Árstíðir / Anneke van Giersbergen / Pain of Salvation – De Bosuil, Weert; April 19th 2013
I left work early on this particular Friday. Not because it’s far from Dortmund to Weert, but because I did not trust the train connection where the longest time to change trains was 8 minutes and I had to do three of them. Surprisingly, it all went well and I arrived around 3 in the afternoon. Went and checked out the venue, saw a sign on the doors that cameras are not allowed. Since I had not asked for a photopass beforehand I didn’t want to take the risk and decided to enjoy the concert without taking pictures.
Returned to the venue about one hour before the doors were supposed to open and was alone for a while. A few people arrived, among them a group of four from Solingen. They were really nice – we immediately got along and they kept me good company for the rest of the night. 🙂 Since they were big Pain of Salvation fans I had to tell them that I had come for Árstíðir – we talked about different music a lot. Once inside we saw a lot of cameras and I remembered Ragnar telling me the show might be filmed. Soon after we got confirmation by the venue staff telling us they would have someone with a camera standing in front row next to us. I was especially happy because they intended to film the entire show. Hopefully they will put all of it on DVD too. 🙂
Daniel G. made the usual introductions. They seemed especially elaborate this time around, but that might just have been my imagination. The doorbell rang, announcing the arrival of Árstíðir on the stage and Daniel G. hugged each of them on the way in. They were joking about the living room and how a fridge was missing so they could have cold beer. As usual, Daniel G. stayed to perform ‘Road Salt’ before he left the stage to great cheers.
The guys started their own set with ‘Á Meðan Jörðin Sefur’ and set the mood for the rest of their set. The audience listened attentively, some still wondering what to make of this. Not for long though. While some might have still held back on clapping with the first song this changed after the next ones. Effortlessly the guys took over the audience, no big show was needed for that.
Anneke and Gustaf came out for ‘Everwake’ and were greeted happily. Surely this song was a highlight for many. One of mine was once again ‘Þér eg unni’ – it never loses its appeal and paired with ‘Nú Gleymist Ég’ is the part of the show I look forward to the most. I’m sure I was wearing a stupidly happy grin on my face the entire time, once again wondering if anyone could leave the concert untouched by this music.
Since I didn’t have my camera I didn’t really know what to do with my hands and found myself drumming in rhythm on the stage and my legs. At one point, someone brought beer for the guys to make up for the lack of a fridge on stage. They gladly accepted. 🙂
The whole set was so beautiful it got me into quite a dreamy state, so much that I actually managed to switch of the camera in my mind and just enjoyed the music. It ended with ‘Shades’ and ‘Tárin’ as always and the audience understood to save their cheers for after both songs. It always makes me happy to see the guys succeed and I’m sure they’ll have quite a few new fans come to their concerts the next time they tour Germany or the Netherlands.
Setlist
Road Salt (Pain of Salvation cover)
Á Meðan Jörðin Sefur
Heiðin
Ljóð í Sand
Everwake (Anathema cover)
Þér eg unni
Nú Gleymist Ég
Shades/Tárin
Being in her home country, Anneke was greeted loudly. She talked a bit more than at the other gigs, all in Dutch of course. It could not understand everything, but surprisingly got the gist of what she said. She praised Árstíðir then told us how they sing all day and that they are great partiers. 🙂
When she announced ‘4Years’ she said it was a love song and joked how all the guys in the audience would roll their eyes now and all the girls would sigh happily. She called Karl and Hallgrímur back on stage and the audience’ reaction showed how happy people were to see them again. There were more cheers when Daníel, Jón and Gunnar joined them for ‘Time after Time’.
Her other songs were well received too, especially those that were originally performed by her with The Gathering. She spoke about the last time she had been to this club with the band and asked the audience who had been there but only a handful of them responded. Still, they loved her songs and all the applause was well deserved.
Setlist
My Electricity
4 Years
Time After Time (Cyndi Lauper cover)
Beautiful One
Locked Away
Circles
Drowning Man (U2 cover)
During the break, while they were packing up their stuff, Daníel and Ragnar both asked me if I understood Dutch, because they had seen me laugh. I explained that it’s not so far from German and I can guess a few things. I also chatted with my new acquaintances from Solingen and was happy to hear how much they had liked Árstíðir.
Again, Daniel G. walked out alone, switched on the lights and said a few words before Roger joined him. They started ‘Falling Home’ on their own, but Gustaf came and played with them for the second half of the song. Once this softer start of the show was over, D2 and Leo joined the others. I should have probably known the order of songs by then, buts didn’t. Everything was familiar enough to recognize, but still felt fresh and new to me.
Apart from the great music I get to hear every night on this tour, I enjoy the living room setting very much. Everyone looks so relaxed up there and it offers lots of possibilities for the musicians to move around. Each night one or several of them ends up on the sofa in the back of the stage for a while. Only D2 and Leo hardly ever get a chance to leave their places behind piano and drums.
In-between songs Daniel G. told little stories and a few jokes about the teenage son (their stage tech who has his corner of stage behind the folding screen with Audrey Hepburn’s picture). For ‘Ashes’ he retreated to the far corner of the sofa, asking us if it looked comfortable how he sat there. “No!” came the reply so he switched position. After he had played the first few without much of a reaction from the audience he quipped: “Usually people cheer when they recognize the song. Let’s try this again!” The second time around it worked.
To indicate ‘Disco Queen’ D2 always held up a packet of “disco” cookies. He did it this night, but instead of the usual reply “Disco? Disco!” Daniel G. announced that cake was even better than cookies and that it was D2’s birthday. In walked someone from the venue or the crew with a birthday cake. D2 was happily surprised and blew out all the candles. I think there might have been an age joke somewhere too, but I cannot quite remember.
Not everything went well that night though. During ‘Holy Diver’ the drum pedal broke and while Leo kept on playing, the stage tech dived down beneath his feet, trying to fix it. It didn’t work right away and the replacement pedal he got from backstage didn’t fit. So Daniel G. was chatting away joking that the cameras might run out of storage space. Finally someone brought a new spring for the pedal from the tourbus and it got fixed. They decided to play ‘Holy Diver’ again.
Everything was fine from then on and each song well received. I had already forgotte about the show being filmed, even though there were several cameras pointed at the audience. I loved having a break from my camera. Yes, taking pictures is part of me, but once in a while there have to be concerts that I just attend for the music. This was my off duty night.
The main set ended with ‘King of Loss’ and they left, but returned soon. ‘Dust in the Wind’ was next and like every night Hallgrímur joined them, but where was Karl? He appeared just a little bit later, wearing a red wig and beard. It made everyone laugh, but especially Hallgrímur almost lost it. He took one look at Karl and actually had trouble playing because he was laughing. It was quite a show, especially when some of the hair got caught in the violin’s bow. Until they finally looked back, the Pain of Salvation guys were wondering what was going on, then laughed too. 😀
Two more songs to go until the end of the show. For the final one, ‘1979’ Daniel G. asked us all to raise our hands, spread our arms wide and sing along- it must have looked nice from the stage. Anneke and Árstíðir joined them on stage one last time, playing and singing. They all hugged in the end before taking one last bow together. When the lights went on we blinked and wondered where the time had gone.
Setlist
Falling Home
Diffidentia
Linoleum
Mrs. Modern Mother Mary
Ashes
Help Me Make It Through The Night (Kris Kristofferson cover)
Perfect Day (Lou Reed cover)
She Likes to Hide
To the Shoreline
Holy Diver (Dio cover)
Stress
Disco Queen
Second Love
Iter Impius
The Perfect Element
Spitfall
No Way
King of Loss
Encore
Dust in the Wind (Kansas cover)
Chain Sling
1979
I walked over to the merchandise stand to greet and hug the guys. They were quite busy signing CDs, but still found time for a chat with me in-between. They stayed for quite a while, talking about lots of things. None of them had known about Karl’s stunt beforehand and they were still laughing about it. 😀 Finally I bought my first Pain of Salvation CD and got it signed by Daniel G. and D2. After that I said goodbye and left, happy there would be another show the next day.
On tour with Árstíðir / Pain of Salvation / Anneke van Giersbergen – 5 gigs down, 2 to go. Next stop: Zoetermeer