The Icelandic group Sigur Rós became the undisputed headliner at Cruïlla on Friday. Shortly before midnight they landed on the main stage preceded by the eminently ambient aura of their brand new album ÁTTA, although in the repertoire offered they focused on classic songs from a career that is now close to three decades. They placed special emphasis on their second album, the emblematic Ágætis Byrjun (1999), from which they interpret the seminal Svefn-g-englar, combining long instrumental developments, among which the sharp and angelic voice of their singer and leader Jón Pór Birgisson stands out, plus known as Jónsi, who also dabbles on the guitar, the strings of which he often strums with a violin bow.
Currently the group is a trio completed by bassist Georg Goggi Hólm and keyboardist Kjartan Kjarri Sveinsson. Both, with the help of a drummer located in the background, are decisive in the making of a post-rock between epic and dreamlike, something that perfectly synthesizes the theme Sæglópur rescued from the album Takk… (2005), another work fundamental of their career that they also remember with Glósóli, a piece that serves as the opening of a concert in which a staging in which minimalist lights and abundance of smoke stand out was decisive.
The mystical tone of the music of Sigur Rós goes like a glove with orchestral arrangements, and it is not for nothing that part of their new tour is carried out accompanied by an orchestra. This was not the case at Cruïlla where they also rescued the theme with the very apt title Festival, whose initial soundscape, with a strange pop accent, becomes a grandiose sonic cathedral that seems to house a pagan ritual as the song progresses. Another moment that combines solemnity and distortion is Kveikur, the title track for his seventh album, released in 2013. But for catharsis, nothing like his farewell with the gloomy and melancholic Untitled
The other headliner of Cruïlla’s rockiest night was Franz Ferdinand. The Scottish group, led by the charismatic singer and guitarist Alex Kapranos, returned to our stages on the tour that serves to promote their greatest hits gathered on the album with a significant title Hits to the head. The current quintet includes the new drummer Audrey Tait giving solvency to a rhythm section completed by bassist Bob Hardy. The rhythm guitarist Dino Bardot and the keyboardist Julian Corrie, both backing vocalists, backing up a frontman who imposed his charisma from the unappealable beginning with the fast-paced Do you want to, are of great importance in its compact and well-rounded sound. The infallible mix of funk rhythms and rock riffs galvanized the audience, summoning a large audience that filled the esplanade in front of the Oxfam Intermón stage to overflowing. In addition to the best-known songs, including the epileptic No you girls, The dark of the matinée or their great punk-funk anthem Take me out, which continues to sound as overwhelming as the first day, they also played Build it up, who have been testing live since 2019 but have not recorded yet. It will be part of their next album, as well as Knock knock, another new song that they are working on on this tour. Both fit seamlessly into the cathartic dance-rock of Ulysses and the post-punk of This fire, with which they ended the concert proving that the veteran Glasgow group still has a lot going for it.
