setlist
ný batterí
nyja lagið
e-bow
untitled with steindór andersen
untitled with steindór andersen
death song
untitled 8
olsen olsen
hafssól
(encore)
pop song
georg's tour diary
after going up the big tower in town we took a taxi to the venue and the taxi driver
got lost. when we finally got to the venue we saw that it was kind of an old run down
sailing club or something similar. it was nice though don't get me wrong. most of
the day we spent on the balcony of the place and enjoyed the sun and the sea (or the
water to be more exact). i don't think ill go into the details of the concert because
it wasn't that good and i really didn't enjoy it.
after the show we met ingvar, one of the actors in "angels of the universe", he was doing a movie somewhere near.
that's it really but i like toronto.
kieran grant
it was in the first seconds of sigur ros' encore at the palais royale friday night
that the sense of anticipation around the enigmatic band came to an audible head.
here for a sold-out show in the wake of a maelstrom of positive ink and glowing word-of-mouth,
the icelandic space-rock quartet had spent 90 minutes living up to and then shattering
expectation.
their set list dwelled on new material and eschewed agaetis byrjun (a good start, in icelandic) -- the (under) groundbreaking second disc that put them atop numerous best-of lists last year and established them as a marketable commodity outside their native island. only agaetis byrjun gems ny batteri and olsen olsen (better known as tracks five and eight) made the cut. then, there was a "ping" of familiarity.
literally, a "ping" -- a single note of the submarine sonar sound that guides their song svefn-g-englar, which is the closest thing they have to a hit. a roar of instant recognition went up from the crowd. and the band promptly launched into an entirely different tune. but one can hardly blame sigur ros for wanting to move ahead. clearly, exciting things are in the pipe for their next album.tellingly, the 800-strong audience seemed far from frustrated by this mystery set, and remained polite and patient throughout.
from the opening strains of ny batteri -- which, like most of sigur ros' songs, is centred around frontman jonsi birgisson's bowed electric guitar and genderless, siren-call vocals -- you could practically hear the rain hitting the windows outside at each pregnant pause. but contrary to the washes of noise that well up frequently on both agatis byrjun and the band's hard-to-find 1997 debut, von, ear-drum buzzing crescendos were rare, and came courtesy of drummer orri pall dyrason's olympian bashing, not from birgisson's guitar. hanging in the air was the sense that sigur ros would unfurl dramatically at some point in the show. they did -- though not in the bombastic fashion fans might have expected.
what started as a fine, if somewhat monotone, set took on a different shape when birgisson, dyrason, bassist georg holm and keyboardist kjartan sveinsson were joined by an imposing-looking middle-aged man in tails. he led the group through a pair of choral pieces delivered in traditional icelandic style -- which, it turns out, sounded not unlike a jewish prayer. from there, sigur ros cut loose with a succession of numbers that, if word-of-mouth can be trusted, probably included an ancient irish lullaby and a song based on the stock dirge icelandic radio uses to accompany death announcements.
olsen olsen -- described deftly by one bystander as "oktoberfest in space" -- proffered
a rousing, cello-laced tonic to the concert's more grim passages. by encore's end
it was a triumph. it was the right venue, the right crowd and the right band. hvernig
segir fu fetta a islensku?
(kieran grant)
ben rayner
ousting radiohead - or whoever, it's just the most convenient example - from the top
of the global hot list is no small feat, so visionary space avengers sigur ros have
their work cut out for them.
nothing short of a mass orgasm or a sweeping religious epiphany would cut it as endorsement of the metaphor-evading icelandic quartet's toronto debut at the palais royale on friday night. and the show, one of those sold-out, select-fuelled, see-god-or-go-home-irreparably-crushed rock ``events,'' thus settled somewhere in between, sustaining a kind of tantric almost until the very end, but never quite delivering on its own religious self-importance.
sigur ros had no interest in fulfilling expectations. more or less ignoring its globally revered calling card, 1999's agaetis byrjun, the enigmatic ensemble and an accompanying string section proferred instead two hours of patient and restrained space-age chamber music that relied on mood and heart-tugging melodies, rather than the sonic violence simmering below the surface.
anticipated surges in dynamics and displays of guitar-testing extremism were held in check, replaced by sombre, incrementally advancing noise symphonies that occasionally thundered, but never crept completely over the hammer-down line until a long-suppressed eruption of white-noise catharsis in the encore.
the band's heaving compositions and jon por birgisson's bowed guitar and gorgeously
asexual, highwire vocals make for a weird kind of benectine monks vs. mogwai young
team spectacle, but sigur ros' somnambulent drift - cosmic bleakness that embraces
godspeed! you black emperor's tragic fatalism while still clinging to the hymnal faith
suggested by its desperate, lonely beauty - escapes most earthly musical reference
points. a few more propulsive moments would be welcome, though; it would be a shame
to fall asleep during music this gorgeous.
(ben rayner)
a_sad_film@hotmail.com
it was mid afternoon, my friends and i had some time to kill before the we were meeting
up with another friend to go to the show... so we decided to go down to the venue
to see what was happening, maybe hear a sound check or something. well after finally
being able to get into the nearby free parking lot, we walked over to the palais.
as we were approaching the venue, we saw a few people playing soccer outside the venue,
on the grass. as we went closer, i noticed that the band was part of the group of
guys playing! so we just sat on the nearby rocks and watched. after a few minutes,
jonsi saw us and he came up to us and asked "do you guys play football?" we did. he
told us that we were on his team......and pointed out who else was on our team. playing
soccer with them was a lot of fun. they really have a youthful energy. then they had
to do an interview with the new music i believe.
jonsi passed by me in the park as i waited for others to begin arriving for the show. he was very thin and frail seeming, with little-girl eyes and little-boy shoulders. he was walking with who i later discovered to be steindor anderson, the guest poet. they smiled as they passed.
i am sitting behind the palais royale, on the thin line of rocks which borders the shore of lake ontario. there are three prominent and distinct sounds. 1.) the seagulls out in the water which incessantly bark 2.) the traffic on the highway 3.) sigur ros doing their soundcheck behind me. over the past 45 minutes i have been listening to violins, synths, and guitars, and now, the entire band. the sun is going down behind the buildings to the plodding drums of sigur ros. jonsi's voice and the lake are vastly similar - fluid and transparent and soft.
before the show started, candles and incense were burnt on stage, and because of two generous people, i was lucky to take a seat in the front row, centre. sigur ros took to the stage, and the first song began with a series of long, low, guitar drones played out with the violin bow, increasing in volume and momentum, and from that moment until the end of the nite, one constant chill ran up and down the length of my spine.
it was so incredibly beautiful, i could not describe it adequately if i tried.
the desperateness with which the songs were sung and played was so shattering and
cataclysmic. the last song (pop song) reached a climax so fervent and affecting i
honestly believed it was causing me to enter into the first stages of a heart attack.
they were so very unspeakably stunning and beautiful.
(a_sad_film@hotmail.com)
emuth@home.com
my friend shaunna and i thought of a great way of the describing their music and the
place that it puts you: "it sounds like it's from another time and place, but it's
difficult to tell if it's from the past or the future, or even from this world at
all"
they seemed very flattered about the response in toronto...coming out to bow twice,
etc.
(emuth@home.com)
adam doucette
my brother and a friend of mine drove from ottawa to toronto (4.5 hours) on friday
to catch the much anticipated sigur ros show. we got to the venue at about 3:00 that
afternoon and tried to find somewhere to park. when we got to the building, there
was a side door left open where music we heard music. we cautiously walked in to see
a couple of the members of the band going through their sound check. we quietly stood
and watched from the back corner for about 15 minutes before someone politely asked
us to leave..... very cool!!!
just around 4:00, my companions and i were playing football (or soccer as it is known here in canada) just beside the venue when we saw various members of the band on an upstairs balcony. we invited them to come play football with us and after a little hesitation jonsi, orri and the manger came out and played for about an hour. a couple of people there for the show actually took a group picture of the six of us when we were done playing......very cool!!!
after our match with the icelandic football club, we enjoyed a bite to eat and
a few beers near the venue. then came the show. it was excellent. while i was a little
disappointed not to hear more from the latest album, the new songs were simply amazing.
i can not wait for them to record their next album. i found the new songs may have
a bit of a godspeed you black emperor influence. i do not mean this in a negative
or unoriginal manner. these songs had extra energy and even more emotion then previous
efforts. after all, the two bands did tour together awhile back. overall, the concert
was amazing. after the show i saw the manager and asked if he could get the football
we used signed by the band. he did..... very cool!!!
(doucetteadam@hotmail.com)
carl lafong
what a fine night of icelandic vibrations. it started off funny enough: after parking
the car near the park west, my friend and i decided to walk over to the venue first
to see what was going on. when we rounded the corner, i saw a woman with a violin
case and a few other people standing outside the venue, having just gotten out of
a blue van. then more piled out, and i recognized jonsi's protruding front hair strand.
we were about one building down from the doors, and i am still kicking myself for
not calling out something to the band. we began the wait outside with about 45 minutes
until the doors were to be opened, and after the rain commenced, they let us wait
inside in the little lobby between doorways. from here, we could hear the band soundchecking
olsen olsen. i felt like i was spoiling the show, hearing jonsi's hopelandic cry pulsing
through the walls of the building. the continued soundchecking various other instruments
until just a few minutes before we entered the park west.
what a fine venue it was. a very clubbish atmosphere -- they even had long rows of skinny tables and chairs on the floor. being first in line, i got a prime spot just to jonsi's right in the front row. they started at around 8:00, with ny batteri. this was my first show being so incredibly close to the band, and it was great watching all of their expressions and subtle looks and movements. following ny batteri, they went on to play a few more new songs until steindor andersen came out. steindor looked tense and nervous in his fine tuxedo, standing straight with his arms at his sides while singing the anachronistic icelandic verses. i enjoyed his two songs immensely, especially a moment where a hunched jonsi sang the last part of the song away from the microphone, only for those in the front to hear. the next song i recognized was vidrar vel til loftárása, which was incredible. i loved watching jonsi pull the strings on his bow faster and more quickly as the volume increases -- i was so close i could hear the un-amplified squeaks of his strings. throughout the show i was never uninterested or anxious; it was just a calming feeling of relaxation and wonder throughout. this is the first concert that had this sort of affect on me. olsen olsen and haffsol finished the show, olsen sounding more beautiful than on record, and haffsol's build up and conclusion leaving me wondering exactly where i was. the band left the stage to wild applause which did not stop until the whole group of musicians came back for a bow. jonsi said something which was drowned out by the applause, but i heard "so, we're finished" at the end, and then he smiled and joined the group for another bow, and the whole group left the stage as the lights came on. i was wondering where the pop song was, and i saw that it was indeed included on the setlist which my friend grabbed and gave to someone else. there were also several titles i recognized from the website, and the steindor andersen tracks were marked "steindor a" and "steindor g."
completely satisfied with a tremendous show, my friend and i just hung around the
front of the stage for a while, taking one of the many candles that lined the front.
we started talking to the woman who does the on-stage mixing, and we asked what happened
at the end. she said that jonsi has been going on one guitar only since europe, and
that it broke again at the end of haffsol, so they couldn't continue and do pop song
as an encore. i also asked her about the absence of svefn-g-genglar, and she said
that the old organ they use was also broken, making it impossible to reproduce the
"submarine" sounds. she joked that they have been having all sorts of equipment problems,
and that jonsi was probably backstage crying, as he was quite fond of that guitar.
even though equipment troubles kept them from playing one of the masterpieces of the
past 25 years, the show was still a pure two hours of beauty.
(carllafong@earthlink.net)
jrenih@po-box.mcgill.ca
good show... espescially the end. wow. must say i wish there would have been a little
more from ágætis byrjun (no svefn-g-englar?), but very good... ny batteri
and the last three were the highlights of this show.... espescially haffsòl...
wow! i didn't enjoy the songs with steindór andersen as much as everyone else
seems to be. i thought they were good... but not nearly as interesting as they had
been hyped to be... oh well.
(jrenih@po-box.mcgill.ca)
yu258364@yorku.ca
i just got back and i can honestly say it was the best concert ive even seen. bar
none. it was brilliant.
(yu258364@yorku.ca)
