. They were super nice and invited me for dinner. Unfortunately I had been back to my hotel in-between to get my small camera and had eaten on the way. Bad luck, the food looked and smelled great.

Either way, I had fun just being around during soundcheck and after. Positioned my small camera to film, found myself a seat in the front, waited. The lights were way too dark to take pictures, not better than candles, especially after Myrra asked them to turn it down a bit, because they were too warm.

As every night, her set was lovely and as every night she asked people if they wanted to sing. They did and they did it well. Afterwards I  chatted with a couple next to me and they told me how much thy enjoyed it. 🙂 I did too. Even with the same songs every night there are subtle differences in the songs that make each concert unique. 🙂 Tonight, Myrra had decided she wanted new hair, so she was wearing a wig. It looked pretty awesome too – totally different from her usual style. Her beautiful performance was well received.

Setlist:

Insomniac
Animal
Kveldúlfur
Sail on
Við og við tvö
Láru lag

During the break I noticed how packed the venue was – sold out, every seat taken and people standing by the wall. Success! The guys started some time after 9 pm, taking their now almost usual places with Ragnar on piano and Gunnar on baritone guitar. I took a deep breath and silently wished them good luck.

They were tired, the touring taking its toll, but that doesn’t mean they were any less brilliant. Every night they put their hearts and souls into the performance and every night they leave a happy and astounded audience behind. Still finding themselves in new roles, they had to work harder than just a week ago. All their efforts paid off – it was a wonderful show.

I remembered how Karl had told me in Diksmuide that he always wanted to sing ‘Á meðan jörðin sefur’ and now he got his wish and was visibly happy with it. Gunnar joked about learning a new instrument, the baritone guitar and played it well. Daníel and Hallgrímur more or less stayed comfortably in their old roles, building the foundation for the other three to rest upon. Ragnar was especially nervous that night, but visibly relaxed during the course of it.

Not every song was perfect, but every song was performed lovingly and many were brilliant that night. It made me happy that ‘þér ég unni’ was back on the set. My fears it may not work without Jón had been wrong – it worked just fine. ‘Shine’ was slower than the previous night and thus even more goosebump-inducing. Karl sang ‘Brestir’ this time which worked well and ‘Tárin’ was much better than the previous night, where Myrra had to struggle with some technical difficulties.

The audience was also better than in Osnabrück. Compared to the previous year they had been a bit lame, while here, at this small club they showed their appreciation. <3 It was a mixed group of people that had come for this gig, all united by the music they heard. Only few of them knew Árstíðir beforehand, but most walked away smiling. When it was over I was proud of the guys, felt they had not only survived, but done well.

Setlist:

Heiðin
Á meðan jörðin sefur
You just have to know of me
Brestir
þér ég unni
Sunday Morning
Days and Nights
Land mins föður
Við dagsins hnig
Shine
Orð að eigin vali
Ljoð í Sand
Látum okkur sjá
Næturylur
Nú gleymist ég
Shades/Tárin

Encore:
Ages
Góða veislu gjöra skal

The evening ended with quiet conversations, watching Karl and Daníel work, having leftover food, Linda and Myrra playing foosball, spilling red wine, hugs and the knowledge that one more show lay ahead. 🙂

Árstíðir  Germany tour fall 2013 – 10 concerts down, 1 to go. Next stop: Oyten

“That’s why we like to come here – we meet good people here”

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Árstíðir – Lutherhaus, Osnabrück; September 26th, 2013

It was my first concert after Jón’s departure. He had to go home early and the others had to rearrange everything. They had already played as a five-piece band the previous night in Ilmenau, but as much as I wanted to be there, public transport connections would not let me. I spent the evening at home, thinking about the guys, quietly sending my spirit there to watch over them. Apparently it worked. Ragnar told me the made it through all right. Funnily enough we found out we went through the same thing emotionally, despite me being far away.

Now, however, I was in Osnabrück, in time for a quick chat before the concert and seeing that everyone was indeed OK and in a good mood. I felt a great surge of relief. 🙂 Hung out with the guys until shortly before it was Myrra’s turn to go on stage, went downstairs and found a spot on the side by the wall. I recalled standing there the previous years as well, exactly one year and 5 days ago – we’ve come a long way since. 🙂

Myrra played her usual set, with Karl and Hallgrímur supporting her on the last two songs. Once again it amazed me how great the acoustics are at the venue. It was so beautiful. The audience was a bit reserved, but I think they enjoyed it in the end. Again, though, they did not want to sing along. 🙁 It was still great – I felt like being home again.

Setlist:

Insomniac
Animal
Kveldúlfur
Sail on
Við og við tvö
Láru lag

During the break I took a quick peak at the setlist – my curiosity got the better of me. I liked what I saw. 🙂 Looking around I saw that every seat in the venue was taken. No idea if it was sold out, but nicely filled. I even saw a few familiar faces. The lights went out and the guys walked on stage, just a little nervous. Quietly, I wished them good luck – it was such an emotional moment and instinctively I put my hand across my tattoo, my permanent connection to them.

They started with ‘Heiðin’ and Ragnar on piano. He spent a lot of time there that night while Gunnar picked up the baritone guitar whenever it was needed. They had rearranged the singing too with Ragnar or Karl taking over Jón’s parts. For ‘Á meðan jörðin sefur’ Karl did the singing – it was lovely. Overall the new arrangements worked perfectly fine. I had expected to feel some sort of a hole where Jón had been, but it wasn’t the case. Is missed him, but still enjoyed the night as I did all the other ones. With all my assuring the guys it was going to be OK, there was a little voice of doubt telling me it might not work. It was silenced that night and my happy smile was real.

This time around, I didn’t pay attention to the audience at all. I have no idea if they felt what I felt, if any of them realized how special this show was. Ragnar announced that Jón had to leave and they had to rearrange, but I wonder how many people understood what it meant. It didn’t matter – everything was just fine. As the evening progressed, they guys lost their nervousness and I shared smiles with most of them at one time or another. They were highly concentrated at all times, not so much getting lost in the music as they usually do, but all the rehearsals in the past few days paid off. “You don’t have to worry…”

At one point, Ragnar scrolled up the setlist on the iPad and Karl joked “What did I tell you about checking Facebook on stage?” It went back and forth a few times, surely making me laugh. For ‘Orð að eigin vali’ Karl took over the piano. I had no idea he could play, but he did well. So did everyone else. The songs sounded different, but still familiar and they all worked out. Jón’s voice was most noticeably missing during the a cappella songs, but they worked well too. Several times I was close to tears, all the emotions of the past week, catching up to me, but the prevailing feeling was happiness mixed with pride: you did it and you did it well!

‘Næturylur’ was back on the setlist again, but even better was getting to hear ‘Látum okkur sjá’. I had been missing the song and having it dedicated to me made it even better. Yep, they did not play this one in a year and it’s a song I really love. Surprisingly, I managed to sing along to it and most of the other Icelandic songs too. I couldn’t recite the lyrics for the life of me, but singing along gets better every night. 🙂

The highlight, however was ‘Shine’ a brand new song they had premiered in Ilmenau. It sent shivers down my spine. That one is a winner! 😀 For ‘Tárin’, Myrra took over the vocal part. It fit well. Once they left stage the audience would not stop clapping and of course they had to come back out. Two more songs they played before wrapping up for the night. Awesome, guys! You made it!

Setlist:

Heiðin
Á meðan jörðin sefur
Við dagsins hnig
You just have to know of me
Land mins föður
Sunday morning
Brestir
Days and nights
Orð að eigin vali
Ljoð í Sand
Látum okkur sjá
Næturylur
Heyr himna smiður
Shine
Nú gleymist ég
Shades/Tárin

Encore:
Ages
Góða veislu gjöra skal

Everyone was drained after the show, some really talkative, others quiet. Once again I was happy they tolerated my presence and let me stay with them until they had to leave. <3 I wanted to hug all of them, but never did. Will have to do that tonight. Shortly before we packed up there was an encore with Ragnar playing the piano.

Around midnight I said goodbye and all tiredness forgotten I walked to the train station to go home.

Árstíðir  Germany tour fall 2013 – 9 concerts down, 2 to go. Next stop: Husum