Floating in Space with Sigur Rós
Notes on an Icelandic post-rock concert in Paris
Sigur Rós has long been my favourite band after Radiohead. There’s something about their long, slow, emotionally combustive, impossibly dramatic songs that have transfixed me ever since I discovered them back in 2008. Since then, many of their songs have gone on to sountrack periods of my life when all I would listen to was Sigur Rós on repeat.
So when I arrived in France at the start of 2022, one of the first things I did was buy a ticket to see them. Well, two tickets, to be precise. I was planning to see the band with a friend, who, as the days went by and the concert neared, never replied to any of my calls or texts. Ghosted and with no inkling of what she was up to, I had no choice but to head to the venue and hope to find her there.
I boarded a tram from Porte de Clichy on the northwestern edge of Paris and made my way slowly eastwards towards Le Zénith in Parc de la Villette. I was standing at the back of the tram, struggling to lift my arm to look at my phone. At each stop, as people got off and others got on, the ride became even more crowded and uncomfortable.
