GIG REVIEW: Bjork
- Posted on April 17, 2008 10:06 AM
- 0 comments
Bjork
Hammermith Apollo
14th April 2008
Review by Andy Hirst.
Following the release of her latest album “Volta” and many months into a world tour that has included an epic Glastonbury performance and countless other international dates, Bjork arrives in London. The same stage regalia that adorned the Pyramid stage in June accompany her here at the Hammersmith Apollo; irregularly shaped flags with paintings of fish reminiscent of Native American decorations flutter gently in a breeze that one imagines has come all of the way from Iceland, carrying the little songstress along with it.
Support is offered by a little known DJ who seems rather at odds with the chasm of a stage she is dwarfed by, a rather eclectic set dipping its heel into various sources of world music and Chinese folk warms the politely waiting audience.
Eventually Bjork takes to the stage dressed in a characteristically eccentric and none too subtle head dress constituted primarily of what appears to be balls of different colored wool. She fills the stage and the arena with the crowd’s rapturous applause, her physical presence tiny in comparison to her giant charisma. Joining her on stage along with enough technical gadgetry to equip a small space centre is an extensive brass section. Also dressed in a kind of tribal manner, they dance and move on their elevated stage playing eerie melodies along to the thumping beats and modernist electronica their comrades in the space station towards stage left seem to craft so effortlessly.
The set is composed primarily of her later works with almost nothing from her first two albums, however for a progressive artist such as Bjork that is not entirely surprising, nor does the audience seem disappointed. Favorites such as Hyper Ballad and Army of Me are greeted by appreciative roars from the crowd and a couple of guest appearances including an incredible performance by an African artist on a harp like instrument that I believe my be called a Lyre, but equally well may not, keep the set varied and engaging.
Electronic music in the fashion Bjork produces can be difficult to pull off effectively in a live context but no such difficulties ever threaten this performance. Bjork herself is such a charismatic entertainer that she could be playing to a backing track and still be entirely captivating. However the stage show on display here is anything but a backing track; so much effort has clearly been put into looking and sounding different to what has gone before; strange electronic instruments that both visually and sonically amaze are thrown into the blend as if a full brass section was not enough of a performance for the crowd to be thoroughly entertained. Everything comes together beautifully; Bjorks performance and the gig as a whole are faultless.
Related links:
Bjork concert tickets.
Bjork official site.
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