Ad and I attended the Jonsi concert at Sound Academy last friday night and were totally blown away. It was the most amazing live performance either of us have ever attended. Here's a review of the evening, taken from canoe.ca:
TORONTO - You've come a long way, Jonsi.
It's been almost a decade since vocalist Jon Birgisson - known to many as Jonsi -- made his mesmerizing Toronto debut at Palais Royale as part of then virtually unknown Icelandic orchestral rock group Sigur Ros.
Now with Sigur Ros on "indefinite hiatus" after several critically acclaimed albums, Jonsi is touring in support of his debut solo album Go. And throughout his 75-minute set Friday night at Sound Academy, the audience was torn: were they more impressed with the gorgeous, lush arrangements fuelled by Jonsi's at times angelic high notes or the equally stunning visuals which accompanied the songs?
Regardless of which side of the argument they came down on, one came away with the impression the artist had successfully melded the two mediums for an extremely memorable show beginning with Stars In Still Water. Strumming an acoustic guitar and with a well-rounded quartet supporting him, Jonsi drew in the attentive crowd before diving into the softer, dirge-leaning Hengilas. Here images of owls, deer and other wildlife appeared on the large backdrop before virtual flames left it a charred, desolate forest.
Not addressing the audience at all for the first half of the show and seemingly lost in the music, Jonsi took things to another level with the solid and quite cinematic Kolnidur. Initially slow and somber, the nugget grew magnificently in tension as the imagery of a wolf chasing a deer played out behind him.
Perhaps one of the odder traits of the evening was that Jonsi played a healthy dose of material that was not found on Go, including Saint Naive as well as a new piano-led song called, er, New Piano Song on the set list.
The melancholic nature early on took a turn for the better with the one-two combination of Tornado and especially Sinking Friendships, both packing a bit more punch with fans. Tornado resembled a happy medium between Peter Gabriel and The National while the percussion-heavy Sinking Friendships brought it more in line with Coldplay circa Viva La Vida.
"Alright, how are you doing?" Jonsi asked before the dance-friendly, punchy single Go Do instantly had its desired effect as the backdrop resembled piano keys being played. The singer then loosened up a bit more before Boy Lilikoi, asking everyone to help him sing Happy Birthday to two members of the crew. However, that help was fleeting when the band stood around a lone microphone and sang the song in Icelandic.
Another up-tempo and somewhat uplifting Around Us concluded the roughly hour-long main-set with more spine-tingling high notes. That seemed to be a teaser though for the memorable show-stopper Grow Till Tall. Growing in intensity, the song reached its swirling heights as the backdrop showed high winds, heavy rain, lightning and thunder clouds. It made one think the set was literally being torn apart by the computer-generated disaster.
Based on this inspired performance, another few solo albums down the road by Jonsi are hopefully in the cards.
