Sigur Rós, Auckland NZ, 2022

Sigur Rós

6th August 2022
Spark Arena, Auckland, New Zealand.

Review by Rob Harbers. Photography by Doug Peters.

Icelandic week, part 2: for those who’ve been paying attention, you may have noticed that my last review was of the Icelandic angel that is Hera, sharing her soul with a small and intimate gathering in a small hall in the depths of Hawkes Bay. Tonight, it was the turn of the boys to play rock and roll, in the vastly bigger setting of Auckland’s Spark Arena, as Sigur Rós brought their majestic sound to Antipodean lands. An invasion from the land of the ice and snow, almost – or at the very least, an astounding display of light and sound, with the power to conquer all before it!

To my mind, the sound of Sigur Rós is the sound of nature itself – but nature in all its sonic expression, from a gentle breeze to a raging storm, from the twittering of birds to the roar of a tiger, from a worm’s burrowing to the rendering of the earth by volcanic forces – and sometimes all in the one song! And tonight an enthusiastic crowd, spanning a wide array of ages, got to experience it all (or most of it, anyway – personally, I’m still hanging out to see ‘Brennistein’ performed live!).

One of the defining aspects of Sigur Rós is the manner in which their music troughs and peaks, in a rhythm reminiscent of tidal ebbs and flows, or the act of breathing. A slow and relatively subdued start slowly increases in tempo before exploding forth – this approach exemplified by the opening batch of numbers, starting with ‘Vaka’ then building through ‘Samskeyti’ which saw the 4 members form a tight quartet at stage right, proceeding through the dynamic flow of “Svefn-g-englar” before the face-melting guitar intro to ‘Ny Batteri’ signalled the imminent release – the expulsion of breath, if you like, that this track empowers.

This cycle of inspiration and expiration was then repeated, building to the closure of the first set with ‘Smasfika’, before the intermission allowed all present to refresh and restore prior to the delights of the second set.

This next set followed a different rhythm, being composed more of shorter cycles, kicking off with crowd favourite ‘Glosoli’ with its slow-building dynamic tension, and followed by ‘E-bow’’s walls of sound, before dropping the speed and the volume level to the sedate ‘Ekki Mukk’. The set continued this altered rhythmic structure, all the while building toward the explosive propulsion of ‘Popplagio’, which closed out the night, leaving a hugely satisfied audience in its wake.

As would be expected by anyone with a knowledge of the Sigur Rós oeuvre, Jonsi’s guitar formed a large part of the sonic tableau, providing both slabs of beautiful noise and gentle shading, as appropriate. But obviously it’s a joint effort on stage, the quartet playing with the quality of interaction that comes of years of experience in pursuing their common vision. The aural element is complemented by a relatively simple, but still powerful, stage set, using a series of colour themes.

The bottom line of this stream of ramblings? A spectacular show, as expected, from an outfit that only continues to evolve and improve – Five stars.

Were you there at the Spark Arena for this atmospheric spell-binding performance? Or have you seen Sigur Rós perform live some other time? Tell us about it in the comments below!

Set List:

1. Vaka
2. Fyrsta
3. Samskeyti
4. Svefn-g-englar
5. Ný batterí
6. Gold 2
7. Flótavik
8. Heysatan
9. Daudalagid
10. Smaskifa
    (Intermission)
11. Glósóli
12. E-bow
13. Ekki Mukk
14. Sæglópur
15. Gong
16. Andvari
17. Gold 4
18. Festival
19. Kveikur
20. Popplagið

_{Note: Ambient Light was provided passes to review and photograph this concert. As always, this has not influenced the review in any way and the opinions expressed are those of Ambient Light’s only. This post contains an affiliate link. If you purchase a product using an affiliate link, Ambient Light will automatically receive a small commission at no cost to you.}

If you enjoyed this content, please consider donating towards the running of Ambient Light, covering expenses and allowing us to expand the coverage you love by visiting our PressPatron page.