i was quite lucky from the start. i arrived in upper darby (a run-down suburb of western philadelphia) early, at about 4:30. the anticipation of tasting for the first time the live music of sigur rós had become an obsession- this was to be the first of three shows. i immediately parked and tried the box office- asking if there were any 'hold' tickets that might be released. sure enough, i scored a second row center seat face-value. yes! and i knew it could only get better. while walking back to the car i asked two guys standing in front of the tour bus if they worked for the band. one of the guys, joe, had a green mohawk and was really cool-he told me if i found him after the show he would give me jónsi's set list. could this really be happening?
finally, after much waiting and three vodka sodas, amina took the stage. they were dressed in neo-80's royal blue dress variants, complete with matching thick leather belts. i knew before they started that this was going to be sweet- just the kind of art rock i was in the mood for. the music- melodic, tinkering, transient, ambient- it reminds one of a dream sequence, a digitized marriage between childhood music-box melodies and dark forest whispers. the instruments were just as eclectic: wine glasses, saws, violins, a powerbook...[incidentally, if you have to re-tune your wineglasses during the show, it is best to have a syringe handy so you can extract the appropriate amount, which, in retrospect, only makes perfect sense]. :) the last two songs they performed were the best, in my opinion, and a perfect aperitif for what was to come. (note to band: the audience can see you behind the lace tablecloth. whatever you two were drinking under there, i hope it was delicious!)
sigur rós took the stage behind the fabled white scrim and performed intro; the seated crowd was warm and receptive. glósóli, i'm almost certain, was performed behind the screen as well- with fantastic backlighting of each member of the band at various points and in various washes of color. the pacing of that song is brilliant...((it sounds clacky like floor boards or that strange ballet slipper machine from ba ba ti ki di do.)) but the song opens up really nicely on the finish. then the screen lifts, and the audience seriously welcomed the band: hello! we love you. welcome. it's been too long! {relief, excitement, opening, anticipation}. the cheering soon became a crescendo when the familiar sonar 'ping' of the intro to svefn-g-englar began. some synth, then settling down for a few bars, and then it became real: jónsi tore into the guitar with the e-bow...oh my god i started to cry. {i knew this was going to happen} & i felt self-conscious. well fuck everyone else. this is what i came here to see. this was *my* sigur rós. i sat there with my eyes closed & let it wash all over me. kjartan did an amazing job on background vocals - he was breathing responses to jónsi. it was transcendent. during the bridge it started to become noticeable that jónsi may be losing his voice (this sort of 'grand world touring' thing is grueling and physically unfair to any artist). but it was sung in raw honesty - i remember thinking "my god...this is what you really sound like...beyond falsetto- the blood and guts." and it was beautiful.
sæglópur was next followed by sé lest. the new stuff is great- it was a real treat to hear something fresh. before the show i stole a glance at the set list at the sound booth (i couldn't help myself!) and i knew that njósnavélin was next. [now keep in mind that this song will be played at my wedding (when homosexual marriage becomes legal, and believe me, it will)] but then orri starts whispering things to other band members- wait! no! i see it all start to unravel- what is happening here?! is orri trying to save jónsi's voice? he's calling an audible- no!!!! and alas, they substituted samskeyti. how can i say i felt let down? his voice needed the rest, so the instrumental was the only obvious choice. ahh, njósnavélin. one day it will happen for us. :)
viðrar was just gut-wrenching - i absolutely love that 30-second pause in the middle. jónsi was having real trouble with the mid-ranges at this point. after he tried to sing the bridge he looked back at amina and sort of shrugged, shaking his head. kjartan tried to fill in for some vocals. the crescendo of that song still sounded insane, gorgeous, operatic and epic all at once. the string arrangements are just superb.
i think georg was watching me sing during popplagið...it must be funny to see people sing in a made-up language. [i like to make up my own words anyway, so it sort of fits for me.]
jónsi's elven hair was so cute (he's got a little tail thing going with the faux-hawk). he was gracious to have apologized for their "mistakes" (i only noticed orri tripped over a cymbal at some point...which was actually funny) and for his "woice" being gone. :) jón, please don't apologize! you were brave for soldiering on like that in any case. when they came out for their second bow i motioned a "hug" to jónsi as if to say 'takk'. thank you so much, sigur rós. thank you!!! i look forward to ny and boston!!!~!
(michael)
fan review
we got there at about seven, an hour early. the theatre was already getting crowded. it was a fairly large orchestra hall. the ceiling had tiny pinpoint lights on it which looked like stars. the overall feel was slightly old and beautiful. we sat in the 11th row back on the left side. pretty good seats. the show started at eight, and amina was great, played for about half an hour. they really are a group in their own right, not just part of sigur ros--something i don't think enough people are aware of. i was irritated by the fact that about a third or so of the audience walked in and out to get drinks while they were playing. some people even talked while they played. pretty disrepectful i thought. there was also the occasional drunken shout during the show. i guess all this is to be expect though; people are stupid. despite that slight annoyance amina was still great. we loved how they tuned the glasses by drinking from them.
then finally it was time for sigur rós. a translucent white screen was draped over the front of the stage, then they came out and started playing intro and then went straight into glósóli. for maybe the first minute of intro, we couldn't see jónsi as he was behind some of the equipment, but we could hear him singing. it was a very exciting moment--my friend and i were whispering to each other "where's jónsi??" and practically bursting with expectation. then he apppeared, the lights came on (great lighting and visual effects throughout the show) and it was truly "an all right beginning". the white curtain elongated their shadows hugely and yet you could still see them through it--they look tiny compared to the shadows. after they finished glósóli, the curtain came up. my friend looked at me and whispered "svefn-g-englar!" . we just knew somehow that it was coming next. and it did, beautifully. we never knew that the voice effect at the end is caused by jónsi singing into his guitar! it was so cool. i don't recall the exact setlist from there--it was mostly takk, some from the other albums. the whole concert was so amazing that i can't really point out highlights, except for gong and the encore (i'm pretty sure it was untitled #8). ný batterí was really great too. but the encore was definitely the best song of the night. you just kept thinking it couldn't get any more intense and emotional, and then it did, again and again and again. orri was especially great on that song. what a fantastic drummer he is. i also think that the position of the drums on the stage--on the side instead of behind the others--really helped the acoustics and brought the sound out. overall the technical side of it was great. they must have some really powerful mikes and amps.
after the encore everyone stood up and clapped for about ten minutes. the band kept coming out and bowing again and again. jónsi said at one point that "it has been a bad concert for us, we have made a lot of mistakes" and some drunken guy shouted "you're awesome!" the only possible mistake-type thing that i noticed was orri did knock a drum over during a song and it made a loud crash. who cares,
overall, the concert was about as close to perfection as possible, and worth far far more than the $45 ticket. a week later i am still thinking of it often. there were some moments that were near-transcendental experiences, as stupid and pretentious as that may sound. i know i will never forget it. i have often heard people say that sigur rós is "depressing" music. i don't think anyone could say that after going to this concert. i left feeling that there was something good and strong and beautiful in the world.
(rose cahalan)
fan review
murphy's law dictates that if anything can go wrong, it will. but that didn't deter icelandic quartet sigur Rós, who, despite unusual but apparent midrange problems for seraphic vocalist jónsi birgisson, put on an epic performance surpassing the likes of pink floyd or the who.
is that a stretch? um, perhaps it's a bit apples-and-oranges. but expectations that the foursome would jukebox their way through tunes from their charming 1999 masterpiece ágætis byrjun, and its stark 2002 baby-talkin' follow up ( ), were joyfully tossed out the window, and to stunning effect. feelings ran high, and the "you-sighs" were...well, "lo." with backing string quartet (and excellent opening act) amina in tow, sigur Rós unwittingly transformed the venue into a cathedral of sorts, and the faithful, over 3,000 of them, packed the pews.
the show came in advance of the group’s fourth full-length release, takk... (icelandic for "beer"–I mean, "thanks"), from which they pulled large and gratifying doses. from behind a thin veil of a curtain, with green light casting their shadows in millions of directions, the band launched into the breathtaking "glósóli." later in the set, and in plain view, the whimsical "se lest" glistened quietly with xylophone before meandering its way to a cheeky waltz. american single "sæglópur" culminated in walls of blistering guitar and thunderous percussion, while the accessible "gong" surged with intensity, underscored by the group’s trademark schizophrenic warbling cooings and propelled by orri pall dyrason’s insistent factory-throb drumming.
the rós’s rendition of their back catalog proved to be no less effective. the audience’s neck hairs were surely standing as birgisson, singing primarily in icelandic, held a "tyoooo" for what seemed an eternity at the finale of "svefn-g-englar." and speaking of eternity, there was that minute-long silence in the middle of the soaring "viðrar vel til loftárása" (well, silent except for the audience member who yelled “thank you.” sentiment echoed, but preferably not until the end of the song, please).
however, halfway through the show, birgisson exhibited difficulty with his midrange vocals, sounding as if he had become a little hoarse from a cold. always a trooper, he appeared to be using his obvious frustration to place more power in his keening falsetto, especially during the show’s eargasmic finale, referred to amusingly as "the pop song." At 11-plus minutes, it's not "pop" by any definition, but it certainly is popular with concertgoers.
it is this moment that especially defines sigur Rós' aptitudes, and why their popularity has been slowly but surely building by word of mouth. birgisson’s range is ultra-dynamic, running from a soft alto to bellowing fury, while shearing the horsehairs off of the violin bow he uses on his guitar. keyboardist/arranger/guitarist kjartan sveinsson seasons the mix with six pensive strings and a spot-on vocal harmony. the song’s explosive conclusion builds from georg holm’s rock steady chordal bass work, giving way to not-so-secret-weapon dyrason’s skin-breaking metronome and cymbal assault.
two curtain calls and a ten-minute standing ovation later, the impact of the comparatively short set echoed long afterward. it was, yet again, further
proof that this gang of prodigies continues to cast a shadow over their contemporaries, and certainly over their emulators. sigur Rós seem poised at the edge some kind of stardom, though their alleged "eccentricities" will probably keep them from joining a target-sponsored supertour anytime soon. it hardly matters; if sentiment, sound and atmosphere are the sole requisites, sigur Rós is the biggest band in the world.
(m. primak)
fan review
alright, so my friend and i went to go see sigur rós at the "tower theatre" in philadelphia on sep. 9th—and it was amazing.
walking in to amina (the pre-band) created a relaxing subtle light-ambient feeling before the main show to melt into. but let me tell you, when the track "takk..." began and sigur rós started to get onstage behind that screen with all that lighting, i nearly melted with anticipation. slowly, "glósóli" began and i could slowly make out band members within the light. and there he was-- jónsi playing his guitar with a bow-string, all distorted in the light. at the peak point of the song it became blinding and the music pounded through the walls of the theatre.
i was in tears it was so beautiful. my heart was beating so fast. when the screen rose they began playing others (including svefn-g-englar!) i almost died. i just couldn't believe it. that was sigur rós! and there they were under this star-filled auditorium before my eyes-- the images behind them trance-like and bringing me back to their homeland. i was in heaven. i lay my head on hana's shoulder and let the night take me away.
i really appreciated with what they did with “viðrar vel til loftárása” when they slowly came to a complete stop and silence filled the auditorium. unfortunately it was rudely interrupted by some guy saying “thank you”—but then the music continued. and later while jónsi apologized for having so many mistakes (i could hear his voice getting hoarse) before the end of the concert, another member screamed “we love you!” i think we all felt that way. they were doing just fine.
"popplagið" finished the concert in a visual experience that i'll never be able to describe; flashes of black and white abstract photos, lights flashing across the stage, merging together with layer upon layer of the music.
it was one of the most powerful things i’ve ever experienced—and i will never experience it again. and then-- it was over. and it was good.
(a fan)
