People From Iceland Are Cooler

Friday night I went with two of my friends to go see Jónsi, the lead singer of the Icelandic post-rock band Sigur Rós, at the HMV Hammersmith Apollo. Having seen him play a half hour set earlier this year at Coachella, I knew I was in for a treat. Let me preface my description of his performance by giving you a few facts about Jónsi. Not only is he from Iceland, but he is also blind in one eye, gay, extremely soft spoken and shy, and has a falsetto voice that is higher than most girls. With Sigur Rós, he often sings in a made up language that is similar to Icelandic called “Hopelandic.” Oh, and he often plays the guitar with a cello bow. He is nothing short of awesome.

Anticipation only grew as the opening band, which was called Timber Timbre, started their set. They were pretty average but not bad sounding, although their lyrics could have used some working on. However, the excitement was almost tangible during the half hour set change. Finally time was up, and Jónsi did not disappoint. He entered the stage dressed in a strange red suit with dangling feathers all over it, one of which he kept in his hand when he was not playing piano or guitar. The top of his hair was in a faux hawk, while the rest of it was tied in a small ponytail behind his head. Because he is blind in one eye, his eyes point in slightly different directions; sometimes the light would catch his face in a way that highlighted this and added to his awesomely peculiar image. Jónsi and his band started out with one of their slower songs, and the crowd was in awe.

The backdrop of the set was an entire screen where different images were projected throughout the night, usually each song with its own type of theme. One of my favourites was of a seemingly 3D wolf chasing a rabbit through the woods, which was played during a slower song. Another one I really liked was of water slowly filling up the entire screen throughout the song. A lot of the times it was just random patterns and things spinning, but the set definitely added to the mysterious tone of the concert.

During the night, Jónsi played guitar, xylophone, piano, and sang the entire time. Out of the entire concert, I definitely had a few favourite moments. As an intro to one of the songs, Jónsi went over to the xylophone and played a short but haunting tune, which is not on his album. It was something my ears had never heard before, and to put it in to words is very difficult, but it was amazing. As a spectator you could feel everyone in the crowd go silent and close his or her eyes during this magnificent moment. Another one of my favourite parts of the concert was when he played an untitled song on the piano; I remembered seeing this song at Coachella and not knowing the words to it, and seeing it this time and knowing the words made it that much more amazing. His final song was another highlight. He drew it out so that it ended up being over 10 minutes long, which is twice as long as the actual song is. There was a ton of distortion in the music and he sang as he had not during the rest of the night; he definitely saved the best for last. After the rest of his band had exited, he stayed on stage and was basically on his knees in a ridiculous headdress singing his lungs out, and the crowd absolutely loved it. Finally he exited the stage to a roar of applause, and it was just a fantastic moment.

As a performer, Jónsi certainly knows how to get the crowd to go wild, even though he hardly spoke to the crowd at all. In fact, the only thing I remember him saying in his Icelandic accent is, “It’s Friday, I hope you are having fun.” The man is a mystery, but I think that is part of the reason that people love him so much. As I said, he is very soft spoken and seems incredibly shy, though his voice is much louder and clearer than most. The fact that he has such a high falsetto voice is what sets him apart from most performers in my opinion. You might not expect a man with a falsetto voice to sound good, but he has one of the most remarkable voices I’ve ever heard live. Also, he sings in both English and Icelandic; half of the time I knew what he was saying, but the other half I had no idea. Again, this adds to some of the mysteriousness surrounding him. Jónsi makes himself in to a spectacle as well, especially in the way he dresses. He left the stage before the encore bare headed, but after much cheering he returned to the stage in an ornate headdress to go along with the rest of the feathers on his outfit. It seemed slightly ridiculous, but it really added to the love I have for him. His music is slightly strange and so is he, but it all works out for the crowd in the end.


One final note about his performance was that, after he and the band had exited after the last song, they all came back out and bowed modestly as the crowd went wild for them. I had never seen a band do this, usually just actors after a play has concluded. I really enjoyed that they did this because it allowed the fans to express our appreciation for them and vice versa. 

Overall, this was one of the best performances I have ever seen live. The crowd itself, the set, and the performance all worked together to create an awesome atmosphere. I had expected the show to be good, and it was completely amazing. I was also really glad that the crowd loved it as much as they did; we were all able to feed off each other, and I could tell the band loved the crowd’s energy as well. Jónsi is incredibly talented. How many people do you know who play multiple instruments, sing, give an incredible live performance, and have had a successful music career using a partially made up language? People from Iceland are definitely cooler. 

Kate Riehle, UCLA