Land of Ports

Back.

Was back yesterday... but the old skull sponge was only receiving blurred signals, not in any kind of shape to output anything.

Mandy and I rented a car for our excursion since hers had an extreme case of heartburn. We got off early out of Woodstock and had breakfast at the Denny's in Bangor. Our waitress' name was Sunshine. Diner food is cheap in Maine. Plus you can get stuff like country fried steak (essentially battered beef) with biscuits and gravy, two eggs and a stack of pancakes... for $5.99!!! I couldn't bring myself to risk the possible cardiac arrest/gastrointestinal meltdown that kind of excess would bring, so I stuck to the Pepperjack Scramble with hashbrowns and a short stack.

Portland was great. Had never been before. The only downside to visiting cool little towns is the invariable, "Why don't we have ______ in Fredericton?" questions. Like, "Why don't we have... a dozen cool little coffee shops? ...a choice of Thai restaurants? ...a converted theatre that brings in current touring bands instead of Pink Floyd karaoke?"

Sigur Ros were phenomenal. It was rush seating (the show was in a venue called the State Theatre, which, despite its name, didn't feature assigned tickets... mainly because its main floor has the front two rakes of seats yanked out to make room to stand at the stage's edge) so we stood in line for a little under an hour to get good seats. The temperature dropped to torment us but it was worth it. A helpful soul told us the best course of action was to head straight for the balcony... which we did and scored front row seats. If you've ever been to Memorial Hall in Fredericton the distance from the balcony to the stage was only slight greater at The State.

The unbilled openers were a quartet of Icelandic ladies called Amina. They played as a string quartet (three violins and a cello) before scattering out to various posts across the stage to play everything laptop and marimba to water glasses and admission bells. A scrim was drawn across the stage front during the turnover and when Sigur Ros began (playing the intro and first track from Takk...) they played behind the sheeting which served as a projection screen from the front and a screen for silhouettes of the band thrown by the backlighting.

Their entire set was material from Takk... which might've been a little disappoointing had the performance not been so intense. All four members played different instruments and Amina returned to the stage after the first few pieces to further flesh out the sound... which was simultaneously delicate and intense. The sound in the Theatre was just perfect... enormous, but not overwhelming or distorted. The sold out crowd brought them back out for an encore, the second half of which was played once again from behind the scrim with a build to a crescendo as tumultuous, terrifying and beautiful as anything I could've hoped to hear.

The rest of the night was dinner and the drive back (to return the rental) punctuated by some breaks to sleep in shopping mall and truck stop parking lots. If you're going to see America... do it right I say.

Today's track is from Amina's four track e.p. called Animamina they were selling at the show.


Hemipode