Location: Pala Arrex / Jesolo / Italy
Concert date: February 18, 2013
Attendance: 3,500
Ticket price: €31 presale / €36 regular
When songs like »Varúð« or »Glósóli« or »Svefn-g-englar« or »Popplagið« or… well, any other Sigur Rós song fade out, there’s no way you can stay apathetic. Unless you’re Italian.
Sigur Rós were more or less perfect at Pala Arrex in Jesolo. With an expanded orchestral section (a so-called brass section was added – trombone, French horn and trumpet) they pushed their songs practically to their compositional maximum, weaving them as tightly as possible into tracks that were already (nearly) perfect, and introduced three completely new songs (»Brennisteinn«, »Kveikur« and »Hrafntinna«). On top of all that, they sent Kjartan (the multi-instrumentalist who, before leaving the band (because he wanted to spend more time with his family), was responsible for a good chunk of the band’s compositions, since he was the only one with formal musical training) such a lovely metaphorical greeting card, telling him to spend as much time with his family as humanly possible. So what went wrong? Why could we Slovenes sob in Maribor (you can read RockLine’s report on that gig here), while the Italians in Jesolo barely clapped?
I’m certainly not going to get to the bottom of that one. I could serve you up some stereotypes – that this is just the Italian way of going to gigs, that they don’t know how to build atmosphere, or even that this attitude is a reflection of Italy as a nation. But I won’t do that. What I will do is write about why the Italians should have reacted to Sigur Rós’ music just like the Slovenes did a few months earlier.
It probably goes without saying that Sigur Rós are an entity in their own right, one that plays on the listener’s emotions through its heavenly sounds. Jónsi’s emotional vocals add such a strong personal touch that it’s impossible to see Sigur Rós as some kind of »collective« music (unlike, say, Godspeed You! Black Emperor, where the music just is what it is and can hardly be as personal as it is with the Icelanders; I’m only comparing the two bands because I’ve seen plenty of comparisons in Slovenia (in favor of Godspeed), and I personally think they’re completely out of place and can’t be anything else, because these are two totally different bands, differing in concept, in philosophy and, probably most importantly in the end, in the music and sound itself – it’s only a journalistic »accident« that allowed both bands to get stuck with the »post-rock« label). That’s exactly why encounters with Sigur Rós’ music are very personal, very subjective (which doesn’t include apathy), I’d even say very spiritual, whatever implications that word may carry. On top of that, Sigur Rós probably have one of the most polished live shows out there. That’s down mostly to that massive sound, that incomprehensible dynamic, that sonic ocean that floods you and drowns you again and again – it’s an experience you simply can’t get from listening to the studio albums, even though those are perfect in their own singular way. The Icelanders have honed their live sound so much that going back to hearing their music through speakers is really hard. Live recordings come closer to what they deliver on stage; I honestly couldn’t listen to them for quite a while after their show in Maribor, live stuff aside. In short – if you like their studio albums even a little, you’ll at least worship them live. At the very least, worship.
All of the above is surely confirmed by their new songs too – »Brennisteinn«, »Kveikur« and »Hrafntinna« (after Valtari they also made the song »Yfirborð«, but this time they didn’t play it). In sound, these move away from the band’s last album, Valtari, as the (to some, overly minimalist) atmosphere gives way to the aggression that graced Sigur Rós a bit more in their pre-Valtari days. The new tracks are, as expected, pure Sigur Rós, yet so different that they could easily represent a new evolutionary step for the band. It’s mostly about even more experimenting with sound, with blending instruments into that wall of sound we hear live without ever knowing where it comes from, because it sounds so unified, so connected, so… whole. I’d even say Sigur Rós are entering their most fruitful period yet.
On top of that, for this tour the Icelandic post-rockers also upgraded their already emotional visuals, hauling along a pile of monitors and setting them up in the background, while for the first two songs they had some kind of curtains in front of them, which, until they dropped before the third song, seemed to say that we should focus on the music, after all. Later visuals combined Valtari film clips, new shorter films and repeating patterns – one of the more interesting bits was a backdrop that kept sliding downward, giving the illusion that the stage was rising.
That’s exactly why I can’t figure out how the Italians managed to keep their feet on the ground, in their numb bodies, with iPhones raised and cigarettes in their mouths, hunched over, since they devoted a large part of their attention to their furtive smoking. While the rest of us floated somewhere outside this world, the others supplied the material for YouTube, so now I can stick one of the songs under this text.
I wouldn’t dare claim the show was totally perfect, even though the band itself was. What bugged me most was the volume being too low, which may have contributed to the atmosphere itself and highlighted the Italian apathy, making it so visible that at times it drowned out the band. That inevitably leads to a comparison with the Maribor show, and I’d have a hard time picking a winner. I’d say they were equals, each with its own highs and lows. That’s exactly why I’m hoping for more Sigur Rós shows – with the Maribor atmosphere and the Jesolo performance.
Setlist
1. Yfirborð
2. Í Gær
3. Vaka
4. Brennisteinn
5. Sæglópur
6. Olsen Olsen
7. Fljótavík
8. E-bow
9. Varúð
10. Hoppípolla
11. Með Blóðnasir
12. Kveikur
13. Glósóli
—encore—
14. Svefn-g-englar
15. Hrafntinna
16. Popplagið
Photo Gallery
