Sigur Rós @ the Bank of America Pavilion, Boston
September 22nd, 2008 - by Eddie
After battling the strange area in Boston near the Harbor/Dock Area (I always get lost there and I inevitablly think of that Emilio Estevez movie “Judgment Night” where the dudes take a wrong turn and end up wrestling with the mob or something), I literally ran into the Bank of America Pavilion to catch what was left of the Sigur Rós show. Thankfully, I was only about ten minutes late and only briefly cursed Google Maps before handing over $9 for a Bud Lite in a plastic cup (ugh).
It’s difficult to describe a Sigur Rós concert without comparing it to a movie soundtrack or talking about various epiphanies one may have during a song. Mine revolved around the idea that the hoodie sweatshirt will never go out of style. At any give point in the future, it will either be embraced by the “cool kids” or the vagrants, and therefore, forever cool. The same thinking applies for smoking and girls who wear high-heeled boots.
Which led me to think of porn…but I digress.
There’s also something special when a band sings the majority of its songs in another language (Icelandic), and yet can still command a crowd emotionally. For some, Sigur Rós may just be background music, something to put on while they do work or walk around an outdoor concert venue, taking whiffs of weed and watching the Red Sox game on the televisions set up in the back (who comes to a concert and then watches the entire game on a small 13-inch screen with no sound?).
But there’s more to this music than that. There’s something inate and natural, that every time they strike a chord on stage, it strikes a human chord inside of us and helps us remember the tiny nuances in our life: the job you hate to love, the girl you’re gonna marry someday, the frozen pizza waiting for you in fridge. These are all littly Sigur Rós songs waiting to happen and when you hear them live, you experience these moments almost every minute.
All around the venue, which is open air with seats in the main area, people swayed and danced to the music. Most, I suspect, were unaware of the English translation of the songs (the band is still promising to put them up on their site). But it didn’t matter.
Through their music alone, one becomes philosophical and introspective. The picture in the middle of the post was from the end of the show, where confetti was blasted out, allowing it to gently fall on the crowd.
Sure, it’s just bits of colorful paper being thrown into the air, but that combined with the soft tunes of Sigur Rós can make a person feel invigorated and even hopeful. You forget about getting lost and about your diarrhea-prone dog at home.
Instead, you look up at the stars, breath deep and sip your beer and not worry about how overpriced it is.
If life is a movie, then the music of Sigur Rós is for those epic moments when the entire world feels like it’s folding into you.
Sigur Rós – Hoppipolla (live from the Bank of America Pav)
September 22nd, 2008 at 4:39 pm
Good review, fun photos and video.