photos by stephen hittner
photos by jennifer dolan
vaka
fyrsta
samskeyti
salka
ný batterí
njósnavélin
svefn-g-englar
mílanó
hafssól
olsen olsen
popplagið
jennifer dolan
i was lucky enough to have discovered the beauty of ágætis byrjun prior
to sigur rósç 2001 north american tour and managed to score two tickets to
their show at the vic theater. i walked into the theater five minutes before sigur
rós took the stage and spent the next 90 minutes transfixed by the otherworld
beauty of their music as well as the brilliant digital video that silently was projected
onto a screen behind the band. i longed to learn more about the songs i was unfamiliar
with at the time and vowed to move mountains to see sigur rós play live again.
with the release of ( ), sigur rós booked a series of stateside shows this fall. i was delighted to see them booked at madisonçs barrymore theater. a relatively intimate space (capacity: 972 persons), replete with plenty of floor level seating and a balcony, the barrymore boasts above average acoustics and a ban on smoking in the audience. so, i rang the friend who escorted me to last fallçs show in chicago, wrangled two tickets for the barrymore show, and began impatiently counting down the days ‚til show time.
mindful of the fact we missed last tourçs opening act, we arrived at the barrymore early to secure our place in front of the stage and to be sure we wouldnçt miss siggi ármann. as the lights dimmed, siggi walked on to the stage accompanied only by his guitar. after playing one or two songs, he was joined by kjartan, who warmed siggiçs songs with subdued keyboards. one of the lovely women from amina then joined siggi and kjartan to play the xylophone. orri stepped out from the wings to add drums to a handful of songs. siggi played the last numbers in his set alone and exited his performance to a fair amount of applause.
not long after, the house lights dimmed. as the opening strains of vaka/track 1 filled the barrymore, a revered, transfixed state grasped the crowd, and jónsi then joined his bandmates on stage. jónsiçs quiet vocal hovered above the crowd, mildly increasing in intensity until his plaintive voice rang through the hall.
the band spent most of the first handful of songs around kjartançs piano and keyboards ú vaka was followed by tracks 2 and 3 (fyrsta and samskeyti respectively). orri joined georg, kjartan and jónsi on keyboards during a stunningly hypnotic performance of samskeyti. everyone returned to their respective primary instruments for salka, a lovely new song.
salka segued into a powerful rendition of ný batterí. jónsi coaxed sound from his guitar with his bow for the first time that evening during ný batteríçs opening, and the dark, swirling power of that sound was a harbinger of things to come later in the set.
from ný batterí, sigur rós moved on to crowd favorites track 4/njósnavélin and svefn-g-englar. the band began a shift in mood during mílanó, building from a sparse musical landscape to full on rocking out (if only for a minute or so). georg then picked up one of orriçs drum sticks to start the bass line in hafssól. tension mounted in the audience as the song moved towards its climatic end. towards the end of the song, jónsi actually stepped away from his place center stage, stepping back into the shadows, hunching over his guitar as he played. then, as reward for surviving the wall of sound, the band played one of the most amazing renditions of olsen olsen içve ever been lucky enough to hear. played at the perfect pace, jónsiçs new vocal inflections gave the song added shine. finally, the band launched into track 8/popplagio. to me, popplagi‡ mirrors the evolution of the band itself. from its sweeping beginning, to its subdued vocal (the most affecting meditation on the hopelandic dialog jónsi focused on in ( ), in my opinion), culminating in its majestic, soaring, full throttle charge to the end, concluding in a transcendent wave of sound and emotion. popplagi‡ left the audience stunned, unable to do much more than clap and clap and clap for the musicians (well, and hope for at least one encore).
my friend and i knew better. as we clapped, we watched the stages wings for signs the band was ready for their customary bow at the end of the performance. thunderous applause coaxed them out of the wings for a second bow, and that sadly marked the official end of the show.
of note, amina was an amazing complement to the band. seeing sigur rós live
with string accompaniment helps convey so much of the emotion that lies at the core
of their songs. i was truly impressed by their musicianship and how much they brought
to the songs. also, the band used some digital video imagery this time around, but
i was more aware of the light and color used in the staging that i was the video.
from the mirror ball which filled the barrymore with millions of points of light to
the saturated greens, blues, yellows and reds of the lighting, every aspect of the
show added to the tension and pleasure of the show. exiting into the frosty night,
my friend and i couldnçt help thinking we were two of the luckiest show goers ever,
and we dreamed of iceland the entire drive home
(jennifer dolan)
