Sigur Rós played the Paramount in Oakland tonight, and it was the most amazing show — I think the best I have seen. I was initially bummed that the show was not located in San Francisco, and even though Oakland was a pain to drive to, the Paramount very much suited the event. Amina opened in the spacious music hall, which featured appropriately ambient colored lights and somewhat ornate decor. Amina is 4 Icelandic girls and has played the string arrangements on most of Sigur Rós’ albums. They switch up instruments frequently but used violin, viola, cello, keys, a Powerbook, and a saw, among other instruments. Sigur Rós started and ended playing behind a gauze type sheet, with bright lights behind them, such that their shadows were distinctly seen on the sheet. Their set included lots of good old stuff, even from Von, and plenty of newer stuff, but only some of the songs from the new album. Each song in the set had appropriately choreographed lighting and video being projected onto a screen behind them, and it was just amazing. If you ever get the chance to see them, and can only tolerate their music, go just for the show — it is that good. The audience in Oakland was alright — applause was given at the beginning of the better known songs. By itself, this might have been acceptable, but it would be 20 or 30 seconds into the intro before people actually realized that they recognized the song and started the applause (I know, I know, I hear you all sounding the “snob alarm” already). But when the normal 2 second silence in Starálfur turned into a 30 second silence, the audience actually stayed totally silent, which makes up for the former. Sigur Rós played a few songs in one encore, before disappearing again. They came back out with Amina and all bowed together. I stopped by the merch table on the way out, they had cool t-shirts and even some hand printed by an artist friend of the band under the moniker “Toothfaeries”. I drove back over a bridge that crosses the very southernmost portion of the bay, just for kicks. It was not a very interesting bridge, though. The sunroof open on the clear night with Sigur Rós filling the background did made it nice.
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