Saturday, June 18, 2022

Sigur Rós @ [Kings Theatre, Beacon Theatre] (June [14, 17], 2022)

The original plan was to go to the Tuesday show, but when we originally made the plan we didn't realize that Fran's school would still be in session this week. We realized this a couple of weeks before the show, so I bought tickets for the Friday show as well, and a work colleague (MaryEileen) was able to take Fran's place for the Tuesday concert.

I'm putting both shows together in one post because they were for the most part the same performance, just in different venues, and with one notable difference that I'll mention shortly. The concert was structured similarly to when I saw them a couple of times a few years ago: broken up into two sections by an intermission, with no opening act. They have played essentially the same setlist at every show on this tour, except for the Tuesday show. On that night Goggi mentioned that it was the 25th anniversary of the release of their first album, so they would do something "a little different" - which was add the song "Syndir Guðs", which they were playing for the first time since 2001. Here are the setlists from Tuesday and Friday. I guess another difference between my experience of the two shows was that on Tuesday we were in the balcony at Kings Theatre, while on Friday we were about 10 rows back on the main floor at Beacon.

Although great, both shows weren't without their, admittedly minor, issues. Tuesday's had a couple of small timing blips: once between the band members on "Heysátan", and once when the lighting tech hit a strobe too early on "Dauðalagið" (though I will say that the effect was really strong when they did get it right - something about the isolation of that drum beat combined with the quick strobe). On Friday Jónsi seemed to have trouble with something (in-ear monitors? complete guess), and left the stage unexpectedly 2 or 3 times (during portions or transitions where he wasn't playing or singing). The timing on "Heysátan" seemed a little better, but I can't blame them for not being completely spot on - that seems really difficult to count out in sync.

As for the highlights... In general the second half was more upbeat (which I preferred) than the first one. That half also included more songs from Takk..., which is easily in my top 10 albums of all time. Though I will mildly complain that the live rendition of "Sæglópur" is a bit too heavy on the drums, thus washing out the rest of the intricate instrumentation. I was pleasantly surprised by "Gold 4" (here's a rendition from another show), which seems to be one of two new songs that they're playing on the tour.

Fran thoroughly enjoyed the show as well, and ranked it above all the other concerts I've dragged her to (above James Blake, Radiohead, and Interpol/Tycho). She thought the songs were beautiful, and seemed to be particularly drawn to the quieter ones (especially when they got into "the huddle" on the left side of the stage for a couple of songs, her favorite being Untitled #3 ("Samskeyti")); and in contrast she complained of a couple of the loudest moments hurting her ears. She appreciated the many instruments that the various band members were able to play. She did comment that she could have done without the visuals on the backing screen for the most part, but did appreciate them during a couple of the songs (one with birds on a wire, and another panning up a rock face).

In any case, here are a couple of pics from Tuesday...

And from Friday...


Rating: 4.5/5