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| Info | Setlist | ||||||||||
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01. Intro - Musicbox 02. Harm Of Will 03. All Is Full Of Love 04. Unravel 05. Generous Palmstroke 06. It's Not Up To You 07. Undo 08. I've Seen It All 09. Cocoon 10. Hidden Place 11. Frosti 12. You've Been Flirting Again 13. Isobel 14. Pagan Poetry 15. Venus As A Boy 16. Possibly Maybe 17. Anchor Song 18. Hyperballad 19. Bachelorette first encore 20. Jóga second encore 21. Its In Our Hands 22. Human Behaviour |
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| Reviews |
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/ - 3155 |
| A wide-eyed child in paradise Bjork Grand Rex PARIS Independent on Sunday - Aug 26, 2001 BY JAMES MCNAIR Whether acting in Lars von Trier's Dancer in the Dark or wearing dresses that even Vivienne Westwood might consider outre, Bjork Gudmundsdottir has never done things by halves. If such gung-ho individualism has often meant less column-inches about her music, with new album Vespertine, the Icelandic innovator looks set to re-establish herself as the most interesting pop chanteuse de nos jours. She's described Vespertine as an attempt to create both "a paradise" and "a cocoon" and, with its themes of privacy, solitude, and quiet reverence in the face of the everyday, the album does establish its own little universe. Utilising music boxes, harp, and the "micro-rhythms" of San Francisco's electronica duo, Matmos, Vespertine is also an oddly touching work. France has always been a key territory for Bjork, and this ornate old theatre was a fitting place for her to air the new material live. There was a rare sense of occasion. We'd heard that as well as Matmos and harpist Zeena Parkins, Bjork was to be joined by a full orchestra and an all-female Innuit choir who, thus far, hadn't travelled outside Greenland. Initially, Bjork sat centre-stage alone. On her lap was a glass music box whose ghostly chimes immediately created an intimate, dream-like atmosphere on "Frosti". Further in, "Aurora", found Martin Schmidt of Matmos treading a cat-litter tray to recreate the sound of snow compacting underfoot, a glacial landscape projected on the screen behind him, and Parkins' harp sounding as crisp as snapped icicles. Where Bjork's voice is concerned, "marvellous" is the only adjective that will do. She seems to approach singing like a track and field event, stamping feet and swinging arms to add weight and momentum to the gorgeous, guttural braying which characterises her lower range at full pelt. Tonight, this was particularly impressive on "Pagan Poetry", a gob-smackingly emotional song in which Bjork's amour for her new artist boyfriend Matthew Barney is completely transparent. When it broke down to the repeated phrase "I love him" and the Innuit choir added its counterpoint, your correspondent's goose bumps weren't so much raised as run up the flagpole. Bjork's dresses, too, were little events in themselves. During the second half of a set which included such crowd-pleasers as "Human Behaviour", "Possibly Maybe" and "Hyperballad", she wore an amazing Alexander McQueen creation. Its top half consisted of interwoven tiles of coloured glass whose clinking added surreptitious percussion. Its bottom half was a vast, tented mass of red feathers, some of which littered the stage after our hostess decided to dance a barefoot hula-hula to "Venus as a Boy." If part of Bjork is still a wide-eyed child playing dressing-up games, what tonight's performance further underlined is her ability to create intoxicating, challenging music which evokes adult emotional life in all its complexity. During "Cocoon", there was a magical moment where, seemingly overcome with the strange beauty of it all, one of the Innuit women rested her happy-sad head on the shoulder of her companion in a way that was disarmingly unaffected. Call me a big girl's blouse, but I knew exactly how she felt. St Johns Smith Square, London SW1 (020 7222 1061), Wednesday /JAMES MCNAIR - 3046 |
| Which extraordinary place that this "Grand Rex". One would be believed to arrive right in the middle of a tale of the one hundred and one nights... In two lines in front of me are spread out the music stands of the orchestra and the scene, where one distinguishes zeena perkins's instruments, machines of Matmos, 8 mic of the chorus, and the foot of micro vacuum in the center of the scene. a half hour I await under this starry sky... a half hour to be wondered what will occur... arrives finally matmos for the first part : they play " ur tchun tan tse IQ ", " spondee ", " for Felix (and all the rat) " as well as a fourth title which I do not recognize. It seems that the set was not as different from the concert of Saturday. still 20 minutes of waiting; the light is swich off. The cries resounded in all the room, my neighbor is getting out of breath with high rumbles ;). I remain shut away in expectancy... the lights of the orchestra ignites: björk is there, in the middle of the public, a scribbled paper in her trembling hand... the sweet atmospheric pads of the orchestra are made hear. the public is keeping silent. " harm of will " is born... vespertine is born... björk becomes an emanation from her music... I enjoy this " harm mof will ", my title preferred in " vespertine ", while looking at her, walking slowly through the lines of witnesses... she approaches me, close to 1 meter, she passes, throw an eye on her words written with haste... her body is very close to me, but her voice transpierces me the heart... the magic operates. what else to say... it was a great gig, the musical ideas with abundance (like " surround " spatialization), the " funny matmosic sounds " ;o). perhaps one will deplore a mixing to the detriment of the orchestra, which is made sometimes completely cover by the electronic sounds, and the chorus not always convincing. the orchestral partition is superbly arranged, zeena perkins is absolutely fabulous (still thank you for this " generous palmstroke " and this sublimissime " anchor song "). the images projected during the first part plunge us in this felted and cold universe of vespertine, numerical emanations of snows and ices. the second part, more syncopated, will bathe us different lights according to titles and reflect them according to the images of the clips or the CD's pic : red for isobel, green for bachelorette... the public ignites for venus as a boy, exults on human behaviour... finally, björk makes us a rapid presentation of all the musicians before our hands (of which the intro uses our childhood's handplay). unforgettable. one would have remained longer. while leaving, one is a little orphan... thank you little lady, thank you very much for these emotions in your company. thank you. and c u on thursday /(:thion:) - 3045 |
| http://www.jp.dk/dbp/internetavisen/kultur/artikel&art_id=3427827 Björk in Paris: Still a unique star by NIELS PEDERSEN Jyllands-Postens sent-out coworker Grand Rex, Paris: BJÖRK Monday. In the musical climate of time, Björk is the only one, who can easily get away with taking a 54-man symphony-orchestra, a few musicboxes, a greenlandish girlchoir, a harpist, and the mad electronic duo Matmos and make them all melt together and act as a natural leader for her songs. The 35-yearold icelandic singer has chosen this setup in order to illustrate her new album "Vespertine" and creates on her tour soundscapes, you won't meet in any other place. It is a dark and frightening project, the little one has thrown herself into, but she succeeds in keeping her balance, and when she left the stage in the art deco-theatre, Grand Rex, her star shone if possible even brighter than before. The large setup means, that Björk takes her music to other spaces than the usual rock surroundings. It is about concerthalls and operahouses the following months, and there will also be given intimate church-concerts without the many strings and without microphone-enhancement. The concert in Paris coincides with the release of "Vespertine" - a gentle, minimalist songcycle with electronic popsongs for home-use. It is an thoroughly european album. Like a winterbath it is icingly cold, and yet it makes your blood boil and shoots your bodytemperature to the skies. The new songs filled the most of the first set, and mingled beautifully with the related minimalisthymns like "All Is Full Of Love" and "Unravel" from 'Homogenic' (1997) and not least the big emotional showstopper "I've Seen it All" from the movie 'Dancer In the Dark' (2000). The audicence replied the characteristic train-intro with roaring ovations and let themselves be swept away, when the strings in cinemascope filled the theatre. Through the first set Björk tripped around on stage in a strange black/green creation with bare shoulders and something, that looked like the remainders of a black swan as bottom. She was in control, articulated clearly in the pretty acoustic and switched between whispers and towertall notechasers. She seemed turned on and somewhat more positive than during the depressive concerts after 'Homogenic'. The songs from 'Vespertine' are more moodfragments than actual popped melodies with "Hidden Place" and "It's Not Up To You" as exceptions. Completely centred in this part of the concert was "Cocoon", which she has written together with danish Thomas Knak alias Opiate. Completely worked-down, the song was "just" a rhythmtrack, that creaked so much, that you would think that the plug was fallen out of the mixerboard. Björk sang "Cocoon" with full empathy straight to the heart and has clearly gotten a new pearl in her songtreasures. Second set: Popular songs in new arrangements After a pause, which the 2500 parisian hipsters used for smoking a million cigarettes and admiring eachothers checked morninghair and T-shirts from "A Bathing Ape", Björk finally drove the concert home with a stripe of her best and most loved songs in new arrangements. "You've Been Flirting Again" opened gently, and "Isobel" sprung out in bloodred light. The lead character was now in a red glittertop and ostrichskirt of red feathers. There were little bells hidden in the skirt, so Björks little jumps and dances became a part of the soundimage! "Venus As A Boy" was more beautiful than ever and seemed born for this dramatic ensemble. That is one of the older number, that best takes a bearing of the intimate sounds on "Vespertine". "Possibly Maybe" gripped out with violent ruptures and the devout refrain, while "The Anchor Song" stood naked only supported by harpist Zeena Parkins on a treadorgan. And then it happend. After all these controlled tones and a whole lot of restrained breath Björk could not keep up the mask anymore. "Hyperballad" from the masterpiece 'Post' (1995) tingled and shoved with nervous rhythms to her body, and when the dancebeat finally broke through, she whirled around on stage, dancing, stuck out her tongue and lost control of her arms. And she looked again like the adorable dancegirl, which previously has seduced her audience with provocative electronic dancemusic and had gotten us to dance to new sounds. Now she released all her built-up energy and sevred a perfect climax with the stringheavy "Bachelorette", "Jóga", a round of clapgame with the greenlandish girlfriends and a grand "Human Behaviour" to send us off home with. 100 minutes it became in Grand Rex. 100 minutes of curiousity, experiments and more good musical ideas than other artists get in a whole career. Some of these were about Björks choice of playmates. Matmos were perfect in the role of lords of the machinepark, and their pretended battle with natural percussion (for example playingcards!) were always surprising, while Il Novocento Orchestra conducted by Simon Lee delived the grandness from the floor infront of the stage. More problematic were the inuitgirls. The greenlandish choir were no musical bonus and served mostly as a fun decorative idea. Despite all these helpers and tools you left the concert with a feeling of having been closer to Björk than ever before. Previously she has for example either guided us into a form of collective extasy, or she has been a distanced performer with heavy artistic considerations. Right now Björk looks like an artist, which has settled down with being a real star. She has built a song catalogue with an unbelievable range, and that means, that she travels with a show, which efficiently builds a bridge between experimental music and the purest gletcherpop. She is the closest the hitlist comes to avantgarde, and her newest ideas are so far out, that there will pass years, before her competitors catch up with her. "Vespertine" (Universal) is released on monday. If all goes well, björk performs at the Royal Theatre in Copenhagen on november 19th. Jyllands-posten brings you an interview and further reports with Björk on sunday. /NIELS PEDERSEN - 3044 |
| This time, the Novecento Orchestra played all along the Bj gig. and she's also using her red dress as an instrument, cause it make noise while moving and dancing! i first thought she had something under the skirt (NO, i'm not saying that!), like some noisy bracelet around her ankle, but it was the whole top of the dress, which is kind of solid red fringes. on both gigs at The Big Rex, i felt like these was 2 different gigs, between 1st and 2nd sets: just as we got the chance to see 2 different bjorks, or 2 different aspects of her, just like the new one (vespertine) with the black dress (which could be the swan dress in black, cause i guess some kind of swan head when she was close), played first, and the old one we usually know (long black hair and red beautiful dress) played on the second part. i love this 2 sets shows (actually supporting act + 2 sets) a beautiful evening indeed ! i'm always amazed, thrilled by her performance, even after seeing 15 gigs since 1995. shall i renew my old time request to OLI: when will i win a free one ? ;-) How many coupons are necessary, hihi ... /Mick Ouli - 3043 |
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