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| Info | Setlist | ||||||||||
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01. Musicbox Intro 02. Overture 03. All Is Full Of Love 04. Unravel (with choir) 05. It's Not Up To You 06. An Echo, A Stain (with Tagaq) 07. Generous Palmstroke 08. I've Seen It All 09. Cocoon 10. Unison 11. Throatsinging solo by Tagaq 12. Hidden Place (with Tagaq) 13. Pagan Poetry 14. Possibly Maybe 15. You've Been Flirting Again 16. Isobel (with Tagaq) 17. Hyperballad 18. Bachelorette first encore 19. Army Of Me 20. Human Behaviour second encore 21. It's In Our Hands |
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| Reviews |
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| http://globalarchive.ft.com/globalarchive/article.html?id=010927000279&query=bjork REVIEW: Pop - BJORK COLISEUM LONDON The Independent - United Kingdom; Sep 27, 2001 BY FIONA STURGES IT'S PERHAPS a throwback to her formal training that, after 15 years in the music business, Bjork has felt the gravitational pull of classicism. She has worked already with the composer John Tavener, the percussionist Evelyn Glennie and the Brodsky Quartet. Now she has decided to promote her new album Vespertine by performing in a series of classical venues. Word has it that the Royal Opera House wouldn't have her. Their loss is the Coliseum's gain, since it couldn't be more appropriate; the grandiose surroundings may diminish her already tiny frame, but they give her extraordinary voice the space and freedom it has long demanded. Bjork is 35 but looks half that. She is a child-woman, padding around the stage in bare feet and wildly clapping her hands. For someone who so vehemently shuns the limelight, she is fabulously unrestrained as a performer, with every word borne out in her body language. She hops on one leg, bends over double, shakes her head and cups her hand conspiratorially over the microphone. As she sings, she opens her mouth as wide as possible as if allowing all the squeaks and susurrations to come out at once. Conversation isn't Bjork's strong point, though. "I'm better singing than I am talking," she concedes. As befits the surroundings, the show is endlessly theatrical, opening with Bjork sitting under a spotlight, cranking up an old gramophone and being showered in confetti. A backdrop bears a frozen landscape, and later, biological sketches of seedlings. In the second half, she glides on stage in a scarlet feathered dress, like a blood-drenched dying swan. She is accompanied by an Inuit choir and Tagaq, a North Canadian throat singer whose guttural wheezing, though undoubtedly impressive, brings to mind the sound of a cow in labour. This must be a first, too, that a harpist is seen playing with an accordion slung around her neck, and moving seamlessly between the two instruments. The San Francisco electronica boffins, Matmos, provide the shuffling bleeps, clicks and whirrings for a selection of new songs, including "Hidden Place" and the pseudo-orgasmic "Cocoon", as well as the more familiar propulsive groove of "Possibly Maybe" and "Human Behaviour". The new tracks betray a curiously submissive tone, though this is not to be mistaken for vulnerability. During "I am Strong in his Hands", a medieval-sounding folk song accompanied only by harp, the singer grinds the vowel sounds into the ground, eliciting hysterical declarations of love from the audience. Is it pop? Is it classical? Who cares? Bjork is beyond such earthly associations, existing in her own unclassifiable sphere. Musicians who claim to push the boundaries of music are now two-a-penny. Bjork is the only one that manages it. Dear bjork.com, I'd like to submit my own thoughts on Bjork's show at the Coliseum. ====================== This remarkable concert started with two guys named Matmos making 'music' from their skin, their hair, their teeth, from large balloons, and even a hamster cage, while images of their body parts, street maps, and human silhouettes were projected onto a screen behind, creating a bizarre and chaotic mix of sounds and images. At first their act made no sense, posing more questions than answers. What is this all about? Why are these guys performing and working with Bjork? Their final piece ended with a tape recorder attached to some large helium filled balloons gently floating up towards the angels in the Coliseum roof, the sound dying away, and then darkness... That's it! Here are two guys who are exploring the musical possibilities of everyday objects, of human experience and their own bodies, breaking them down into elemental sounds, literally synthesizing sounds from all around us and transforming them into music. And this is precisely why Bjork is working with them on Vespertine and this tour. Bjork is pushing back the boundaries of music or 'musical sound', the enigmatic Matmos adding to the array of musical language at her disposal: the basic life forms and icy landscapes projected on the back wall subtly augmented the music and confirmed the sources of her inspiration. Could it be that Bjork is trying to interpret human existence and nature itself through her own emotions and experiences, expressing it in voice, words and music, and discovering a new musical language on the way? For me, the new songs from Vespertine were the most vital and alive. The classic Bjork tracks from her previous albums were great (although the overall sound on these was a little loud and unbalanced), but it was the new and quieter tracks, such as 'An Echo, A Stain', 'Cocoon', the beautiful 'All is full of love', and the delicate 'Unravel' that created so many sensual resonances and lasting impressions. Bjork's range of musical talents is broad: her innocence in the opening piece where she sits and plays an old music box; her mighty wall of sound in the Overture to Dancer in the Dark which is equal to any modern 'classical' composer, the trance like rhythms of Hidden Place accompanied by a throat singer (adding more elemental sounds..), to the catchy beat sounds of Hyperballad and Bachelorette. The Vespertine album, the tour, and the autobiographical book, establishes Bjork as a truly original artist/singer/songwriter with very few rivals in the art or music business. A unique and enlightening experience. ====================== Great web site as always,,, keep it up guys. Regards --Andrew Smith UK http://www.telegraph.co.uk/ Björk proves a very fine swan indeed Rupert Christiansen reviews Björk at the London Coliseum I HOPE that readers will forgive an opera critic's temporary trespass into pop territory, but the prospect of the Icelandic chanteuse Björk positioning herself behind the thoroughly operatic proscenium of the London Coliseum, as part of a global tour of classical music venues, was irresistibly intriguing. And I do think that the coteries of "serious" contemporary music could learn a lot from her. Eclecticism is the most striking feature of Björk's musicality. An early academic training, as well as elements of punk, jazz, electronics and her native traditions, all feed into her songs, most of which she writes herself. This concert, for instance, opens with her spotlit in a chair, cranking an old music box before a symphony orchestra launches into a prelude of positively Wagnerian nobility. Her backing group is a choir of 15 Innuit women, and, instead of the usual crass guitar and drums thumping, the rhythms are subtly synthesized by Matmos, a pair of San Franciscan hi-tech radicals. She also duets with an astounding North Canadian called Tagaq who hisses, wheezes, grunts and squeals. Her own singing style is a combination of punk belting with a falsetto soprano extension. Its strangely childlike quality is complemented by her mesmerising dancing, which is more a hop and a skip around the primary school playground than maenadic disco gyration. Swathed in a black-feathered costume that looks half Swan Lake, half Moulin Rouge, she is lost in a world of her own and shows no sign of a return to Planet Earth. It's an act that could be an awful mish-mash of phoney pretensions and failed ambitions - rock music for art-school pseuds. But Björk clearly believes in it all passionately, and that sincerity gave the show integrity and focus, whether in relatively conventional hits from her early albums such as Human Behaviour and Possibly Maybe, or the haunting Pagan Poetry, with its clanging gamelan accompaniment, from her new release, Vespertine. Other highlights of a relatively short but padding-free concert were a solo version of I Have Seen it All ( originally sung as a duet with Radiohead's Thom Yorke in the movie Dancer in the Dark ) and the modal I am Strong in his Hands, which, with the help of Zeena Parkins's superb harp-playing, ended up sounding like a Highland folk song. At such moments, Björk makes Madonna look like a slick package of nothing, and also uncomfortably reminds one that so many of the singers who normally grace this stage simply don't have a personality. Scattered plumes of white feathers litter a sparse stage. The mix of the total charm and wonder of the English Opera House and a devoted army of Bjork followers revelled in a performance that stunned the crowd tenderly. Opening with a gentle orchestra, then concocting a weave of textured electronica mixed with the lush fullness of a sweeping collection of strings where heart ripping ballads aka All is Full of Love, I Have Seen it all were shattered by the pounding full beats of Army of Me. Her little choir of backing singers from Greenland provided a good back drop to fill in or expose the distant cracks and reveberating bleeps in all of her new and more multi-layered songs. It seems like she has the world on a string, riding high with Dancer In The Dark, a new album Vespertine and a little picture book. Her art forms cut across the mediums all offering a very intimate portrait of a fairy queen godess child living in her own magical world. Her artistic space seems as open and as wide as the desolate white stage she graced with the red feather dress and the black feather dress. The little white swan then flew away amoung a roaring ovation. All touched, all wanting another little piece of her whilst already having all of her in the binary coded cd collection at home. Ash Odedra for musicbizzonline.com online in October http://www.guardian.co.uk/reviews/story/0,3604,557566,00.html Björk Coliseum, London Rating: **** Tim Ashley Tuesday September 25, 2001 The Guardian "Björk," John Tavener once remarked, "is more intelligent than most classical singers." Some would doubtless question his judgment, though he is, in this instance, right. Like any great singer, the Icelandic diva (the term, reserved for opera's charismatic women, is apt) is bent on redefining the parameters of music itself. Pop is a word she now disdains. Instead, she has gravitated towards domains hitherto regarded as the preserves of classicism. A few weeks ago, she appeared at London's St John's Smith Square, the Baroque sanctum of early music and Lieder. Now she has arrived at the home of English National Opera. "Crossover" is a word that conspicuously fails to describe what she is attempting. This isn't opera, though what Björk has absorbed into her work is opera's spaciousness, its theatrical and musical extravagance and its ritual potential. What she presents us with is effectively the modern equivalent of classical music's post-Romantic enormity. An orchestra erupts at her feet, shrouding her in hieratic Wagnerian pomp. An Inuit choir serves as her acolytes. Vast video screens carry a stream of images: a frozen Nordic landscape in the first half, symbols of germinating life in the second. Fluttering across the stage like some strange force of nature, Björk herself seems part human, part spirit. Her songs blend the earthly, the erotic and the mystic. Embrace envisions sexual submission to an unnamed male deity. Elsewhere the lyrics become more blatant. "When I wake up in his arms, he's still inside me," she sings at one shudder-inducing moment. Her voice uniquely captures the experiences she describes. I can think of no other singer who can swerve with such vertiginous conviction from guttural earthiness to seraphic innocence. "I never thought I would compromise," she sings at one point. I doubt whether she ever has, though she has often been prepared to collaborate. In addition to classical forces, she works here with Matmos, a group of lethal, disturbing brilliance. They underpin Human Behaviour with pile-driving throbs while Björk delivers it with a vengeful fury, far removed from the laconicism of the single. Matmos's opening solo set combined performance and body art. Sound is produced by electronic implements gliding over and into flesh, the images projected onto a screen behind them. Plectrums slide over hair. What looks like a screwdriver probes orifices, at one point jabbing into a cavity in a tooth. Surgery and sadomasochism are dauntingly mixed. I confess to being no expert in this music - but I was completely hooked by every stupendous second http://www.absorb.org/reviews/l_bjork.html live: bjork coliseum, london, wc2 sunday 23rd september 2001 another sold out performance for the icelandic one, and her comrades in music. 2400 seats for the show, half-full by 7pm, when matmos stepped on the stage. they played a 45 minute set with some cuts from 'a chance to cut is a chance to cure', and performed some tonal experimentation involving balloons, a helium tank, small tape recorders attached to the balloons, a bird cage, and a medical-like camera and instrument combo, moving all around the body to produce sound. after about 30 minutes, it was getting a bit tedious, but they gave a nice little warm up for the main event. cue the orchestra. overture to 'dancer in the dark.' a powerful opening number. the stage is dark. as a solitary spotlight begins to shine in the center of the stage, a dark figure sits winding a small music box. as the sounds are expelled from the box, small white feathers reminiscent of snow begin to drift from the ceiling onto the seated figure. as the number ends, the entire audience's breath is held, as one can barely make out the dark figure approach the microphone. the opening chords of 'all is full of love' strike the ears like no other live experience, at least for this reporter. throughout the night, the combination of talented musicians working together, combined with an excited intensity made for a night to remember. matmos providing the background beats is such a good choice; early tracks had just a bit of manipulation to them to sound like quality remix work, with the powerful vocals infused with them. zeena parkins on harp was spectacular, as was the choir from greenland. and lets not forget about the orchestra. seeing all of this unfold live made me love music so much more, just the emotions that it can demand from the listener were made so clear. the songs came across so much more personally. the selections from 'vespertine' were interspersed with classic bjork tracks, some of the set included: hidden place, unison (my new favorite track), isobelle, pagan poetry, and more. the first encore was army of me and human behavior. the second encore was the unreleased our hands, which left many a mind blown as a finale. this show has renewed my faith in live music, but i feel doubtful that its effect will be able to be matched by any show in the near future. review by philip raffaele /Reviews - 3458 |
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