If I had my way, going to a concert every night of the week all year round, I would. And if my friends were playing those shows, what could be better? Last weeks concert with Seabear & Amiina was special to me for a few reasons: one being that I got to see many of my friends take the stage and share the night with their friends and families in the audience; another was the show was held in Bæjarbíó the local cinema in my and two Seabear members hometown of Hafnarfjörður and when you talk about hometown pride those from Hafnarfjörður have plenty and for me no other place can beat it.
Pretty sure I was about ten years old when I first went to the cinema along with 200 other boys to see a documentary about the Brazilian football legend Pelé and if I remember correctly most of us were more interested in throwing popcorn at each other then watching the movie that day. Now some 16 years later the audience packing the theater seats was a bit more mature but even so the applause after each song reached the same heights as made by those 200 boys back in the early ’90s.
With the sold out crowd of some 270 people in their seats it was time for Amiina to take the stage. Amiina has gone through some musical changes since I first saw them and covered for Ice Cream Man back in 2005 when they opened up and supported Sigur Rós at the Hollywood Bowl. The quartet of María, Sólrún, Edda and Hildur is now joined on stage by Kippi Kaninus providing the computer tracks and Maggi from K-Trio pounding the drums like there’s no tomorrow. This new line up sees the girls also give their string instruments a little break and harps, synthesizers, crystal glasses and even saws get to shine in the arrangements of songs both old and new, yet the mesmerizing string sound is never far away as the crowd got to see and hear during this summer night. The girls jump from one instrument to another revealing that they have taken their music to new heights and not only by mastering one single instrument but mastering as many as possible. With the addition of Kippi and Maggi the band delivered some much needed calmness and tranquility with their performance during times where fast pace and stress seem to be dominating peoples lives.
During the intermission I found myself in a new role acting as a doorman and making sure everyone that went outside for some fresh air got a neat little X drawn on their hands so they could get back into the venue where Seabear was getting ready to go on.
I was especially looking forward to see Seabear that night as I had been so fortunate to hear some of their new songs set to be released on their sophomore album early next year and was exited to see how they would sound live and how the crowd would react to them. And I was not disappointed. Seabear has managed to produce an album that has as many hits on it as it has songs. Be it their more slow melodic songs where Hildur from Amiina joined on the saw or their fast paced and upbeat counterparts where a whole brass section made up of some of Iceland’s finest brass musicians has been added, I can see all of them blasting over the radio waves when they are released and I even found myself humming most of them days after the concert.
As they have done in the past the group ended their set on the song Seashell and were joined on stage by Amiina who provided the back up vocals for the song that the band seems to be able to stretch out further and further when they see the crowd enjoying the show. With one encore under their belt for the crowd, the night in this lovely old cinema came to an end and locals and those who had made the short trip from surrounding towns made their way into the calm Icelandic summer night with smiling faces.
