Like many, I was just slightly taken aback by the news in September that the Sugarcubes were going to reform for a one-off gig, to celebrate the 20th anniversary of "Birthday" (20, ouch) and that of their original record company, Smekkleysa (Bad Taste).
Contrary to what a lot of "cool" people think, I am a big fan of the reunion. I've seen bands like Pop Will Eat Itself and the Sultans of Ping play for the first time in many years and there's a tendency for the music to be spot on, the lyrics to be properly recited, or at least 90% right, and the on stage presence to be as good as anything you've seen in the good old days. I didn't want to miss the opportunity to see the Sugarcubes.
The last time I saw them was at Brixton in 1992, the year they split up after the release of their third and final album, Stick Around For Joy. Eight of their singles reached the UK top 100 between 1987 and 1992 and Hit was their sole top 20 effort, peaking at no 17. That led to the weird situation with the band on Top of the Pops along with Carter USM, the Frank and Walters, and a host of other indie bands.
I was one of the 1,000+ people who flew into Iceland from the UK or USA for the show, and judging by people I spoke to and earwigged in the crowd, there were people there from all over the world. Now watch them spoil it all by doing all the festivals next year ....
Support was from two other Icelandic bands - first Múm (pronounced Moom) who are more folk/poppy and for some reason kind of reminded me of the Mystery Jets, without the old guy and the 10 minute prog tunes. The second band were Rass, who appear to have nicked the logo from 80s anarchist punks Crass and just dropped the C. They're a much more dirty rock and roll band to contract with the clear innocence and pureness of Múm, but for some reason only managed to do 15 minutes on stage.
The Sugarcubes did not disappoint. The set was liberally spread over all three albums, many of the earlier songs were sung in Icelandic - not that that made a great deal of difference to me - the band didn't look noticely old, but of course the most pleasant surprise was not Bjork's clear ability to fight back the ravages of time, nor the fact that her voice was as perfect as ever, but Einar looking like George Sunday out of My Hero.
I did take my usual liberty of Youtubing a couple of songs for your listening pleasure. While I had just room for two songs on my camera's xD card, and missed a couple of classics - Vitamin and Regina both sounded fantastic - I decided to be a bit boring and plumped for Hit and Birthday.
Thank you for the videos... some of the better sound quality I have heard compared to other videos of the show I have seen. I was at the concert and do not remember them playing Vitamin. I wrote down the set list right afterwards, not including that. here is what I have. Not in any particular order, except for the last three, and the first one. Traitor, cold sweat, hit, motorcrash, birthday, day called zero, leash called love, bee, planet, water, blue-eyed pop, mama, walkabout, eat me love, delicious demon, Regina, fucking in rhythm and sorrow, luftguitar. Thanks for the write up.
I recorded the complete show in excellent audio quality. I'm sharing it in the place called the bjork hub. More info: http://www.bjorklossless.goudwater.nl/wb/pages/posts/sugarcubes-reunion-show-now-in-the-hub7.php
Thank you for the videos... some of the better sound quality I have heard compared to other videos of the show I have seen. I was at the concert and do not remember them playing Vitamin. I wrote down the set list right afterwards, not including that. here is what I have. Not in any particular order, except for the last three, and the first one. Traitor, cold sweat, hit, motorcrash, birthday, day called zero, leash called love, bee, planet, water, blue-eyed pop, mama, walkabout, eat me love, delicious demon, Regina, fucking in rhythm and sorrow, luftguitar. Thanks for the write up.
edit... i remember them playing a bit of Dragon too.
No they didn't play Vitamin, I think I meant Walkabout!
thank u so much for sharing!!!
i was here too from italy and it has been simply gorgeous!
byee :D
Just for your information then the name of the band Rass has nothing to do with Crass. Rass is the Icelandic word for arse (ass) ;o)
Best regards,
Ben.
I recorded the complete show in excellent audio quality. I'm sharing it in the place called the bjork hub. More info:
http://www.bjorklossless.goudwater.nl/wb/pages/posts/sugarcubes-reunion-show-now-in-the-hub7.php
if you were there you might like to visit www.musicblogger.co.uk
and post your images and experiences and check out and comment other peoples takes on the night
easy to use its a great new site it just needs some more material to get going so if you can itd be a massive favour
x
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