I walk the boys this morning, so that L can get in some cherished
gym and swim time. We were shadowed the whole walk by the bin lorry. Which
oddly MD didn’t have a problem with but Doggo has always been freaked out by
big things that go whoosh (as they apply their air brakes). MD does have a word
with his least favourite black terrier, from three streets away.
L has always had a thing for Icelandic band Sigur Rós and
once mentioned it would be an ‘experience’ to see them live. So naturally I’ve
been stalking tickets ever since. However once I’d managed to get tickets for
this year’s first UK tour in five years she seemed to have gone off the idea.
Well it did involve a trip to Wolverhampton but it'll be a experience right?
We arrive a bit late to find a chap behind the safety
curtain twiddling knobs and swigging from a bottle of something. I wonder if he
is Blanck Mass, the support act. Although the Civic website actually says
support is by Declan Allen, who’s an associate of Blanck Mass, who is in itself
the solo project of Benjamin John Power of the band Fuck Buttons.
If he is the support, nobody seems to have told the
audience, who aren’t actually taking the blindest bit of notice of him. It
doesn't help that he's totally instrumental and sounds like background music.
Perhaps if they lifted the curtain? Too obvious perhaps.
It’s an interesting gimmick, performing all your set from behind a curtain. Some
performers obscure themselves with smoke but a curtain?
Finally he finishes, gets a round of applause from some of
the crowd and a what the f*** look from everyone else who wasn’t aware they’d
missed something. He had a nice light show but overall did that work? Not
really. Not for me anyway.
There’s no Justin Bieber style lateness from Sigur Rós
tonight, in fact they come on slightly ahead of schedule. I also owe an apology
to Mr Mass, it seems the safety curtain thing is not of his doing because Jónsi
starts by performing a bow guitar solo from behind the curtain. Perhaps it’s
not Jónsi, who can tell.
I miss a lot of the visual spectacle of the first few songs
because I’m too busy trying to see how the curtain can be detached, if at all.
Come on guys, shift that bloody curtain now. If only because, if you don’t, my
photos are going to be so crap.
Finally, three songs in the damn thing fell down or was it
pushed.
By the way, this is my first Sigur Rós gig, perhaps you can
tell. It is, as anticipated, an experience.
Tonight we have, I’m told as I’m no expert, a mixture of brand
new material and old classics. Not last year’s first album in four years
‘Valtari’, which has apparently proved to be untourable, save presumably for
the one track ‘Varúð’ that is played tonight.
The setlist pulls heavily on the albums ‘Ágætis byrjun’,
‘Takk...’ and the one with just brackets for a title. Again, so I’m told.
Although having revised heavily for this, I still couldn’t put names to tracks,
other than ‘Hoppípolla’ of course. Everyone knows ‘Hoppípolla’.
With the curtain gone, I can count the band which, including
violinists, trombonists and the like, I think comes to 13 or 14, although
they are officially now just a three piece.
A huge curved widescreen TV delivers images above the band. At
one stage the visuals were of a rock face going down making it look as if the
stage was rising, until we popped out of the top, of what I think was a volcano
and I wonder how much they paid those people to stand on craggy rocks switching
their torches on and off. Yep, it’s visually intriguing.
Musically intriguing too of course, I am supposed to use words like hauntingly
beautiful. So I will. Hauntingly beautiful and with not a word of English
spoken, apart from a couple of thanks you. Actually probably very little
Icelandic either given Jónsi one man crusade for his own language.
With another new song they close a majestic 90 minute set. I
actually think I prefer the new songs, much heavier and darker, perhaps if the
ambient ‘Valtari’ hasn’t worked out they’re planning a heavy metal concept
album next.
The encore disappoints a little. Choosing to play two of
their classics sounds a good idea on paper but when both clock in at over ten
minutes, it distracts a bit from the experience that went before.
Still I’m impressed. I always swore I would not allow anything
with a name like ‘Hoppípolla’ inside my head. Failed.
(Tuesday 5th March)
(Tuesday 5th March)
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