Björk

[summercummer 377]

it was so surreal seeing her in helsinki last night   the stage design   her cute little dance moves   the outfits 

same setlist as the prior shows I believe, ended with Notget. Her voice is so phenomenal in real life and at times she sounded even better than on the record! Interestingly she performed Human Behavior in a strange choice of key which seemed to throw her off a little bit. A bop nonetheless

 

She really is just so angelic and adorable I couldn't take my eyes off of her

[jvcx 3,644]

Phew, what a night! I don't know where to begin so I'll just write from the start 

We took our usual 30-minute train to Helsinki a few hours before the venue opened because we went to see a graffiti exhibition with a friend of ours. After that we went to grab something to eat and eventually got to the venue a bit over an hour before the scheduled showtime. At the time there wasn't much people there but the atmosphere was nice, some people had champagne and cake and some people hanged around the merchandise stand.

I found the merchandise stand badly organized for a couple of reasons. First, as I expected most of the merchandise were from the early 2000s with majority of them being from the Medúlla era, giving the impression that OLI is obviously trying to get rid of the old stuff rather than putting out something new. Also the two Finnish ladies running the stand seemed clueless about what they were doing, there were no price tags whatsoever to be seen and it seemed like they just couldn't really handle it especially when it got crowded. There were some t-shirts with the Utopia cover on them (talk about lazy designing) and I probably would've bought one if they had it in my size but apparently large was the only size available. If I had bought one I probably would've bought this Björk Digital postcard set on top of it as well but I didn't feel like buying the postcards only so I left empty handed which is fine. Oh and as I was going through the shirts just in case to check if they had my size after all I heard one of the ladies saying that not paying in cash charges 10€ extra which I find ridiculous, I don't know if I misheard though.

There were people from pretty much every generation, however I noticed there were especially a lot of people in their 30's and 50's. A lot of couples and gay men, some even triggering my daddy issues   Apparently some of our favorite big Finnish artists were also there, however we only saw couple of them.

 

They opened the concert hall itself about 40 minutes before the showtime and they played birdsong and some of Body Memory's soundscape. They had curtains which they quickly got rid of right before the start and let me tell you, with all the (stunning) set pieces the stage was definitely cramped - and I realized we were about to be a lot closer to her than I had expected. 

Once the show started I was glad to see her in one of my favorite outfits during this tour, the exact one that she wore at the All Points East festival in June.

After the first couple of songs she thanked in either Swedish or Icelandic but after that she thanked in Finnish after almost every song which was cute. We were a bit left from the center where she spent most of the time but she came right in front of us every now and then and she was so close that we could even hear her platforms as she was feeling the beat. At one point I could also see a huge drop of sweat coming out of her sleeve, it must've been hot for her in all that latex or whatever it was.

During Arisen my senses she relied on backing vocals quite a lot but I really enjoyed the choruses of The Gate.  I thought Blissing me was somewhat dull until the bass kicked in but I actually liked the live rendition of Isobel which probably got some of the biggest applauds during the evening once people realized what song it was. The beginning of Claimstaker was really something and I could hear someone asking "what's this" behind me with an "oh my god" like tone. It's a shame how captivated Björk was by a teleprompter during the song though, as she hardly raised her eyes from it and at one point she was about to move around the stage but then she quickly took a few steps back so she could see the teleprompter. Overall she often read lyrics from teleprompters which made her seem a bit distant but in my opinion it's fine since most songs in the setlist aren't really easy to sing along to.

I was a bit disappointed to see how mild the audience's reaction was to Human Behaviour, one of my favorites, compared to the applauds of Isobel. Björk didn't really let herself go so to speak with the screaming which I didn't really pay any attention to until my boyfriend addressed it afterwards. Tabula Rasa got some of the biggest applauds as well, and the beats/kicks/bass/whatever during the choruses of Wanderlust were a-ma-zing. Before Loss Björk told the audience to stand up if they wanted to and almost everyone immediately did which I was very glad to see, even though some were probably confused. Before Notget she asked people to get up once more, dance and help her sing the song - I literally heard no one singing it though except for myself lol. Even when the song was coming to an end she made people repeat the "love will keep us safe from death" part after her over and over again I didn't actually hear anyone doing it.

 

Overall now that I think about it, we probably should've been a bit more in the center and perhaps a couple of rows back rather than being up front so we could've seen the magnificent set in all of its glory. The fact that she was less than a meter from us at some points (here for example) makes it up for me though, since I could see one of my biggest inspirations and also one of my favorite artists from a very short distance. Something I never thought would be possible. She didn't really say much during the show - I expected her to address the Trump/Putin meeting in Helsinki somehow -, but when she did she was really adorable and her smile is really one of the warmest smiles ever. She didn't have her usual drummer with her but a Finnish guy from Helsinki taking his place, and she gave him a cute look and a smile during one of the songs while she was dancing next to him. After she introduced the flutists and the guy doing the electronic stuff (I didn't catch his name) she said something like "and in the drums we have someone from your own country - and your own city!" and she leaned her microphone to the guy so he could tell us his name himself. The crowd gave him a big applause and cheered, during which Björk had a big smile on her face which I'll never forget. Bless my talented and warm-hearted queen 

After last night I can say I've seen all of my biggest international favorites for my own eyes and experiencing Björk with her utopia at a small, intimate venue like Finlandia-talo was an unique experience and opportunity I'll probably never get to have again - which eventually makes it all the more special. Even now the whole thing feels absurd and it feels like it was something I just had in a dream but jesus christ, it really happened. I don't really know how to describe it but I'm so happy to have experienced it all from such a short distance and I'm very much looking forward to her next projects - Utopia Flutes, anyone? 

 

As soon as we got to the venue we noticed that there were signs everywhere about recording all kind of footage being strictly prohibited, so I didn't have the guts to do it until the songs when people were standing - Loss and Notget, some of my definite highlights -, and even then I tried to be very lowkey about it. However I did manage to get a couple of okay shots, for some reason it won't let me to link them here directly though   Sorry for the small size, I resized them to fit here but you know how that turned out... 1 | 2 | 3 | 4

[borderlines 46]

Just realised I never posted my review of her Eden Project show 

Overall it was one of the most amazing and surreal shows of my life, from beginning to end I was captivated 

 

Support Acts:

You couldn't really sit because the tarmac standing space was blisteringly hot but by the end of Klein (support 1) most people were. Klein and her dancers really made the most of the stage they were given and were overall pretty enjoyable, by the end I'd already followed her on Instagram lmao, but unfortunately their crowd was very small (everyone was sitting on the grass surrounding the arena drinking cider 

For Lanark Artefax (support 2) we got up and moved to a better standing space, but within 20 minutes we were sitting again, it was too hot to stand and pretend to enjoy his music for 40 minutes (it got a lot more listenable towards to the end). After that there was about a 30 minute break in which she played various birdsong samples taken from the album mixed with other animal noises, really surreal stuff, but a bit annoying after 20 minutes in the scorching sun 

 

Main Show:

The crowd was a real random mix of people, you had locals in typical "dad drag" who heard about a weird singer performing and thought they'd pop along; young parents; grandparents; pretentious london art students who violently spasmed to literally every song including the silent sections between tracks ( ); older listeners, and new ones. For most of the show I think there was a general air of "...this isn't the björk we grew up with", with the throwback hits like Isobel & Human Behaviour sending those people wild. She struggled a bit through these two, but that's expected when you've changed your sound so drastically over the years. Wanderlust was a real standout track though, with the flute mix really taking me there lmao

The bass in Arisen My Senses had me quaking, but luckily a few days before the show I came down with partial hearing loss so it didn't matter that I left my earplugs at home   Notget was such a perfect closer, and the transition between Losss & Sue Me left me and the crowd shook. Overall a really solid setlist, with something for everyone.

 

Costuming and stage were amazing, especially the little flower the flutist pops out of near the beginning. You really couldn't have asked for a better location, the biomes glowing red as we walked out really finished it off for us. The gal on the harp seemed to be having a hoot, and the drummer was possibly the hottest thing I'd witnessed since the heatwave (someone find his @ pls), and Björk herself literally shone. We really were in awe of her presence, she had the air of a forest nymph/goddess and it reflected in the music. 

 

Merch was terrible, nothing really to say about it, we were crushed when we saw the table 

[TheBoss 13,513]

I want her to come to South America so bad, I really hope Lollapalooza comes trough but she's never on the rumours list

[Pluto 1,581]

Just realised I never posted my review of her Eden Project show 

Overall it was one of the most amazing and surreal shows of my life, from beginning to end I was captivated 

 

Support Acts:

You couldn't really sit because the tarmac standing space was blisteringly hot but by the end of Klein (support 1) most people were. Klein and her dancers really made the most of the stage they were given and were overall pretty enjoyable, by the end I'd already followed her on Instagram lmao, but unfortunately their crowd was very small (everyone was sitting on the grass surrounding the arena drinking cider 

For Lanark Artefax (support 2) we got up and moved to a better standing space, but within 20 minutes we were sitting again, it was too hot to stand and pretend to enjoy his music for 40 minutes (it got a lot more listenable towards to the end). After that there was about a 30 minute break in which she played various birdsong samples taken from the album mixed with other animal noises, really surreal stuff, but a bit annoying after 20 minutes in the scorching sun 

 

Main Show:

The crowd was a real random mix of people, you had locals in typical "dad drag" who heard about a weird singer performing and thought they'd pop along; young parents; grandparents; pretentious london art students who violently spasmed to literally every song including the silent sections between tracks ( ); older listeners, and new ones. For most of the show I think there was a general air of "...this isn't the björk we grew up with", with the throwback hits like Isobel & Human Behaviour sending those people wild. She struggled a bit through these two, but that's expected when you've changed your sound so drastically over the years. Wanderlust was a real standout track though, with the flute mix really taking me there lmao

The bass in Arisen My Senses had me quaking, but luckily a few days before the show I came down with partial hearing loss so it didn't matter that I left my earplugs at home   Notget was such a perfect closer, and the transition between Losss & Sue Me left me and the crowd shook. Overall a really solid setlist, with something for everyone.

 

Costuming and stage were amazing, especially the little flower the flutist pops out of near the beginning. You really couldn't have asked for a better location, the biomes glowing red as we walked out really finished it off for us. The gal on the harp seemed to be having a hoot, and the drummer was possibly the hottest thing I'd witnessed since the heatwave (someone find his @ pls), and Björk herself literally shone. We really were in awe of her presence, she had the air of a forest nymph/goddess and it reflected in the music. 

 

Merch was terrible, nothing really to say about it, we were crushed when we saw the table 

her drummer/whatever is manu delago!

-

and yeah I can't believe how lazy her merch has been since biophilia - it's literally a bunch of stuff from like 2000-2004, and shirts with the album covers and that's it. there's so many cool things that they could do for merch - james merry's headpieces/drawings could be some cute shirts and prints.

[jvcx 3,644]

her drummer/whatever is manu delago!

-

and yeah I can't believe how lazy her merch has been since biophilia - it's literally a bunch of stuff from like 2000-2004, and shirts with the album covers and that's it. there's so many cool things that they could do for merch - james merry's headpieces/drawings could be some cute shirts and prints.

Exactly! I'd love t-shirts with album covers printed on them but not as a small tacky square in the center how they're usually done - I'd much rather prefer shirts like the black and white Paradise print one sold on Paradise tour. The least they could do is put out some posters with Utopia's promotional images or something and even selling the latest records would be an improvement since concert-goers not familiar with the new material could buy them after the concert.

[TheBoss 13,513]

"Unity spatial audio engineering wizard needed for Björk's first Unity VR album. (!!!) Soon. (!!!!) Must be able to get to Iceland (!!!!!)." @timoni via twitter

 

She's coming

[jvcx 3,644]

"Unity spatial audio engineering wizard needes for Björk's first Unity VR album. (!!!) Soon. (!!!!) Must be able to get to Iceland (!!!!!)." @timoni via twitter

 

She's coming

WAT

 

Edit: Wait I hope this isn't just Vulnicura VR?   Too late for it now girl

[TheBoss 13,513]

WAT

 

Edit: Wait I hope this isn't just Vulnicura VR?   Too late for it now girl

Idk but I'm sure they're for utopia, I don't think she's ready for a new era, she still will be touring for at least 1 and 1/2 years, and I remember when she released AMS video she said something like "happy to show you the first videos of this new era" or something like that, prolific queen

[Pluto 1,581]

Idk but I'm sure they're for utopia, I don't think she's ready for a new era, she still will be touring for at least 1 and 1/2 years, and I remember when she released AMS video she said something like "happy to show you the first videos of this new era" or something like that, prolific queen

I remember reading that but she also mentioned that the Rome show was the last one so who knows  I wonder if this will be a live release? I don't remember any of the shows being recorded though.

[TheBoss 13,513]

I remember reading that but she also mentioned that the Rome show was the last one so who knows  I wonder if this will be a live release? I don't remember any of the shows being recorded though.

 

What? Like really the fuck, I tought this was gonna be a long tour not just an european one with like 10 dates, I tought it was the european leg, I'm so no here for this, the fact we had like 3 renditions from old songs when she rehearsed 40, oh god the audacity

 

Where the vulnicura recorded tho? I guess maybe they did like a private soundboard or something. I really want something likie Voltaic, a live album but also a blu-ray with the show.

[Pluto 1,581]

What? Like really the fuck, I tought this was gonna be a long tour not just an european one with like 10 dates, I tought it was the european leg, I'm so no here for this, the fact we had like 3 renditions from old songs when she rehearsed 40, oh god the audacity

 

Where the vulnicura recorded tho? I guess maybe they did like a private soundboard or something. I really want something likie Voltaic, a live album but also a blu-ray with the show.

Yeah there's a youtube video at the show of her saying how 'mushy' they were that it was the last show so idk 

[TheBoss 13,513]

Yeah there's a youtube video at the show of her saying how 'mushy' they were that it was the last show so idk 

 

I'm not a grateful grapefruit

[TheBoss 13,513]

She has booked a venue for an upcoming show in NYC! (According to sources from that venue) Utopia is alive an breathing and coming to North America you lucky bastards

[June Gloom 1,787]

She has booked a venue for an upcoming show in NYC! (According to sources from that venue) Utopia is alive an breathing and coming to North America you lucky bastards

this time she better do a tour with more us stops than the vulnicura tour.

[TheBoss 13,513]

Probably a huge unpopular opinion, but today I noticed something and while I still love almost every single track, I feel like Post as a whole album or project doesn't work as well as her others in my opinion, the tracks are quite scattered.

 

And I honestly feel that some of the B-Sides could replace or help connect some tracks, so the album feels more cohesive.

[Pluto 1,581]

Probably a huge unpopular opinion, but today I noticed something and while I still love almost every single track, I feel like Post as a whole album or project doesn't work as well as her others in my opinion, the tracks are quite scattered.

 

And I honestly feel that some of the B-Sides could replace or help connect some tracks, so the album feels more cohesive.

I'm pretty sure My Spine was supposed to be in place of Enjoy. I'm glad it wasn't though 

[TheBoss 13,513]

I'm pretty sure My Spine was supposed to be in place of Enjoy. I'm glad it wasn't though 

 

Thank God, I love Enjoy, It was the first song I listened after my ex broke up with so it's my breakup jam lol

 

Not a big fan of My Spine though, Charlene, I Go Humble, Sweet Sweet Intuition and You've Been Flirting Again (Telegram Mix) are so amazing!

[Pluto 1,581]

My tape collection is coming along nicely 

 

 

[Solar Fields 4,163]

I’m really into the Blissing Me remix with serpentwithfeet right now