Sigur Rós, Mann Center, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Lightning strikes twice

With my delays in getting out to Saudi Arabia and the various shuffling of tickets for the Sigur Rós shows, I ended up with an extra ticket for the second night. Since I had it, I figured I might as well go a second time. I assumed that the second night couldn’t come close to matching the first, but was hoping that it still might be worthwhile. I walked in only ten minutes before Sigur Rós took the stage and without evening having to push my way through, I easily made my way to about forty feet from the stage, aiming for slightly to the left because I had been slightly to the right the previous day.

It was a great spot in that I was still close enough to see what was going on but far enough to have a sweeping view of the entire stage, directly in front of the sound from the main side speakers. It was refreshing to be a little further back and have a little more wiggle room. The vantage point gave me a better view of the complexity of their stage light and projection show, instead of just watching the band. The visual elements of the show were spectacular, particularly considering that it was all done on a fraction of the budget that larger bands like U2, Radiohead, or the Red Hot Chili Peppers have for their concerts. They did not have any moving LED screens or advanced computer generated graphics. Instead, they used clever lighting schemes and showed simple images, real-time video, and shadows through old school projectors

The setlist was nearly identical to the previous night, thought they did replace a few songs, including one different song from ( ) (2002), one song less from both Ágætis byrjun (1999) and Valtari (2012), and three more songs from Takk…[Thanks…] (2005). I had my ear plugs in but took them out for the start of “Sæglópur” because I wanted yesterday’s disappointing bassline to have every advantage in redeeming itself. It still fell kind of flat. I did however notice different aspects of some of the songs that I didn’t the previous day, such as the subtle use of strings and horns at certain times. I wondered if I didn’t notice the previous day or if they added it in that night. Considering they it was just their second show in four years, the latter certainly seems possible. Once I again, I really like “Hoppípolla” and “Festival,” but the definitive moments was still “Popplagið,” for which the being a little further back for the spectacular light show really paid dividends.

Despite knowing I wouldn’t be blown away today the same way I was yesterday, I got a lot more out of the show than I thought that I would. I had a more mild sense of the euphoria I felt the previous day, in which everything felt right with the world and I was happy to be wrapping up my concerts on the east coast for the time being and head to Saudi Arabia and then Chicago.

Setlist:

Ekki Múkk [Not a Sound]

Varúð [Caution]

Ný batterí [New batteries]

Í Gær [Yesterday]

Vaka

Sæglópur [Lost at Sea]

Gong

Andvari [Zephyr]

Viðrar vel til loftárása [Good Weather for an Airstrike]

Hoppípolla [Hopping Into Puddles]

Með Blóðnasir [I Have a Nosebleed]

Olsen Olsen

Festival

Hafsól [Sea Sun]

Encore:

Glósóli [Glowing Sole]

Popplagið [The Pop Song]