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| Info | Setlist | ||||||||||
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01. Unravel 02. All Is Full Of Love 03. Frosti 04. Aurora 05. Gotham Lullaby 06. Undo 07. Pagan Poetry 08. Generous Palmstroke 09. Possibly Maybe 10. Cocoon 11. Venus As A Boy first encore 12. Hyperballad 13. Anchor Song second encore 14. Its In Our Hands |
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| Reviews |
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| STE CHAPELLE REVIEW > 25.08.01 All began two month ago, when i found this letter in my mailbox: Mon, 2 Jul 2001 17:51:22 +0200 : Vous faites partie des heureux élus ayant la possibilté d'aller voir Björk à la Sainte Chapelle le 25 août 2001 (prix : 500F). La démarche à suivre est la suivante : Présentez vous à la Fnac des Champs Elysées entre le mardi 3 juillet et le vendredi 6 juillet (entre 10h et 24h) avec cet e-mail de confirmation et votre pièce d'identité. Vous bénéficiez du droit d'acheter 1 place à votre nom. En vous souhaitant un très beau concert... The mail who allowed me to buy a ticket for the Sainte Chapelle concert. I dreamt of the concert all the holidays long, and saturday, all just became true... Saturday, 25 August 2001. 1p.m: just after having eaten quickly, preparing ourselves conscientiously, and ran all along the Seine to be the first in front of the Sainte Chapelle, we eventually arrived, totally blown. I'm wearing my björky-pink-famous-tshirt, and Minger has got a spiky orange hair, difficult not to see us :) Only two other fans were already here, and another one was about to join us. Our little group began to wait, with Björk magz, cds, photos in our bags, still couldn't believe the concert we had been waiting for, since a so long time was really going to happen (it was my dream to see her in an intimate concert like this one since the day i discovered her, four years ago, now i'm nearly sixteen...). The Grand Rex concert was great, but we did not digest it yet, as if it hadn't really happened, that we had only dreamt it... The weather is warm, we're dry and hungry, but no one of us want to leave its place: we are going to stay here and wait all the day long. Every half-hour, i announce the time of the beggining of the concert, we're becoming ecstatic. Bit by bit; other björkers arrive, we're from all around the world, France, Sweden, England, USA and we chat as if we knew since a very long time. The atmosphere is excellent. 6p.m: a big black car with dark windows approaches. Me and other people run to it, trying to follow it into the Ste Chapelle parking, but the guardians stop us. We see Björk leaving the car, with a lovely red-dress and disarranged hair, climbing up the steps and despite our calls, she didn't pay attention to us; she looked relaxed and entered the Ste Chapelle. We were happy to know she was here, not that we were doubting, but we were so excited that every good thing we earned or saw about the concert calmed us down :) 8.30p.m: the doors eventually open. I'm the third one who enters : the gardians check our tickets and then our bag and pocket, we pass through a metal-detector (no camera, no mici-disc recorder are allowed... mmmh anyway...), all that very quickly. I can enter. Now, most of us don't behave like civilized persons (i'm one of them ;) : we run extraordinarily swiftly all along the corridor which takes us to the hall. We couldn't breathe anymore, were about to enter (i'm still the third one) but then some guardians made us wait again. We are under pressure, really stressed now, just behind a glass door, we see Björk again (i think she was going to fetch the "Porter"), still wearing her red-dress, she's now really close to us (around ten fans) and this time answers to our shy calls with a smile and a little hand-sign. 9p.m: The guardians tear up our tickets. WE ENTER THE SAINTE CHAPELLE. It looks tiny, maybe around 12meters large and 30meters long, no more. There are gigantic stained glass window, The sound of footsteps resounds, the acoustic is excellent. There's no 'real' scene, just a little step where the harp and computers are ready. The first row is really close to the 'scene', around 1.40 meters. I could choice between the first and the second row, and i prefered the second, first place of the file, because i knew Björk was going to walk through the public, it was exactly the seat i was dreaming of. As the intro of Aurora is being played, we wait, gazing the monument. Martin Schmidt from Matmos is already here, and Björk's friends, Jóga and Andrea too, coming straight back, between the hall and the backstage. We took advantage of Jóga's presence to give her a little letter for Björk :) Our mpatience and ecxitation can't help enlarge, we can almost hear the choir of our hearts playing a new sample... And then, Zeena Parkins arrived. She smiled, sat and began to play with her blue harp some of her own compositions, during around 15 minutes. It was amazing, she looked passionately fond of what she played, the music was both soft and violent. While she was playing, the Greenlander choir settled down. We heard a creaking of door, the lights turned off... BJÖRK ENTERED. Standing ovation. She's wearing a swan-dress, not the same she wore during the Oscars ceremony or on Vespertine cover, but a new one, shorter, with pearls and rustles instead of feathers, we can see her leg and her back. Her hair is disarranged and she doesn't wear any make-up, or maybe a very light one. She has no shoes to her feet. She stands shyly just in front of the little scene, she looks terrified and really nervous, and glance at me quickly :) She has no mic, we hear the first notes of Unravel... her voice takes flight in the air and she begins to walk, in rythm. I'm extremely moved, and all the public is, many people are crying, i'm just trembling and my heart is beating extremely strong, it's superhumanely wonderful, we all know we're leaving one of the most beautiful moments of our life. Björk's voice seems to be free, didn't need any mic, as if it was going out from Björk's heart with the help of her movements, escaping and took refuge in our ears... or tears... The strength of this moment was amplified by her real presence among us, it' was totally different of a 'normal' concert, like the Grand Rex one, where even if the artist is in i little hall, he's here for all the public, but here the relationship was really intimate, her arm even touched mine lightely, i understood for the first time she really existed, she wasn't just a voice, just and angel, just a spirit... The song was about to end, the music was becoming deafer, we were so hypnotized that we didn't dare to applause... Björk took the mic and murmured a shy "merci" with a smile, and then the all audience, extatic, applauded. Then, Zeena played another tune, and Martin, the blond member of Matmos, sat, and with sorts of long drumstics round at the end began to touch strange cymbals with them, and then rubed them with a violin bow. Björk sang All Is Full Of Love, a much prettier version than the studio one. The choir sang in a perfect osmosis with her, and Matmos effects were great. Björk danced, or rather moved herself in rythm, that was an excellent song. Just after that, she sat in her little chair, put her feet in lovely tiny-vair-shoes, like Cinderella, and, her music-box on her knees, make us listen a Frosti as clear as a bell, it was rapider that the studio version, but still so fragile that we feared to break the song if we applauded or even just cough slightly... Björk just became a fairy and put us in a waking dream... As Frosti was about to end, Martin began to walk in a little salt-tray (i took some slat at the end :) : the sample of the steps in the snow... Aurora. He didn't look the public, as if he was affraid of us, but gazed the roof. Zeena played. Björk forgot to sing the first words of the song, and start by a shy "from twilights to twilights"... One more time, her voice became a shooting star who traveled all around the chapelle, followed by the sparkles of the chorist voices... Björk linked the songs together quite quickly, never letting us finish to applause, as if they wasn't any break between the songs, that there was only one song, a never-ending and delightful song. Maybe that's why the public wavered before applause at the end of the songs, maybe to not break that. but when the clapping started, it was difficult for Björk to make them stop, Zeena had to play her harp for make them silent again... So, she went on her long song with singing Gotham Lullaby, which wasn't announced in the official setlist; Björk's voice was wonderful during this song. Then came Undo : Matmos beats were a little bit different from the studio one. Björk was close to the public, walked between the three first rows, smiling sometimes, she seemed to really enjoy singing this song, with her heart, especially at the end. Like on Vespertine, Pagan Poetry followed Undo. This version was really stronger than the studio one. Björk seemed to live her song, even if the lyrics are quite dark, she smiled sometimes... The choir was particularly great on this song. The "she loves him, she loves him, she loves him..." part was really touching. The atmosphere was reduced of pressure when Björk put a little mic on her dress and started to sing her wonderful b-side Generous Palmstroke, her voice was just a little bit amplify, really clear, Zeena was still passionated by her music, and Björk looked her smiling when she played alone. During the first Grand Rex concert, public applauded before the end of the song because there's a sort of 2-seconds break, but today the silent was religious. I found this live-version much better than the studio-one. Martin put a guitar on his table, and he made his fingers slip on the strings, it gave a strange new sound (we had already see him creating sounds with guitars during the Grand-Rex Première Partie) and Zeena played a tune weel known by all the Post-period : Possibly Maybe, a sort of Matmos-remix, a new birth for this song ? Habitually it's not one of my favourite, but i quite enjoyed this new interpreting. Cocoon, certainly the sweetest song of the concert (and the album), followed. It began like a counting rhyme, and Björk's voice were appeasing, heartening, 'feathers on her breathe'... i do love this song. Björk touched her mouth while saying "from a mouth... of a girl like me..." and she moved on rythm. Arrived a cult-song : Venus As A Boy, one of her first songs that we didn't expect at all and were totally suprised and happy when the first "bom... bombom.... bom.... bombom" started :)) Of course it was a Matmoser version, the original version was here, no modify, but with new beats on it. Amazing ! It was strange to find this song here anyway. Then Björk left the hall, thanking us under our clappings. She wasn't here anymore, but everybody was standing up, howling her name, applauded in the most strong way they could. I had never applauded like that in my life, clappings full of love, i could yell, i wasn't able to hear my own voice. Just after this real surprise, Björk came back, we continued to acclam her, she looked really happy, we were too, our hearts were still beating... so strong... we thought she was about to sing a brand new song, and another big and excellent surprise we all totally appraise came : we reconized the Hyperballad beggining ! Zeena was omnipresent on this song (harp, accordeon...) and Matmos's beats too. I found something very funny and i think Björk enjoyed it too: everybody knew Hyperballad, it's almost an old story now, and we were happy to find it in this concert full of new songs, even if most of us already knew them. Morever, Hyperballad is a song full of energy, of electrobeats who make us want to dance: nobody dared (that's much better of course), but everybody was dancing sat, moving in its chair, stamping its feet, it reminded me of those Dancer In The Dark choregraphies when 'normal people' begin to dance when they hear Selma's music, but not really daring, just beating the rythm with their heads or body. It was exactly like that. Then Björk introduced her 'team' : "Do you speak english ? My frrrrench is terrrible !" (if you want i can give you french lessons, Björk !), she said she really enjoyed her French Tour (we also did, really...) and presented us Zeena, the Greenlandic choir and Matmos, and we acclamed them the in better way we could, they were simply fantastic ! There was no violin, the choir was so quiet and no one took a spin for the next to last song : only Zeena and Björk were here, and played this song i could hear all my life, everyday, everynight without never getting tired of it : The Anchor Song. Zeena had an old organ with pedals, strange instrument like Björk loves them, and its sound was incredibly great. A 'normal' version of this song... still absolutely perfect. But we can see the end of the show coming, Björk forestall us that we're going to hear the last long, "Our Hands, a new song that isn't released yet" (it was on the internet :). The Beggining of it is really joyful, electronic-Matmos-beats, during the intro the chorists played with their hands, clapping them, smiling, Björk sang this joy with a gigantic smile, in the middle of the song she clapped her hands to, it was an genious moment, we almost imagined Björk was one of our friends, was just having an excellent time with us... Björk's voice was PERFECT, and sometimes she had to sing very loud voice, it was the best end we could imagine for this divine concert. Then she thanked us a last time before leaving... we continued to acclamed her for around ten minutes, and then the lights switched, Zeena, the choir and Matmos leaved too... leaved us in a little pink cloud... i have not come down from it yet, i just bought Vespertine and the cloud seems to go further and further in the björky sky... I would like to thank Björk, for the music she give us, the energy, the magic, the gladness she transmits her fans, and her wonderful last album, Vespertine... ég er Þakklàt, tàkk kærlega...... draumar minir urðu að veruleika. .:. dörontheös .:. < c a n i h i d e t h e r e t o o ? > http://doron.fr.st /dörontheös - 3418 |
| Review of the 25th show at the chapell Once again bjork knew how to transport us in paradise; hardly hurt in the path of the holy chapel, she whispers the first words of unravel without microphone. The voice is slow and composed that it gives us the impression to sing for each of us ,then she comes back from the bottom of the holy chapel such an innocent girl who dances in the middle of persons completly absorbed by the natural beauty of the icelandic bjork so saw it; a concert domestika wich totally the idea of vespertine; "i wanted to make a disc which allows to make feel the happiness to be alone at home" indeed,the conquered audience feels living to bjork, in her universe full of beauty ,simplicity and innocence... Inuit choir joins then bjork and allows to the public to realizes of the sound quality of the chapel. All is full of love is chained in a magic way then comes Frosti and Aurora who take us in ballad in icelandic snows; in spite of her false start. Then as come of nowhere bjork sings a song which is not on the set list :Gotham lullaby. The time too fast pass and the diva is already back in the audience to sing Undo while dancing in the central path. We feel her more at ease, she takes more and more often the microphone and shouts by using sublime sound capacity of the room. Every break between two songs only lasts a few seconds and the small laughter of the icelandic made smile the very first rows. Pagan poetry and Generous palmstroke stand out very well and we feel on this last on a triad among Zeena Parkins, harpist, and bjork who does not refrain from throwing her small regs. Later, two very recognizable notes make the assembly reacts: possibly maybe, a song from post, makes the joy of the big fans of this period. Then comes cocoon, certainly vespertine's sweetest song, where one notices bjork wich gestures everywhere to succed has to take out sound perfect of its mouth "from the mouth of a girl like me to a boy ..." one familiar rythm makes listen, Venus as a boy is the big first surprise, everyone can feel the fans want to get up to dance with the diva, but she already goes away. Some minutes of applause and here is her return among us: "Do you speak english? My french is terrible! This was the final show of our tour in paris, it was really gorgeous, thank you verrrrrrrrry much" Whith tears in our eyes, we can feel the emotion which torments bjork then to her natural adds her frankness. Hyperballad, one of the favorite songs of the fans, stimulates the audience, it is the second big surprise. Then bjork still leaves, but she does not delay returning, and once again, everybody stands up, Bjork presents the harpist, Matmos and the inuit choir. The concert finishes on Anchor Song and It's In Our Hands in a techno version of which the programmed beats by the duets Matmos makes the people more delighted by this dream concert and once again everybody comes down on earth; the fall is terrible....... /tim@alternativecircle - 3417 |
| Une fois de plus Björk a su nous transporter au paradis ; à peine élancée dans l'allée de la Sainte Chapelle, elle chuchote les premiers mots de Unravel sans micro. La voix est tellement basse et posée qu'elle nous donne l'impression de chanter pour chacun d'entre nous, puis elle revient du fond de la Sainte Chapelle telle une jeune fille innocente qui danse au milieu de personnes complètement absorbées par la beauté naturelle de l'islandaise. Björk le voyait ainsi, un concert Domestika qui rejoint totalement l'idée de Vespertine, "Je voulais faire un disque qui permette de faire ressentir le bonheur d'être seul chez soi". En effet, le public conquis se sent vivre chez Björk, dans son univers plein de beauté, de simplicité et d'innocence.... Le choeur inuit rejoint ensuite Björk et permet au public de se rendre compte de la qualité sonore de la chapelle. All is full of Love est enchaînée de façon magique, puis viennent Frosti et Aurora qui nous emmènent en ballade dans les neiges islandaises, malgré le faux départ de la chanteuse. Puis comme venue de nulle part, Björk nous chante une chanson qui n'est pas sur la set list : Gotham Lullaby. Le temps passe trop vite et la diva est déjà de retour dans le public pour chanter Undo tout en dansant dans l'allée centrale. On la sent désormais plus à l'aise, elle éloigne de plus en plus souvent son micro et crie en utilisant la sublime capacité sonore de la salle. Chaque pause entre deux chansons ne dure que quelques secondes et le petit rire de l'islandaise fait sourire les premiers rangs. Pagan Poetry et Generous Palmstroke ressortent très bien et on sent sur cette dernière un accord parfait entre Zeena Parkins, la harpiste, et Björk qui ne s'empêche de lui jeter des petits regards taquins. Deux notes très reconnaissables font réagir l'assemblée : Possibly Maybe, tout droit venu de Post fait la joie des grands fans de cette époque. Puis vient Cocoon, certainement la chanson la plus douce de Vespertine, ou l'on remarque une Björk qui gesticule dans tous les sens pour réussir a sortir des sons parfait de sa bouche " from a mouth of a girl like me, to a boy..." Un rythme familier se fait entendre, Venus as a Boy est la première grosse surprise, on sent que les fans ont envie de se lever pour danser avec la diva, mais elle s'en va déjà. Quelques minutes d' applaudissement et la voilà de retour parmi nous : "Do you speak english? My french is terrible ! This was the final show of our 4 show tour in Paris, it was really gorgeous, thank you verrrrry much" Les larmes aux yeux, on sent l' emotion qui tourmente Björk, alors a son naturelle se rajoute sa franchise. Hyperballad, une des chansons préférées des fans, anime le public, c'est la deuxième grosse surprise. Puis Björk repart encore, mais elle ne tarde pas à revenir, et une fois de plus tout le monde est debout, Björk présente la Harpiste, Matmos et le choeur inuit. Le concert finit sur Anchor Song et It's in our hands dans une version techno électrique dont les beats programmés par le duo Matmos font bouger toute la salle ravie par ce concert de rêve, et une fois de plus tous le monde redescend doucement sur terre, la chute est terrible. /Timspaceboy - 3416 |
| 2nd Ste Chapelle gig Once again, the second gig was really better than the first one, probably because Bjork repaired her swan dress stockings ;-) les "vieilles pies" (pronounces VIP - you gonna be fluent french soon), a more respectful audience, waiting to the very last minutes of each song before clapping, even no try to clap for Our Hands song, very nice :) and no stupid useless "booo" at the end. a very bad venue organisation, but they are used to classical concert there, not running fans all over the place. i heard the Garance Production boss, who organized these shows, trying to explain in english to an old "mister" why these young ppl were running (like rabbits :) so first in line were not first inside :( for myself, i took the time to stop by the chapel doors to admire the big Porter Music Box: yes, this time they put it outside: that's what i like with Bjork gigs, it's never the same, they (or she) always try to improve things. As i stopped to look at the Box, a french guy from the show organisation says "at least there's someone who noticed our special box". a Oregon company (Porter) made it, specially for Bjork, the small one as well, it has 2 removable cupper disks and it's BEAUTIFUL. May be the 2 disks inside (just like DJ's turntables could play at the same time, i didn't ask, i had to take a seat. the show began with Zeena, wearing a black dress this time, beautiful smile :). and when Bjork came in, everyone was very quiet, as impressed. and they had to be, cause her first song is so... no words for that. i had to look at the back: beautiful windows of these church, beautiful "Rosace" window upon the doors (it was still day time outside) and Bj voice, far but powerful, with these beautiful words of the Unravel song, and the choir responding on the other side of the room. SO GORGEOUS fans awared by 2st gig reviews took their seats by the aisle, i saw some fans petrified while Bjork was singing so close. this show was more enjoyable than the previous one, no Hidden Place, but Hyperballad and Gotham Lullaby. a wonderful Our Hands were MATMOS improvised a strong powerful beat at the end, while Bjork tried to scream in the microphone to be heard (she was also smiling about that), an anchor song with a slight beautiful interpretation by Zeena at the end of the song. never the same, that's nice :) journalists can't understand that about Bjork gigs. and so nice to get our hands on posters once again, when leaving the place. A+ MicK... /MicK - 3415 |
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