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Sigur
Ros
with special guest: Siggi Armann
Barrymore Theatre
Madison, WI
November 11, 2002
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A Touch
of Heaven
by:
bill aicher
The following
is a typical conversation between myself and someone I know regarding
the Sigur Ros show in Madison on November 11, 2002.
Me:
So I went to that Sigur Ros show I was telling you about the other
day.
Some Guy
I Know: Really? How was it?
Me:
Dude, it was awesome. I've been to a ton of shows, and I know
that right after you see a good show you're usually all like "that
was the best show ever!" But this show was the best
show I've ever seen. It was just unbelievable.
SGIK:
Wow, that's cool. So, what was it like?
Me:
Well it was very ethereal, almost like a religious experience
or something. After the show my girlfriend was like "Man,
I wish I'd get that kind of feeling when I go to church!"
Their music is beautiful on CD, and I expected the show to be
pretty cool, but this was above and beyond anything I could have
expected. It was like I was high the whole time, just from listening
to the music.
SGIK:
Damn, that's saying a lot. I'm not surprised they were good though,
I think they'd be a pretty good band to see live.
Me:
Oh, totally. I mean, they had the whole bowed-guitar thing and
a string quartet, and the bassist played bass with a drumstick
for one track - oh and it was really cool when the lead guy sang
through the pickups. It was a totally dreamy sound. I've heard
people sing through the pickups before, but with his high tenor
voice it really gave it a nice effect.
SGIK:
Yeah, Jimmy Page used to do that bowed-guitar thing. It was a
pretty cool effect.
Me:
Yeah, but what was really cool was how they'd just build by going
like this (I pretend I'm rubbing the bow back and forth slowly
and then building momentum) until it was just a cacophony of sound
- then they'd break into the song with just simple "bing"
on the piano. Anyway, the show was really damn cool - the whole
time I was sitting there waiting for the hand of God to come down
and just rest itself upon the entire room. And that's saying a
lot coming from me since I'm atheist!
SGIK:
Oh totally - how was the opening act? Were they any good?
Me:
It was this Icelandic guy named Siggi Armann. You know how sometimes
your friends will be like "You gotta come check out this
show - there's this guy in town who's totally cool" and then
you go to the show and the whole time you're just thinking "this
guy's shit!" Well that's pretty much how he was. He had really
simple tunes, and I'm sure they can be decent - but when I saw
him they were far from it. It's pretty obvious English was his
second language, and he was really struggling. He would probably
have been better off singing in Icelandic. Plus, he couldn't play
guitar for shit either. On the plus side, a few guys from Sigur
Ros came out and helped him out by playing some backup on a few
songs - the drummer even used a bowed cymbal and that was pretty
cool.
SGIK:
Yeah, I love that sound.
Me: Yeah,
so anyway it was a damned good show and I'd definitely recommend
you see them next time they come through. Actually I'd recommend
anyone see them - I mean it was just amazing.
14-Novc-2002
5:00 PM
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