I Just Read About That…

[ATTENDED: June 16, 2017] Sigur Rós

Sarah and I saw Sigur Rós last fall. We both agreed that it was an incredible show.  So when I saw that they were coming back around and playing at the Mann Center, it was hard to pass up the chance to see them again.

It was ostensibly  the same tour, except that it was not exactly the same tour, and not exactly the same show.

It was still just the trio of jón þór birgisson (jonsi), georg holm, and orri páll dýrason and like last time, Jonsi was on vocals and (violin bowed) guitar, Georg was on bass (and more) and Orri was on drums and keyboards.  But they shifted around, with each of them playing other things during the show.

About the previous show I said

The show was perfectly orchestrated with a spectacular light show.  It was arranged into two acts with a 15 minute intermission.  I have often complained about bands who don’t change their set list from night to night but there is no way they could change this–the precision of everything, the complexity of the lights and music–this was more of a stage show than a concert.

Well, they did change things up a bit for this series of shows.  It was actually a little shorter with two fewer songs.

But the big distinction is that there were two new new songs.  In addition to the new songs they played last time, they added two more new ones.

About the previous show I also said:

As soon as the band started playing and Jonsi started singing, I was rapt–Totally caught up in the music which sounded amazing in Radio City Music Hall. It feels like they have speakers all over the room, their sound and which simply envelops the audience.  I usually like to take some pictures of exciting moments of shows but I didn’t even touch my phone during the show–I was absorbed from the first notes.

Well, for this show we were much closer than at Radio City–we were the last row in the lower area.  And what that meant was that I could actually SEE the band!  This was assisted by the fact that the Mann is an outdoor venue so the fog machines never really did manage to obscure the band as they did at Radio City.

And that mean that this show was a completely different experience for me.  We were actually a bit too far to the left to really appreciate the lights like last time.  But that was okay because we had seen them just a few months ago.  That meant that this felt more like a concert than a show (and I was even willing to snap a few pictures).

There was also a technical difficulty.  Somewhere in the first few songs Jonsi’s guitar rig seemed to stop working, and that allowed him to say the only thing he said all night–we got it!–when it was fixed.

Like last time, Orri’s drum kit was on the right side of the stage facing the center.  But I was really able to see him playing this time.  And was able to see him turn and play the keyboards that he had at the front of his kit.  George was on the left (mostly) playing bass, although I saw that he and Orri switched places for Varða.  George played the long piano melody that ended set one.

I said this last time and it holds true

Jonsi stood center stage wielding that bow across his guitar strings almost exclusively. He does things with his guitar that are unfathomable, otherworldly and mind bending.  He gets squeaks and feedbacks, slow drags that produce rumblings and scratches and sounds that just don’t come from a guitar.  And there he was calmly bowing and singing.

And yes, his voice.  Otherworldly is really the only word to describe it.  His voice soars higher than anyone else I’ve ever heard.  And he sings effortlessly live.  Those notes, those syllables (whether he is singing in Icelandic or nonsense) soar and swirl and find their way right inside of you.

But this time I could see it all!  I could watch him hitting those notes, I could see him scraping his guitar.  It was amazing.

The lighting and screens were basically the same–aside from the two new songs, all of the others were the same.  And it was cool seeing them again.

The only disappointment was that they started set two while we were still in lobby (buying an awesome poster).  So we missed the opening of “Óveður.”  But as we sat down I realized  that I couldn’t see them like I could last time.  The entire effect of that opening was lost on our seats.  So once again I am so happy that we saw them in all of their visual glory last time because we definitely didn’t get it all this time.

Set two was noisier and more dramatic (if that’s possible).  With some of the loudest music the band makes.  But it also features their first “single” Ný Batterí which is awesome to hear.  The moody “Vaka” segues beautifully into the slow “Festival.”  But “Festival,” at around the half way mark turns into one of the most conventional sounding songs in their catalogue–a fist pumping dancing song.  And, unlike at Radio City, the Mann Center crowd was ready to dance.  So we stood for that ending part, watching George pound away on those bass notes while Jonsi made amazing sounds.

It was an amazingly uplifting moment.  And it was followed by noise and chaos.  “Kveikur” is made by Jonsi playing some incredibly noisy things on his guitar–massive elects pedals no doubt–and intense drumming (Orri is really a maniac behind the kit).  I said last time that I would love to see him do this and I was so stoked that I actually could this time!  When the full band kicked in, it was the loudest thing ever.  (Although, again, being open air, not quite as loud as Radio City.  But the end was just George playing a eapteing bass, th edrums going mnuts and Jonsi making an unholy racket. It was awesome.

At the previous show they segued into the quiet interlufe of Fljótavík before getting to the end.  But this time, the moved that delicate ong to th efirst set and segued right into the intense closer “Popplagið.”

The last time I described this song like this:

This track is a magnificent song for building and building–adding tension and the climaxing.  It runs about 11 minutes long and starts reasonably quietly (although it was much noisier live).  It kind of swirls around for about 6 minutes while the images grew more and more intense as the song progressed.  Then the drums enter the song with sonic intensity and the song grows and grows, Jonsi singing high notes all the while.   Until finally the climactic event when the band goes nuts, the drums smashing everything, the music overloading (although again, never sounding like it was too loud for the venue) and the images just flashing insanely–like they couldn’t handle the intensity.  The crowd got to its feet and we were all cheered.

And I agree entirely.  But the last time, someone stood in front of me in the aisle just as the song exploded.  I was so pissed.  So this time as the song was building, I was psyched that there was no one to do that.  But instead everyone started standing up.  And at first I was annoyed until I realized just how awesome it was to be standing and getting fully into the end of the song.  As the drummer hit his last two thumps he just threw his drums sticks into the crowd (lucky!) and the other two let their instruments squall feedback as the lights and projection screen just seemed to overload–lights flickering and flashing all different colors and sequences–just utter chaos and meltdown.  And then instant blackness.

After a few moments of silence, the crowd went nuts and soon the guys came back on stage.  Orri kicked one of his cymabls off the stand and the three of them stood in front of a big screen with Takk scrawled on it (Icelandic for Thank you) and we smothered them with applause.

My god what a show.  Equally as great but entirely different from last time.

Radio City Music Hall 2016	Mann Center 2017
SET 1	SET 1
Á new	Á new
Ekki Múkk from Valtari	Ekki Múkk from Valtari
Samskeyti from ()	Glósóli from Takk
E-Bow from ()	E-Bow from ()
Dauðalagið from ()	Fljótavík from Með suð í eyrum við spilum endalaust
Glósóli from Takk	Niður new
Smáskifa from a B-side	Varða new
SET 2	SET 2
Óveður new	Óveður new
Starálfur from Ágætis byrjun	Sæglópur from Takk
Sæglópur from Takk	Ný Batterí from Ágætis byrjun
Ný Batterí from Ágætis byrjun	Vaka from ()
Vaka from ()	Festival from Með suð í eyrum við spilum endalaust
Festival from Með suð í eyrum við spilum endalaust	Kveikur from Kveikur
Kveikur from Kveikur	Popplagið from ()
Fljótavík from Með suð í eyrum við spilum endalaust
Popplagið from ()