Concert Review: Sigur Ros

by Laura Evans

Many Sigur Ros fans in DFW, including me, were disappointed when the Sigur Ros concert at Bass Hall sold out minutes after tickets went on sale. I have long heard rumors that Sigur Ros puts on the most amazing shows, so I was pretty sad that I would be missing such an incredible one. You can imagine how shocked I was to get a phone call from a friend on Sunday night, less than 24 hours before Sigur Ros was to go on stage, telling me that she had two extra tickets to the show. I must have done something amazing in a past life to get such luck. Of course, I have to thank the guy who made it possible for me to go, so thanks to Andrew for having to work, I owe you big.

Anima, an all-female string quartet that also plays back up strings for Sigur Ros, opened the show with a unique, angelic and almost childlike performance. It was like watching four little girls experimenting and playing around with different instruments. But unlike children fiddling around with instruments, the women of Anima have an amazing talent for creating music that is mature, unique and experimental. They played everything from the cello and violin, to a xylophone, a mini keyboard, bells, glasses filled with water, an apple laptop, and one of them even played a saw with a bow. They moved around the stage from one instrument to another, never sticking to just one instrument per song. It was a fun performance to watch, and a perfect opener.

Sigur Ros took the stage performing behind a semi-transparent screen that flooded the stage with the looming silhouettes of the band members. The second Jon Bor Birgisson (vocalist/guitarist) took a violin bow to his guitar the Bass Hall came alive with the atmospheric and ethereal music that is Sigur Ros. The stereos blared, the walls shook, and as I looked down to the audience all I saw was a sea of bobbing heads and entranced stares. The rumors are all true: Sigur Ros knows how to give an awesome performance. They play with such power and intensity that you feel their music resonating throughout your whole body. The lights and grainy photographs of faces and fields of grass projected on the screen behind the band enhanced the surreal and dreamlike mood of the concert. No one understands a word the lead singer is saying (the lyrics are in a made-up language called Hopelandic), but Jon Bor’s unwavering voice is so powerful, honest and raw that you instantly get the meaning of peace, happiness, angst, tragedy and hope. Kjartan Sveinsson (keyboards), Orri Paal Dyrason (drums), George Holm (bass) and Anima play with such force, you’re surprised they don’t pass out after the first song. Just trying to recap the concert is exhausting. They ended the concert with an exhilarating and deafening performance of the last song (untitled) from their last album “()” that left everyone wanting more. Drummer Orri Paal Dyrason banged on his drums like there was no tomorrow, and the music was so loud and powerful I thought they were going to blow the roof off of Bass Hall (I don’t think the Bass Hall has ever seen a performance quite like this).

They ended the night, and their tour, with a gracious bow, and celebrated with a spontaneous attack of silly string. So, if you get anything at all out of this article, it’s that a Sigur Ros concert is a must see event.