Elbphilharmonie (* London Contempary Orchestra) Hamburg, Germany
June 18, 2023
Set 1
BlóðbergEkki múkk
All alright
8
Von (live)
Andvari
Starálfur
Dauðalogn
Varðeldur
Set 2
Untitled #1 – VakaUntitled #3 – Samskeyti
Heysátan
Ylur
Skel
Fljótavík
Untitled #5 – Álafoss
Sé lest
Hoppípolla
Avalon
Sinje
says:Thanks so much for this wonderful and memorable concert…a once in a lifetime experience, I am over the moon
James Dodd
says:“Heavenly.”
Kikki
says:It was amazing. I’m speechless. Thank you for the music.
Jan Hennings
says:What an experience! Listening to Starálfur and Dauðalogn, two of my favourite Sigur Rós songs, back to back was breathtaking. The whole evening will always have a special place in my heart. Thank you Sigur Rós and LCO.
Maja D.
says:Speechless… I am so grateful that I was allowed to experience this concert. The first 3 notes and I was already in tears. What a magnificent performance and production. A great band, a great orchestra, a special venue. Everything was just right. Takk.
Neil
says:Another fantastic evening, a shame about the venue’s photography policy though.
Mike
says:Boring
BrunoG
says:The perfect band in the perfect venue doesn’t ex…
Sven Boucher
says:Can’t say more speechless. I was in the Elbphilharmonie for the first time and the acoustics are incredible, plus the concert, it flew by and felt way too short. Thanks to the orchestra and to Sigur Rós for this unforgettable evening.
Sandra
says:Amazing. Wonderful. I will never forget this evening. Thank you all.
Daniela
says:Awesome, this evening was magic! Loved the mood, the music and sounds! Would have loved to hear from you in speech, but I loved it either! Thankyou for bringing peace and harmony!
Patricia S.
says:Tears falling on Goosebumps! Thank you so much for this incredible evening. Takk!!
DutchGuy85
says:Spend the day from early in the morming in multiple trains for this show. I would spend ten days in trains to witness it all over again.
This was hands down the best live performance I have ever witnessed. SR with LCO was such a magical combination.
Biggest gift of the evening was Álafoss: this song has a special meaning for me, helping me to get in touch with long lived trough emotions during my childhood to process them in therapy last 2 years. Played the ( ) album over and over and it helped my process of healing.
Hearing this specific song live with the LCO really felt like a closure of a hard and emotional time yesterday…
(TAKK*million)!
Giovanni
says:An extraordinary experience in a magical place. Last night I didn’t see or hear a concert, last night I participated in a wonderful collective emotion. Takk!!!
Svens
says:Simply amazing! Thank you!
Alessandro F.
says:Heavenly experience. Endless goosebumps from beginning until the end of the concert; SR with the LCO together are an extraordinary combination.
Bernd
says:Back to the old times, unbelievable voice,
i’m so happy ……
Uwe
says:How can someone create such beautiful music.
Just close your eyes and let the music touch your heart.
A special experience to hear and see Sigur Rós here with orchestra.
Romina
says:What a beautiful show it was.
I can’t even describe what I felt that night.
It’s a day later and I’m still unter it’s spell.
Sigur Rós -again- created a wave of emotions in my heart and soul.
I have been to others of their concerts before and it always was and is a blast. Whenever you will be back in Germany, I will try everything possible to be there as well.
The show in Hamburg was different, yes. And yet, nothing was amiss. It all fell together perfectly, the band and the orchestra hamonising in a very beautiful way.
For that, it was sad to not be able to take pictures, but that’s a compromise one has to take I guess. In the end, it didn’t matter.
What matters is the music. And so the audience could really concentrate on it and let thenselves fall into it.
Yes, Sigur Rós are the genius masterheads of crescendos and yet, the quiet peaceful and orchestral sound also suits them very well.
Yes, most if my personal favourite songs were not part of the setlist and yes, of course, the drums were missing. What would I have given to hear some of those in an orchestral version.
And yet it was all alright the way it was (pun intended).
Because you had me with the very first 5 seconds of “Blóðberg”. That spell that only the music of Sigur Rós can awoke in me, you created it again right that moment.
What Jónsis bowed guitar solo of “Ný Batterí” was 17 years ago in Dresden and I still get these goosebumps to this day.
Than “All Alright” and – oh boy- “Andvari” with that violin outro … that sound just gets me every single time I listen to it. It was beyond beautiful and heartbreaking.
Second set started with an orchestral version of “Vaka” and “Samskeyti” and I was just in awe.
When then “Ylur” and “Skel” came back to back that destroyed, that broke me completely, in the best way possible.
But as soon as Planet Earth version of “Hoppíppolla” played I smiled. And I noticed then that I had that smile of happiness and some sort of that feeling in my chest throughout the whole thing and spilled tears of sheer joy and bliss.
That’s just what Sigur Rós music does to me.
And for that, I want to thank you.
Thank you for this opportunity.
Last night was an once in a lifetime experience. It meant more to me than I could ever express or put into words.
Maybe this review can give back a little bit of the joy that you create and gift your whole audience with.
And I mean this for the whole team. Thank you to each and every one of you.
Your music and efforts will forever and always have a very special place in my heart.
Takk fyrir .
Jan
says:Deeply impressed! Thank You!
Michael
says:Welch Erlebnis!
Das beste Konzerterlebnis das ich je erlebt habe.
Wenn ich einen himmlischen Glauben hätte, würde ich mir so den Übergang in das Paradies vorstellen.
Eigentlich war es kein Konzert, es war eine Audienz!
Joerg Daniels
says:Here is my report from the concert in Hamburg Elbphilharmonie.
It was a unique experience to hear this music played by an orchestra. The arrangements were all extremely emotional and presented with a lot of detail, for example the voice samples that usually come from tape were imitated with different instruments. The opener Blóðberg was to fall in love with. Tears came to my eyes as I was struck by the beauty of the music. Ekki Múkk followed with exactly the same virtuosity. Fantastically beautiful! The song All alright I was allowed to experience it live once before. I really liked this minimalist realisation with piano and wind instruments. In my opinion, the minimalistic performance is very important for this song. 8 is in my opinion one of the best songs from the new album. Here one was really stimulated to dream and meditate. But afterwards came my first disappointment of the evening. I was so looking forward to discovering Von in the setlist of the previous concerts and accordingly I was looking forward to one of my favorite songs. Unfortunately I didn’t really like the orchestral version, just like with Álafoss in the 2nd set. The drums were so incredibly missed here! With Von, it would have been so easy to use the existing bass drums to add structure to the song. The actual changeability between hope and accusation, which this song otherwise conveys to me, was completely lost. A pity! With Álafoss, in the 2nd set, it was even worse for me. This song lives on the drums alone. This slow build-up of mood through the drumming, which was first soft, then louder and then softer again, did not exist. For me, after a very nice intro, it unfortunately only sounded like lamentations without this drama. If you compare the overall orchestral implementation of all songs with the concert in the Walt Disney Hall 2017, you will notice this shortcoming.
Enough grumping and back to the other (positive) songs.
After Von came Andvari, which couldn’t have been done better. Here the available percussion was duly used! And the strings were so soulful they couldn’t be topped! The way this song winds down is just out of this world. The (often very quiet) acoustics of the Elbphilharmonie come into their own here. This song is simply made for an orchestral rendition, just like the Dauðalogn that follows after Starálfur, which reminded me a lot of the Heimaversion, only this time it had a lot more volume. Dauðalogn was performed by a fantastic choir of the orchestra members. Jónsi’s voice is absolutely perfect, as it was throughout the evening, and has never been better. It was followed by Varðeldur, one of my favorite songs. This song always helps me to find some brightness on black nights and to calm down. That’s how it came to me with this orchestra. I had the feeling that the musicians were also immersed in this song. Inspired by this mood, we went into break.
Opener for the 2 set was Vaka followed by Samskeyti. Both songs were staged perfectly. This is where the drama with the orchestra comes into its own, right up to goosebumps. the following Heysátan is interpreted with the horns in a similar way to that in the film Heima. Ylur and Skel are what I think are the most beautiful songs oft he new album Átta. With Skel you literally have the feeling that the sky would open up for you and then be covered by a veil of clouds again. There isn’t much to say about Fljótavik, except that this perfectly performed song lives, also in terms of singing, of course from the orchestral accompaniment, as on the album. I have already written about the subsequent Álafoss.
For me, the following Sé Lest was the highlight of the evening. From the chimes to the xylophone to the strings and wind instruments, everything just harmonized fantastically and finally percussion again! An unforgettable moment. The last song with Goggi, Jónsi and Kjartan on stage was Hoppípolla. Here the bass drums and cymbals fortunately were used extensively to result in a powerful performance.
The last song oft he eveneing, totally underestimated, was Avalon. For me the one of the highlights of the evening. The song, which otherwise you aks to leave the venue, could have lasted 10 minutes longer for me and should had Jónsi’s vocal accompaniment as an encore.
Simply an unforgettable evening, in which, however, the drama and the power of some songs fell by the wayside due to the lack of drums. It’s like driving a convertible with the roof closed in the best of weather. I liked that part a lot better on the tour last fall.
But that’s whining at a high level. It was still one of the best concerts I’ve seen from Sigur Rós and there have been quite a few so far.