If There Is A Heaven, Sigur Rós Plays There Regularly

When the crowd erupted in one of the biggest applauses I have ever seen, I knew I was not alone in feeling that I had just experienced something truly profound. Sigur Rós, Iceland’s greatest musical treasure besides maybe Björk, returned to the stage of Manhattan Center’s Grand Ballroom to bow to the crowd and thank them. They deserved every clap, every whistle, every sign of affection being displayed towards them. They had just taken us to the highest levels of musical Nirvana. Performances this amazing come about as often as a total lunar eclipse, and are no less phenomenal.

Sigur Rós’ albums have always acted like ethereal dreamscapes. They are powerful and moving, but nowhere near as explosive as what they displayed last night.  Each song, from opener “Svefn-g-englar” to encore “Popplagi” was filled with such grandeur that it almost felt like an overload.

Only inches from the stage for the first 3 songs, documenting the performance, I felt like Icarus. Surely I was flying too close.

The lighting was magnificent. Jonsi’s falsetto was dreamlike, and his bowed guitar mesmerizing. Orri’s drums were larger than life. Goggi’s bass rolled with a magnificent thunder. And Kjarri’s piano keys fluttered with a classical beauty. Behind them, Amina provided a dramatic string section. And then in the middle of the set’s elegant third song, “Sé lest,” an entire brass section appeared out of nowhere, and made their procession across the region directly in front of the stage, and up onto that stage, building something that had already been great, into something even more colossal.

Every moment that Sigur Rós seemed to reach the pinnacle of their sonic capabilites, they rose higher. There’s no better example of this than their encore, “Popplagi.” By the time Sigur Rós had finished their set with “Gobbledigook,” our minds had been fully blown. We cheered until they returned for one more, and they blessed us with “Popplagi.” The very lengthy song continued to build up further and further, and just as it was beginning to reach its final climax, a girl jumped onto the stage, and was quickly ushered off. This distraction could have easily been enough to cause the band to lose focus and ruin the performance, but they instead reached deeper than they had all night, and gave us that final epic moment.

These post-rockers are a rare breed. There are very few bands that can reach the level of sonic grandeur that Sigur Rós have proven capable of. Radiohead, Explosions in the Sky, and Sonic Youth are the few bands that come to mind. Animal Collective, Battles, Liars, TV on the Radio, Black Mountain and Arcade Fire all seem to be on the trajectory to one day reach that level.

If you don’t have a ticket to see Sigur Rós at MOMA tonight, start working on getting one. If you need to sell a kidney, do it. You’ve got two anyway.

Photos by [Jonny-Leather]