photos by anastasia






photos by vincent mcgovern


amiina photo set by greg williams
sigur rós photo set by greg williams
amiina photo set by darren webb
sigur rós photo set by darren webb

setlist

takk
glósóli
ný batterí
sæglópur
vaka
njósnavélin
e bow
hoppípolla
með blóðnasir
sé lest
olsen olsen
svo hjótt
heysátan
viðrar vel til loftárása
popplagið


fan review
after seein sigur ros and amiina last november at the olympia in dublin, i wanted more. unfortunately five months passed before they were this side of the water again and i'd enough money to fork out.

the day started really crap as the flights were delayed by an hour. regardless we got there before amiina started but the place was packed. i thought there's not a chance of me getting near the stage, but as it turned out, first impressions were deceiving and the queue for the bar was bigger than that for the door. so i slipped right in there and straight up the front where there was already many people. i got in a pretty central position with regards the stage, only problem was two gigantic men in front of me.

anyway amiina started and were fantasmic! there was a constant murmur from the audience throughout their set which made for difficult listening but in terms of sound, it was perfect, all the levels were bang on. they played all the songs from the e.p. the highlight for me was fjarskanistan. they closed as ever with the 'disco song'(forgive me) which got rapturous applause. only problem was it didn't go on longer.

twenty minutes to a half an hour passed by. the see through projection screen came down and there was a surge for the barrier which i managed to get a hold of. takk into glosoli the volume was incredible the performance was beautiful but something was off. the bass was way to high and was shaking the drums, the stage, everything. it wasn't disastrous to glosoli but by the time the intro to ny batteri came around it suffered a fair bit, especially when georg hit the lower notes of the bass.

next was vaka, a song i was dying to hear live. once again the first part was overidden by the incesant hum of the bass but the second part was perfect. they sorted it out. hallelujah. and by the time the finale of vaka came about i was dreaming. the rest of the set was flawless from my perspective. olsen olsen was definitly a soaring spectacle with jonsi bursting into falsetto elations in the finale. vidrar vel til loftarasa was played as an encore, and when it got to pause, typical crowd antics began for some, while for others when the music resumed, they thought the band had played a joke on them. the finish of the song though was as liberating a moment as any.

as ever sigur ros finished with popplagid the perfect climax to the night. the guy beside me, whoever he was, turned and said 'that destroyed me in such a beautiful way'

(john greaney)

fan review
last night was absolutely staggering, for me better than brixton in november and on a par with somerset house last summer. i made it into the venue in time to watch the whole of amiina's set this time and was very happy to have done so, it was a really nice way to warm up to seeing the ros. i'd like to have an mp3 of their last song if anyone has it?

i've no complaints about the venue at all, i thought the sound was really quite good, very clear and evenly distributed whilst still being louder than the gods fighting! me and my brother (autistic lad and his first concert; he loved it!) found a really nice place to stand, on a raised area on the right hand side of the stalls (as looking at the stage) which gave a really nice view of proceedings and also gave something to lean against. i've also got to compliment the security, from what i saw they were very 'hands off' and allowed people to enjoy themselves without being too authoritarian. even when i got bollocked for smoking, the lady was very polite about it.

as far as the setlist goes, well i don't know where to start. glosoli was expected up first (i don't really count takk as anything more than an intro) and it set the standard as far as sheer volume for the night. i think i may have even headbanged a little. ny batteri into saeglopur was very enjoyable, two songs that i don't especially rate in studio form but really knock me bandy live. vaka was an utter surprise though, second time i've seen it live and it was the first 'emotional' moment for me of the evening. the bit at the end where jonsi sings very very high, it punched the air out of my lungs. such a terminally downbeat song should not be so affecting!

njosnavelin (a fave of mine) and e-bow rounded out the brackets trilogy, which again was a surprise. after seeing the manchester setlist i was not expecting that. again, i've never been as much of a supporter of e-bow than others on this board, but live convinced me otherwise; i'm sold!

hoppipolla (sponsored by the bbc ;)) and med blodnasir work very well live, i've always liked them from when i first downloaded takk when it was leaked. they're two (actually more like one and a half) very grand and round numbers, and they work live so very very well. at this point i had done the old classic "ring girlfriend and point mobile at stage" thing. cliche but she apparently swooned for it. i'm going to tonight's show with her and that alone raised her excitement by an order of magnitude.

se lest doesn't do much for me i'm afraid. it's very pleasent and all, but to be honest i've always thought it filler so took the chance to nick to the toilet for a pee and then to grab another beer. i felt a bit guilty about this at first, i don't think it's at all polite to bugger off halfway through a song for refreshments, but i do treat this song as an intermission. sorry!

olsen olsen is about my favourite song from ageatis, i'm always happy to hear this live. on my ipod i have several concerts and when i'm sitting at work doing my administrating whilst rocking out, i always rock out a little harder at my desk when this gem comes on.

svo hljott and heysatan provide time for reflection and really put a lump in the throat, and i think that was the same for a lot of people as the whole atmosphere suddenly become more hushed and subdued in the venue. very peaceful, beatiful songs.

for the encore (and whats with so many people turning and heading for the door as soon as heysatan finished? newbies or just fed up and wanting to go home??) i was hoping and praying for some hafsoll love, but as the first reverbs of ambience came forward for vidrar, i forgave the band. this song is a masterpiece live, studio wherever. it's just a showstopper. we almost made it through the silence without and noise being made too. not quite though, damn philistines.

popp being the seminal closing number, she always pays off in spades. i've yet to see a live show closed better. maccartney at glastonbury a couple years ago closed with hey jude (i think, if my mushroom addled mind of that night can remember right) and singing along with 90,000 people to that for about ten minutes after the old fart was off the stage was someting else. but popp isn't the same kinda thing, the song just has this brutal, keen edge to it. it triggers something primal in the gut and anybody that doesn't agree is frankly sick in the head. my hands hurt from the clapping after this one finished.

all in all, mind-bending. when the dates were first announced, i said to myself that i wasn't going to waste money on tickets for both nights. now i'm damn glad i did. i could have walked out of the venue and then gone straight back in to watch it all again. roll on tonight, and if the rumours are right, hopefully there'll be some hafssol loving going on tonight at about 10.45pm :)

one thing that does bug me is, why does nobody seem able to recognise the songs? for nearly all the songs nobody clapped or acknowledged what they were hearing until the most obvious and recognisable part had begun. example; njosnavelin. the quiet beeping noise at the start of this song lets you know exactly what's coming but the whole audience seemed really surprised when the first guitar notes were played. i'll admit to being an obsessive fan that listens to one of the albums at least once a day. but surely more people than just me know how all the songs start? was the place full of newbs? or was everybody just following a different kind of ettiquette than me?

(steve cole)