I have been following the band since 2001 because this music touches me deeply and 2017 after the gig in Zagreb I was so blown away I have been walking on clouds for 24 hours… The Gasometer is not the best location in terms of acoustics, I think you figured. It was such a shame because the show, the choice of songs, the visuals, the light… it was all perfect. But there was a barrier and that was the sound of the location. It was my 14th show and I will continue to come and see you. Please just avoid the Gasometer next time. Maybe you could play the Elbphilharmony in Hamburg in 2026, I will be 50 then =) In any way, takk for your music, if my soul could make music, it would sound like yours. All the best for the rest of the tour S.
What do you want me to tell you? I am unable to be objective with Sigur Ros . Impossible. Whatever they do, even if they fart, I’ll get excited. It’s been many years of daydreaming listening to their music, of transporting myself to other worlds without having smoked anything, what better drug than these Icelanders on stage.
When I found out that they were embarking on a world tour, I had many doubts. The ideal would have been to see them in Reykjavík, but realistically it is beyond any budget. I ruled out Barcelona or Madrid, and I considered London, but the tickets flew by. So I checked the rest of the cities and that it met the requirements of being on the weekend and that it had a direct flight from Palma, with good schedules and good prices, Vienna came out! And who doesn’t want to spend a weekend in Vienna with the bonus track of a magical concert?
So that’s where I went. The room, Planet.tt Bank Austria Hall , small and a bit seedy (it must be said) is located in a unique building, the Gasometer , some very cool old round gas tanks. I had a seat ticket, because one is already an age…, so I didn’t have to stand in line to get a good seat. However, I went quite early because I was nervous and I had no nails left. Very diverse people, some young, but almost all of my fifth or even older (it’s hard to say, because the truth is that the Austrians are quite damaged). I thought I would be the only Spanish person, but there were some, I heard speaking Spanish, I don’t know if they were residents or visitors like me.
I already knew that the set-list was no different from the previous concerts on the tour, so there would be no surprises, only emotions. With a little delay, they went on stage and without a word began to spread sensations. The concert is arranged in two parts separated by an intermission of 10-15 minutes (I don’t really understand why, since it cuts the vibe a bit). The first part is calmer, the second something more powerful. My favorite was the second part. Ending with Untitled #8 – Popplagið is almost mandatory, they usually do it all the time, because it is the most complete song, with constant tempo changes and an overwhelming ending. It’s my favorite, and I must admit that I can’t listen to it without crying. I cried several times during the concert, the guy sitting next to me freaked out a bit. I don’t really know how to explain it, I think you must have a special sensitivity to understand Sigur Ros, without having any idea what his lyrics are about, those strident sounds of Jonsi’s voice, almost ethereal, those guitars, the drumbeats of background… they really can’t help but move you. And how Jonsi plays the guitar with a bow or when he sings inside the box to make his voice seem even more ghostly. If you add to that, the set of lights and effects that they take on tour, it’s like being in another world. Glósóli, Untitled #6 – E-Bow, Gong and Festival were other great moments.
I have always told people who ask me that Sigur Ros, if you don’t already know them, you have to catch them being very prepared, that it’s not worth putting them on Spotify one day just like that, they don’t require body preparation and especially of the soul, of a previous state of relaxation and of an exercise to empty your mind. It is not an easy group and if you are not in the right conditions you will run away thinking that they are crazy. And even more so today when people want immediacy, that they don’t “have time” to listen to 10-minute songs, that they don’t stop to appreciate the insignificance of a miserable guitar chord shaking you… I don’t know, it’s a group to listen slowly, relaxed and without having other plans.
At the end, when they finished, they did say thank you and say goodbye, but during the concert they didn’t say anything at all, they didn’t communicate with the audience except with their music. One of the things that I am most grateful for is that people remained completely silent, it would be a sin to hear the typical buzz of conversations at a concert like this. There were moments that with that silence and that heavenly music, it seemed that we were in mass.
I subscribe to all my first feelings that I had when I saw them for the first time in London in 2008 , when I still didn’t know how to place Iceland on a map, much less what it would mean for me in the future.
Sylvia Hintersonnleitner
says:I have been following the band since 2001 because this music touches me deeply and 2017 after the gig in Zagreb I was so blown
away I have been walking on clouds for 24 hours…
The Gasometer is not the best location in terms of acoustics, I think you figured.
It was such a shame because the show, the choice of songs, the visuals, the light… it was all perfect. But there was a barrier and that
was the sound of the location. It was my 14th show and I will continue to come and see you. Please just avoid the Gasometer next time.
Maybe you could play the Elbphilharmony in Hamburg in 2026, I will be 50 then =)
In any way, takk for your music, if my soul could make music, it would sound like yours.
All the best for the rest of the tour
S.
Eloisa
says:What do you want me to tell you? I am unable to be objective with Sigur Ros . Impossible. Whatever they do, even if they fart, I’ll get excited. It’s been many years of daydreaming listening to their music, of transporting myself to other worlds without having smoked anything, what better drug than these Icelanders on stage.
When I found out that they were embarking on a world tour, I had many doubts. The ideal would have been to see them in Reykjavík, but realistically it is beyond any budget. I ruled out Barcelona or Madrid, and I considered London, but the tickets flew by. So I checked the rest of the cities and that it met the requirements of being on the weekend and that it had a direct flight from Palma, with good schedules and good prices, Vienna came out! And who doesn’t want to spend a weekend in Vienna with the bonus track of a magical concert?
So that’s where I went. The room, Planet.tt Bank Austria Hall , small and a bit seedy (it must be said) is located in a unique building, the Gasometer , some very cool old round gas tanks. I had a seat ticket, because one is already an age…, so I didn’t have to stand in line to get a good seat. However, I went quite early because I was nervous and I had no nails left. Very diverse people, some young, but almost all of my fifth or even older (it’s hard to say, because the truth is that the Austrians are quite damaged). I thought I would be the only Spanish person, but there were some, I heard speaking Spanish, I don’t know if they were residents or visitors like me.
I already knew that the set-list was no different from the previous concerts on the tour, so there would be no surprises, only emotions. With a little delay, they went on stage and without a word began to spread sensations. The concert is arranged in two parts separated by an intermission of 10-15 minutes (I don’t really understand why, since it cuts the vibe a bit). The first part is calmer, the second something more powerful. My favorite was the second part. Ending with Untitled #8 – Popplagið is almost mandatory, they usually do it all the time, because it is the most complete song, with constant tempo changes and an overwhelming ending. It’s my favorite, and I must admit that I can’t listen to it without crying. I cried several times during the concert, the guy sitting next to me freaked out a bit. I don’t really know how to explain it, I think you must have a special sensitivity to understand Sigur Ros, without having any idea what his lyrics are about, those strident sounds of Jonsi’s voice, almost ethereal, those guitars, the drumbeats of background… they really can’t help but move you. And how Jonsi plays the guitar with a bow or when he sings inside the box to make his voice seem even more ghostly. If you add to that, the set of lights and effects that they take on tour, it’s like being in another world. Glósóli, Untitled #6 – E-Bow, Gong and Festival were other great moments.
I have always told people who ask me that Sigur Ros, if you don’t already know them, you have to catch them being very prepared, that it’s not worth putting them on Spotify one day just like that, they don’t require body preparation and especially of the soul, of a previous state of relaxation and of an exercise to empty your mind. It is not an easy group and if you are not in the right conditions you will run away thinking that they are crazy. And even more so today when people want immediacy, that they don’t “have time” to listen to 10-minute songs, that they don’t stop to appreciate the insignificance of a miserable guitar chord shaking you… I don’t know, it’s a group to listen slowly, relaxed and without having other plans.
At the end, when they finished, they did say thank you and say goodbye, but during the concert they didn’t say anything at all, they didn’t communicate with the audience except with their music. One of the things that I am most grateful for is that people remained completely silent, it would be a sin to hear the typical buzz of conversations at a concert like this. There were moments that with that silence and that heavenly music, it seemed that we were in mass.
I subscribe to all my first feelings that I had when I saw them for the first time in London in 2008 , when I still didn’t know how to place Iceland on a map, much less what it would mean for me in the future.
https://chasing-starlights.blogspot.com/2022/10/sigur-ros-planet-tt-bank-austria-halle.html