That which is incredibly epic and important is not surprisingly, the Sigur Ros concert on September 20, 2008 (which I attended). I've been waiting to see them for at least 3 years because their music is great - possibly the most shiver inducing music I've ever listened to (I think my shiver record was exceeded at that concert, or maybe on par with Radiohead).
I have uploaded a few videos of the concert here. Youtube is doing maintenance right now and so I can't upload it there.
It took place at Quai Jacques Cartier. Twas a bit chilly, but not terribly so...I got a shirt. A splurge on my part, but dude man, it was destiny :P I didn't have enough cash on me for a shirt, but then while perusing the area, there was an ATM. So the shirt was meant to be mine. Anyways, enough of this and onto the show.
I was on the leftish side, in front of the speaker, right at the front against the gate (usual location it seems). So I had a good view of the stage.
The opening act was an Icelandic band called Parachutes. Apparently the vocalist of that band is the boyfriend of the Sigur Ros vocalist. So they're touring together - how sweet :P. They were pretty good. I generally find (or at least with a good part of the Icelandic bands that I've heard) that the music always has some kind of magical vibe about it. Also, it was the bassists birthday; so the violinist summoned the crowd participation in singing the Happy Birthday song...and so it was sung, all at once in English, French and Icelandic.
About 30 minutes after the opening band finished Sigur Ros came on. First of all, they have nice uniforms. They're all black, except for the drummer. He had a white shirt with his happy colorful hat/crown on. My friend explained Jonsi's outfit quite well - like a pseudo cowboy. Here's the setlist ( I'm a lamer and knew which songs were which from the first note >_> I also sang along (silently, lol)...in icelandic & hopelandic):
01 svefn-g-englar
02 glósóli (the scream at the end is shiver inducing!)
03 ný batterí (I was surprised that they played this...it's an incredibly depressing song, but awesome. I used to loop it often in fall 2005. Lyrics here w/ translation)
04 fljótavík (there was colorful snow-like confetti falling from the top of the stage :D)
05 við spilum endalaust
06 hoppípolla (haha, joyful song!)
07 með blóðnasir (at this point, Jonsi asked us to sing along by going Ooooooooo Ooooooooo. Created that happy together crowd atmosphere thing).
08 festival
09 heysátan (This was really pretty - the four of them gathered around the same general area to play their instruments. It started dark, but every time they played something, these little electric candles would light up and the dim again when there was no music).
10 viðrar vel til loftárása
11 inní mér syngur vitleysingur (my favorite song from the new album so far because it's so cheerful, especially the build up near the end. It does make me laugh though, because during that fast part at the end, it sounds like he sings "you kinky towlie" at one point :P makes for an interesting insult. "you suck!" ...."well you're a kinky towlie").
12 sæglópur (aha! this was initially my favorite song off of "Takk" along with "Andvari". This explains my old fb name :D)
13 hafsól (dude man! this is the revamped version of the song from "Von", and it came out on the Hoppipolla single (I think?, if I remember correctly) Anyways, it's top notch. I'm really pleased they played this. It starts off all quaint, with the bassist tapping a drum stick on his guitar and Jonsi doing his bow on the guitar thing. The end builds up really nicely and it goes all chaotic with the recorder and the drummer going mad and ending with Jonsi banging the bow against the guitar until it is destroyed...then he threw it into the crowd).
14 popplagið (YES! That's all I could say. First note, bang, I was like no way! Untitled 8. The most EPIC song on ( ) and possibly one of their most epic. I didn't take any pictures during this song because I was completely into it :o and many shivers, oh yes. What a great way to "end")
encore:
15 gobbledigook (I knew they were gonna play this song because it's their first single off of the new CD and also they came out with acoustic guitars. Also, some people from Parachutes came to help with more drums. Jonsi said, ok, I'm gonna ask you guys to help, it's really difficult. I'm gonna ask you to clap...but on beat!
It's different from their other stuff, if only for the use of the acoustic. The concert ended perfectly with colorful blasts of confetti from each end of the stage. The only other concert that I've been to that had confetti blasts was the Polyphonic Spree. So, like at that concert, I naturally jumped around like a happy bunny).
As people continued clapping, the band came out once more to bow and thank us.
Here are some pictures:
Now the little tidbits:
I was roaming around HMV yesterday to use up a gift certificate a friend gave me for my birthday and a song started playing that I thought was pretty good. So I asked what it was. HMV dude says "It's from the new TV on the Radio" album - Dear Science.
Now, I'd seen them open for The Yeah Yeah Yeahs early in 2004 and I thought they were "ok", but not super into them. I guess they were still developing their style or so. So I decided to download the album and give it a try. It's actually pretty good. So far the tracks that I like are "Halfway Home" (the one I heard in HMV), "DLZ" and "Lover's Day". In a way they're like MGMT, but more rocking (less discoey :P).
Also, there are many things happening at Cinema du Parc these days...but I haven't been able to check them out yet.
I completely missed the Eastern European Film Festival. The last day is tomorrow, but I doubt I'll be able to check anything out. So perhaps next year :( (eurofest.ca I think it is).
Starting Friday is the Bollywood Film Festival. I already have Devdas, but I may be checking out two of the movies. Om Shanti Om was recommended.
Also, Pop Montreal has some things showing to. Of particular interest is the Oct 5 stuff - talking about Nollywood (the Nigerian Film industry), which is like #3 in movie production in the world ~ 2400 films/year. Crazy peoples :P (including meself, woot). Also, they will be showing a 63 min film of a road trip through Ukraine with Eugene Hutz - the vocalist of Gogol Bordello - a most awesome gypsy punk band. So I may check that out as well, for he is an all around premium dude.
Now, for something truly epic - Cinema du Parc is gonna be showing "War and Peace/
Voyna i mir (in russian)) - based on the huge ass novel by Leo Tolstoi. I have yet to read that...I'm still stuck on Anna Karenina and War and Peace is longer :P By the time I finish that i'll probably be 30 something.
In anycase, such an epic book deserves and epic movie. It's over 7 hours long and so they must show it in 4 parts. Like dude man...imagine being at the cinema for that long. Yeah, there are intermissions, but I'd leave the place "whoaaaa, my eyes >_<".
I was tempted to embark on such an adventure, but then I found the movie on youtube.
So if any of you feel like subjecting yourselves to 7 hours of russian epicness, start here
That ends my long post,
So Until next time,
Happy Fall!
2 comments:
oh wow, great pics!
speaking of russian epicness, a film of medium epicness is 'russian ark'. the whole movie was filmed in one continuous shot. it was filmed at the hermitage museum, with lots of characters in period costume. check it out if you can find a copy of this.
trailer:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J--TDEHizVA
:D
Oh yes, I've seen it actually. Strangely...I found it at blockbuster.
It's pretty cool, though it was kinda hard to follow (I was sleepy...)
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