Well I saw the show, got home at 7 in the morning, woke up a few hours later, and have not stopped thinking about how unbelievably amazing it was all day. Sigur Ros started things off with a short, three song acoustic set. Kjartan played on a baby grand Steinway, Jonsi had his beautiful acoustic guitar, Georg had a nice acoustic bass and Orri had a very simple drum setup featuring only a bass drum, one snare, one cymbal and one hi-hat which he played with regular drum sticks, wire brushes and wrapped mallets which he used interchangeably (switching mid song). They started the set with 'Untitled #4' ('Njósnavélin') from ( ), then played a completely new song (never played live before), and finished with the title track from Agaetis Byrjun. They sat the whole time and, after modest bows in front of a standing ovation, moved off stage. The set, although quite short, was insanely beautiful and moving and because the venue was rather tiny and I was extremely close to the stage, really intimate as well. I feel like it was a once in a lifetime opportunity to see them play so minimally since they (sadly) only play the big venues when on tour.
On to the movie: I was in stunned silence for several minutes after it ended. Everything, even the final credits, was so incredibly beautiful and well done that it shocked me. The footage from various shows was truly amazing, the landscapes were breathtaking and hearing the band speak about themselves and their music, even if it was only in small doses, was amazingly insightful and really great to hear. This is easily the most powerful, beautiful, and well executed rock documentary I have ever had the good fortune to see. Not to mention it was the sold out U.S. premier and was presented on a huge screen in high definition with very, very loud 5.1 surround sound, all of which made the experience even more special, memorable, and intense. If this is screening anywhere near any of you, even if you haven't listened to/don't really like Sigur Ros, you'll be doing yourself a huge favor by seeing this. It's funny, gorgeous, intensely powerful, insightful and is technically amazingly well done as well. This was well worth missing the Randal's Island show and waiting in line five hours for and I would say that only about a select few things. This surpassed my expectations in so many ways and is surely something I won't forget. An amazing experience!
