Intimate live music sells itself, but why go to a big, impersonal concert? Any song you want is availably instantly, eternal, reproducible, and free or just about. Every large event is bootlegged an hour after it ends. Audiences, only partially present, thumb status updates or snap profile pictures or film for that night’s YouTube upload. No one dances.
Jonsi, performing solo after years with the oddball Icelandic pop outfit Sigur Ros, played Terminal 5 Sunday night, and the show he put on loudly defended ambitious live music. The big space with its three floors was filled with cinematic sound and soaring visuals. An elaborate stage, enormous video screens, and the expansive, ecstatic music itself earned its huge audience. The joy in those moments could not have been captured or reproduced.
Some of how Sigur Ros carry themselves – giving cryptic interviews, singing in a made-up language, and broadcasting a certain aloof self-regard – always turned me off. Indulgent and sometimes nearly ambient, their stuff can make for trying pop music, but it’s always great for studying or doing yoga. More importantly, repeat listens reveal great care and talent, and a sincerity so rare and precious you can’t help but be impressed. Listening to Staralfur, the 1999 track that made them famous, it’s hard to imagine modern music being any less cynical.
Jonsi now works closer to the surface, even singing in English, but he’s continued and actually amplified that childlike innocence. The pretty, looping melodies ride manic, joyous drums, rhythms that took center stage at the concert. Each surge of sound worked like a direct injection of endorphins. You feel this music square in your chest.
The video displays made the night, harmonizing with the band like another instrument. It snowed, thundered, poured rain and flooded on stage. Colors seeped and spread and exploded, images ran and tripped and fell apart. We were treated to virtuoso collages of animation, film, and effects, each as complex as the songs themselves. The panes of the backdrop managed to dance like a keyboard, tear like a canvas, and grow like a garden without ever moving an inch.
Music videos usually tell distracting stories, stage pyrotechnics, or show off a musician’s pretty face, completely missing the potential to compliment and expand the impact of music directly. Successful modern concerts, however, deliver carefully orchestrated, multi-sensory experiences. Done well, it’s very much worth the ticket.
“All 3000+ attendees were in the palms of his hands,” wrote The Music Slut after the show. “I’ve never witnessed a more respectful crowd at the massive Hell’s Kitchen space.” Powerful theatre will do that, focus thousands of eyes at once, and it’s a blessing to be a part of it. Leave your little screens at home, and remember: even if no one else is dancing, you can always be the first.
Jonsi’s new album, Go, is available (and streaming in full) here. He isn’t performing in the US any time soon, but watch his site for updates.
This Joyful Noise 