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| Info | Setlist | ||||||||||
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01. Intro - Brennið Þið Vitar 02. Earth Intruders 03. Hunter 04. Pagan Poetry 05. Immature 06. Jóga 07. The Pleasure Is All Mine 08. Vertebrae By Vertebrae 09. Where Is The Line 10. Desired Constellation 11. Army Of Me 12. Triumph Of A Heart 13. Bachelorette 14. Vökuró 15. Wanderlust 16. Hyperballad 17. Pluto encore 18. Anchor Song 19. Declare Independence |
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| Pictures (email) Observe that there usually is a NO camera policy at these concerts. | |||||||||||
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| Reviews |
| Send in your own review here! |
| On 1st May, 2008 Bjork carried on her UK tour by performing at the Empress Ballroom in Blackpool. Manchester (where I live) had sold out in a matter of days so I had to head west with three of my friends to see one my favourite lifelong musical inspirations. Out of all the artists I have followed over the past 10-15 years Bjork has constantly, and consistently, reinvented herself to not only keep up with music, trends and styles - but to be at the forefront of it. I sometimes think maybe her work does stretch into the realms of self absorbed, pretentious ramblings, but considering the other 99 per cent of fantastic, innovative stuff she does, who could argue? I must have seen over 300 bands in my short life so far, including Radiohead, Sonic Youth, Portishead and Beck. If I was to have a top 5 these may be in it, but then I have to think of all the smaller independent bands I’ve seen kicking around the clubs and pubs. Some of them have been unbelievable too. I could say though, Bjork and Beck would be in my Top 5 without a doubt. Bjork’s set was so emotionally charged, with great stage presence, subtle lighting, fantastic costumes… it was entertainment in its highest form. She isn’t short of greatest hits either, so clocking in at almost two hours it would be hard to criticise this set. It would transform soft, lucid brass instruments into full-on techno rave with tears one minute to party animal the next. There’s no point in me listing track names, she started with Earth Intruders, played Joga (one of my favourites) and totally rocked out Army of Me. Where is the Line worked just as great without Mike Patton and Triumph of a Heart was mesmerising. Without a doubt, Bjork is a true champion of pushing the boundaries of music and I really can’t see anyone contesting her for a long time to come. What a truly amazing gig this was - poor Sheffield though! /Ian Bolton - 3904 |
| A sea-side town North of Liverpool, Blackpool is famed for it's rusty tower, saucy postcards and in latter days, hen-nights tottering around drunkenly in pink wigs. The Empress Ballroom however is a nod and wink to more refined days gone by. The grand ballroom is overlooked by a dozen chandeliers hanging from a domed ceiling, decorated with ornate plasterwork that looks like it should belong in a cathedral in renaissance Italy. On stage Leila disinterestedly twiddles some knobs and mixes obscure old records with all manner of samples, crunchy beats and dark melodies. The sound system is almost deafeningly loud. I've been a big fan of Björk since year dot. I've seen her on every UK tour, watched her MTV Unplugged show, even interviewed her once - i think she's a breath of fresh air - but this was the first time in seven years... would the magic still be there? Disappointingly, the answer was 'no' for the first half of the gig - but that was followed by perhaps the best hour of live music i've ever witnessed, culminating in several worth-the-admission-price-alone moments (quite a statement given the fact that tickets cost over £40!). Björk opens her set with 'Earth Intruders', its martial robo-stomp perfectly at home given the other-worldly appearance of the backing singers - an Icelandic all-girl 10 piece brass-band, all bedecked in colourful head-dresses and waving flags in the air. 'Hunter' too has a welcome-to-Planet-Björk marching rhythm while there is a nice bit at the end of 'Pagan Poetry' where Björk and her backing singers take turns with vocals. It's a good start but then things goes downhill. I appreciate it must be a nightmare to bring her music to the live stage given the sheer range of musicians and styles, but there's a half hour lull in which the songs played seem to be those that can best be arranged with brass instruments. 'Immature', 'The Pleasure Is All Mine' and 'Vertebrae By Vertebrae' are all nice enough but they are light years away from being her best songs. Unbelievably my interest was waning! But for the last hour of the gig, just about everything comes off spectacularly. 'Bachelorette' is theatrical, 'Army Of Me' is greeted with lasers and Björk is accompanied by just a piano during the Icelandic folk-song 'Vokuro' - her voice has never sounded so good. Both 'Joga' and 'Wanderlust' (my favourite song from the new album) combine drum'n'bass with trumpets and soaring vocals while on 'Desired Constellation' she repeats 'how am i supposed to make this right?' over barely a bass pulse. It's a song that had previously slipped through my radar but is one of the gigs standout moments. The crowd gives Björk a rest by singing the entire first verse of 'Hyperballad' before the song unexpectedly morphs in to a rave at the end complete with a thumping techno-loop and lasers, the crowd testing the ballrooms springed floor with relish. The last song is 'Pluto', which to the untrained ear might just sound like a lot of shouting but is great fun and builds up to a swirling crescendo as Björk and her entire troupe of backing singers punch the air triumphantly at the front of the stage. The gig is such an attack of the senses. The stage is awash with colour, the band sport matching head-dresses and wave flags in the air, while Björk, a blur of hyperactivity, races around the stage like Sonic The Hedgehog firing string from her hand like Spiderman. You have to remind yourself that she's now 42 years old. In terms of innovation, vitality and grin-inducing fun, Björk is in my calculation 12 million times better than 99.9% of bands out there. After a rapturous applause Björk reappears for 'The Anchor Song' - the only song played from her first solo album 'Debut' (was it really 15 years ago?). The first verse is sung in English, the second in Icelandic, Björk accompanied by just her brass section. You could hear a pin drop. She finishes with 'Declare Independence', a protest song which recently caused controversy in China when she started chanting 'Tibet, Tibet!' during its finale. It's a bone-rattling electro-punk song which builds to a crunching climax and the mother of glitter-showers. Raise your flag, higher higher! Wow, stunning show. Can you name another singer who would play a live gig without their virtually ALL of their biggest hits? But Björk doesn't do things the conventional way, she does it her way, and we love her all the more for it. She truly is a breath of fresh of air. /jameswotsit - 3903 |
| Declare Independence Brennið Þið Vitar + Earth Intruders - http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=WocN6380ijU Pagan Poetry - http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=R56j8CqLkoM Jóga - http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=pm-9AGsrPlU Army Of Me - http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=efEwTIUqVS8 Army Of Me - http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=W-u9g_GSaCE Hyperballad - http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=3Pzuv1cK-Pc /YouTube - 3902 |
| In the 12 years I've been a fan of Björk I've never had the pleasure of seeing her live until the other night in Blackpool. And she was amazing. Truely spectacular! Firstly, the venue was beautiful. I've never been to the Empress Ballroom before. When we arrived the support had already started. I've still to investigate her, but she was DJing on the stage, and towards the end of her set, she was playing tracks that resembled the Alec Empire remix of Joga. And all the samples were crystal clear on the sound system. For both her and Björk the crispness of the sound was just great. Björk's set was: Earth Intruders Hunter Pagan Poetry Great way to start the show. I was expecting EI, but had been hoping for Hunter at some point. Immature This was a nice surprise. I haven't been studying recent setlists too closely, so I didn't realise she was playing it, but it was great to hear live. Jóga Beautiful The Pleasure Is All Mine Vertebrae By Vertebrae Where Is The Line Desired Constellation drinks! lots of drinks! i don't really know these ones Army Of Me This was truely brilliant! Definate highlight of the show. The song had a great beat and while I love the album version, this version just blew it away. Triumph Of A Heart This is the only song I like off Medulla, and had just played it the night before for the first time in ages, so I was quite pleased she did it, and it sounded great with the horns Bachelorette Vökuró Wanderlust toilet break/more drinks! Hyperballad Pluto Me and the mates I went to see this with all love Hyperballad. Recently, I've been buzzing off the Brodsky Quartet version, while they staunchly prefer the original. I'd downloaded some bootleg from Dime which had Hyperballad>Pluto and I loved it. Apart from Bachelorette these were the 2 I was hoping she'd play, and I was blown away by them. They were AMAZING!!1! Absolutely brilliant! Some naughty drugs would have surely enhanced the experience, but it was pretty damn good with alcohol, although my mates were a bit let down by Hyperballad, cuz they were expecting it to resemble the album version. (encore) Anchor Song Declare Independence While Anchor Song was good, I thought it was an odd choice for an encore, but it was good. And I much prefer Declare Independence live. All in all, a fab gig. Definately in my top 3. Homogenic is my favourite album, so I was glad she did so many songs off it (and Hunter, Bachelorette and Joga are just SO good anyway). I couldn't really get into Medulla or (to a lesser degree) Volta, so while these songs were used as bar runs, I was still in the ballroom and did enjoy them. so, yes, can't wait to see her live again. the Sheffield show was cancelled tonight due to sickness, so hopefully that'll be rescheduled and I'll head on to see Bjork there, because she was brilliant! /Scottish Mike - 3901 |
| At the end of an energetic and very loud set, Bjork announced she had braved the gig with a bad cold. "I should do more gigs with colds," she added. All I can say is that if that was Bjork on a bad day, then I'd pay a lot to see her on a good day. A truly powerful voice, a live marching brass band accompaniment, fireballs and awesome laser shows were all part of a great evening. The audience, however, were an odd crowd. They ranged from militant Bjork fans, dressed head-to-toe in colourful get up, to middle aged couples with backpacks and anoraks. I'm not sure where I fitted in to be honest. I had expected the gig to be sold out, but I didn't feel at all cramped in the usually packed venue I've visited on many occasions before.The audience were a little subdued for much of the gig - apart from the aforementioned militants who leapt and twirled about. And it was only the last few songs that really got the crowd going. I thought it was perhaps the mix of songs that caused their muteness. Bjork had opted for a particular dancey set, with lots of drums and computer programmed music. While it was enjoyable much of it was a bit samey. I'm not hugely familiar with all of her work, but I went along thinking it would be a really great show. I wasn't disappointed in that respect. She was energetic, charismatic and has a truly booming voice for such a little lady. Note perfect every time I might add. But I hadn't expected a dancey set. I had expected good old, crazy Bjork, whimsically dancing round, melodically screeching. Perhaps her fans had too, I'm not sure. But from a lay man's perspective who just went along for the craic, she was great. The encore of her last single Declare Independence rounded it off nicely, with a laser shows and huge glitter cannons to boot. As she screamed the title words over and over again, her brass band also let rip some funky shapes and they had the whole crowd making the ballroom floor bounce rhythmically with their appreciative leaps. /lancasterguardian.co.uk - 3900 |
| WHERE do you begin to describe a show like that? Fifty per cent gig, fifty percent theatre, but one hundred per cent stark raving bonkers would be as good a way as any, and it's no more than the fans of the tiny Icelandic singer have come to expect from a solo career that's lasted for 15 years. Any artist that has the front to face a packed room with a 10-piece brass band, a computer programmer, a DJ, a drummer and a pianist for company isn't short on confidence. Play slideshowView slideshow Most gigs you go to are just that, musicians strumming though their back catalogue, but this was pure theatre from opening bars to a long howled-for encore. To me, Bjork has been a performer who has been more admired than loved. Some of her stuff comes across as a wall of anguished, self-indulgent howls to the untrained ear and during quieter moments of the show you could clearly hear some fans (who had paid out £37 for a ticket) nattering away to each other, shuffling from foot to foot and looking a bit bored. But for every low there was a high. The night only kicked into life when the big beats and the massive lasers came out - drum and bass is the perfect backing for her powerful voice, even though she was battling a heavy cold. We were given nothing more than polite 'Think you's' after each song, but then that's part of her diminutive unobtainable Ice Queen charm. During the big beat songs she was a blur of hyperactivity as her brass band, complete with matching headgear and flags bobbed up and down. And that's all the big crowd wanted. Five minutes of pained caterwauling is okay, as long as the drums kick in and they could all dance. After she'd done 70 minutes and went off the audience shouted, stamped, whistled and screamed for 10 minutes until she came back on for a two-song encore. The performance aside, the highlight of the show was the truly astonishing pyrotechnics. Huge cannons shot out hundreds of thousands of pieces of glittering paper which took five minutes to fall, and it was all backlit by enormous laser beams that made it look like an electric snow shaker, which is quite apt from someone from Iceland. /Mike Gardner - 3899 |
| i photographed bjork last week in blackpool. i've never felt the urge to buy any of her recordings but i've always enjoyed hearing her on the old wireless or round at the 'loki homestead'. i should've really smelt a rat when i found i was the only photographer present....now, the photo pit is never a pleasant place to be at when it's chockablock with amateur cameraguys/girls but it's even worse when you find yourself in there all alone (except for the odd shaven headed security chap). so why was i the only one in there? well as i found out later, miss bjork don't like having her photo taken much whilst gigging so she turns down the lights for the first 3 songs making it pretty hard to get a decent photo thus making it a pretty worthless evening for the shutterbugs. so the photopit was a disaster (only a couple of decentish pics). i watched the rest of the show from the balcony and i have to say it was the most disapointing gig i've ever been to....she was awful, it was like some kind of 'stars of the 80's' comeback tour where people are trying their hardest to have a good time. if you're a bjork fan who was at the blackpool gig you may disagree with me but i didn't see you in the crowd having a great time, it was a night of polite clapping and cheering. darren andrews http://www.myspace.com/darrenphotographer /darren andrews - 3898 |
Having been an armchair fan of Bjork since fist hearing the tremendous Fluke Maximix of Big Time Sensuality some years ago, I decided it was high time to go out and see her live. In fact I went to see her at the Apollo in Manchester last month and was so impressed that I just had to see her again, hence being at the Blackpool show, and what a show it was. The Empress Ballroom in Blackpool’s Winter Gardens complex, more used to hosting party political conferences and ballroom dancing competitions, is an interesting and elaborate Victorian era venue. A ‘DJ’ set by Leila Arab opened proceedings, which I have to admit left me completely cold. From the comments I heard at the bar I was not alone in my opinion. Her industrial electro mash of noise, spoken word and snippets of music failed to create any kind of atmosphere. It was difficult to discern whether the applause as she left the stage was appreciation or relief… The oriental music played before Bjork took to the stage on the other hand seemed in keeping with the event, although even that went on a little bit too long… As soon as the house lights went down, to huge applause, an 8 piece Icelandic brass band marched on (sounding suspiciously like a typical Lancastrian brass marching band…) wearing head-dresses fitted with flags on top. This complemented the stage backdrop which was also bedecked with a collection of huge oriental-type flags. With not a guitar in sight, the rest of the backing band was pure electronica and percussion, all perfectly suited to the song set list on the night. As Bjork bounced onto the stage, we were straight into Earth Intruders, also the opener from Volta. This was a classic concert opener and a stand-out track off the album. I’d love to see her do this live with Konono No.1, whom she sampled on the album. I saw the Congolese band a couple of years ago and they would make a great support act for her. How about it Bjork…? Bjork’s extravagant dress sense would normally make the exotic ballroom dancer’s outfits usually on show here look positively mundane by comparison. Tonight however she was dressed somewhat conservatively by her own (eccentric?) standards. The black mask was a nice touch though… Hunter, which followed was good but the beautiful intro to Pagan Poetry brought the first really big cheer of the night and it was exquisite. This must be the best song of the night. The set covered all her albums but Volta seemed to be featured most. Vertebrae by Vertebrae, with its ominous rising brass intro is one of the most recognisable tracks off Volta and possibly destined to become a stage favourite. Although lasers and some pyrotechnics were used to good effect earlier in the set it wasn’t until Army of Me, off Post, that we got the full laser and lights rave treatment. This must be the best song of the night… Just when you thought it couldn’t get much better the magnificent Bachelorette. What can I say? Excellent. The plasma screen displays showing what the various ‘knob twiddlers’ were doing were less in evidence here than they were in Manchester but no matter. The best track off Volta, Wanderlust was another standout performance but if that was well-received it was Hyperballad that brought the house down and unquestionably the best song on the night. No, this time I mean it. After the first opening bars, Bjork left it to the audience to sing the familiar refrain for a few moments. It is a magnificent song and Bjork’s performance of it on the night left me feeling breathless. Towards the end the song morphed into a full-on rave anthem with the full laser show treatment. A further climax to the show came with her encores. A gentle Anchor Song, dedicated to this seaside town of Blackpool followed by the song that got her into trouble in China: Declare Independence, accompanied by another great laser show and a pyrotechnic blast of silver confetti over the audience which went on for ages (or was that during Hyperballad..?) No matter. All in all a magic performance! Come back soon Bjork. /CJS - 3897 |
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