Sigur Rós at Echo Beach


Sigur Rós fans gathered at Echo Beach on 1 August, 2012 for their long-awaited return to Canada. The Icelandic band delivered a set which filled many in the audience with a mixture of awe and joy, a wee bit of crowd infighting for the best spots, and several fainting spells near the front of the stage, from what we feel may just be sheer awesomeness.

Take a look at their Facebook Page for a crystal-clear picture of what went on in the mosh pit, and refer to the usual breakdown of the set by the National Post. We'd just like to take a slightly different approach by stating that those who couldn't make it that night lost out on a really good thing.

Days after what we feel was an epic concert for Echo Beach, as every other person who attended, we're still reeling. Sigur Rós can be considered one of the world's greatest live performance bands, and play their music like honed classical artists. The only difference is that Jónsi Birgisson sings in a language unique to himself, and the fact that some of their most loved songs can't actually be played live unless the band has their resident saw instrumentalist or a full choir on tour.

The unique selling point about the venue, Echo Beach, is that those stuck in cars on the highway heard strange, enigmatic sounds, while broke hipsters set up camp across on public grounds, meaning that more than the 4000-strong crowd actually heard the set than ended all too soon.

Here is the setlist for all those curious.

SETLIST - Sigur Rós
  1. Ekki Múkk
  2. Varúð
  3. Ný Batterí
  4. Í Gær
  5. Vaka
  6. Sæglópur
  7. Svefn-g-englar
  8. Viðrar Vel Til Loftárása
  9. Hoppípolla
  10. Með Blóðnasir
  11. Olsen Olsen
  12. Festival
  13. Hafsól
Encore:
  1. Dauðalogn
  2. Popplagið