charlotte wise I’m slightly unsure as to where to start with this one, as I’m still reeling from the impact of it all. I cried. a lot. it really was that good. let’s skip over all the preamble (when I arrived I thought to myself – only 2hrs 20mins until sigur). I really can’t find the words for this – bewitching, beguiling, hauntingly beautiful, moving etc. etc. I only recognised one of the songs that they played – it was the third track from the svefn-g-englar ep, and I found myself somehow singing along with jonsi (how I know the words is beyond me) through the tears of sheer exhilaration. they played nothing from the latest album, something I found quite odd, but I really didn’t care that much. I was sat right next to one of the speakers, and that just made the whole experience all the more emotional. I hadn’t previously realised how much effort jónsi puts into it – even though he must have played those songs a million times, they still seem to wrench at his soul, I felt like I was on the stage with him most of the time.
thank god that the lovely people at the qeh let them play over the curfew – I couldn’t believe the last song. someone had mentioned to me a while ago that they must just really want to chuck down the bow and just make some noise (although the words ‘noise’ and ‘sigur rós’ don’t go together at all), and that they did, and then some. I must say it was slightly unexpected, but it was the perfect end to a soaring concert. I know how stupid this may sound, but my life has changed. music is so important, and thank you, sigur rós, for showing it to me. (charlotte wise)
esbs
says:
paul mcallister wow, what a day. this was the day I was finally going to meet the band. we got down to london early afternoon and headed over to the festival hall (which is next to the queen elizabeth hall) and just hung around there for a bit. then at about 5pm dave (fatcat) gave me a ring and told me that he and the band were sitting having a beer in one of the rfh bars, and that I should go and say hello. so I took a deep breath and headed over to find them. it was quite scary at first but they were all extremely friendly and chatty. they all introduced themselves and i sat next to jónsi, who offered me a very tasty icelandic liquorice sweet thing. we chatted for a while about music and iceland and this site and then headed off to the venue itself. we went through the backstage entrance into the backstage area where all the dressing rooms are and stuff. spotted dave pajo and labradford watching tv. we go and sit in sigur rós’ (fairly small) room and me and georg talk about the site. he says he thinks its great and he’s going to send me some pictures of them that he took on an icelandic mountain last week. i ask georg and kjartan about the radiohead rumours and georg says that he’s heard about them but that they’ve not heard from radiohead officially. he said it would be feasible to do the uk dates, but highly unlikely that they could do the european ones too, as they wouldn’t have time. we then meet up with storme and go for a wander across the thames.
so then, on to the gig. I personally thought that the majority of the other bands were a disappointment. dave pajo was on first, and he was quite good although i much prefer him with a band behind. labradford were very disappointing. I’m sure they were better last time i saw them at all tomorrows parties. they were just very boring this time. anyway, on to sigur rós. they were typically brilliant. they didn’t play any tracks from ágaetis byrjun which may seem surprising, but the set was very well chosen indeed. it was in keeping with the style of music that had proceeded it. they didn’t play the ‘hits’, they just played what would sound best. and it was absolutely tremendous. its difficult to pick a highlight from the set as it was all so terrific, but the superb rendition of nýja lagið and the final song they played were just beyond all expectations. they almost didn’t get the chance to play the last song. the people at the qeh tried to cut them short due to some shitty curfew, but they played on anyway. I’m not sure what the last one was called, I’ll ask the band though because it was amazing. much more towards the style of a godspeed you black emperor!/mogwai rock out, it just went bigger and bigger and louder and louder. so overall an absolutely incredible set (argh I’m running out of superlatives here) and from the standing ovation they got at the end, it seems the majority of the audience agreed. paul mcallister
esbs
says:
chris wray this gig was special. previous performances from the icelanders have had greater raw emotional impact, but this was differently satisfying: this was a mature performance, both thoughtful and sensitive. this followed perfectly from the lethargic labradford set. sigur rós resisted the temptation to throw together their most popular songs and gave us a carefully crafted tour through two vaguely unfamiliar tracks then the more familiar third (i can’t remember any of the names). never mind thom yorke being inspired by sigur rós; i thought of radiohead all through the second track with kjartan on guitar. having introduced themselves so elegantly (and eloquently) they continued to show the audience a progression of styles – something that labradford were unable to achieve. tracks four and five were strong, confident and satisfying; orri put out some tremendously effective rhythm behind these later tracks.
track five ended just before the alleged “strict curfew” of eleven pm, and after consultation with someone offstage jónsi whispered into the microphone “they say we can’t play any more, we’ve run out of time.” happily, jónsi’s cheeky grin suggested that if they wanted to stop the music then they’d have to literally pull the plug, and sigur rós duly launched into the magnificent sixth track, an ideal finale. the intensity of this last track was as great as might be expected from mogwai on top form and georg looked particularly enthusiastic. in fact, i think we can justifiably claim that sigur rós: are tremendous. after this, i am confident of a move forward for the band with their next album.
i wonder what a really promising third album is in icelandic? chris wray
esbs
says:charlotte wise
I’m slightly unsure as to where to start with this one, as I’m still reeling from the impact of it all. I cried. a lot. it really was that good. let’s skip over all the preamble (when I arrived I thought to myself – only 2hrs 20mins until sigur). I really can’t find the words for this – bewitching, beguiling, hauntingly beautiful, moving etc. etc. I only recognised one of the songs that they played – it was the third track from the svefn-g-englar ep, and I found myself somehow singing along with jonsi (how I know the words is beyond me) through the tears of sheer exhilaration. they played nothing from the latest album, something I found quite odd, but I really didn’t care that much. I was sat right next to one of the speakers, and that just made the whole experience all the more emotional. I hadn’t previously realised how much effort jónsi puts into it – even though he must have played those songs a million times, they still seem to wrench at his soul, I felt like I was on the stage with him most of the time.
thank god that the lovely people at the qeh let them play over the curfew – I couldn’t believe the last song. someone had mentioned to me a while ago that they must just really want to chuck down the bow and just make some noise (although the words ‘noise’ and ‘sigur rós’ don’t go together at all), and that they did, and then some. I must say it was slightly unexpected, but it was the perfect end to a soaring concert. I know how stupid this may sound, but my life has changed. music is so important, and thank you, sigur rós, for showing it to me.
(charlotte wise)
esbs
says:paul mcallister
wow, what a day. this was the day I was finally going to meet the band. we got down to london early afternoon and headed over to the festival hall (which is next to the queen elizabeth hall) and just hung around there for a bit. then at about 5pm dave (fatcat) gave me a ring and told me that he and the band were sitting having a beer in one of the rfh bars, and that I should go and say hello. so I took a deep breath and headed over to find them. it was quite scary at first but they were all extremely friendly and chatty. they all introduced themselves and i sat next to jónsi, who offered me a very tasty icelandic liquorice sweet thing. we chatted for a while about music and iceland and this site and then headed off to the venue itself. we went through the backstage entrance into the backstage area where all the dressing rooms are and stuff. spotted dave pajo and labradford watching tv. we go and sit in sigur rós’ (fairly small) room and me and georg talk about the site. he says he thinks its great and he’s going to send me some pictures of them that he took on an icelandic mountain last week. i ask georg and kjartan about the radiohead rumours and georg says that he’s heard about them but that they’ve not heard from radiohead officially. he said it would be feasible to do the uk dates, but highly unlikely that they could do the european ones too, as they wouldn’t have time. we then meet up with storme and go for a wander across the thames.
so then, on to the gig. I personally thought that the majority of the other bands were a disappointment. dave pajo was on first, and he was quite good although i much prefer him with a band behind. labradford were very disappointing. I’m sure they were better last time i saw them at all tomorrows parties. they were just very boring this time. anyway, on to sigur rós. they were typically brilliant. they didn’t play any tracks from ágaetis byrjun which may seem surprising, but the set was very well chosen indeed. it was in keeping with the style of music that had proceeded it. they didn’t play the ‘hits’, they just played what would sound best. and it was absolutely tremendous. its difficult to pick a highlight from the set as it was all so terrific, but the superb rendition of nýja lagið and the final song they played were just beyond all expectations. they almost didn’t get the chance to play the last song. the people at the qeh tried to cut them short due to some shitty curfew, but they played on anyway. I’m not sure what the last one was called, I’ll ask the band though because it was amazing. much more towards the style of a godspeed you black emperor!/mogwai rock out, it just went bigger and bigger and louder and louder. so overall an absolutely incredible set (argh I’m running out of superlatives here) and from the standing ovation they got at the end, it seems the majority of the audience agreed.
paul mcallister
esbs
says:chris wray
this gig was special. previous performances from the icelanders have had greater raw emotional impact, but this was differently satisfying: this was a mature performance, both thoughtful and sensitive. this followed perfectly from the lethargic labradford set. sigur rós resisted the temptation to throw together their most popular songs and gave us a carefully crafted tour through two vaguely unfamiliar tracks then the more familiar third (i can’t remember any of the names). never mind thom yorke being inspired by sigur rós; i thought of radiohead all through the second track with kjartan on guitar. having introduced themselves so elegantly (and eloquently) they continued to show the audience a progression of styles – something that labradford were unable to achieve. tracks four and five were strong, confident and satisfying; orri put out some tremendously effective rhythm behind these later tracks.
track five ended just before the alleged “strict curfew” of eleven pm, and after consultation with someone offstage jónsi whispered into the microphone “they say we can’t play any more, we’ve run out of time.” happily, jónsi’s cheeky grin suggested that if they wanted to stop the music then they’d have to literally pull the plug, and sigur rós duly launched into the magnificent sixth track, an ideal finale. the intensity of this last track was as great as might be expected from mogwai on top form and georg looked particularly enthusiastic. in fact, i think we can justifiably claim that sigur rós: are tremendous. after this, i am confident of a move forward for the band with their next album.
i wonder what a really promising third album is in icelandic?
chris wray