Jónsi was enjoyable

April 28, 2010
Chicago
The Vic Theatre
Opener: Death Vessel
7:30 PM

Set list:

1. stars in still water
2. hengilás
3. icicle sleeves
4. kolniður
5. tornado
6. saint naive
7. sinking friendships
8. go do
9. boy lilikoi
10. k12
11. new piano song
12. around us
13. animal arithmetic
14. grow till tall

This is my third time at The Vic and once again I was not disappointed; not the prettiest but good visibility and pristine sound that is never pointlessly too loud. Theatre was seconds from the Belmont CTA stop so it was incredibly easy to get to. I met up with a friend from college and took a survey of the stage setup. Several pianos, pump organs, xylophones littered the stage as well as a massive drum kit on one side and another set of more esoteric percussion, including a suitcase that, yes, was sound checked, lay at another end. On both sides of the stage there were these burnt out looking wardrobes and to the back a large, sandpaper colored screen covered the back of stage.

I had a vaguely heard of the name of the opener but had never heard anything by them. I had assumed it was a band but at 7:30 sharp a small Native American looking man came out carrying an acoustic guitar. I was expecting a husky voice to come out but Death Vessel sang beautifully with the voice of a woman. I’m sure that’s why he was selected to open for Jónsi because certainly nothing else was particularly interesting, he sang beautifully over fairly generic coffee house folk songs. He only played for thirty minutes but after awhile it felt like an eternity. For a guy that should be playing in a coffee house he didn’t say very much.

Death Vessel

After half an hour of waiting, Jónsi took the stage, alone in the spotlight with just an acoustic guitar with his percussionist in the back hitting the xylophone once and awhile. Once this new song was over, the set was a good mix of new songs and songs from Go, the rest of the band came out. There four out there with him and they went through an absurd amount of instruments though the majority of the time there was usually someone on guitar, bass, drums, and some key based instrument. Like the last time I saw Sigur Ros when they had no orchestral backing I was a bit apprehensive about the lack of live strings, however the Jónsiband faired much better; the group was still able to have a very full sound and showcased very engaging arrangements that still did justice to the album. In some ways by focusing more on the percussive, it really brought out the importance of drums on the album. Many around me seemed to be skeptical that the drummer would be able to pull of the intense percussion that the songs required but Jónsi’s drummer did not disappoint and played at insane speed throughout the show. They were often trading instruments between songs and what made part of it so great is that Jónsi and his band of effeminate Scandinavian men, except for the muscled drummer, looked like they were having a ton of fun; Jónsi was all smiles throughout the show. The album is incredibly fun and while Sigur Ros can be pretty serious I’m glad that the band was enjoying the evening too, certainly everyone in the audience was in a state of bliss for those wonderful 80 minutes.



What I enjoyed about the first Sigur Ros show, this didn’t apply to the second, was that they make the show an experience and Jónsi’s show upped the ante on the concert experience. Remember those screens and wardrobes I mentioned earlier? Well after the second song these “textbook” pictures of animals appeared but then the screen “caught on fire” and from there on various animations of animals hunting, moving filled the screen. These were projected on the wardrobes as well and the images were often so realistic that it looked like actual creatures were roaming around in there. During this part of the show there was a burnt out forest looking part that took up the right side of the screen and I couldn’t figure out if it was real, behind the screen or what. About halfway through the screen was dropped to reveal the burnt out forest part, which was attached to this warped, melted warehouse looking backdrop. Behind this was yet another screen but this time around images were projected both on the industrial metal backdrop and the screen behind it. The animations here were amazing as well, at one point it was “raining” and the water was rising on the metal screen. What I found especially mind blowing was that the “water” sloshed around while obeying the boundaries of the screen and that the projections were not visible over or through the holes/gashes in the metal. These images or whatever was projected provided a lot of the lighting and just made the show an extra special experience.



The whole performance was so flawless that it’s hard to pick favorite moments; I don’t think I’ve ever heard an audience clap that enthusiastically for any band before. One of the turning points was when they played “Go Do,” the first of the more energetic songs they played from the album. The crowd went insane. It’s hard to think of another time that I’ve been as happy as I was during that song; there’s nothing like that transcendent feeling of when seeing a band play can make all your stresses go away and fill you completely with joy. In a show filled with great moments, the best were the last three songs. The last before the encore was Around Us, which ended incredibly epically. Towards the end of the song Jónsi grabbed this thin mic that had been attached to the side of the mic stand, that he hadn’t touched during the show, and began singing into it. It’s hard to describe but it had some sort of compression on it maybe that gave his voice this faraway, gritty sound. As the Jónsi sang the final melody over and over again, his voice was manipulated and became more and more fractured till the song ended in a flurry of static.

After this the band came out for the encore with Jónsi wearing a headdress and still using the other mic. They jumped right into it with the hyperkinetic “Animal Arithmetic” which wasn’t as fast or manic as it is on the record but was still really enjoyable. Next came the closing song “Grow Till Tall.” Both times I’ve seen Sigur Ros they’ve closed with Untitled #8, one of their most epic songs. In my opinion, a band should always go out with something epic and “Grow Till Tall” fulfilled that role. Starting off with just Jónsi and his guitar the rest of the band lay in wait, obviously ready for the oncoming onslaught. As the drums began to build the onscreen scenery depicted a growing storm that continued to build with escalating levels from the band. This all coalesced into this massive storm of strobe lights and huge sheets of guitar noise that thoroughly decimated my eardrums. The noise ended and the guys returned from a brief retreated offstage and took a couple bows. For having very little audience interaction during the show this was a nice gesture that acknowledged just how special the evening was. They left the stage and Mike Czajkowski and I left with huge grins on our faces.