icelandic fantasy

The crowd at the Jonsi show was a little more earth toned than I had anticipated, but I guess it makes sense, since he presents kind of as a cross between a wood sprite and a lost boy from peter pan, in a delightful way, I mean. He was really delightful. I can't say that I totally understand the rainbow macrame dreadlocks hanging off of his costume, but that doesn't mean I didn't like them, and when he came out towards the end in a multicolored feather boa and crown, (headdress?) I was one hundred percent on board. He seemed to be playing to satisfy himself, which is a great quality, the best really, in a mature artist. It was a great show, although, dear Mr. Enthusiasm who was standing right next to me, you seem like a nice guy but singing along is something that you do in your car, not at a live show. It's like talking at the movie theater but maybe even worse because if I really need to I can walk out of the movie and go again the next day. And, also, I'll bet even in your car you can't really sing along to half icelandic falsetto. But I'm glad you enjoyed the show, I did too!

I wish I could say more about all the instruments on stage. He started out by himself with just an acoustic guitar but the rest of the instruments, and the musicians playing them, were amazing. There was a very large and complicated xylophone (and an awesome two man xylophone breakdown) at least two keyboards, a upright piano, one visible drum kit and another kind of percussion set up behind the piano that I couldn't see very well but that at one point seemed to involve a ringing metal plate. And then there were a lot of mysterious boxes that I could probably tell you more about if I hadn't been up in the balcony, can't keep me away from a good balcony, or maybe if I was more musically literate, sorry! Oh, and a miniature guitar, but, no, it wasn't a ukelele. Try to catch the show, you'll see.

I had been a little on the fence about going all week, I already blew the concert budget on Charlotte Gainsbourg, but I won the tickets! Thank you Jeremy Petersen and OPB, not only for the tickets but for the win! I need some winning in my life right now. Let's hope I'm on a streak and it lasts through tomorrow!

And, as a bonus, if you need a little more Iceland in your coffee this week, check out the collection of Icelandic Candy that just went up at Kiosk in New York.