Where to start? What a short strange trip it’s been already. Friday the 13th seems somehow appropriate given what’s occurred in the days since leaving rehearsals in Iceland a week and a half ago. One thing’s for sure, very little has gone to plan.
Things started to drift before we even left the ground. The Mexican work visas didn’t come through in time, meaning that the chance of doing two shows In Guadalajara was whittled down to one show, while our passports were flown to Mexico City to get the necessary paperwork. On top of that the show in Tijuana finally fell off its wobbly perch when it became clear that there was no safe way to get our gear from Mexico City (over 3,000kms away) in the 24 hours between shows.
Having lost only one show in 9 years (when the clutch went on the tour bus in the Czech Rep and we couldn’t make it to Berlin a few years back), this was a bummer for us, and of course a bigger bummer for all the folks expecting us in Tijuana. Sorry, we tried every which way to solve this situation, but in the end had to admit defeat. Right now we are trying to schedule a replacement date for the autumn.
So anyways, we kicked around Guadalajara on our unexpected acclimatisation day, and got used to the crazy heat. We went to the local market and loads of the band, strings and brass bought appropriately touristic hats and whatnot. Beer was consumed, along with fresh sugarcane juice and coconut from the shell.
Showday on the Thurs proved to be a false dawn for a seamless tour. Perhaps the earthquake that had occurred during rehearsals in Iceland should have given us pause for thought. Anyway, the show in Guadalajara was a gas. The crowd was as lively as any anywhere, maybe more so. The day was again crazy hot, and even the inauspicious setting in a glorified car-park didn’t dispel the general up-for-it vibe of the touring party.
We did a setlist that turned out to contain almost all the right songs, albeit in an entirely illogical order. We hit upon the good idea of putting the first four songs of the show as the first four songs from the last four albums in chronological order. This is better on paper than as a way to run a live show. It kind of limped out of the blocks and then threw away Gobbledigook way too early into proceedings.
Gobbledigook, even at this early stage, is already a moment in the set. We’d hired in these marching drums, while we waited for those we’d bought on ebay to turn up in a few shows time, and all of amiina hammer away in time with Orri, while the brass boys “la, la, la” to their hearts content, and hopefully a rousing crescendo. It seemed to go down pretty well, considering it’s the first time it’s been played anywhere.
Everyone was elated when they came off stage, with the only fly in the ointment being that Orri had developed a headache during the show, but I don’t any of us thought too much of it at the time.
Next day, we got up at the proverbial crack to get a plane over to Mexico City, or some airport outside of same, and then onto the “mystical’ Tepoztlan, which is kind of like the Mexican Glastonbury (crystal shops, photographing your aura, blah), but with big vertical mountains of the kind you see on Chinese willow pattern plates. We are taken to a strange hotel out of town, where we appear to be the only residents, and which doesn’t seem to finished. The pool is drained and many of the allocated rooms do not have windows, being more like the kind of place where you are chained to a radiator for a few months while your relatives decide whether or not to pay the ransom.
Spirits, however, remain indomitable, even tough we have to call a doctor to see Orri, who still has a cracking headache. Now we are thinking it may be altitude sickness, since we are something like 2,500 metres up. He swallows some strong painkillers and takes it easy, while we kick around and enjoy the strange stormy weather, watching the lightning and the fireflies among the trees down the slope.
We make a visit to the site where we are playing. It is spectacular in the extreme but it is slightly concerning that even with the minor traffic of getting band and crew down there seems to overload the local infrastructure. Tomorrow six thousand people are going to try and get down this same single muddy track.
Next morning most of us elect to climb the mountain out the back of Tepoztlan to the local temple, about 600 metres straight up. It’s not Aztec, I don’t think, but it’s that kind of affair, square pyramid type thing, you know? Orri sensibly doesn’t attempt it, and stays in bed. Some of the rest of us soon think he’s made the right decision. The weather is just so overwhelmingly muggy. Like you get just ahead of a storm, and we all sweat buckets on the way up, and end up with shaking legs on the way down.
At the top right by the temple there are loads of coatimundis roaming around looking to pilfer whatever food they scavenge from the tourists. Yesterday a journalist from the Telegraph newspaper, who is here to witness the glory of SR in Mexico, got bitten hard on the finger trying to reason with critters and had to get a tetanus jab, or maybe it was rabies, I forget.
Back at the hotel, we play a game seeing who can run around the very narrow perimeter rim of the now semi-filled swimming pool the fastest without falling in. Or at least me and Sammi and Helgi play that, while everyone else hopes for disaster. Modesty forbids from revealing the outcome, suffice to say it was me.
Anyway, we go to the site, which is more like a festival than a show. There are Mexican bands on all day, and then us at sunset. Orri’s head is still hurting, but he’s got his Mexican medicine (and that’s not a euphemism for tequila). We play football backstage, and arse around seeing who can hold a trumpet case in each extended arm for the longest (it’s Snorri with around 1 min 10 secs). Much hilarity is extruded from proceedings and the vibe is good.
However, that is all about to change. Two songs into the set, while I am standing in the sound booth front of house watching the show, sound guy Jelle turns to me and says there’s something wrong with Orri. The band have started third song ‘Vaka’, but our drummer is not on stage. I rush down the centre division they have at festivals and round the back of the stage, where I see Orri sitting with his head very much in his hands, and looking like I look when suffering from the very worst migraine. Shit.
It seems playing ‘Glosoli’, a bit of rocker for those unfamiliar, has induced a sudden excruciating headache and finishing the song has almost finished him. I go to the side of the stage, where the band are anxiously looking over to see what the fuck is going on, and make the universal hand across the throat sign to Goggi. We collect the brass, who are dispersed around the backstage unaware of developments, and tell them to prepare to go onstage and entertain the folks while we work out what to do next. Jonsi tells the crowd that the brass are going to play them a few Icelandic songs, and that’s what happens.
Orri is by now in the back of an ambulance at side of stage, with a drip going in one arm, and a blood pressure test on the other. It is very, very worrying. Everyone is in a state of shock. It is clear Orri will take no further part in tonight, so we get a setlist and attempt to work out what songs can be played without a drummer. It’s not many. We settle on five, most of which were not on the original setlist, since they are by definition mellow.
Promoter Pablo goes onstage and explains to people in Spanish that shit is going down and the band are going to do what they can under the circumstances.
I stay with Orri in the ambulance while we exit the site on our way to an alternative hotel, better set up to deal with our situation, with noo fangled stuff like phones and hot water. As we leave I can just see the stage through the back window and watch as a very impressive confetti cannon goes off, blasting gold glitter high into the night sky. it seems strangely anachronistic given the sombre scenario we are now confronting. Turns out that is the last we will see of the rest of the band for three days.
The next day, I collect Orri’s things from his abandoned hotel room and together we head off to Mexico City, in the company of the indomitable Antonio, who gets a very special mention here for being an all round sterling fellow, as well as a celebrity weather man in his spare time. Tony makes sure we get to the excellent ABC Hospital, even taking us to his Mum’s on the way, in case we find it hard to get fed later on.
We register and then Orri is whisked in for a battery of tests, culminating in a thorough MRI scan, which basically x-rays your head up and down, front to back, side to side. I think we are both scared that something really bad is going to show up (as I am sure all the rest of the band, now somewhere between Tijuana and San Diego, are too), but neither of us verbalise these darkest thoughts. The neurosurgeon has real gravitas, and after what seems like an unnecessary dramatic pause tells us that he is 1000% sure that there is nothing to worry about in terms of severe shit going on in Orri’s head. Thank fuck for that.
Of course, hot on the heels of this information is the question as to why he’s getting unaccountable splitting headaches going from 0-60 in 20 seconds flat. On that there are no answers. I cling onto altitude sickness, although I know Guadalajara isn’t that high. We are given the all-clear to fly, and go to a nearby hotel to get online and try to find some flights out of Mexico. Outside the rain Bladerunner hard.
We elect to fly straight to Omaha, skipping out San Diego where the rest of the band are hanging for another day, enjoying speedboats and beers, while Orri enters three days of alcohol and ciggie prohibition. In the morning before the flight we have time to go into Mexico City and visit the cathedral. We both buy little votive effigies of heads that we pin to a velvet pad in a side chapel dedicated to the Virgin.
We walk down a couple of side streets and lunch at Café Tecuba, before flagging an ancient VW taxi to take us back to the hotel. The rain becomes tropically hard as we weave through the stupidly big city (22 million and counting). As other cars pass, the wash from their tyres arcs up and through the crack at the top of our windows. We look at each other and buckle up the useless seatbelts when it becomes clear that our driver is clearly a maniac. Orri survives hospital once only to be returned shortly thereafter by another means – this will become something of a theme.
After that all that happens Mon (June 9th for sticklers of procedure) is that we have a drama at the airport because we don’t have the right exit card, those having been taken when our passports went off to get work visas put in them. We remonstrate with the Customs folks til it becomes clear we are talking to the hand, and are then forced to find someone to email the missing paperwork to the airline before they will let us on the plane. It’s stressful but we make it by the skin of our incisors. And then, wonderfully, nothing happens til we get to Omaha.
We have a day to ourselves in Omaha, on what is proving to be the least gig intensive tour in history, and so meet up with our friend Kianna from Tilly & the Wall, who spends the day showing us the delights of the city they call the wet sticky spot on the Great Plains. Orri’s head is still pulsing but on a tolerable level, and we go to the zoo and thrift store shopping, as well as eating something not based around corn tortillas for the first time in ages. The zoo in particular is great, especially the albino croc and beavers.
Rest of the band clock in around dinnertime and we go eat and over to local haunt The Brothers bar for a nightcap. Home to bed in the truly dire Holiday Inn on 72nd St (ranked 51 out 64 on Tripadvisor!).
I don’t see anyone til lunchtime the next day cos I’m stuck in email hell, but most go to the zoo. We convene at venue time and wonder at how weather can be so sticky. On the weekend the first tornado to hit Omaha in 30 years, destroyed a bunch of houses somewhere in the city. Seems like there’s more to come tonight.
Things start to go wrong two songs into soundcheck, when the band attempt Gobbledigook, and Orri doesn’t even get the end of the song before quitting in pain. We call the doctor and get a referral to the local ER. And then there we are sat like Groundhog Day, in another less salubrious hospital, awaiting attention. They give Orri the usual battery of tests and ask the same questions, before sending him a CAT scan that is better at determining bleeding than an MRI apparently. Again nothing comes out of it all, except that might ban an “exertion headache”, but we kind of knew that.
Outside the weather is getting seriously ugly, tornado warnings are in force for all over Omaha for another hour. In the ward, things are pretty grim too. The guy two cubicles down dies, while another guy gets dragged in handcuffed by two police, while he screams that he can’t breathe. Anguished relatives arrive for the deceased and the mood among the staff is sombre. We collect the CAT scan results and ignore the tornado warnings to ride back to the venue in a runner’s car. We are told that if the tornado comes for us to get out of the car and lie in a ditch covering our heads. Sure hope there’s a ditch if we need one.
We both get soaked to the skin in the 3 metres between the hospital and the vehicle. Lightning is all around, the weather is crazy and we hear four boy scouts have been killed just north of here. When we get back to the venue, all the audience are in the basement with the band, hanging out to keep safe. The brass fire up, and the band put on the marching drums and do an impromptu parade through the labyrinth below the theatre. There’s an infectious community spirit in these passageways, which exceeds anything the gig will later achieve.
The setlist for the night is comprised solely of songs without pounding drums, and this is very hard to hang together in any kind of cohesive way, but what else can we do? In the event the evening is defined by the moment during new song ‘Vitleysingur’ when Jonsi says to Kjartan off mic in Icelandic that this is the worst set they have ever played – lighting guy Freysi translates that for me, but it’s something I didn’t need said, since the mood was already clear. Everyone from Tilly and the others who brave the icy backstage atmos after are all super-nice about the show, but we all know if was sketchy in the extreme. No partying tonight – oh actually there is. And I am kept awake in the worse bunk on the bus (one of the three not secluded from the party lounge by a siding door) til one of the brass boys making all the noise takes pity on me and swaps.
Tonight we drive to Kansas City. The tornados are heading that way too….
Wake up outside the Uptown Theatre, KC to a hopefully less dramatic day. And so it proves. Folks go looking for coffee and diversion in the nearby streets, while Freysi deals with the arrival of the ‘Airstar’ balloons we have ordered to augment the show. We currently have very little in the way of “show”, having dispensed with everything we’ve used for the past six years or more. Effectively since I’ve known Sigur Ros they used a version of the same show, from the time in the backroom of the Union Chapel when they had a sheet and a slide projector. The sheets have gotten bigger and the projectors more powerful, but essentially that been the principle.
Now all that’s been put out to grass, and so far we are a way aways from replacing it. A surprising development that those who have seen it will have noted is the introduction of costumes. Knowing them as well as I do, I was still taken aback when they all agreed to dress up to go onstage, and if I had suggested it it would definitely have been laughed out of court. However, it came from within, and the stylist was Hrafnhildur, who runs Aftur, a clothing shop upstairs from Kaffi Hljomalind on Laugavegur, Reykjavik.
Raven, as Hrafnhildur is known (it translates as Raven War, or similar) does an amazing job, kitting the brass out white marching band suits, the amiinis in coordinated pom pom dresses and accessories, and the SR boys in individually crafted outfits. Kjartan has a variety of dark suits, including a kind of pinstripe tailcoat affair. Goggi a natty destructed suit, which is most becoming, Orri has a whole variety of costumes ranging from ‘Oliver’ style chimney sweep to Karate Kid. Jonsi looks like a Victorian undertaker crossed with asymmetric military styling. Together they look pretty impressive, and a whole world away from the band who up til now have worn exactly the same onstage as they have worn every single day of their lives. Cool.
We all hold our breath for the show, hoping Orri makes it through OK. The setlist is adjusted from last night’s downbeat selection to include some faster songs, but only towards the conclusion in case they bring on the pain. We got back in touch with ER back in Omaha and managed to get them to fax a prescription for codeine down, so Orii has something to fall back on if things go tits up.
In the event, the gig is great. The balloons look all right, although Freysi has nothing in the way of lighting specials to work with; we’ve managed to get some glorified party poppers to let off at the climax of Gobbledigook; and, most importantly, the band play together properly for the first time on the tour. It’s a short set without the early harder numbers (no Glosoli, no Festival), clocking in at an hour and a quarter, but I think everyone in the venue is aware it’s been a humdinger. Yes, the tornado warnings sounded again, but most of the days drama was positive rather than negative, and folks celebrate in the traditional Icelandic way by dancing to Michael Jackson and getting slowly annihilated.
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June 14, 2008 at 1:31 pm
Hi! I’m Carlos from Guadalajara, I think Sigur Rós is the best band I’ve ever heard.
I know the start of the tour had a lot of problems for Orri’s situation, the mexicans politics (visas, papers)… I hope you will come back some day..
In Guadalajara I really enjoyed the show, was fantastic and Mexican people loves the band..
The mexican hat in the show was a great idea.. thanks for coming, I hope Orri is ok now, Jónsi is a fantastic singer, Georg is the best playing bass and Kjartan has an unique way to play piano!!..
I hope to see you in other show… I’d like to meet you guys! carlos.cacl87@gmail.com
June 14, 2008 at 1:44 pm
Great!
June 14, 2008 at 3:56 pm
I went to tepoztlan to see sigur ros, and i think was very very beatiful because the place and the music was a wonderful combination, but they only played around 5 or 6 songs. I would like very much that they could return to mexico and the same sacred place near to tepoztlan.
His music is like God’s music is very spiritual and played in tepoztlán is the excellent expirience.
Please let me know if Sigur ros consider return to mexico, I think that a lot of people will be happy.
Cesar
Puebla, Mexico
Sorry for my english
June 14, 2008 at 4:35 pm
Oh, no. Tell Orri I hope he feels better and that he shouldn’t push himself too much. His health is the most important thing - any true fan will understand. You are all so amazing. Thanks for all that you do and sorry for the bumps on your journey. My heart is with you all.
Sincerely,
~Marc
P.S. The new albums is absolutely amazing - it has shattered my expectations (which were very high given Sigur Ros’s previous albums) and brought a smile to my face. Takk :)
June 14, 2008 at 5:54 pm
Orri, I hope your mysterious headaches won’t bother you too much. Hopefully they’ll soon disappear and you’ll be ok for the rest of the tour.
Take care, mate!
See you in Arras. I’m really looking forward to it! My two favourite bands on the same stages!
Wiiiieeeeee
Grts, Jeroen
June 14, 2008 at 7:12 pm
Wow, quite a “bad” experience with Mexico.. being the first time you came here, I couldn’t go to Tepoztlan because of an emergency.. but SR being my favorite music band, I hope they’ll come back, SR going to Tepoztlan was something very different that bands in Mexico don’t do, they always go to the City of Mexico, if SR gets to come back I hope they keep going to “mystical” places and not the cities that everyone goes to.. any recommendations? like.. “Cholula” the oldest kind-of aztec city, with the biggest pyramid in its base in the world! read about it.. well, I hope you can write a some what kind of “thought” of what Mexico was to you.. (SR)
June 14, 2008 at 10:41 pm
SIGUR ROS…I bet the AZTECS Gods were impressed and jealous about the streght of the drums (sorry for Orri)…UNIVERSAL tunes…the music I want to play in my funeral to make everyone happy while I seee them from above…keep on rocking this world out ot its typical sounds
June 15, 2008 at 12:00 am
I am glad that Orri was up to doing the show in Kansas City. I drove up from Oklahoma to see the band for the second time (the first in Denver, 2002) and it was worth every tedious mile getting there. I was especially impressed with how the new songs sounded, especially “Gobbledigook”, which seems to me like it would be hard to pull off live.. Overall it was one of the best evenings I’ve had in a long time, and I’d like to thank Sigur Ros and their entourage for making it happen. Now if you could only find a way to play in Oklahoma… :)
June 15, 2008 at 2:30 am
I drove nearly 15 hours to see Sigur Ros play in Kansas City, Missouri, USA on 12 June 2008. The set was fantastic! Sigur Ros is the only band I would drive that far to see. They opened the show with “Ny Batteri,” which was a good choice as an opener, and then went on to play “Fyrsta,” “Hoppipolla,” “Heysatan,” their new single “Gobbledigook,” and many other songs from the highly anticipated new album due at the end of this month. The entire band played beautifully, and it truly looked as though they were having fun up there on stage. I was a bit dissapointed that they didn’t play “Glosoli” and “Popplagið,” my personal favorite, but it was still a stunning display of talent. This is my third time seeing them perform live, and this recent Kansas City show was the best I’ve seen them. Keep up the good vibes, and I hope all members of the band and crew stay healthy as they prepare to return to Europe soon. Aaron
June 15, 2008 at 8:05 am
Brilliant blog….get well soon Orri….
June 15, 2008 at 9:24 am
Hey guys.
Im from Denmark and i really look forward too see you at Beatday festival, im just a little afraid that you only will play for 30 min or something like that. Im a really big fan of Sigur ros and have been for 5 years now, but i have only seen you play one time and that was on Roskilde festival 2 years ago and that was absolutly amazing, i never seen anything like that, it was so beautiful. I wish you will peform the same show when you play at Beatday this summer.
But why are you not coming too Roskilde this year?????? You dont have any concert plans for the 3and 4th of july, so pleace come to Roskilde and play, that would make me and all my friends and many people in Denmark so happy. Say hey too everybody in the band from the biggest fan from DK.
Love your new album and good luck with your tour this year.
June 15, 2008 at 1:32 pm
I hope Orri feels better!
On a happier note, I just got back from the Bonnaroo show. It was absolutely stellar. Fifteen minutes after the band took their final bow, there were still a few hundred people waiting around the stage in awe. Some people had started to leave, and they had to turn around and look at the stage some more. You guys blew the roof off of Bonnaroo this year. Every person that was standing around me said that Sigur Ros was the only reason they bought a $200 Bonnaroo ticket.
Thanks for the truly memorable night, and I hope all goes better behind the scenes.
- Dale
June 15, 2008 at 1:46 pm
Sigur Ros makes me feel happy.. Thanks guys!
June 15, 2008 at 2:51 pm
hi! i’m from mexico and i was there in tepoztlan.. we all were there just for you. we didn’t know a lot of bands but we wanted to see you. and was so sad what had happened, we were really shock and concerned for Orri…
i’m happy for see you. only few songs but was so great.. i think that you have hada so bad experiencies in mexico but i hope with all my heart to see you again. soon or anytime. we’ll wait with hope!
June 15, 2008 at 3:19 pm
Thanks for this very extensive report, John B.!
What an adventure this tour is for you guys in Sigur Ros. Hopefully the ride will be less bumpy for you…
Can’t wait to see you on the Werchter festival. Get well soon Orri, best wishes
Thanks for the new music too, again of surreal beauty!
Dankjulliewel! Erwin
June 15, 2008 at 4:13 pm
Thank you for the very insightful journal on how life can get crazy on the road! Can’t wait for the album to officially come out!
June 15, 2008 at 7:43 pm
Hi John - it’s me you were chatting to on the plane out of Reykjavík the day after the second Amiina gig at the Art Museum last month. We’ve got our tickets for London (thanks for the advance coded warning) and we’re coming over for the gig on the 28th.
Really sorry to hear Orri’s not been well and kudos to yourself for writing such a vivid and detailed account, gruelling reading though it is.
June 15, 2008 at 10:13 pm
Though your show in Omaha was a far cry from the intensity of Sigur Ros shows I’ve seen in the past, it was still marvelous. The music Sigur Ros plays is magical for a lot of people, and mellow as the set was, that quality rang true for me still in Omaha. The circumstances behind the set were certainly unavoidable and thus easily forgivable. Even if Jonsi thought it was their worst set ever, it’s the best set of songs I’ll be seeing this year. Would have fucking loved to hear Gobbledigook though.
Hope all goes better down the road. Come back to O-ha when everyone’s feeling better and rock the piss out of us. And make it in autumn when the weather is at least fucking decent on occasion.
June 15, 2008 at 10:32 pm
Hello there. I would have been a very great experience having Orri with the band, nevertheless health is fisrt. I HOPE YOU CONSIDER RETURN TO MEXICO!, we would really love to have you back!!!
June 15, 2008 at 10:52 pm
Me and my boyfriend flew in from louisville, ky to see sigur ros play kansas city and all the waiting was most definately worth it. sigur ros is my favorite band, and by far the most talented live act that i’ve seen. when they started playing chills ran down my spine… there are truly no words for how i felt during that show. awestruck, maybe. i am so thankful that the guys came out and played such a breathtaking show even with orri not feeling well AND with tornados in the area. to sigur ros; you guys are so AMAZING and i love you and thank you so much for playing in the states. i am so grateful! please come back soon! <3
June 16, 2008 at 12:17 am
Hi since, I listen sigur ros years ago I become a your big fan, I think I would never see you in mexico, but you decide to begin your tour in our country, and that was so great. I went to tepoztlan to see you, im sorry orri can´t play that day. I admire you because you do all you can to go on. That 7 songs you play were so especial for me. I hope you back soon to mexico, or I will go to Iceland to know the group again jaja. One question, when you finish the presentation in tepoztlan, I ask to a staff person for the play list, and he give to me one sheet was under jonsi little piano. The sheet was a print of the original playlist with te correction the group do after orri cant play. There are 4 songs, 2 in hand writte and some corrections of the play list. You mention that sheet in this tour blog
((so we get a setlist and attempt to work out what songs can be played without a drummer. It’s not many. We settle on five, most of which were not on the original setlist, since they are by definition mellow.))
Can you tell me how rite these plays list? I will appreciate it so much ferkyd@msn.com
June 16, 2008 at 12:34 am
I couldn’t attend to any of the shows because , first of all, they were posted with such a short notice and second I had finals that weeks.
So anyways, I’m very happy that you have finally come to México, being a fan of yours for the past 5 years (I’m 17) that meant a lot to me and I have my high hopes about you coming back on autum to a place near to where I live, going to GDL again would be good.
I’m sorry that you guys had such a bad experience with paperwork and Orri’s migraine (for what it sounds) I hope though, that you had left with a nice impression of this beautiful country and hope the rest of the band and the crew enjoyed their time here.
I really really hope you come back this or next year and play Popplagid.
June 16, 2008 at 3:28 am
I was there in Tepoztlán too, it was an absolut beatiful experience even if you only did 3 songs, the place where you played was almost perfect, i think it’d had been perfect if not for Orris problem, I wish he’s OK and playing now, one more thing, I really wish you come back to México to finish what you begun. Love.
June 16, 2008 at 10:26 am
I too drove up from Oklahoma City to see the show in KC. First time seeing you guys. The show was awesome.
You need to come to Oklahoma.
Good luck on the rest of your tour dates.
June 16, 2008 at 11:09 am
Sounds like a rollercoaster, are there any plans for any irish dates??
June 16, 2008 at 1:58 pm
Hello,
I was pretty sad about the devolpments at tepoztlan I really had high expectations on seeing Sigur Ros live. Nevertheless, I enjoyed the band, yes I did. The guys with the trumpets i did NOT enjoy. Well, I wish that Orri gets ok, and if you guys take advises here is one from Mexico: Try to listen to the big messages (The earthquake) that are sent to you, you might be pulling yourselves out of maaany trouble.
Regards from rainy MX
June 16, 2008 at 4:58 pm
Hey, I started getting cluster headaches at age 24, there are many possible triggers. He should see a neurologist and look into possible meds, like imitrex shots or topamax.
June 16, 2008 at 6:26 pm
hi guys i´m so sorry about what happens to Orry, i went to tepoztlan, it was just the best concert i´ve ever been, i hope that you consider return to mexico soon. i´ll be waiting foy you. Take care and god bless you all.
thanks for the great music.
TAKK!!! hughs and kisses
June 16, 2008 at 6:49 pm
Sorry for Orri’s migraine…hope he is feeling better.
I have to admit that something in the lifes of some hundreads of Tepoztlan assistants changed during your tiny show. I have to admit i went up into tears on Glósóli’s harder part…couldn’t help it…WONDERFUL!
Next monday i bought “Heima” DVD on my desperately need of watching you again…i think it’s amazing.
We need you back…!
best regards, DLBS
June 16, 2008 at 9:21 pm
Please, come back again to Mexico… we love you Sigur Rós! ORRI YOU ARE THE MAN!
June 16, 2008 at 10:58 pm
I went to Tepoztlan just to see play Sigur Ros and the few songs I heard…those songs “me pusieron la piel chinita” jeje, I almost cry, was an amazing experience. Please please let us know if Sigur Ros consider come back to his home Mexico, because already is your home guys (I think…)
Your music makes me feel that the life ALWAYS is nice, beatiful.
June 16, 2008 at 11:19 pm
what if you travel from South America to Kansas City with the only purpose of seeing the most amazing performance ever? …
… Thanks Sigur Rós.
June 17, 2008 at 12:05 am
I thing you took a very bad impression of Mexico. I’m afraid you won’t come back. So, please, please, please consider coming back to México, is really an amazing place. I was in Tepoztlán, and I enjoyed the show too although it was really odd…lots of feelings.
I hope Orri is getting better
June 17, 2008 at 1:19 am
incredible performance @ Bonarroo. utterly amazing. brilliant.
June 17, 2008 at 1:32 am
Thank you for coming to Kansas City. The concert was so beautiful. You are all incredibly talented and it was an hounour to listen to each and every one of you play!
June 17, 2008 at 2:00 am
not that i want the summer to pass quickly but can’t wait to see you in vancouver in september.
heima brings tears of joy to my eyes - what a sublime fragment of life! thank you.
June 17, 2008 at 6:27 am
“dancing to Michael Jackson” haahaha
this report explains lot of things, I hope Orri gets fully recovered soon..
You’re great Sigur Ros.!! are you planning a South American tour (Argentina, perhaps? I’m crossing my fingers.)
June 17, 2008 at 9:00 am
Got the download last night and I am blown away…the best album yet and that’s saying something given your back catalog. I cannot pick out any one song as all are magical. Really looking forward to Connect Festival in my home, Scotland; you’ll love it as the vibe is perfectly SR. Am holidaying in Iceland next month too so will drop in to Alafoss on a SR pilgimage. Hope you are getting better, Orri. Stay well. Thanks so much for your music.
June 17, 2008 at 4:56 pm
I’m brazilian, and i love this band, is perfect. Thanks for everything, bye!
June 17, 2008 at 7:58 pm
Omaha was my 4th, Kansas City was my 5th. I’ve traveled over 400 miles to see you each time and would drive twice that distance. Honestly, any unevenness or glitches I detected in your performances I put down to simply getting the legs under the new material and staging so early in this tour. You all handled the difficulties with aplomb. Orri, you are a trooper and a very sweet drummer; I hope you are feeling better my friend. The horn section is stellar. Helgi is/sounds beautiful! (I’m a new fan.) My heart lept for joy when I saw the girls come out on stage in Omaha. The outfits are sexy and fun. Have a great tour…travel safe and take tornadoes, migraines, etc. in stride. Love you all. Takk! PS Any truth to the rumors of more US dates in the autumn? ;-)
June 17, 2008 at 10:10 pm
i wish i could have the chance to see your performance… but i live in Chile, is a beauty place but really far…
if someday you come here, so many persons will be really happy!
in fact, when heima appears in the cinema, thay have to prolong it for a week more… you have a lot of fans here!
June 18, 2008 at 12:56 am
I’m so sorry most of the shitty things happened in Mexico.
I went to the concert in Tepoztlan and in spite of the few songs you managed to played, I’m thankful for the show, seeing you perform live was one in a life-time experience, you’re so talented !
I hope that you overcome the memories of that bad-luck strike you had in Mexico and decide to come back for another concert..a better organized show/festival, so we can finally share that unique experience that began with the first chords of the opening song.
Send my best to Orri’s health improvement as well as to the rest of SR. :)
June 18, 2008 at 10:14 am
My friend and I traveled all the way from Houston to Kansas City and it was COMPLETELY worth the trip! Sigur Ros was insanely amazing! I left sooo happy and I can’t wait to see you in Italy next month!
June 18, 2008 at 8:44 pm
I went to Sigur Ros’ concert in Guadalajara and the performance of the band was marvelous; it was a great concert guys! The only bad thing was that the people who sold the tickets thru the internet are really morons! Could you believe they set a 2 hour window before the show so everyone who bought tickets that way could pick’em up? With just one person delivering them? For 400 or more people? Filling up a stupid form so no one accuses them of fraud? Come on! I had to buy an extra pair of tickets right there at the box office, otherwise I would have ended waiting forever!!!
Anyway, I don’t want to sound bitter anymore so let me finish by saying that this was by far one of the best concerts I’ve been to and that traveling 250 km just to watch your performance guys was well worth it!
What a great band!
June 19, 2008 at 4:52 am
I drove up from Oklahoma City to see you guys at the Kansas City show. At the time I wasn’t aware of all the problems the tour was facing up to that point. The setlist for the show, I thought, was amazing! You put on one of the best live shows I’ve ever seen, only being topped by Radiohead. Which reminds me, you guys should tour together at somepoint again.
Anyway, even with all the problems you guys were facing, with Orri being ill. You still put on an amazing concert! I wanted to thank you all. I actually started to cry at one point during the show, it was just so beautiful! Thanks for the encore too haha we clapped for what seemed like forever for that to happen haha.
Now please please please come to Oklahoma City! The Civic Center would be a wonderful place for you guys to preform! I hope I see you again soon….
Thanks, Devin
June 19, 2008 at 12:06 pm
my wife and i really enjoyed the kansas city show as well! it was our first time - it’s great to know that you blessed our little town with the first ever super-spectacular sigur ros live show extravaganza!
we all really appreciated that you put us as a stop on this little tour to kick the summer off. best wishes on the rest of it and best of health to all especially orri.
June 19, 2008 at 12:13 pm
Bonnaroo was great and so was the autograph signing, even if my two signed DVD’s of Heima were stolen later. I have professional pics from the show (i was press) and let me know if you want any of them (it’s only the first three songs).
June 19, 2008 at 12:31 pm
I just read the tour lineup and saw no dates for Philadelphia. YOU MUST COME TO PHILADELPHIA. Please please please. kb
June 19, 2008 at 12:43 pm
I just wanted to say thanks for deciding to come to Berkeley. My thoughts or wishes or prayers or whatever they are called have been answered.
June 19, 2008 at 1:40 pm
My thoughts and prayers are with Orri for his healing. The energies, as we move closer to the solstice, will feel increasingly discordant - this is a time of challenges, I believe Shakespeare called it “bad humors” - this is when what is happening outside of us (in nature) and inside of us (our bodies) is just a mess. They’re reflecting each other. Perhaps Orri is highly sensitively psychically and is more in tune to the pain that is happening everywhere. One more thought - mercury has been in retrograde since May and lots can go wrong when mercury is in retrogade. It goes direct today. Hopefully, your tour will go much more smoothly. Again, Orri is in my prayers. How frightening, his pain. Finally, I am incredibly excited that you are coming to Minneapolis! I can’t wait! Your shows are nothing less than magical.
June 19, 2008 at 1:50 pm
Welcome to midwest USA! My boyfriend and I were at the Kansas City show and wondered what you thought of the dramatic weather? I’m so glad the show wasn’t delayed or cancelled, it was awesome! I can’t wait to see you again (in Chicago or Denver, go Red Rocks!) The new album is incredible! Hope you’re feeling better Orri!
June 19, 2008 at 4:44 pm
It is regrettable what happened at Festival Colmena. Dos Abejas and Live Tours (the festival’s organizers) were ridiculous, showing a complete lack of respect towards the audience. They were overcome by the number of people that attended; both companies were incapable to handle and attend the number of persons that assisted.
It was a shame that the event’s misfortune added up to the lame organization: Sigur Ros, the band that everybody was expecting for, was indeed incapable to perform their whole set because of Orri’s health.
I look forward for Sigur Ros coming once again to Mexico, hoping that next time they do so with better company (hope that they change Dos Abejas and Live Tours for a more experienced company), with recovered health and luck.
June 19, 2008 at 4:57 pm
Hello guys, im glad to know that orri`s brain is well right know, im from guadalajara, but i couldnt be there on the concert that you played, thats because i was working near to mexico city, so i decided to go to tepoztlan to watch the show… i know that sometimes shit happens and thats what happened on your last visit to mexico, even for us, i almost died on my way back to home trying to get the bus that will bring me to mexico city.. but anyway… thats the way that life goes… i just wanted to said that im praying for you to come back soon, id love to see to whole show… so please answer our prays..
June 19, 2008 at 5:12 pm
I love the new album and am glad you are on tour, but what is the deal with no Texas or southern shows. I feel like more and more bands are passing us up. I am extremely disappointed.
June 19, 2008 at 5:42 pm
Hope that Orri is feeling better. Good luck with the rest of the tour. Am awaiting the new CD, can’t wait to hear it!!
We will be flying from London to Berlin to see you at the Tempodrom with Olafur Arnalds. My dream come true to see such amazing musicians on the same bill.
Takk fyrir.
June 19, 2008 at 6:13 pm
Good luck with the rest of the tour! I recommend you get Orri an appointment with an acupuncturist for at least once a week if you can find someone in each city. It will help a great deal if not cure his migraines.
June 19, 2008 at 6:25 pm
Hey Guys! we are waiting for you in south america!, im from chile and id love to c u on concert, in fact i will go to ny, but i’ll arrive there after your show!
it would be great if you to come to south america, i’m sure that there thousand of poeple in chile, argentica and brazil that would be so glad to see you guys.
i’ll be waiting for you in chile!
June 19, 2008 at 7:15 pm
Just wanted to say thank you for the great show in Omaha and say you guys were WAY too hard on yourselves. It was a wonderful experience, even with the tornados that chased us all the way down the interstate highway, the long (hot, steamy) wait in the basement with my 12 year old son, and a few minor glitches in the show. If that was SR at their worst, well your worst is better than most bands BEST. I kinda liked the fact that Omaha got a different setlist anyway, makes us feel special!
I wondered what the band thought of our crazy midwest weather and us huddled in the basement. It’s a very common thing for us, but as you noted it can also be deadly if it is ignored. T&P’s to the scouts, one of the dead was from my old hometown in Iowa. Our state and many others in the midwest are getting hit hard with this crazy weather of tornados and floods. Amist all the devastation, you’ve given some hope, escape and comfort to us, even if only for a short time.
Thanks again, it was a mavelous, if not surreal night, feel free to come back and blast us right if you wish, I won’t mind at all!
June 19, 2008 at 8:33 pm
I saw SR at the Uptown Theatre in Kansas City. I knew nothing of your troubles from the the earlier gigs and, honestly, the boys (and girls) onstage never let on. I saw SR at Liberty Hall in Lawrence, KS 6 years earlier and, yes, the show was shorter and the lighting not as grand but, it didn’t matter. The show was amazing and I was happily suprised when they played one of the new tracks as the last song before the encore. Looking back on it with new eyes, I appreciate the sacrifice that Orri must have made to play that and then return for the other songs. I wish you and the rest a safer and healthier journey. We can do nothing for the humidity, appologies. :)
June 19, 2008 at 8:41 pm
CHILE..!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Please!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! x)
June 19, 2008 at 9:55 pm
greetings from Mexico!, know i clearly understand what happened in Tepoztlan, for the first moment i saw Orri taking his hands onto his head i thought the altittude might played his part, i just hope (and a bunch of people too) you guys come back again and play again, im really looking foward for your answer, cheers and have time in the US and Europe.
June 19, 2008 at 11:21 pm
I can not say enough good things about the show in Kansas City. This is what I wrote about it to all my friends who missed out:
“I’ve probably seen upwards of 1500 shows/concerts/raves/events in life, easily. Music is my lifeblood, my passion, the one thing that gives me purpose, the one thing that when all else has disappeared, gives me hope, love and life force. That said, Sigur Ros is one of the most A M A Z I N G bands I have ever seen.
I sent an email to a very good friend of mine describing their concert tonight this way: “So totally, haunting beautiful. It was like they carved precious art out of thin air”.
Only a very few bands have evoked these feelings in me. I think it’s more like they are channeling something rather than playing music”.
I feel very privileged to have been at that show. And in my hometown, no less!!!
June 19, 2008 at 11:49 pm
Thank you for a wonderful show in Kansas City!
June 20, 2008 at 12:15 am
I was at the show in Omaha, and I completely agree with Jeff. Really an amazing set, and I can’t imagine how much more transcendent it would have been on one of your “good” days. I got to see “Heima” in January, and I never would have imagined that you would come to perform live for us just five months later. Sorry for the crappy weather - I almost stayed home, but I’m glad I ventured downtown and arrived just in time for the beginning of your set.
A postscript - just two days later, I saw “The Life Aquatic With Steve Zissou” for the first time, and I had no idea that Sigur Ros was on the soundtrack. The crew finally sees the jaguar shark, and “Staralfur” starts playing in the background… I could not have dreamed up a more perfect end to the work week.
June 20, 2008 at 12:51 am
wow. me and five friends packed a honda accord from memphis/nashville tn to see you guys in KC. the room was hot and the crowd was intent on not missing a moment. i didn’t know what was going on and i felt let down with such a short set, but i didn’t know the drummer was going through hell. anyway, it was worth the drive.
June 20, 2008 at 10:24 am
Can’t describe the disappointment I felt when I saw SR on Bonnaroo schedule and realized I couldn’t make the trek this year. Even more disappointed now that I read the reviews. You’re truly an amazing band! Here’s to hoping Orri’s re-couping and that you make many returns to the US and Bonnaroo. Can’t wait for NYC shows this fall.
June 20, 2008 at 11:35 am
I think when shit hits the fan, so to speak, it makes you appreciate everything else that goes right! Maybe Orri should see a chiropractor - he may need an alignment. It sounds like it gets worse when he plays so maybe it’s related to his spine/neck. I’m not sure, just a suggestion. Well I hope the rest of the tour works out. I wanted to see you guys in Iceland with Bjork on the 28th but I couldn’t work it out with such short notice all the way from Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada. It sounds like a great show and for a great cause! Please don’t forget about all of your fans in Canada, especially around Winnipeg where there are thousands of generations of Icelandic settlers here. Minneapolis is a 7 hour drive from here and after the last time (we got kicked out for talking!) I saw a show there, we won’t be driving back anytime soon. The good thing was that my friend and I got to party with you guys after on then back deck adn had a great time. Take care for the rest of the tour!!
Your Icelandic friend!, Camille
June 20, 2008 at 3:55 pm
Thank you, John, for such an enthralling blog-post! It gives the impression of being there, in Mexico, with you)
We all are upset and sincerely anxious about Orri! Hope, there are nothing serious about him! Please, keep us informed about his state of health. And waiting for the new posts!)
Looking forward to SR show in Russia!
Best wishes!
June 21, 2008 at 2:49 pm
I read that Sigur Ros was due to perform Oct 6 2008 in Portland but can’t find it actually listed anywhere. Was it cancelled? If not, how can I get tix? I attended the last Sigur Ros concert when it was here and still am hummmmmiiiinnngggg
June 21, 2008 at 6:52 pm
Orri, get well soon !…
and please COME TO CHILE !!
you have thousand of eager fans down here . :)
June 22, 2008 at 3:44 pm
it was so so sad what happend to Orri and that the show in Mexico got canceled, hope you return to Mexico! and hope you play Hoppi Polla and Seaglopur the best songs ever!
June 23, 2008 at 8:56 pm
chinguen a su madre y ojalá nunca regresen a méxico
pinches culeros
June 25, 2008 at 1:45 am
Thank you for the glimpse into the unfortunately eventful start of the tour. Hope Orri is doing well now. The shop where I purchased med sud also had Von! Just finished listening to it…amazing! I half expected to hear “the lunatic is on the grass” in the background of sigur ros (track one).
I CANNOT wait for your show at Red Rocks. Really, really hope you’ll be incorporating Popplagio into the show (obviously the performance on the Heima dvd made quite an impression). Hope the rest of the tour goes well. Cheers.
June 25, 2008 at 8:22 am
Very proud of the Sigur Ros ensemble (band(s), support, promoters, etc) for treading on and delivering their beautiful, significant and human unifying art in the face of situational, well being, and enviromental challenges. Excellent coverage. This is a tumultuous and rapidily evolving world we are in and I believe this bands music taps into and promotes the emotional and inventive energy we as the responsible generation need.
Look very much forward to seeing you all again, in the land of milk and honey.
June 26, 2008 at 4:05 pm
It’s a shame all this happened starting your tour, especially in Mexico, i hope you give Mexico another chance and try to do the show in Tijuana althought it’s completely different from the rest of Mexico. We’ll be waiting.
June 27, 2008 at 12:10 am
How is Orri???? Seriously.
Best, Andrea
June 29, 2008 at 2:46 am
Haha what a hell. one can only laugh with so much drama going on.
Orri’s thing was such a badtrip on acid back in Tepoz. Hope he is better now. Jc
June 29, 2008 at 3:01 am
i think it’s bullshit how you do not seem to be sorry about having to leave tepoztlan. yeah, it sucks how the drummer got sick and how mexico is so third world country in many ways. the few songs they played were lovely and moving and whatnot, but many of us paid a lot of money to go to that show. and if you consider making up for the cancelled show in tijuana, you should think of the people who went to tepoztlan expecting an amazing COMPLETE show as well.
June 30, 2008 at 7:45 pm
Orri espero q se recupere y puedan seguir con la gira
por favor vengan por sudamerica, vengan por PERÚ… bless
July 6, 2008 at 2:52 pm
WHAT HAPPENED NEXT?
HOW IS ORRI?????!!!!!!!!!!????????!!!!!!
please, just a short update, i’ve been checking this every day for two weeks now
July 7, 2008 at 3:31 am
we are coming from athens,greece to see you in copenhagen!!!! me and my girlfriend!but we hope to see you in athens too, soon…you have many gans over here…
p.s the new video is great!!!
July 7, 2008 at 3:33 am
ooups…!hehe! not gans! correction! fans !
July 11, 2008 at 6:24 pm
I have enjoyed seeing Sigur Ros every time they have performed in Vancouver and count myself as especially lucky after the shennanigans I have experienced today trying to get tickets to their upcoming show at the Chan Centre in Vancouver, B.C. in October, 2008.
I was on the phone with Ticketmaster at 12:15 p.m. - 15 minutes after tickets were supposed to be
on sale - and 15 minutes after I had no luck on-line trying to purchase just 2 tickets.
By that time Ticketmaster agents had already been advised that “no tickets were available for sale.” The show wasn’t sold out; just that there were no tickets for sale … I then visited the affiliate
site of Ticketmaster (TicketsNow) only to find tickets for sale that are 5 - 7 times the cost of
Ticketmaster prices i.e. $250-$350 each !!
I’m absolutley livid over this exploitation of devoted fans who wait patiently for a loooong time
in between visits by this group. I can only hope that another show may be added to allow for more tickets -at fair prices - to be released to the public.
September 22, 2008 at 10:18 am
Great Music guys, love the cross media links. I was so sissapointed that I couldn’t get to the gig… I only just found out about it… wondering what yu guys are doiing in the mobile media channel???
November 16, 2008 at 10:58 pm
I don’t know who, if anyone, will see this…I’m hoping someone close to the band, as I would like to have their permission to use a couple of samples from “Festival” in a song I’ve done. It’s no big deal, for certain, there won’t be any money involved, but I think I’ve done something interesting with what I have used.
You’re welcome to listen, but I will warn you that it is kind of long (20 minutes):
http://www.garageband.com/song?|pe1|S8LTM0LdsaSgYlOzamw
thanks jac
November 16, 2008 at 11:02 pm
http://www.garageband.com/song?|pe1|S8LTM0LdsaSgYlOzamw
bad link above? Trying again. My apologies.
If this like only takes you to the Garage Band main page you can search for the song by name: Wichita 35, or by the band name: The Bambo Syndicate.
thanks again and sorry for the gaffes. jac
November 16, 2008 at 11:16 pm
come to Mexico Please!!!!! and do the comlete show! we love you!!!