Sigur Ros: Friday Night

Jess Wheeler (friend from St. Joseph's college) had emailed me a couple weeks ago about this show, and invited me along. I was glad to go see a band that I had not yet seen, and that has received good critical acclaim in the past. Also the concert was at the Bank of America Pavillion which is my favorite non-club venue in the city. It is a great amphitheater on the Boston waterfront with an excellent sound system. The band was great. They were very different than anything I've seen live before. They put on some interesting theatrics in addition to a great musical performance. There were interesting props, a fantastic light show, some movies projected behind the band, in addition to streamers and confetti that was shot out on the crowd during certain songs. The Icelandic lead singer was very eccentric, hair that reminded me of a 17th century wig/ pony tail, glitter on his face, and a black outfit that included tassels and a cape. He played all but a couple songs on the guitar with a bow (think Jimmy Page). While I've always thought of Sigur Ros as being sort of derivative of Radiohead's softer collection, some of their music was quite intense. One song in particular had great percussion session that the band demanded audience participation in with a up tempo clap. Some of the better songs from the show were actually on the latest album which I had purchased before to familiarize myself. Perhaps I'll have to consider looking into some of their older material.

It was good catching up with Jess as I had not seen him since last November.