The Journey Itself Is Home

Here is a pretty nice review:

“BJöRK (Virgin Mobile Stage): That leaves us with Björk, whose set was so different in spirit and execution from the rest of the day that she might as well have touched down in a flying saucer. Neon flags that looked almost medieval hung above the stage divided almost entirely by gender, with the boys and their electronic toys — along with drummer Chris Corsano, who was sometimes barely audible amid the electronic barks — on one side and all-female brass band Wonderbrass in robes that matched the flags on the other. (Keyboardist Jónas Sen was marooned to the right of both.) The women danced and swayed, and the men stayed put (save for electronics whiz Damian Taylor, who jumped and raved like a madman), not that we needed more stimuli. From the flashpots, exploding confetti and lasers to the screens displaying the touch-activated samplers and the outrageously strange synthesizer the Reactable, whose block interface resembled a game of Magic: the Gathering, you certainly never ran out of things to look at.

“Of course, most of us spent the set transfixed by Björk herself, who really does have the stage presence (and the poofy dress) of a demented pixie reincarnated as an opera singer. On everything from a faithful version of “Army of Me” (augmented with stabs from the horns) to a reimagined “Hyperballad,” complete with full-on acid-house coda, the Icelandic diva gave as passionate a performance as a fan could hope. Compared to the live show, her titanic voice sounds impossibly small on record; you had to wonder sometimes whether she could have done it without a microphone. At one point in “Declare Independence,” as she shouted over the messy synths, the lasers drew designs on the trees and the crowd worked themselves into a frenzy, I honestly thought we were at an intergalactic pagan ritual and might be taken up at any moment. Then she cried “Thank you for tonight” in a theatrically clipped tone of voice, and was gone. Even an hour-long wait for overcrowded ferries back to the city couldn’t diminish the impact of the event, and no disrespect to the Day 2 lineup, but I suspect her set will be the only thing those of us who caught it will remember… unless she uses her alien technology to wipe our brains. Don’t laugh. After seeing this show, I’m firmly convinced anything could happen.”

Read the entire article here.

This entry was posted on Friday, September 14th, 2007 at 3:01 am and is filed under Volta Tour. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.