bjork!

so i went to see bjork, and it was...
well...

even before she walked on stage, there was a sense of reverence in the air.

we'd cheered and giggled at the neon-bubbles-adorned-with-red-flags that were the horn section/choir. we'd cheered (perhaps a little lacklusterly) at the men - one drummer and, what did she call them? electronists? digitalists? some weird new word... and we'd whooped for the serious keyboardist.

but when the man in black nodded off-stage urging her entrance, i felt it in every pore of my being: i was about to be in the immediate viscinity of true greatness.

bjork is even grander in person than in her wondrous videos and fabulously freakish photos. how can she be so many things at once? so large and so small.. she's a cute, tiny little being with gentle delicate features. like her hands - i was reminded of the e.e. cummings line: "nobody, not even the rain, has such small hands." but then, defying all tiny, was her voice, her titan voice. it seemed almost to drain and pain her at first, requiring vigorous vocal exercises between the first few songs.

in those moments, those desperate gasping breaks she took, she seemed like an orphan needing nurturing. did anyone else feel an urge to rush up and rock her gently, feeding her spoonfuls of honey? was anyone else shocked back into standstill when suddenly, she would smile (i was close enough to see her dervish dimples). i watched in glowing wonder as she would grin and flick her arm; even the most half-assed thrust would elicit a rush from the audience, entrancing us completely. i was reminded, again, of another line from that cummings poem: "in your most frail gesture are things which enclose me." she was suddenly no tiny orphan, but a giant, a goddess - and we were hers, hers alone. even the others on stage seemed closer to us than to her, straining to serve her, to make her smile, to make her proud. she stood alone in her aura of awe.

the music started slowly, with such sweet soft songs like Hunter and All is Full of Love and Pagan Poetry - the latter eliciting a spring of tears that slid along my smiling cheek. i was moved by the beauty, by the power, by the intensity. god, those notes, that music..

by the time they launched into the grandiose, sweeping Bachelorette (whose waves i swam with eyes closed, smiling brightly), i knew she had different plans for us. already my hips were swaying, and the poignant Hyperballad eased us from swaying hips into stomping feet. well.. i say "us" but sadly, not many people were dancing. not around me anyway, and i was only about 20 people back from Bjork!!! in fact, the uptight bitch next to me kept throwing me sidelong sneers everytime an energetic dance thrust would see my right arm gently brushing up against her left arm. (and understand, i was not dancing even remotely vigorously, but the odd sway would wrench itself from me, how could it be helped?? IT'S FUCKING BJORK, SISTER!! whatfuckingever.) she eventually sidled up to her boyfriend, leaving me space to sway in peace. poor thing..

it wasn't until the last song (pre-encore), Pluto, when Bjork fucking lost it on stage in a tangle of freakish thrusts and twists and flails, that most people let themselves sink into the music, letting it coarse through their limbs and souls.

it's interesting. the very hot canadian "electrivist/whatever" kept trying to get the vancouver audience to.. i dunno, wake up! we were EXCESSIVELY mellow. ok sure, maybe it was the stellar bc bud, but i don't think so. it wasn't quite that..

whatever it was - you would have thought people weren't really "feeling it." until the encore. there were no lulls, there was no shyness, no quietness - it started when she left and raged until she returned, a roar that was energetic, loud, even a smidge frenzied. we wanted more more more!

and she gave us more - but only just a little bit more. bjork, ever the petulant goddess, tossed us a few crumbs before trotting back to her retreat, clutching her already half-enjoyed glass of red wine.

yes, it seems she had better things to attend to... but it's ok, we'll happily forgive her any transgression.