Iceland’s Sigur Rós are known for hypnotic waves of soothing sound, but as they proved when they hit Denver’s Ogden Theatre last November, their live show is as ass-kickin’ as it gets. Some highlights:
1. On “Svefn-g-englar,” singer/guitarist Jónsi Birgisson gave a particularly impassioned delivery of the line “Eg flyt um i neoarsjávar hi a hóteli beintengdur vi rafmagnstöfluna og nærist!” (Even more galvanizing in English: “I float around in underwater hibernation in a hotel connected to the electricity board and nourishing!”)
2. During the third song of the set, Birgisson fell to the floor, hunched over his guitar, and rocked like a baby in a cradle for ten whole minutes.
3. At one point, Birgisson played guitar with his teeth–okay, he was actually trying to create a spooky echo effect by singing into his pickups.
4. Keyboardist Kjartan Sveinsson played a very Jethro Tull-ish recorder solo at the end of “Olsen Olsen.”
5. “A woman almost puked on my friend on her way up the stairs,” exclaimed one fan to another as they filed out.
