setlist

takk
glósóli
ný batterí
sæglópur
gong
andvari
hoppípolla
með Blóðnasir
olsen olsen
viðrar vel til loftárása
svo hjótt
heysátan
starálfur hafssól
popplagið



fan review
i am more a sigur ros acquiantance than fan. i have seen a lot of "experimental" shows (including but not limited to robert fripp, roxy music with eno, kratwerk, tricky,etc). while i thought the concert had moments of brilliance, i found it to be a little bit of "the emperor's new clothes."

i thought the performance lacked a certain warm and connection. The anima girls were warm and smiled once or twice. i have never been to a show where the audience scolded other audience members for making a little noise. audible shhhh shhhh shhhing could be heard. we were not in carnegie hall and i thought this was a "rock" concert. i thought that was ridiculous and wanted to yell out fuck just to get a rise. i have also never been to a show where so many people were taking pictures,video, and recording things on their cell phones. maybe i am showing my age but i think actually experiencing the concert is the point. things are sometimes better committed to memory, no? in fact, with an album like ( ), it seems the boys would agree. overall, i thought the show was a b+. i waited 17 years to see kraftwerk (who by the way did not talk to the audience once for 2 hours and than left the stage). surprisingly, there was a warmth/connectedness there. from what i saw at msg, sigur ros has some incredible elements that need some nurturing in order to stand the test of time. everyone loves jonsi-he is a force. he just needs to eat more and smile occasionally. the ny audience needed to lighten up a bit. baby doll heads with scratched eyes and weird teeth were creepy. harshed my mellow a bit. i will forever remember the horn section marching out in front of the stage at this show...fun!
(darius melisaratos)

fan review
taken to msg theatre to see sigur ros the artsy icelandic band… endlessly beautiful sustained harmoniums, brass, bowed guitars, synths, soaring aha like choir boy vocals and a kind of layered and earnestly cooperative attendance to playing parts (bjork: “i thought i could organise freedom, how scandinavian of me”) that left me panting for a solo to light up the night, or indeed the pointillist inter-change of a west african polyrhythmic highlife or juju band…

the intent was symbolised from the start, with the drummer (the only staccato instrument, if you exclude the odd ‘oompah’ from the brass band) set off to one side and a string quartet placed square centre-stage. a statement of we are displacing the engine, the balls, the rocknroll, we are playing ‘new’ music, diffuse music, cerebral but with a longing and bucolic heart, a world of soft segues and hanging ambient moments, after an hour i craved for a rhythm section to let rip, for the chatter of funky guitars or coruscating hendrixonian lines… never thought i’d be the one silently mouthing “get it on” at a gig now did ya

i went deliberately naive, having heard nothing, read nothing, just knowing the name. i suspect this music records beautifully, haunts the heart and moves deeply, but the live show wasn’t so enthused, except perhaps when the four figures took the stage alone, and i felt that i was in the presence of young guys stumbling on a sound and playing, transfixed by this marvellous visitation, utterly fascinated, for hours.
(geoffrey armes)

fan review
so here i was, standing in the madison square garden theatre, looking at the brightly lit sign against the night: tonight – sigur ros! this was going to be my second sigur rós concert. i had seen them at the tower theatre in '05. it’s a shame i hadn’t been able to see them in past years for the ágætis byrjun / ( ) tours, but from now on every opportunity i get, i’ll try and see them. this venue was a lot bigger, which meant on the downside that it was going to be less personal, but on the up side they would play more songs. it seemed a good contrast from my tower concert. i had seen the setlists for the past few days and they were exactly the same (as well as a bit disappointing), so i thought i knew the songs they were going to play in the concert. however, sigur rós did end up surprising me a little.

inside, my three friends and i bought some things at the handmade merchandise section including some takk stamped moleskin notebooks, t-shirts/sweaters, and some neat black and white posters. the icelandic designer was actually right there with her merchandise. i almost wanted to say “takk” after she gave me my bag, but a friend told me there was a more formal “thank you” and i forgot how to pronounce it. despite this, i had already donned my sigur rós gear (which is basically just the “metal big tree” sigur rós shirt i got off their merchandise page and a red hat). i was ready for the concert.

once inside, i got my seats in the 200 section. they were okay—a little left for my liking. i would have liked to see more of the stage and lighting. however, i was still slightly satisfied. amina was performing beautifully. in fact, many of their songs from their ep animamina they had greatly improved upon. the song hemipode seemed to swell up to brilliance at this one point and this wave of emotion swept over me. i really hope they continue to release music because they are beautiful.

the lights came back on when amina was done, and i wasn’t used to that because at the tower they kept them off and went to playing takk. however, soon enough they dimmed and the concert began. i was very excited. glósóli began and i could hardly breathe. there was so much anticipation. i noticed they changed the visual to a boy walking to go in sync with the marching sounds of the song. the song began to build up. i could feel my heart beating. i was so ready for those beautiful and powerful yellow lights to hit me with that one chord. i squeezed my friends’s hand to prepare myself. however, the chord came, but no bright yellow lights pouring out. it was an extreme disappointment because i had seen that at the tower as well as the concert in iceland i had downloaded. i assumed they did it every time. i knew they had the lights because they used them later on in the concert. in spite of this letdown, the song was performed greatly. i just wasn’t able to get the *feeling* i got at the tower.

i knew ný batterí was coming up and i was thrilled. i hadn’t heard this at the other concert and i knew jónsi had made this into something much more powerful than it was on the studio recording. i was also grateful that they had the brass section here in nyc because they hadn’t had it at the tower. it really added to this song. the only thing i noticed was that when jónsi sang his “really long note” in this concert i noticed that he stopped singing to hit a higher note but the note below was still going, meaning it was digital. however, in the icelandic concert i could have sworn he really held it out. the song was still great, however.

next was saeglopur. like many of the takk songs, this song is very pretty but not very emotionally involved and complex as some of the earlier sigur rós is. this song especially, sounds a bit “poppish” and mainstream so i’ve especially never really liked this one.

then they played gong. from what i know, gong is from the ( ) era, but it eventually made it to takk. and i think there is reasoning behind this. gong is a very dark, moody song, but not in the way that ( ) is. it is hard to explain, but i think it is weak compared to a lot of the other ( ) tracks. it also disappointed me *greatly* that they didn’t play njósnavélin like they had at the previous two concerts. i especially love that track for some personal reasons, but they decided to skip it to go straight to gong.

andvari was the next song played. i thought it was very pretty and relaxing. it was time to lay my head on hana’s shoulder, close my eyes, and let the night take me in.

hoppípolla / með blóðnasir were after that. i think they are some of the better takk songs, so it was enjoyable. i couldn’t get the image of those old men hopping in puddles like in the music video. :)

sigur rós switched it up a bit by playing even *more* takk with sé lest. it bugged me in the back of my mind knowing this might have been the replacement for the space for njósnavélin in the set. however, it’s still a pretty song, and the horn section had a little solo march across the stage which was comical. still, i was a little tired of takk by this point and wanted more of a balance of tracks.

good thing they played olsen olsen next. finally another ágætis byrjun track! the ending was very uplifting with the all those instruments playing that little tune that *always* gets stuck in my head after i hear it.

viðrar vel til loftárása was next. it was another classic, and probably one of my favorite sigur rós tracks of all time. it really pulled me in, i couldn’t wait to hear how long we could keep the silence. unfortunately, we kept it for about two seconds. some fucking assholes in the back wouldn’t stop screaming their heads off. it was a horrible audience. but i wouldn’t let them ruin the concert for me—i wanted to enjoy my song. at the climax of the song, in the flowing blue light, a rush of emotion came over me and i leaned over to kiss hana. it was a very powerful moment. i will never forget it.

svo hljótt was another takk track. by this point i was pretty much tired of takk, and i thought i could have done without this song. however, they played it and it was pretty.

heysátan, however, was one of the takk tracks i *did* want to hear. the band huddled around was seemed like a candlelit table. the song almost seemed like a prayer or some tribute to iceland. it was extremely beautiful. i felt bad because there was some air vent squeaking or maybe some billy joel fans bouncing around somewhere that was really ruining part of the song. jónsi apologized and said the squeaky sound made it really hard to keep in tempo with the song. and then it was over.

i knew, at this point, if we didn’t get any encore songs, it would be the end of the night. along with my friends, i started screaming and clapping. we wanted more! so they came back onstage and played a classic – starálfur. that was a nice one.

after it was done jónsi said he thought that one was fun to play. we screamed and clapped again. i was really happy i had at least gotten an encore song. i was satisfied. this is when sigur rós decided to surprise me. i suddenly heard the tapping of a drumstick against a guitar. i turned to my friends in utter surprise. “it’s hafsól! they’re playing hafsól!” never in a million years would i have expected *that* one. it’s such a great song live. i really got into it. in fact, in some ways, it really made up for a lot of the disappointments that night. what a nice treat.

finally popplagið came. i knew this was going to be a great finally to the concert. it always is. although i remember the visuals being a lot cooler before, they really seemed to turn it up from the last concert i went to. it was so great to hear it again, and its power. what a night.

when it was all done, i was all ready to start clapping and yelling for the curtain call. however, the band never came out for a bow! what’s up with that? maybe they didn’t have enough time (or was just fed up with the audience). anyway, that was a little disappointing. i would have at least liked to show my appreciation.

all in all, there was some really great *moments* that beat the tower concert, but as a whole concert the tower beat this one. they played all of takk except for mílanó which i think is one of the better songs on that album, making the concert a bit weak. there should have been some more variety throughout—and come on, only 1 ( ) track? that’s weak. takk is a very pretty album, but playing it in almost entirety doesn’t work in a live setting. ágætis byrjun and ( ) are more powerful and balanced albums anyway. it doesn’t mean i think they should only play those albums, but they should be fair and please all their different fans in the audience by having a good balance.

still, as always, i enjoy sigur rós and hope to see them again. they are truly master musicians and will always captivate me. thanks guys! (or should i say takk?)
(a fan)