Concert Details:
Bands: Sigur Rós
Location: Patriot Center
Setlist:
Encore:
13. Popplagið
13. Popplagið
Trying to explain what it's like to watch Sigur Rós live is as difficult as trying to explain what it feels like to look down from the top of a mountain at the setting sun as it fades and having someone who has never seen it before and have them truly understand you.
So first, a little background on Sigur Rós is needed. They are a 3 piece icelandic dream-pop, if that is even the best word for it, band from Reykjavík, Iceland. Their lead singer Jónsi does two things that are not found often in music. The first is that he plays his guitar with a bow and the second is that he does not sing in a recognized language. He sings in a language known as Hopelandic which is phonetically similar to Icelandic but whose importance lies in the sound and feeling of the words and not the words themselves.
The show began with the band behind a giant screen with lights projecting the shadows of them onto the screen itself. The music brings with it a type of ethereal feeling that I really am at a loss for words to explain well. Seeing as their music is not in any true language they are a band that a crowd really sings along with, but they are a band who keeps a crowd so mesmerized during their show that it really doesn't matter.
So first, a little background on Sigur Rós is needed. They are a 3 piece icelandic dream-pop, if that is even the best word for it, band from Reykjavík, Iceland. Their lead singer Jónsi does two things that are not found often in music. The first is that he plays his guitar with a bow and the second is that he does not sing in a recognized language. He sings in a language known as Hopelandic which is phonetically similar to Icelandic but whose importance lies in the sound and feeling of the words and not the words themselves.
The show began with the band behind a giant screen with lights projecting the shadows of them onto the screen itself. The music brings with it a type of ethereal feeling that I really am at a loss for words to explain well. Seeing as their music is not in any true language they are a band that a crowd really sings along with, but they are a band who keeps a crowd so mesmerized during their show that it really doesn't matter.
As the second song Ný Batterí reached its climax, the curtain dropped in dramatic fashion revealing not only the three members of the band but their backup cadre including additional strings and horns. With a show like Sigur Rós the visual experience is as much about the musical. For the show, a large projector screen was put up behind them that displayed various images that were clearly there to bring out emotions even further than the songs did, and for someone who had floor tickets they did something even more. I don't know if the effect was intentional, but knowing Sigur Rós, it would surprise me if it was. During one part of the middle of the show, from the angle I was stood at, the effects on the screen made it appear as if the band was rising with the stage and would only refocus when I looked away.
The show was absolutely unbelievable and such an experience that even now, as I write this months later I'm still at a loss for words. I almost didn't go to the show because I was only able to find seated tickets but at the last minute floor tickets opened up. It's the type of show that I would have regretted missing, but I would have no way of knowing it when looking at a setlist or reading reviews. Suffice it to say I will see them again, and am currently looking of ways to do so in the next few months.
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