Sigur Rós transfixed Amsterdam’s Het Concertgebouw (review, setlist, p

Sigur Rós at Concertgebouw, Amsterdam — photo: Jeff Bergstrom

Hot off the heels of surprise dropping ÁTTA (their first full length album in a decade) on Friday, and having kicked off their orchestral tour that same evening at London’s Southbank Centre as part of the Meltdown Festival, Sigur Rós skimmed across the North Sea with the London Contemporary Orchestra and landed in Amsterdam on Saturday (6/17) for a truly mesmerizing show at the world renowned house of classical excellence Het Concertgebouw. With a whopping 19-song setlist that seamlessly integrated four gorgeous tracks from their new album, it was a sonically dense show that left a majority of the audience utterly transfixed and transported, while it left a handful of other concertgoers a bit polarized (more on that later).

Full disclosure; I work at Het Concertgebouw. After 20 years in NYC the wife and I decided for no good reason to move to Amsterdam in March of 2020 just before covid essentially closed down the world. After a few years that included a lot unemployment and a lot of freelancing all over the place, I landed at Het Concertgebouw full-time in November 2022. And I can honestly say that I have never been happier at a job in my 46 years on earth toiling for ‘the man.’ Saturday was no different as I skidded in to work a little before 7 AM ready to face a day of sleep-deprived roadies, dozens of road cases, outsourced lighting technicians and sound people, a whole lotta trusses, and a whole lot of hoisting.

For the band, the crew, the management, and the technicians, to go from an empty stage to a fully outfitted concert venue (Concertgebouw doesn’t have robust pre-existing in-house sound or lighting for rock shows and relies on outside crews and equipment), in just a few hours is no small feat and the amount of snapping, bickering, confusion, pissing, moaning, impatience, near meltdowns, and tripping over each other and equipment and cabling on a crowded stage is no picnic. But when, just before 8:30 PM, the gongs sound to alert the sold out audience to start getting to their seats, and when the room is finally packed to the gills and the lights fade and the orchestra and band take the stage, all of the day’s anxieties, pessimisms, and mania quickly, and I mean nearly instantly, evaporate.

Het Concertgebouw, for me, and I think a lot of people in the room, is the perfect venue for a band like Sigur Rós to unleash two hours of dense orchestral music. Opened in 1888, with it’s tiered wooden stage and massive wooden organ looming over it, the ornately decorated, cavernous heights of the room, and the world-renowned acoustics, Concertgebouw allowed Sigur Rós’ music to float through the room with wonderful fidelity. The sonic balance of classical instruments, electronic instruments and gizmos were equalized perfectly, which is not an easy feat for a room designed for nothing electronic.

The band kicked things off with their cinematic first single from ÁTTA, “Blóðberg,” which, right out of the gate, delivered our ears an immaculate marriage of Jonsi’s signature voice and the fullness of the London Contemporary Orchestra. I was sat in the 4th row in front of the section of stage with the cellos and double basses, and the low end from that section was such a solid sonic bedrock for that song. You could really hear them churning beneath Jonsi’s falsetto and the violins; it was tremendous. The room was dead silent. There was not a cellphone to be seen anywhere. But when the song ended the audience exploded with applause. That was motif the entire evening; an audience absolutely focused on the stage and only coming out of their collected reverie to enthusiastically applaud.

They followed “Blóðberg” with classics “Ekki múkk” and “Fljótavík” before going into “8” from their new album. Again, “8” stood tall next to the classics. Utilizing one of Het Concertgebouw’s Steinways, the piano parts of this song absolutely soared across the room with incredible depth and clarity. Sigur Rós only played two new songs during set one, so having made it through “Blóðberg” and “8,” the band leaned back on some of their true classics which included “Von”, “Andvari”, “Starálfur”, “Dauðalogn” and “Varðeldur.” “Starálfur” was absolutely transcendent. As a matter of fact it was after that song and after the uproarious applause that I heard the telltale sounds of an audience moved; sniffles. Yes, sure enough, many people around my area had been moved to tears.

After a 20-minute intermission I decided to vacate my seat up front and to sit in the back of the room behind the sound guy. As a brief aside, huge props to the sound guy. It is no small feat to make amplified music sound good in Concertgebouw as it is a room built for classical. It has so many nooks and crannies and hard surfaces that at a certain volume amplified music turns into psychedelic mud. But this guy aced it. Swish. Home run. Back of the net. Clear, articulate sound all night. As you can see by the setlist below, set two followed a similar, glacial sonic motif where the songs were slow building and cinematic. Starting things off with “Untitled #1 – Vaka,” “Untitled #3 – Samskeyti,” and then “Heysátan” made it clear to the audience that you can forget about set two coming at you with a slightly elevated sense of energy. Although new songs “Ylur” and “Skel” (which came after “Heysátan”) have a bit more dynamic and full-bodied sound, the underlying tempo remained as glacial as ever. It wasn’t until their second to last song “Hoppípolla” that there was any uptick in the evening’s energy. As a matter of fact, “Hoppípolla” was the only song in the entire evening where the audience began applauding during the opening notes. Think they’d end the night on a high note? Nope. Sigur Rós wasn’t done with us yet. Well, they kind of were I guess. After “Hoppípolla” the band left the stage, leaving only the orchestra to play the last, and probably mellowest, most dissonant song, “Avalon.” After that, the band returned to the stage for their final bows and to wave good-bye. No encore, not a word spoken to the audience the entire evening.

Oh remember when I said “polarized” earlier? Many of my colleagues found it a snooze. I had been talking up this show for weeks, but the consensus around the control room was that “it sounds like lullaby music” and “You like this? It doesn’t go anywhere.” And to a certain extent, I can see their perspective. On the one hand, I adored this show. It was an aural masterpiece that I found to be legitimately moving and one of the most beautiful things I have ever heard in person. But I still prefer Sigur Rós the band, not the Sigur Rós being led by a conductor.

Check out the setlist, along with a few photos (including some behind-the-scenes), below.

Sigur Rós bring their orchestral tour to North America in August, with NYC shows at Beacon Theatre on August 16 and Kings Theatre on August 18.