"With A Buzz In Their Ears, They Played Endlessly" -- Sigur Rós @ MoMA 6/17/08

So last night Pop Rally hosted a Sigur Rós concert at the MoMA, and I somehow found my way into this exclusive event. The show was kind of announced last minute, but this in no way took away from the planning that must have gone into it. The concert was bascially held in conjunction with an exhibition called Take Your Time, from fellow Icelander Olafur Eliasson -- which featured thirty-eight room-sized installations with changing atmospheres/enviroments that are supposed to represent the surroundings of his native Iceland....or whatever. Admittedly, I'm not as well-versed with the modern art scene as I'd like to be, but it was still cool to check out these pieces of work -- especially before a show by a band that is just as explorative and transcendental. Call me unsophiticated, but my favorite piece was a low-hanging pendulum fan that perpetually criss-crossed the happy hour tables (see below). So yeah anyway, weird exibits + even weirder band + free drinks (Grolsch flip-top bottles at that!) = a pretty epic night.

The band itself went on just before 9 PM, and opened with one of my favorite songs, "Svefn-g-englar," from their second studio album Ágætis byrjun. Given my surroundings, I experienced one of those reality-imitating-art-imitating-reality moments, as this particular song just happens to be featured in one of the more memorable scenes of my favorite movie, Vanilla Sky. Yes, very cool indeed. Throughout the course of the night, the guys brought out their standard surprises, which included a full horn section, a wind section, and singer Jónsi Birgisson's trademark falsetto vocals/bow guitar playing abilities. The setlist differed from the previous night's show (at the Grand Ballroom) and featured career-spanning mix from the band's crtitically-acclaimed ouvre. Some more highlights included crowd-fave "Olsen Olsen," and the drum-pounding upbeat new single "Gobbledigook," which ended the set (sorry, no nudity this time around). For the encore, the guys played "Untitled #8" off of ( ), and finished the night off with their first English-speaking song, "All Alright." All and all, a great performance by the most Radiohead-sounding band that isn't Radiohead. The only complaint I had was that the stage was a little low for onlookers in the back of the crowd (i.e. me) to really get a good view of band. But this was okay because they gave me free beer. Words really can't do this show justice because, well, it's really hard to tell what these songs are about (I don't speak Icelandic). There are a ton of pictures posted on BrooklynVegan.com HERE that sum up the evening quite well.

Setlist
Svenfn-G-Englar
Glosoli
Se Lest
Ny Baff
Vid Spilum Endalaust
Hoppipolla/Med
Vidrar
Saeglopur
Inni Mer Syngur
Olsen Olsen
Hafsol
Gobbledigook
------
Untitled #8
All Right