JONSI: LIVE AT THE HAMMERSTEIN BALLROOM
Jónsi (Jon Birgisson) front man of Iceland’s Sigur Rós, played the Hammerstein Ballroom in New York last night (11/10/10), marking an end to the bands North American Tour and treating the audience to a sensory maelstrom. The show set opened with a striped down acoustic “Stars in Still Water”, brandishing Jon’s trademark falsetto croon which permeated every hidden crack and cranny in the room, swooping and soaring through a forest of nature inspired animation projected behind the stage. The musical elements of the show, notably piano, harmonium and Jon’s signature sustained “ooooo” were only heightened by dramatic lighting and graphics that provided just the right stimuli to push the performance into a mesmerizing sensory realm, unearthing a wonderland of magical Icelandic forests, fire, animals, and spirits of the night. The only thing missing… elves.
The set ended on “Around Us”, with Jon alone on his knees fiddling with vocal effects pedals, returning for a ceremonial encore of “Sticks and Stones”, showboating an enormous feathered headdress, spinning around on stage like a mystical shaman. The final song, “Grow Til Tall” was easily the most moving track from the night; Jonsi’s fragile tenor escalating the dizzying volume of sonic layers and then gliding back down, only to completely take off into a beautiful moody falsetto flight of “You’ll… know,You’ll… know,You’ll… know,You’ll… know!…” Only then, resonating into an intense percussive firework explosion, as bright lights flashed like lightning against a raging snow storm and blowing branches.
You can check out some videos from the show that have made their way onto youtube and a performance from Jonsi which aired last night on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon below:
