Irving Plaza
New York City, NY, United States
May 8, 2001
Setlist
Ný batteríNýja lagið
Viðrar vel til loftárása
Á ferð til Breiðafjarðar vorið 1922
Fjöll í austri
Svefn-g-englar
Untitled #7 – Dauðalagið
Untitled #3 – Samskeyti
Olsen olsen
Hafsól (live)
Untitled #8 – Popplagið
Band tour diary - Georg
says:i love new york. it is exactly like i imagined it and the total opposite. while me orri and john were walking to the venue we saw these amazing characters, one was a guy standing on the sidewalk holding a living chicken. the other one was a guy with bird wings on his baseball cap screaming like a bird. the last one was a man walking around holding a monkey by its tail. you would never see this anywhere else than in new york.
it is typical that the last show on the tour is the most difficult one. i think that everything that could go wrong went wrong. the electricity in the venue was strange so all the equipment was making strange noises. we had to hold the doors for an hour and the piano tuner only finished tuning when the venue was full of people.
we had decided that since this was the last show it would be the best.. i’m afraid it wasn’t quiet that good. it was probably the worst but we tried to enjoy it. hey, it’s the last show anyway.
after this disaster we went to a party and had a good time. we were all looking forward to at the same time tomorrow being at home.
thank you very much, see you later.
t. williams
says:the coming of sigur rós to new york had east village indie kids and those in the know queuing early last tuesday night outside irving plaza. they were there to see something unique; something they’d never seen before and probably won’t for a good while longer.
doors opened 8 and it was a floodgate rush for those after prime positions. a good hour and a half anticipation let kjartan, orri and georg first to the small stage followed by jonsí and a soft bow draw with the lights out. a half drum kick and it was ny batterí, the sound of wind blowing over something barren and lyrics americans like myself stumble over as we hum along. problems with the sound began here and continued the rest of the night, but the band pushed on with only slight pause and none of us in the crowd cared all that much.
dissonantly melodic, ny�ja lagi began from the silence of catching our breath with jonsí bowing once again, face contorted, the emotion of almost crying what i assume are heartfelt icelandic things. next the procession of strings – two violins, a viola and cello that have followed the band this tour – onto a small rise behind kjartan’s mass of keyed instruments. soft piano chimes rose as the rest of the band drifted soundlessly then busted open vi rar vel til loftárása.
enter steindor from the wings with poetry and a suit from the turn of centuries ago. for two acts of what is a three part untitled chanting bliss, he dwarfed jonsí’s frail frame in full concentration. when steindor stopped and the instrumentation ran, jonsí sang in full timbre with his mouth far from the mic then sank to his knees, facing away from the crowd, bobbing and plucking like the words were his meditation and steindor’s stories of iceland his muse.
svefn-g-englar next with kjartan on backing vocals, words and melodies vibrating me from the inside out with jonsí bringing the guitar to his face and mouthing the fret board. but no time to gasp because a surprise death song offering tops that and after as they switch positions – orri to keys and georg to xylophone – jonsí again turns and kneels away for svanhvít. it’s then that i see and hear something new, a crowd at irving plaza shushing the bar chatter to silence!
rousing applause and many voices going as that great bass line crying olsen olsen into the night begins and the show turns with hafssól so thrashing that jonsí’s bow becomes threads to georg’s drumstick smack bass line that rings after orri’s sent sections of his kit sprawling all over the stage celebrating what it is to be a rock star. now there is no more shushing and even the bar crowd and vip hipster’s join in the call for one more. a few long moments and jonsí rejoins the rest of the band for a perfect ending. it’s pop song letting us know that it’s cool to be happy; it’s cool to be sad; it’s cool to be a lot of things, especially icelandic.
[a side note: props to darren from dublin for getting jonsí’s shredded bow, the set list and unopened icelandic water. i’ve never seen anyone so happy in my life! cheers to our host paul mcallister for his pleasant company.]
Rolling Stone Magazine
says:“look up!” yelled an audience member minutes into sigur ros’ set. but, for most of their sold-out tuesday night show at new york’s irving plaza, frontman jon thor birgisson (a.k.a. jonsi) would keep his eyes on his feet and his feet on the ground — more than could be said for the rest of us. due to the sardine-like conditions, the drink and, well, the entrancing music, eight people who walked into the club would be carried out.
lit from behind as to appear like multi-colored ice-sculpture silhouettes, iceland’s coolest export since that woman who wore the swan dress to the oscars made original shoegazers my bloody valentine seem like stone temple pilots. but during their eleven-composition, hour-and-a-half set (yes, their songs are very long), sigur ros made up for their inertia with moments of sonic splendor.
propelled by george holm’s loping bass riff and birgisson’s dramatic guitar-bowing (yes, bowing), the band — also including keyboardist kjartan sveinsson and drummer orri pall dyrason — began with the somber “ny batteri,” from the still-yet-to-be-released-in-the-u.s. second album/underground sensation agaetis byrjun [translation: “good start”]. because birgisson’s lofty vocals are sung in his native tongue, they worked as just another fine-tuned instrument in the lovely soundscape.
the majestic opening drew uproarious applause, but the band then tried the crowd’s collective patience with the punishingly repetitive “nyja lagid,” during many who hadn’t passed out broke into discussion groups.
the cast soon doubled when an all-female string quartet took the stage to offer added textures to “vidrar vel til loftarasa,” and then birgisson spoke his only words into the mike to introduce countrymen steindor andersen. looking every bit the tenor with his dark beard, bald head and dark suit, the icelandic elder statesman warbled two medieval icelandic ballads — which i’m guessing are about something very sad — and then returned to the darkness.
when the biggest cheers of the evening greeted sveinsson’s opening submarine-sonar-like notes, “sven-g-englar” was revealed as sigur ros’s, er, hit. the ten-minute, panoramic anthem (take that, radio!) closed in dramatic effect with birgisson screaming the “it’s you”-like refrain into his guitar.
the proceedings morphed into a chamber concert when the four guys (with holm now playing tympani) and four gals arranged themselves in a circle — with a few backs to the audience — to play an untitled instrumental (more passing-out, more chatter).
however, like any chamber orchestra worth its salt, sigur ros know the meaning of crescendo, and the set-closing “hafsol” (from the band’s 1997 debut album von) — with its tribal drums and staccato string melody — made sure they excited the stage with a blast. the equally captivating new number “poppsong” served as the encore, and the boys finally let loose, with birgisson frantically bowing his ax, holm pounding his bass and dyrason kicking his bass drum over.
sigur ros returned once more, but not to play, and not to speak, but to adjoin hands with andersen and the string quartet, and to graciously bow to the fully attentive, fully erect audience, which showered them with applause.
take that, shoegazers!
jroth@optonline.net
says:oh my. the hype surrounding this show, or the band in general, almost makes you wonder if they live up to it at all, or if it was even warranted. granted, i started listening to them over a year ago when a tiny buzz about them was being uttered, but i had never imagined that the buzz would reach the likes of rolling stone, spin, & the new york times. yes, the new york times did a huge spread on the boys in their magazine section last week. a sign of things to come?
i have been to irving plaza many times but i have never seen such fanfare outside the place as i had seen last night. scalpers were out in full force last night, where i heard the asking price for one (1) ticket was up to $150. geez, on ebay, tickets were going for that price. conversely, i have never seen so many people looking for tickets to buy. it was simply unbelievable. the line to get in the place was almost around the block. i have never seen that before. i mean, this is a band from iceland. who are these guys? makes you wonder how many people were actually fans and how many people were these to be seen at what was seemingly the hottest show of the year.
at around 9:40 the band finally took the stage, and for the next hour and a half, i, and the whole venue, were completely mesmerized. put simply, this was one of the best shows i have ever seen. they lived up to the hype, they shattered all expectations, they are for real. the giant sound, the weeping guitar sound, was enough to make me cry. and jonsi, oh my god, can one man sing with more emotion than this guy? they were captivating from beginning to end, missing not one note, not one beat, not one thing. don’t ask for a setlist cuz i don’t know the names of all the songs. there were a couple that i think new and utterly amazing. highllights were svefn-g- englar, olsen olsen (made me well up a little), agaetis byrjun, and this incredible little instrumental piece with the most beautiful piano melody. just a breathtaking show. i can’t say enough.
they are selling shirts for $25 and tour only cds for $10 and buttons for $1.. the coolest shirt they have says on the front: avoid apocolypse, buy hope, with that in icelandic also. i just feel lucky i was able to see them. make every effort to go see them in your town. you won’t be disappointed.
sigur ros has arrived.
j.mcfadden@xpedite.com
says:even hearing some bootlegs of previous shows i never would have imagined that they would sound that good. if so many ridiculously overzealous statements hadn’t already been made to hype this band as the sound of god doing this, that, or both at once, i would probably make one hear. hearing this band live makes all of that nonsense sound rather sensible. the music was beautiful, sorrowful, mournful, but it was also, undeniably spiritual. transcendent is a word that comes to mind. i think that anyone that was there, and there to see and hear the band was moved by the music. i brought along a friend who’s barely a casual listener (and also a relative cynic) and he was blown away. speechless even. highlights for me were viðar vel tl loftárasa, olsen olsen and hafsól, though all of the new and unrecorded songs sounded excellent. the crowd, for new york was surprisingly receptive. there was a low murmur of conversation throughout the set, but it wasn’t too distracting. sadly i’ve heard that the band did not think the show went very well at all. for what reasons i don’t really know… i thought it was brilliant and i’m anxiously awaiting their return. hopefully they’ll be supporting a new album in the near future…
dmi@cbsnews.com
says:opening the show the bow of a cello timidly strums an electric guitar. using a minimalist approach comprised of keyboards, bass and drums, sigur ros creates a dark and thick broth of repetetive phrasing and overlapping tones creating original international rock music.
the music is epic in scope. songs begin slowly and gain momentum as compositions move through the lyrical melody and increasing complexity. after the lead guitarist’s opening licks, his high pitched vocals command the melody. as a breathtaking crescendo ensues, the ballad laced music erupts just as a pot of stew boils over and then quickly simmers as the cover is removed.
adding to the composition’s complexity each musician listens intently to each other and enters the textured pieces with precise timing. in the live performance, a charming string section with violins, acello and xylophone player further enhanced the caldronof ambient-orchestral rock music.
all songs are native to icelandic tongue and sung like an ancient canonized language with a rich history and deep meaning. only few listeners at the nyc show could understand the literal/symbolic meaning of the songs but the droning, repetitive sounds paralyzed listeners. it felt as if a sea-farer perched on the bow of a whaling ship exhaled deeply and surveryed the approaching frozen mossy landscape. many of the songs feel gloomy, perhaps describing a tiny land surrounded by a vast, rapid paced, confusing world.