edgefield

Portland, OR, United States

Aug 9, 2012

photos by josh kincaid

 

photos by patrick gateley

30 Comments on “edgefield”

  • Jake

    says:

    A perfect concert! Sigur Ros live sounded better than their studio recordings.

  • brian

    says:

    amazing! jakes review posted before they hit thestage here in portland! must be that good!

  • PS – brilliant show. They’re ending with Popplagid now. Live this. Review on my page tomorrow. Woo!!

  • Edki

    says:

    Such a lovely show! The outdoor venue was sweet and festive, the fans were downright giddy. The openers were good- quirky and well received by the crowd (though they should have mentioned their band name… anyone catch it?) Sigur Ros was at different moments beautiful, complex, delicate, soaring, intriguing, driving. (As you’d expect I guess.) The sound was brilliant (especially for an outdoor show) and the pacing was really well done- these guys know exactly how to put on a smashing show. (Even the highly ambivalent 12 year old was won over and really glad she came along after all.)

  • Ethan

    says:

    Absolutely brilliant show! Beautiful.

  • ryan

    says:

    traveled from buffalo, ny to see this show. so glad i did. it was the best show i’ve ever been to. really, really fun.

  • Wow, all the way from Buffalo? You catch (or plan to catch) any of the other shows on this tour?

    ~Dan

  • amy

    says:

    I think the opener was Julia Holter. We didn’t know either, and it’s sad to say it took me forever to FIND who it was; eventually found it on the Ticketfly site.

    NPR Music deemed Sigur Ros perhaps the best live act ever, and I have to say I agree. I went into the show with trepidation; I usually consume Sigur Ros with headphones on, late at night, when relaxing… the idea of taking that outdoors, in the daylight somehow seemed odd.

    But… OMG. I spent most of my time left of center stage on the end so I couldn’t even see a full sweep of the stage, but the show built momentum until an incredible, overwhelming wall of sonic eargasm that left me almost in tears.

    I also wondered how that sound with all its many elements (soft, loud, harmonic, jaring, etc.) would reproduce over a huge sound system. But… it’s true… they sound BETTER live. That concept had never even occurred to me, but by the end of the first few songs it was clearly the truth.

    You can crush close and get into it, or hang back and chill out on the lawn at this venue, a nice mix and something for everyone.

  • Choi H.U.

    says:

    I was living the dream last night. It’s my firtst time to see Sigur rós.. Just amazing. Beautiful. Your performence still sweaming in my head. It feels like forever you know. Thanks for the brillint show and then have a great jurney guys. :) love u!!

  • evie

    says:

    Anyone have the setlist?

    I’m still floating…

  • yeah, evie, setlist up my site (and setlist.fm).

    Setlist: an hour & 45 min

    Ekki Múkk
    Svefn-g-englar
    Olsen Olsen
    Gong
    Andvari
    Viðrar Vel Til Loftárása
    Í Gær
    Vaka
    Sæglópur
    Hoppípolla
    Með Blóðnasir
    Festival
    Varúð
    Hafsól
    Dauðalogn (on setlist, not played)
    Encore: Popplagið

  • Lanie

    says:

    I’m still in disbelief about being at this show. What an amazing group of performers; it’s amazing how they’re even better live. Now I just need to meet them…

  • Jeremy

    says:

    Amazing show..very magical performance..the crowd was one ball of happiness which was a mirror to the performers..very eclectic, bold and beautiful performance..will remember it always.

  • Ryan

    says:

    It was an amazing show no doubt and my third time to see them live but, man I missed Kjartan. Not knocking Obo at all for the shoes he has to feel but Kjartan just brings things to another level.

  • Emily

    says:

    Let me just say, if Edgefield has a restriction to how tall your lawn chair can be(and they do) then you are not supposed to stand up! I wish they had a sign saying this somewhere. Though I doubt it would have mattered. I was sadly on the half of the audience that didn’t sit back down after the band came on the stage. I was lucky enough that this was my second time seeing Sigur Ros (I caught them in Portland in 2008) but if this had been my first I would have been pretty disappointed, thanks to the audience. The two dudes in front of us just stood up and talked loudly over the music the whole time to each other about un-related things. I paid a good amount of money for that ticket, drove 2 hours up, and not only that but this is my favorite band in existence. I wanted to move but we had blankets and beer and I just thought people should be less ridiculous. The band didn’t skip a beat and everything was beautiful on their end (visually, musically, emotionally). I will take any opportunity to see them live again and everyone else should too! I was also incredibly impressed with the lineup and the song choices that came from much older albums!

  • Brekkens

    says:

    Amazing night seeing Sigur Rós. We brought our 7 year old son, Anders, who has always loved the band too. The best part of the night was when he spontaneously turned to me mid-show and said, “thank you for bringing me to the concert. It’s awesome.” He has been playing Sigur Rós/Jónsi music for everyone in the days following.

    A full review of the experience with pictures and a link to our video footage is at our blog: http://people.oregonstate.edu/~brekkent/y12m08d11/index.html

    I also missed Kjartan and was annoyed by the loud-talking standers at the show, but I just kept reminding myself to focus on everything I love about each moment–the music and my dear ones who were with me.

    Takk.

  • We flew up from San Diego for the show, and the concert was the focus of our honeymoon (we considered the LA show, but after the tickets sold out in mere minutes – I was online to see it, the scalpers drove up the prices to impossible amounts). There are so many things to say about the show.

    First of all, the Edgefield is a wonderful venue. This is not your standard outdoor amphitheater. For those of you not familiar, it’s a historic manor that has been transformed into a hotel/social gathering place and it is BEAUTIFUL. The one and only drawback I had with the venue was the fact that there were several trees blocking the view of the stage for a good chunk of the audience (and climbing them wouldn’t really help with viewing). It’s a bit of a catch 22 though, because the trees added so much to the natural beauty of the surroundings.

    The opening band was just about the only thing I didn’t enjoy about the show. To my ears, they sounded like the band your talented friends created in high school that you WANTED to like but could only halfheartedly support after hearing their feeble attempts at songwriting. This is (of course) personal preference, but I was bored by this band and disappointed by what I thought must be a great opener (“they’re playing with Sigur Ros! they must be awesome!”). I disagree with some of the posts above saying that everyone seemed to enjoy this band. The entire section around me as far as I could see, talked through the entire set and/or ignored the performance.

    Sigur Ros was amazing. I can’t say much about their performance that others have not said with more eloquence, but as someone seeing them for the first time, I was blown away by how tight the band was and how well everything mixed. This wasn’t just a faithful reproduction of the recordings – it was better.

    I agree with the above posters about the standing audience members. This impacted my view of the stage a bit, but it also forced me to meander so I could get multiple views of the stage. There was a nice fluidity to the audience and you could basically walk right up to the front of the stage whenever you wished to, then walk right back to your blanket with nobody to push through/get in your way. I enjoyed the multiple viewpoints that I probably would not have experienced had I been granted an unobstructed view of the stage from where I camped out.

    As the sun set, pillars of light in the shape of orbs turned on in the audience. On my side of the stage some kid didn’t like the light (which didn’t distract from the show at all and offered some safety for people who were walking about so they wouldn’t trip and fall) and he indiscriminately unplugged it. Security took a long time to get the light up and running again, then the kid unplugged it a second time. This distraction took away from the show a bit, but it was a minor setback.

    Beautiful show, beautiful venue. We Will never forget it.

  • Rose

    says:

    I was up front for this, where it’s expected that you stand, and I loved every second of it. I think at any show where you love the music as much as many people do with SR they mostly stand up. It helps get the energy going, and I think the bands really felt that. Jónsi was so animated throughout the show, and Popplagid where all 3 went nuts was amazing! The fools talking would have been awful though! We only had one and she was promptly shushed. It was a wonderful evening, and I’m very glad I made the trip :)

  • Michael O'Neill

    says:

    I am fairly new to the music of Sigur Ros. I got the opportunity to go to this concert, and I do not regret buying that ticket.

    It was an absolutely beautiful day/night. This was one of the best concerts I have ever been to. I think they sound even better live when compared with their studio recordings. If Sigur Ros is coming to your town, DO NOT HESITATE!

  • Isabelle

    says:

    My husband and I love everything about the band and Iceland. Our 9th time seeing them. I was worried about the outdoor show but somehow I think it worked better. Maybe this tour is geared toward the festivals… We just saw the Seattle show at the Paramount and it was in indoors. I love all their old stuff, but I really like the new album, Valtari…
    I hope they will play more songs from this album in the future.

    I have to say I am so much in love with Orri. He is the cutest and best drummer ever (besides my husband ). Oh another thing, I really missed Kjartan.

  • Nicholas

    says:

    I drove 12 hours to Portland to see this show. First time seeing Sigur Ros live. Great venue. I had the chills during the whole performance.

  • Ryan

    says:

    coming from someone who was standing front and center i can say that i would have preferred to just sit down and enjoy the show and relax. the venue was more than fantastic, a great scene for that type of show. if the partition was not there and they has signage that read “must sit during the show” then that would have made things better for a lot of people.

    i flew in from dallas for that show specifically as i heard great things about the venue.

    takk guys and fingers crossed for a spring tour with WAY more US dates. oh and get kjartan here.

  • pb

    says:

    absolutely fantastic show. top shelf the whole way. gorgeous oregon night, gorgeous venue, respectful crowd, grateful band. the strings and horns added a depth that was jaw dropping. even at an outdoor venue with thousands of people, you could’ve heard a pin drop during the most delicate parts of the set.

    is there any way to get a recording of this show? any soundboards floating around?

    COME BACK!!

  • Cåsbr

    says:

    Just realized why the concert was held in Edgefield. Troutdale = Laxdæla. :)

  • business

    says:

    Hi…………………….??????
    This is a really good post… Must admit that you are amongst the best bloggers I have read… Thanks………..?

  • pelicanlake71

    says:

    This show was AMAZING. I’ve been playing INNI and pretending I’m hearing them live again. I will go any chance I get in the future!

    Where was Kjartan? I thought it was just me, not seeing him on stage. It worried me the entire evening. Now I find out I wasn’t imagining it.

  • Olivia

    says:

    Beautiful performance. Beautiful evening & venue. I’ve seen Sigur Ros play a few times now. Always amazing! Excited to see them play Sasquatch festival in May.

Leave a Comment

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

The maximum upload file size: 10 MB. You can upload: image, video. Links to YouTube, Facebook, Twitter and other services inserted in the comment text will be automatically embedded. Drop files here

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.