As promised...
So, the Sigur Ros concert was probably the best concert of my life. Sure, Skinny Puppy had excellent theatrics, but let's face it: The acoustics of Bogart's just plain suck. Interpol managed to pull off a pretty good concert there, but SP's sound is far too dense to warrant good representation in such a small venue. I digress.
The band that played before them, Amina, was both opening act and backing band. I was fairly impressed by their performance; they played everything from strings, xylophones, glockenspiels, to a saw and those crystal wine glasses that when your run your finger around the rim, make that beautiful ringing noise. As a nice bit of contrast, they even played a bubbly pop number at the end of their set.
Sigur Ros followed up nicely, starting out from behind a huge screen with projected imagery floating across it. After the screen lifted, and finally getting a good glimpse of them, they launched into their act. I have to admit, () is the only album I know in detail, so a few of the songs escaped me. Nonetheless, everything they played was excellent, and a few songs off Takk that I had never been all that partial towards converted me. After they had played "Untitled 4" and "Untitled 6", I was sated. They could have played whatever they wanted past that, and it would have been just fine. It was. But after receiving two standing ovations, and deciding to do an encore, they played one more song. The second Birgisson plucked the first strings, I knew what it was - "Untitled 8". About midway through the song, the screen came down, and while the drums were pounding, strange lights filtered through to make for some very engaging shadow-play. Then, images of radio towers and satellite dishes began flashing up, and with the brilliant lights as guides, we entered into the climax of the song. The images flashed and danced, the lights blinded, the music deafened, and it was glorious. Their choice of imagery seemed vaguely Godspeed-ish, which only further cultivated my desire to see those Canucks in a live performance.
After that, they came out with Amina, and took a group bow. An appropriate end for a beautiful performance. My only complaints were the fucks who kept getting out their seats during songs and disrupting my view of the stage. Regardless, I would gladly shell out the cash to see those guys again.
The band that played before them, Amina, was both opening act and backing band. I was fairly impressed by their performance; they played everything from strings, xylophones, glockenspiels, to a saw and those crystal wine glasses that when your run your finger around the rim, make that beautiful ringing noise. As a nice bit of contrast, they even played a bubbly pop number at the end of their set.
Sigur Ros followed up nicely, starting out from behind a huge screen with projected imagery floating across it. After the screen lifted, and finally getting a good glimpse of them, they launched into their act. I have to admit, () is the only album I know in detail, so a few of the songs escaped me. Nonetheless, everything they played was excellent, and a few songs off Takk that I had never been all that partial towards converted me. After they had played "Untitled 4" and "Untitled 6", I was sated. They could have played whatever they wanted past that, and it would have been just fine. It was. But after receiving two standing ovations, and deciding to do an encore, they played one more song. The second Birgisson plucked the first strings, I knew what it was - "Untitled 8". About midway through the song, the screen came down, and while the drums were pounding, strange lights filtered through to make for some very engaging shadow-play. Then, images of radio towers and satellite dishes began flashing up, and with the brilliant lights as guides, we entered into the climax of the song. The images flashed and danced, the lights blinded, the music deafened, and it was glorious. Their choice of imagery seemed vaguely Godspeed-ish, which only further cultivated my desire to see those Canucks in a live performance.
After that, they came out with Amina, and took a group bow. An appropriate end for a beautiful performance. My only complaints were the fucks who kept getting out their seats during songs and disrupting my view of the stage. Regardless, I would gladly shell out the cash to see those guys again.