Sigur Rós is one of my all time favourite bands. I’ve always been a sucker for strings in music. So when the Icelandic band announced an orchestral tour with Wordless Music Orchestra a couple years ago and there was no Vancouver date, I made the trip down to Seattle for what ended up being one of the best shows I’ve ever seen. And when they finally announced a Vancouver stop as part of the final leg of this tour, I knew there was no chance I would miss it.

With no opening act for the night, the show started promptly with Wordless Music Orchestra filling the stage, followed by the conductor Robert Ames and the members of Sigur Rós. They started with a swell of strings for “Blóðberg” and the horns chimed in after on “Ekki múkk”, with a set that spanned from the winding epic “8” off their latest album Átta, all the way back to the title track for their first album Von, Jónsi’s voice — somehow fragile and powerful at the same time — filling the theatre.
I felt on the verge of tears for most of the first half of the show, then the floodgates opened for “Starálfur”, the ebb & flow of the song building in intensity, only to drop to a soft hush, and then come crashing back in for a cathartic release. After a couple more songs, they ended the first half with “Varðeldur” and took a short intermission, perhaps for everyone to recover emotionally.

The second part of the evening started with a pair of songs from their untitled ( ) album, the haunting “Vaka” and the dancing piano of “Samskeyti”. As the set built with songs like the beautiful “Skel”, it felt like the more hopeful and uplifting half of the show; the ethereal “Sé lest” erupted into an almost ‘oompah’ sound heavy on the brass, and the soaring, grandiose finish to “Ára bátur”, both songs getting incredible reactions after as the sold out crowd was in awe.
With everyone primed, they launched into “Hoppípolla”, a rich and joyous song that once again had tears flowing, as each section of the orchestra came in perfectly & the lights danced across the stage making an indescribable climax to the show. And for the denumount, the band took their leave for the orchestra to finish with “Avalon”, as the audience erupted into the one of the longest sustained reactions I’ve seen, the band returning to stage twice to bow & thank everyone, both in the crowd and on the stage.

Going into this night, there was a small part of me worried that I had built up their Seattle show in my head too much. But I’m happy to say I did not, that the band and orchestra managed to live up to those expectations, and this is a show I will never forget.

setlist
Blóðberg
Ekki múkk
Fljótavík
8
Von
Andvari
Starálfur
Dauðalogn
Varðeldur
[intermisson]
Untitled #1 (Vaka)
Untitled #3 (Samskeyti)
Ylur
Skel
Untitled #5 (Álafoss)
Sé lest
Ára bátur
Hoppípolla
Avalon