Praise be to Sigur Rós

On Monday night I took in the Sigur Rós show, It was the first time I had seen them live. They put on a good show, the feeling of which, is something akin to going to a new age religious service. For the most part, people are pretty subdued. Everyone is seated, they clap and cheer at the end of songs, and are generally entranced by what happens on stage. Occasionally, the spirit will move someone into the isle in a fit of convulsion and dance. All the while, lead priest in the church of the Victory Rose, Jon Thor Birgisson, wails out in a tongue perhaps only he understands.

It was a good show. The effects were great. I had never seen the screen pulled down in front of the band playing and so the huge silhouettes and the effects projected onto the screen were very cool. Birgisson's voice is amazing.

Having forgotten my camera I was only able to capture a few really bad shots with my camera phone so the best I can do is link to some photos of others (from other concerts) on Flickr.

Set list:

takk...
glósóli
sæglópur
njósnavélin
mílanó
olsen olsen
hoppípolla
með blóðnasir
viðrar vel til loftárása
svo hljótt
heysátan
hafssól
-- encore --
dauðalagið
popplagið

Amina opened the show and was joined by some others (they also ended up playing most of the show with Sigur Rós) and it was very low key but very good. Jena and I remarked that it was like watching a group of pixies playing musical instruments they had found over the years at some woodland retreat somewhere. No we weren't on anything at the time.

Here is a little video taste of what the show was like, though the quality is pretty raw.

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