My Week's worth of shows (part 1 of 6)

Last night I attended the Sigur Ros concert and it was amazing. I worried going into it that the novelty of seeing them live would wear off, and thankfully it didn't. This was, of course, aided by the space, the newly constructed Strathmor Music Hall in Bethesda, Maryland. The acoustics were amazing so everything from the littlest ping to the ear gnashing drums closing out the set were perfect.

It's always interesting to attend a concert at a music hall with people who are used to cramped smokey venues. Everyone is confused, bumping into each other, still believing the "first come, first serve" rule to be in effect. Thankfully we had seats and there was no spot-jockeying going on. I would have been able to deal with it, but my lovely parents who attended along side me, may have needed many replacement bones by the end of the night. First off, I would like to comment on the t-shirts. All of them are extremely cool and subtle designs. However, there are two groupings of t-shirts, the mass-produced ones for us normal fans, and apparently the wallet vacuuming section made by little icelandic elves in igloos. I don't know about you but spending the same amount of money on one t-shirt as i did on one ticket for the concert seems a little stupid. But, hey if 40 dollar concert t's and 50 dollar hoodies made of t-shirt material are you thing, more power to ya, they were pretty cool. (but not all that much cooler than the other merch, to be honest, with the exception of the "Sigur Fucking Ros" shirts) Besides the crazy pricing, the merch table was an amaing cluster-fuck of people queueing and buying like this is not only the last t-shirt they'll ever be allowed to buy but also the last concert that will ever be played by anyone.

As far as the show goes it was pretty amazing. Hearing them in a space truly built to have optimal sound was a pretty incredible thing. The drums sounded huge, the guitars were all crystal clears and when the sharp staccato strings came in midway through the closing number, "Untitled #8", I about cried. It felt like a shorter set than when I heard them play a couple years ago, but that may have had to do with the fact that they were being broadcasted and needed to keep it within an hour and half or so. I must say, although I haven't listened all that much to the Untitled #1/#9, but #9 sounded pretty amazing. I really must emphasive, though how awesome the drums sounded. It was thunderous but not ear-splittingly oppressive, which is always a tough balance to find. So, yeah show 1 was a keeper, Sigur Ros sounded extremely strong and the new material sounded fantastic. At this point, I'm finishing this and it's almost ot a week later and a few shows later so I've forgotten things and I've run out of htings to say, so take my word on all this, it was awesome.

Love,
John

P.S. Next up is the White Stripes' show back in Cincinnati when I finally get around ot actually writing about it.