Sigur Ros is coming back

They put on a show for the ages at the Uptown Theatre in February 2006 (above). They are returning to the Uptown on June 12. Tickets go on sale Saturday for only $26.50. Don't miss it. Really. A review of that magical 2006 show is below.

Feb. 22,  2006 / Uptown Theater

... For nearly two spellbinding hours, the best band in Iceland proved that no one can eclipse its cinematic live performances. The concert was a feast of sights and sounds: of shadows and light, of dissonance and calm, conflict and resolution.

Anyone who dismisses Sigur Ros as a New Age band surely has not seen the band live, when its music displays extra textures and visits other dimensions. It seems safe to assume that the sound guys for Enya don't tap their feet, shake their hips and bob their heads, like the Sigur Roscrew did a few times at the Uptown.

The show began with some mellow drama. The band members stood in place, lit from behind by a giant flood light that cast their silhouettes on a ruffled white scrim (a large translucent curtain, really) dropped between the band and the audience. Then came the first two cuts off the album "Takk ..." It was a typical moment in an extraordinary show where nearly every minute was ripe with something to watch, something to hear or some mood to fall or glide into.

Some of that sound was intentionally dissonant, unhinged and threatening, whether singer Jon Bor ("Jonsi") Birgisson was sawing his guitar with a cello bow, making it hemorrhage distortion, or Georg Holm was tapping his bass strings with a drum stick.

Some of it was hypnotic and ethereal and glacially serene and all those other staples of New Age music - but destined to crash into something loud and fierce and climactic. The pacing and rhythm of this show was superb.

At one point, the music stopped completely and the crowd obliged the moment, and for several long seconds, the packed Uptown sounded as quiet and still as an empty cathedral.

Nothing in Sigur Ros' music - not the keyboards or the distortion or its loveliest melodies - is as transporting and beautiful as the voice that comes from Jonsi. Unlike the cracked, wobbly faux-falsettos of Wayne Coyne or Thom Yorke, Jonsi's voice is angelic, innocent and pure. It seems to come from some supernal source, from somewhere beyond the sky.

The entire show was one long highlight, but a few moments were extraordinary: the gorgeous "Hoppipola/Meo Blodnasir" and the song that closed the first set, "Hafsol," a song this well-versed crowd recognized though it's available only on an EP. They ended with what apparently has become a standard but demonstrative encore: two from "Takk ..." ("Svo Hljott" and "Heysatan") and then one from the cryptic "( )" album, "Popplagið," otherwise known as "Untitled 8."

After the show, many in the crowd lingered in the lobby or in front of the theater, trying to keep the evening's buzz going a little longer. One friend sighed that during the more hypnotic moments, she'd had some trouble staying awake. Different strokes, I guess. Three hours later, it was nearly 2 a.m., and I still couldn't sleep.

Timothy Finn/The Star

SETLIST: Takk..., Glosoli, Ny Batteri, Saeglopur, Njosnavelin, E-Bow, Gong, Andvari, Hoppipola/Meo Blodnasir, Olsen Olsen, Hafsol. Encores: Svo Hljott, Heysatan, Popplagið

Comments

[chris]

i'm so happy right now.

with so many "heritage acts" coming through town it's nice to see a relevant band that's still putting out new music make a trip through middle america.

compare sigur ros' 26.50 a ticket to the police's $250; skip the police and bring 8 friends to the uptown.

-chris

[Tim Finn]

Yes. Rejoice. No Radiohead, but this will do.

[daniel giordano]

this is exciting.
popplagia at the last uptown show is seriously one of the top 10 moments of my life. absolutely transcendent.

[PinkBlog]

Tim, this show isn't listed on the band's website.
Only US show shown there is Bonnaroo.
Cheers.

[Nathan]

Show is listed on Ticketmaster. The Pitch is putting it on. They have a pre-sale happening as we speak, but I am not privy to the password. If anyone is, pass it along.

[craig]

Does anyone know the Ticketmaster presale password??

[Matt]

http://sigur-ros.co.uk/news/

It's on their website now. I've found that often a bands actual website is the last to be updated with tour dates. Just because it isn't there, doesn't mean it isn't happening.

[PinkBlog]

I see that addition.
Nice that they list it as a "Kansas" show.

[chrizow]

presale password = "thepitch"

/got 2 tix already, teeheehee