Venue:
Esplanade Theatre, Singapore
Date: 26/02/2025
Always a favourite artist, the Asia leg of the Sigur Ros orchestral tour rolled into town at the end of February for two (sold out) nights at the Esplanade Theatre in Singapore (a delayed review due to being on holiday in Japan for a couple of weeks !).
This tour the Icelandic trio are playing with a local approx 40 piece orchestra in each venue – this time, The Resound Collective. As can be seen from the video in the comments, the band just integrated amongst the orchestra – no “stage show”, minimal lighting effects, no video screens. This was just about the music – very much like a classical concert !
And boy what music… two sets of about an hour each, starting with Blodberg from the latest album and ended with Hoppipolla (although the orchestra played Avalon after the band had left). No encore. A band that have always been cinematic, the orchestra really added an extra level of richness and depth to the tracks, creating a grandiose immersive soundscape. A respectful audience, superb songs, great orchestration, excellent venue all added up to an experience that felt more than the sum of its parts.
Overall a reminder that live music at its best has the power to transport you to another place.
I believe the tour will be hitting Europe later in the year – highly recommended.
The audience:
Very restrained, mature and barely a cell phone in sight (as shown by the lack of videos on YouTube – I could only find two clips of the same track).
It made me think..
After years of shows getting more and more complex and gimmicky, it was nice to get back to just the music. A show where you could close your eyes and soak it all up.
And heres the final track, Hoppipolla….. (the only clip I could find !)
Sounds incredible. Thanks for the review
Agreed. I am very jealous. I see they are touring the UK in October but are only playing in London. This is a real shame as I am a big fan and try to catch them when possible.
Was sold out down here before I heard about it.
Thanks for the review
They have put on another show in Brisbane and I’m signed up to get an alert when tickets go on sale. I originally skipped this one when I read “new album in full” in the description, but ChrisF’s review has convinced me.
The set list from the Asia leg (and previous US concerts) has been pretty consistent, so I would expect the same in Oz…
https://www.setlist.fm/setlist/sigur-ros/2025/esplanade-theatre-singapore-singapore-63530ebf.html
Only 4 songs from the latest album with a good selection from their whole canon
Great. Thanks.
I managed to get tickets for the family to one of the Royal Albert Hall shows in October. I was excited before I read your reviw (and watched the clip). I’m now counting the sleeps.
i am fascinated and impressed by the logistics of this tour. As Chris says, at every stop on the tour they will play with a different local orchestra.
https://www.instagram.com/p/DBQiGcEt2o1/
Hats off to them for proving work for a lot of local musicians.
I wonder how much rehearsal time they get. If any.
I’m guessing that this model is more common on the classical and jazz circuits. A conductor and soloist perform with different orchestra on each stop.
John Zorn has done this in the past.
For his 60th birthday tour he brought his Electric Masada/Dreamers band and a couple of singers with him, but used local string and vocal ensembles and guests in each country he visited.
Primarily to save on touring costs.
There are good classically-trained musicians in all major countries that are capable of doing justice to a well-written score with a bit of rehearsal. Probably no more than one day’s rehearsal.
Taking an orchestra with you on the road would be horrendously expensive.
You are quite right there,@mike_h.
Touring with an orchestra would cost a fortune and makes no sense when there are talented musicians available. The model that SIGUR have is really win-win for them and the locals.
But it does require an enormous degree of professionalism from both the band and the orchestras.
Probably a good job that MOTORHEAD never attempted an orchestral tour.
Chuck Berry took it all step further, turning up alone, with his guitar, for whatever bar band was that night available. Uncertain whether rehearsals were part of the deal, mind.
I know that for most of these band +orchestra gigs they usually have only a quick rehearsal or two. These are professional musos rehearsing repertoire all day, and they are used to sight reading.
From an article in the local Singapore press, it looks like they only rehearse up to a day before….
Sigur Ros bassist Georg Holm tells The Straits Times in a Zoom interview in November: “It’s been so much fun going to different cities and playing with local orchestras, because each has something different and each adds something to our music. That is unexpected to us, and it’s always very exciting to get to play with new orchestras everywhere.”
The band also comprise singer and multi-instrumentalist Jonsi Birgisson, 49, and multi-instrumentalist Kjartan Sveinsson, 47.
Holm, 48, says the trio rehearse with the local orchestras only a day before or on the morning of a show.
He adds that he is in awe of the classical musicians whom they have been working alongside. “It’s a privilege to be able to play with all these people who are so professional that you know a band can just show up on the day, and they just nail it every single time.”