Sólstafir - one of my favourite bands. Since I've discovered them, I have devoured all of their albums. I listen to Sólstafir when I write, I listen to them when doing chores, I listen to them on long drives and I listen to them when I don't like sitting in quiet. When I heard they were coming to Hamburg on November 19th, I got my tickets immediately and I had been looking forward to this day since June.
This was my first concert without my husband accompanying me. This made the experience different on its own. I hate being out at night alone. I get scared of people quite easily. So without Chris, I decided to drive to Hamburg and park next to the location instead of using public transport. Always fun driving into Hamburg. Yesterday it was especially fun with darkness, rain, complete closure of the Elbe Tunnel and the accompanying traffic chaos. When I arrived at the restaurant where I was due to meet my friend and colleague Jan, I was actually 15 minutes late despite having arranged enough time for the drive and quite stressed. We ate vegan Korean food @kkoki.lovesvegan, which made up for the stressful journey to Hamburg.
We arrived at the concert location at around 7:30 PM. Uebel & Gefährlich is a well established music club in Hamburg, but I've never been so far. I was really excited! The club is located on the fourth floor in the flak tower IV in St. Pauli. Super cool location, I really liked it.
When we got there, it was still pretty empty. We got ourselves something to drink and I secured myself a place on the steps next to bar for a better view of the stage. Steps or first row are mandatory if you are only 158 cm tall. First row actually felt a bit too familiar for me yesterday, especially since I didn't know any of the opening acts. There was no stage pit whatsoever and you could stand immediately in front of the musicians.
First opening act was progressive heavy rock band Timechild from Denmark. Frontman Anders Folden Brink was definitely the man with the best hair that evening. Very charismatic, very confident. Asking the audience in Hamburg to sing along after only two songs is nearly suicidal. Next up was progressive dark-rock/doom-metal band The Abbey from Finland.
It was around 9:30 PM when Sólstafir came on stage, opening with Bláfjall from their 2017 album Berdreyminn. Unfortunately there were massive sound problems at the beginning, causing feedback loops. Tryggvason handled it very charming though.
The setlist was great and balanced. There were songs from Svartir Sandar (2012), Ótta (2014) and of course Endless Twilight of Codependent Love (2020).
Last song was Ritual of Fire from their second album Masterpiece of Bitterness (2005) and I think they played all 14 minutes of it. Svabbi just killed it. That guy was amazing the whole evening through!
We got Fjara as an encore, which made me very happy, as it is one of my favourite songs. This was the moment when I left my step and went to the front to be closer to the stage.
I have to say, Tryggvason had an amazing stage presence. He was 100 % there, right from the start. He was very interactive with the audience and had no affectations whatsoever.
The concert ended with Goddess of the Ages from Köld (2009), which made their debut album Í Blóði og Anda (2002) the only album not present in the setlist this evening. Had they played The Underworld Song, I would have been beside myself. That and the fact that I left at 23:30 right after the concert are my only drops of bitterness. While I was on my way home through downpouring rain with more or less numb feet because I hadn't worn my boots in ages, Jan was still standing in line for his checked coat and look what he got! Weeeeeeee bit jealous there. Oh well. One doesn't get any younger. I am trying to comfort myself with the promise that I will definitely see Sólstafir live again in the future. And next time, I'll bring more comfortable shoes and and I will stick around for my my photo. Thanks guys for an amazing evening and see you again hopefully sooner than later!
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