setlist
untitled 3
nýja lagið
e-bow
the nothing song
svefn-g-englar
untitled 2
the death song
untitled, featuring steindór andersen
untitled, featuring steindór andersen
the pop song
haukur heiðar hauksson
when i first heard that sigur rós were perhaps going to be playing in fríkirkjan
in conjunction with the icelandic airwaves
festival i was immediately intrigued. that was of course before i heard anything
about the háskólabíó concert
the day before this one. i then hadn't seen them since i saw them at wales supporting
radiohead so i instantly began to look forward to it. i looked for a confirmation
that this concert was actually going to be held (and that included searching the icelandic
airwaves homepage) but i couldn't find anything. but the rumour turned out to be true
and here i was, sitting with björn and many of my friends in fríkirkjan
waiting for sigur rós.
fríkirkjan is a church near the centre of reykjavík. fríkirkjan means 'the free church'. frí meaning 'free' (and is pronounced very similar...) and kirkjan meaning 'the church'. those of you who read the háskólabíó review may have noticed that very many words in icelandic are made by combining two or more words. now, after boring all of you to death with pointless icelandic lessons, which have almost nothing to do with this concert, let's continue about the venue. it's a rather old church i think, but i'm very sorry to admit that i know almost nothing about it (as i know very little about icelandic churches in general). this is the first 'non-classical' concert that has been held in fríkirkjan.
seeing sigur rós in a church is of course an ideal setting, about a hundred times better than seeing them in a big blue tent :)
the first thing i noticed once i got inside was the rather large amount of foreign cameramen and journalists. sigur rós are hopefully finally getting the recognition from you outlanders that they deserve :) like always the air was filled with a nice incense-aroma and candlesticks with large white candles had been placed carefully around the band.
i had been told that a lot less people got in to the concert than would've wanted to, but i was really surprised to see that there were actually people standing outside the church in the icelandic cold, watching in through the windows during the whole concert! i don't know how much they actually heard of the concert as the church is solid concrete, but i hope they heard enough.
after the 'mandatory' waiting for the band to appear i felt very comfortable in the company of my best friends as goggi started his very soothing bassline in the new untitled song. i spent half the time with my eyes closed as usual and just felt really, really good. [heh... i'm probably going to get bashed for writing this very 'intimate' review, but hey... if you don't like what you're reading, then please don't.]
jónsi's voice was a little better than the night before and the concert went very well. i won't go into the setlist with too much detail as it was very similar to the night before: main set + 2 encores with steindór andersen and then they went out with a big bang, that is the pop song.
you can't ask for much more in a concert, and i won't. i was totally content with
the evening as i left fríkirkan and hope that the other 599 people were also
pleased.
haukur heiðar hauksson
