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| Info | Setlist | ||||||||||
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01. Musicbox intro 02. Overture 03. All Is Full Of Love 04. Aurora 05. It's Not Up To You 06. I've Seen It All 07. Cocoon 08. Unison 09. You've Been Flirting Again 10. Isobel 11. Generous Palmstroke 12. Hyperballad 13. Bachelorette 14. Army Of Me 15. Play Dead first encore 16. Anchor Song 17. Human Behaviour second encore 18. It's In Our Hands |
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| Reviews |
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| Björk, you made me feel high without the ugly stuff! Never thought I could be so outrageously happy. yes, almost violently! Thank you, New Alice in Wonderland, for your purity of form, spirit and sound. It's most welcome in these doubtful times. Brussels will always think of you warm-heartedly! Jimmy Buntinx Brussels Bjork - Koninklijk Circus 26/09/01 ---------------------------------- (Studio Brussel site - http://stubru.be/gazet/goedgekeurd/article.jsp?artType=M&idCat=6&idArticle=138) Whoever follows Björk for a while knows that her concerts are never ordinary. For that, the head of the Icelandic child-woman is filled too much with crazy ideas. What she's doing at the moment is certainly the most ambitious tour taken on by a pop star in recent years; very audacious and running the risk that some of it falls over. There are nearly a hundred musicians on and in front of the stage: a choir of Eskimo women from Greenland who hadn't been outside of their village before this tour, a blond lady who picks at a giant harp, the American bleep-duo Matmos who are allowed to disturb the proceedings, and especially the Il Novecento orchestra from the Night Of The Proms. It's very theatrical but very loose at the same time. For example, Bjork uses those quaint little dances that many find so cute a lot less than she used to. She larks about barefoot on a snow-white stage in front of ice crystal projections, wearing a white swan dress and with a face that's chalked white. Her new CD Vespertine is the focus in the first and most difficult part of the show. With this approach, Bjork blazes on all canons. The orchestra in particular turns the songs into grand compositions, while the Eskimo choir enthusiastically and very charmingly overacts. After the break, the hits. In a red swan dress and with her face painted black, Bjork treats us to fabulous renditions of Isobel, Hyper-ballad, Hunter, Play Dead, The Anchor Song, Human Behaviour and a new song. Small criticism: Army Of Me sounds a little sterile and hits like Hidden Place, Venus As A Boy and It's Oh So Quiet are missing. But everything melts together so perfectly that the audience watches quiet like a mouse and with open mouth to burst into a minutes-long ovation afterwards. Rock podiums and festivals never really did Bjork justice. In the Koninklijk Circus she was simply impressive. (GJ) (Thanks Stan103 for translation!!!) Björk heavenly beautiful ------------------------ (De Standaard site - http://www.destandaard.be/Nieuws/cultuur/index.asp?articleID=DST28092001_075&DocType=detail.asp) from our editor Peter Vantyghem BRUSSELS - the exceedingly expensive tickets made sure that this was an exclusive concert night. But man, did Björk sound sweet and relaxing in a completely full Koninklijk Circus. Together with the Novecento Orchestra and an Icelandic choir she filled the venue with futuristic music, full of fantasy and romance. Culture watchers have lots to gape at. Björk dances in a red dress that was made up of large birdfeathers. She looks half human, half fable. Before the break her face is white, afterwards it's black. Her natural voice (a unique falsetto-soprano) screams the songs while fifteen Eskimo women sway and the Novecento orchestra scatters romantic symphonic colours. She doesn't sing pop nor does she sing opera. She is Björk. The classical composer John Tavener called her "more intelligent than most classical vocalists". But intelligence isn't the first thing you think about when you see Björk sing: it's like the songs come straight out of her body. She dances barefoot and seems lost in her own world. She whispers, soothes, is startled and cheers, without transition, totally natural. The concert stared in a theatrical fashion. Björk was winding up an old grammophone in a lonely golden light beam while small leaves swirled down on her. After that, the 54-strong orchestra played a Wagnerian overture, and Björk sang "All Is Full Of Love", a song in which she conjures that "we'll be taken care of". The Inuit choir rocked gently and sang heavenly sounds, harpist Zeena Parkins kindly fiddled along. It was just like a garden of Eden. Or just a warm home. Six songs before the break, seven after, and an encore. It could have been longer, but it needn't have. Concerts like this are best tasted with moderation. The balance between the electronic diddling of Matmos, a duo from San Francisco, and the filmic accompaniment by Il Novecento was perfect and aimed at the future. Images of ice masses before the break and seed boxes afterwards only strenghened the ambiance. Everything romantic, fully soothing and absorbing. Others would easily turn this much symbolism and passion into something pathetic, but Björk believes in her fantasy-filled approach so strongly that you can only admire her. She presented some wonderful moments: "It's Not Up To You" and "I've Seen It All" from the Dancer In The Dark soundtrack. But especially "Cocoon", sung solely on a bed of rustling electronic percussion, sounded almost heavenly beautiful. In the second part we heard a tender "I am strong in his hands", but overall the show became more groovy. "I'm a fountain of blood / in the shape of a girl" (in "Bachelorette"), she sang rapturously, while the orchestra painted deep lines above the marching beats. The house beat of "Hyper-ballad" filled the Koninklijk Circus and the crowd screamed the singer into heaven. This concert was the realisation of the best Björk had always promised. There were already harps on her debut CD, she worked with strings for Homogenic and on her last tour, and she already pioneered electronic music while others only made beats from boxes. But with the extensive means she had now, everything could blossom this time. You can only hope that a live album will be released from this tour. Whatever, Björk showed herself to be unique, full of personality and spoilt with talent on Wednesday. A privilege to experience her this way. (Thanks Stan103 for translation!!!) Björk: an angel has passed -------------------------- (RTBF Site - http://www3.rtbf.be/rtbf_2000/bin/view_something.cgi?id=0023664_art icle&menu=0010470_menulist&pub=www.rtbf.portail%2fcult) Between lightness and spirit, the incontestible top of the bill of the Nuits Botanique hasn't disappointed. An angel has passed by the Cirque Royal... Was it because of the solemnity of the venue, the superb Cirque Royal? Because of the presence of in imposing philharmonic ensemble of 54 musicians? Because of the enlarged stage of immaculate white? In any case, a religious silence reigned on Wednesday the moment the lights were turned off to make room for the incontestible top of the bill of the Nuits Botanique. Seated, rummaging in her basket, Björk opened her musicbox for the delicate "Frosti", while a choir of 15 people from Greenland and the duo Matmos, in charge of the electronic sounds, appeared. While the first part of the concert, light like a feather, was going to be centred around "Vespertine", the latest album by the Icelandic singer, it started nevertheless with "All Is Full Of Love". Dressed in a little white dress, after that Björk let herself be guided by violins and an omnipresent harp through the exploration of all the delicacy of her latest album. The attention of the audience that mixed jacket+ties with jeans+baskets was impressive, as was the ecstatic applause that followed each song. Another small detour from "Vespertine" was made by the small white fairy to strike up "I've Seen It All" (originally sung with Thom Yorke on the soundtrack album to "Dancer In The Dark") before she left the scene, not without thanking the audience several times in French. Very different, the second part of the evening resembled a "best of", with Björk metamorphosed into a red and black queen. Red for the feathered ballgown, black for the facial features, concealed by polish. After "You've Been Flirting Again" (in Icelandic") came among others "Isobel", "Venus As A Boy", and "Hyperballad", this time in a more disjointed atmosphere, as the audience howled their love to a whirling Björk, spinning from one end of the stage to the other. The only false note came with a catastrophic version of "Army Of Me" that had no depth - an opinion apparently shared by the audience who, after having stood up for the start of the song, wisely sat down again on their velvet chairs. This bad moment was just as soon swept away by a tremendous "Playdead" (from the soundtrack album to "Young Americans") that closed the second part. The best was yet to come though, when after a ten minute ovation, the Cirque Royal was treated to a majestic version - with violins - of "Human Behaviour" and finally "It's In Our Hands", a superb unreleased song ("except on the internet", Björk said). Majestic, an adjective that can be applied to the whole evening, an unforgettable concert for the fans... and their wallets. Each one of them apparently didn't regret the crazy price (between 1.200 and 3.900 BEF) they paid to see their angel pass by for one second. (Emmanuel Debiève, RTBF) (Thanks Stan103 for translation!!!) Björkounette a réussi son pari: proposer son dernier album avec orchestre et choeur, avec le numéro d'équilibriste que ça suppose pour une chanteuse pop, le risque de faire "pompier" ou grotesque. Et bien non, la magie a fonctionné, l'orchestre et le choeur était d'une justesse formidable. Björk encore plus, parfois on la voit chercher au fond d'elle-même les trésors de sa voix, elle parvient à rendre avec précision le chant de l'album en y ajoutant souveent des petites performances techniques toujours juste. Evidemment, on sent bien que notre ex-punkette,new-wave est très concentrée dans cette première partie, et qu'elle voudrait bien se "lacher". Et c'est le cas dans la deuxième partie. Visage complètement maquillé en noir (un pied de nez apparemment aux photographes qui viennent de recevoir le feu vert pour prendre quelques photos), elle nous livre beaucoup plus décontractée des morceaux choisis des albums "pré-Vespertine". Elle saute, bondit, tire la langue, elle éclate de rire quand un spectateur l'apostrophe. Toutes les versions, des plus fidèles aux originales jusqu'aux plus ré-arrangées, sont formidables) Impressionnante aussi, la réaction du public: pendant la première partie, tonnerre d'applaudissements entre les morceaux, mais silence immédiat dès la première note d'un morceau. L'ambiance devient carrément délirante dans la deuxième partie, à la grande surprise de quelques spectateurs grisonnants (et oui, le prix des places). Seul regret: la présence de l'orchestre fait que notre Björkounette est un peu loin, et elle ne s'est pas promenée dans la salle, à mon grand désespoir. C'était la première fois que je voyais Björk en concert (exception : un concert avec les Sugarcubes): c'était parfait. Et dire qu'elle pourrait revenir pendant les festivals d'été!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Jean-Michel Mostaert hi there :) ok, first I have to say that it was AMAZING!!! Now the details: she had in the first half the white swan dress - which I like more than the black one (seen in lausanne). She was in a very good mood (or on drugs *g*) and did some variation in singing the songs. At the second part she coloured her face black - hmm, it looked very cool - but I also think she did that to f*ck with the press, they appeared at the second half ;) ah yeah, when she was singing "bacherolette" she told to the band something about being strong or something and she showed her muscles :)) (she WAS on drugs *ggg*) the audience were very cool too - always shouting "we love u bjork" and such stuff. all in all I liked both concerts in lausanne and here in bruxelles - but I really LOVED the "army of me" version! cheers tiho Hi there, I just came back from Bjork's concert at the Koninklijk Circus/Cirque Royale at Brussels. This is the setlist: Part 1: 1. Musicbox improvisation (sounded like Frosti, "snow" falling out of the sky) 2. Overture (Il Novecento sounded amazing) 3. All is full of love 4. aurora 5. It's not up to you 6. I've seen it all 7. Cocoon 8. Unison Part 2: 9. You've been flirting again (in Icelandic) 10. Isobel 11. Generous palmstroke 12. Hyperballad 13. Bachelorette (all the lights were green) 14. Army of me (very dark version) 15. Play dead Encore 1: 16. The anchor song 17. Human behaviour (with strings!) Encore 2: 18. Our hands ("this is a new song, you can't find anywhere, it's not on any cd, but you can find it on the internet", Bjork told us, while everybody was shouting Hidden Place... she started laughing because of our little "interruption", but the setlist couldn't be altered!) Her singing was absolutely marvellous, I've seen her on every occasion here in Belgium and never did she sing as clearly as tonight. During the first part she wore a white dress, her face painted all white with a lot of blue around her eyes. When she appeared for the second part we were quite amused to see she had her face painted again, this time completely black! Bjork was defintely enjoying herself, dancing around, pulling faces... I've never heard someone get so much applause as she did tonight, people shouted "We love you Bjork", kept on clapping in between every song and she got a standing ovation, twice! This was her best concert ever, and me and my best friend have seen her already 5 times, 6 times including this phenomenal performance... we know what we're talking about ;-) Thanks! Best, Roel Renmans. /reviews - 3459 |
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