Jónsi Transforms Chicago's Vic Theatre Into Musical Forest

Iceland's prodigal troubadour Jónsi has a knack for taking fans on an adventure into the mystical Neverland created by his ethereal and otherworldly chants. During a two-night stand behind his first solo album, 'Go,' at Chicago's Vic Theatre, the Sigur Rós frontman transformed the venue into Mother Nature's echoing church with a semi-circle altar of vintage keyboards and a xylophone at the center.

While many of Jónsi's songs are in the unintelligible language of Hopelandic, most of the tracks on 'Go' show off his English chops. "We're gonna play a few songs, not all the songs from the album, but the ones that matter," he told the crowd before heading straight into one of the more upbeat, drum-heavy standouts, 'Boy Lilikoi.' Almost channeling one of the set's later tracks, 'Animal Arithmetic,' Jónsi's drummer went primal, beating his cymbal-heavy kit. It was fitting considering all in attendance were innocently transformed into creatures of Jónsi's melodic forest -- a backdrop of a decrepit warehouse wall had images of deer running and leaves falling projected on it throughout the night, channeling the lyrics of Jónsi's songs.



"Tie strings to clouds/Make your own lake/Let it flow/Throw seeds to sprout," Jónsi sang on the album's title track. On 'Tornado,' he evoked his native homeland's problematic Eyjafjallajökull volcano when he sang, "Erupt like volcano/You flow through the inside/You kill everything through/You kill from the inside." One of the later highlights of the evening was the harrowing 'Sinking Friendships,' which poetically addresses pals gone astray in its lyrics, the live version coming across even more enunciated than on the album.

The nonstop set was seemingly short but sweet, ending barely an hour and a half after it began. Jónsi returned to the stage in a colorful feathered war bonnet for the encore, closing with the crowd favorite, 'Grow Till Tall.' At one point in the set, Jónsi fell to his knees to reach his high angelic, dramatic falsettos, and when it was all done, the troubadour and his band bowed and thanked the fans, sadly leaving the crowd with nothing else to do but turn around and head back out into the paved, dark skyline of the Windy City.