With the curtain already up for the headliners, I Break Horses performed their eerie synth pop as silhouettes and were well suited for a support slot to Sigur Ros as the electronica based songs complemented the bigger sound of what was to follow and their “Chiaroscuro” album is likely to receive some positive feedback when it comes out in the New Year.
The aforementioned curtain along with two big screens provided the canvas for the stunning visuals as Sigur Ros opened with “Yfirboro” from new release “Kveikur” – an album which was almost played in its entirety this evening.
Although Sigur Ros are now officially down to a three piece live they have an impressive array of musicians on tour with them so with the addition of a horn section and strings, along with Jonsi’s use of the violin bow on his guitar, the bands studio sound is beautifully recreated whilst backed with the superb animations.
Initially on the big monitors the band themselves were filmed through grainy black and white footage, similar to their recent DVD “Inni” so it wasn’t until the curtain dropped that they were fully revealed along with a huge curved screen which continued to make this one of the most visually impressive concerts you could wish to attend.
The video footage and lighting are as much a part of the experience as the music itself and as such Sigur Ros have always been well suited to having their songs utilised in TV and radio, having been used for everything from adverts for the RSPCC and Nature Programmes to providing the soundtrack for an Icelandic charity film, following the lives of squatters in a bus shelter.
The soundtrack tendencies also saw each song quite often seemingly blend into the next and with the set list pulling heavily from the new album these were sometimes met with false starts on the applause, but at the same time the fact that Sigur Ros aren’t one of those bands that you necessarily have a favourite song or album the crowd seemed to enjoy the newer material as much as the older songs and each piece of music was met with much love from the onlookers.
The biggest cheers though were still for the tracks from 2005’s album “Takk” and in particular “Glosoli” and “Hoppipolla” – the latter complete with its great music video being projected onto the screens, and continuing to show off how emotionally thought provoking music can be.
Even though frontman Jonsi is a man of few words it was a nice touch when the first track from the encore was dedicated to former label Fat Cat Records as the official line up of the band performed “Agaetis Byrjun” acoustically, before being re-joined by the rest of the live outfit for another beautiful tune bringing the occasion to a close.
