Few people in the world would choose to spend their evenings listen to a man warble falsetto gibberish in a made up language while playing a guitar with a violin bow. Lucky for me, I'm one of those few. So I put on my plaid, did my best indie nonchalant stride, grabbed a sweater, and headed downtown to catch Sigur Rós in concert at the Orpheum.
Sigur Rós, as some of you may know, is one of my most favourite bands. They hail from Iceland and almost exclusively sing in Icelandic or a made up gibberish dubbed "Hopelandic." They have a sound unlike any other, mixing distortion, keyboard, drums, and bowed guitar into a blend that is honestly otherworldy. And in general, they're just kinda out there. Watching the concert, I sort of felt like I took some sort of side trip to Saturn.
Then again, if you ever see what Iceland actually looks like, you'd be playing some pretty messed up stuff too.
One fantastic point about the show was the audience. For pure people watching, it was absolutely priceless, a veritable cavalcade of white hipster/indie culture. Plenty of facial hair, plenty of thrift shop sweaters, a whole lot of Sketchers, Pumas, and retro Adidas. The same pair after pair of skinny bearded man in a t-shirt with (what I would consider) an entirely too hot girlfriend wearing knitwear. I don't think I saw a single black or non-caucasian person there. The funny thing is, everyone is at such pains to look "indie," that when they all get together, they all look exactly the same.
I thought Sigur Rós played fantastic. It was moreso for me about the imagery, because their music sounded exactly as I had expected it to be. And it didn't help that I was a little distracted. But there's something about a man furiously bowing an electric guitar silhouetted by smoke and lights that creates a pretty striking scene. Like I said earlier, the whole thing was very otherworldly. Unlike anything I've ever seen or heard. Couple that with a video show in the background that was by any explanation, just plain weird, and you get something pretty memorable I feel.
Some of the tunes sounded a bit slow to me, and "Gobbledigook" from their new album almost got overwhelmed by the drums. But overall, fantastic. Going back to that same "Gobledigook" song, it was genuinely bizarre to see them playing acoustic guitars, especially when you are expecting this wash of distortion. I mean, I have the album, I knew it was coming, but it was still odd.
I'm just glad they played extensively from their album "Takk." I really got into Sigur Rós when I was in England, so I have this very intense emotional connection with their music to aspects of my life in Nottingham, especially the Takk album. I actually bought some of their music at a record shop in downtown Notts that I frequented. So as they played, I just got flashes of random scenes, stuff not spectacular in any way. The church hall in the basement, walking to the university, etc, etc, etc.
So yes, though there were considerably less riot police than at the Rage concert three weeks ago, I would say Sigur Rós lived up to the standard set by Zach, Tom, and co. in the world of live music witnessed by myself. I was happy to have gone and heard them play. I wish it would have been under slightly different circumstances, but sometimes I suppose you just have to deal with what is thrown at you. And if none of you have ever heard their music, I'd suggest checking it out.
I think this quote from a friend sums up the concert quite nicely.
"Even if you were high, and you came down, you'd probably think you were still high"
- A Friend
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