On Friday, Bjork returned to Chicago to headline Pitchfork Festival 2013’s opening night with her usual flair. And that night she was the coolest disco alien with a dandelion-head anyone has ever seen.
On the horizon, clouds edge closer to Union Park as fans wait for the Icelandic artist to display whatever soon-to-be-legendary costume she’d chosen for the show. “It’s got to be an octopus,” one fan says confidently. “She’s already been a swan. It’s got to be an octopus. I want a tentacle!” No one bats an eyelash. Why? Because it’s Bjork. She very well could walk out as a yeti in a tutu.
At last, she appears–an electric white form radiating across the stage. Her dress comes right out of a 70‘s sci fi movie, with bell hanging sleeves and confining skirt limiting her stance as she belts “yeeeeeeah yeah’s” and iconically purrs her r’s. She finished her intergalactic costume with Bjork-like uniqueness–an electric dandelion-like headdress (possibly the same worn at Bonaroo earlier this summer). She was literally a glowing, eye-catching marvel.
The set was a beautiful blend of the past and present–melding “Pagan Poetry” and “Joga” with “Crystaline” and “Moon” from her most recent album, 2011’s Biophilia. Her singers looked choir-like in their blue dresses, dancing playfully like children at a school concert until “Army of Me,” when they dispersed in a flank across the stage and rocked out–hair flying, arms flailing.
Electricity was a stage theme as Bjork consistently hit her arms out the to beat with production lighting popping in tandem–like lightning coming from her hands, briefly illuminating the dark stage. Above her, a box descends with electrodes pulsing from an orb, lighting held above her head. And then actually real lightning began, as if nature herself decided to accompany Bjork’s ethereal performance.
For the hour Bjork played, a stormy sky had slowly moved to encompass the stage until little spots of lightning grew larger and larger. Finally, it happened: a figure in a black shirt walked across the stage toward the Icelandic icon, halting the next song. After a pause, Bjork returned to the mic to share the message. “We’ve been informed by the weather station that we need to get off stage,” she begins as boo’s rise from the crowd. “But this isn’t high school, so I’m not going to listen.” If it were possible for the crowd to love her more, that statement did it.
But, just like in high school, the principal won. Seconds after her rebellious vote, a booming male voice informed the audience Pitchfork will be closing for the weather. Understandably, fans boo their disapproval. Some, for a few minutes chant, “One more song! One more song!” All to no avail.
It’s just as well the authority won the round because fifteen minutes later the storm rocked the city with wind whipping dust and debris and pelting rain so hard it tipped trashcans and battered leaves from trees. Bjork’s performance wasn’t the only musical casualty of Friday night: Pearl Jam had to abandon Wriggley Field and Phish stopped the first of their Northerly Island concerts. Needless to say, music lovers across Chicago did not return home happy last night.
Despite being cut off prematurely, Bjork rocked the first night at Pitchfork in a way only Bjork can do. Pitchfork fans can now only dream of the magic the rest of her performance might have been. But at least memories of the set include the eerily appropriate lighting accompanying her performance.
So what songs did Bjork fans miss out on?
-Mutual Core
-Hyperballad
-Pluto
-Nattura
-Sonnets/Unrealities
-Declare Independence
The full setlist can be seen here.
Bjork takes a few weeks off before she heads to Taiwan on August 10th and then finishes the Biophilia tour in Germany on September 7th.
Pitchfork Music Festival continues today and tomorrow with headliners Belle and Sebastian performing tonight and R Kelly (and rumored Bjork appearance) closing the festival tomorrow.
Review By J.L. Greene
Photo via bjorkbackstage
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