Björk
(Orkestral show featuring the Hollywood String Ensemble with conductor Bjarni Frímann Bjarnason)
2023-04-16
Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival
Coachella Stage
Indio, CA
SOURCE:
SP-CMC-8 (w/Mods) > Sony PCM-A10 > Sandisk Mini-SD Card (32gb – Class 10)
TRANSFER:
.WAV (24 Bit) > Adobe Audition 2023 CC (normalize/amplify/tracking/dithering/downsampling) > .WAV (16 Bit) > Trader’s Little Helper > FLAC (Level 6)
SETLIST:
- Intro
- Stonemilker
- Aurora
- Come to Me
- Lionsong
- I’ve Seen It All
- Freefall
- Hunter
- You’ve Been Flirting Again
- Isobel
- Jóga
- Quicksand
- Notget
- Hyperballad
— Encore Break —
- (encore break)
- Overture
- (talking / band introductions)
- Pluto
NOTES:
I really thought the days of Björk performing at Coachella were over, and I literally did a double take when I saw her name on this year’s poster. I couldn’t believe it, she was coming back to the desert! I hate to say this, but I actually missed her headlining 2007 performance and it’s one of my biggest Coachella regrets of all time (right up there with missing Portishead in 2008 – don’t ask, let’s not talk about it any further), and though I’ve caught her live since (at FYF in 2017, though I didn’t record it as I didn’t have my gear that night, another regret, sigh) and at the Shrine in 2022, seeing her live in the desert has been a dream for a long long time. It eventually was announced this was going to be an “Orkestral” show (or as I like to call it, a “Björkestra”), and while I wasn’t disappointed in that news, I do wish we could see those types of shows from 2007 and earlier, though I fear those days are long gone.
Of course, the stage was pretty crowded with Frank Ocean fans who had been camping out all day long, so I didn’t expect a very pro-Björk crowd and was fearing having a bunch of talkers or people pushing their way up front, but where I ended up, which was pretty close, wasn’t that bad I admit. Of course, being so close (within the front rail of the second pocket on the left side of the stage) meant I did not end up catching/seeing the drone show that she brought with her (as it was positioned too far behind the stage and my vision of it was blocked – I later saw pictures online of it, which looked absolutely incredible). But drone show or no drone show, the performance itself by her and the orchestra (which I heard soundchecking earlier in the afternoon) was stunning. Her voice never ceases to amaze, her outfits and masks continue to blow minds and Björk continues to Björk. Thank God for that. A world/universe without Björk is not one I want to exist in. I’m so glad we share timelines.
Btw, the string version of “Pluto” sounded amazing. My jaw almost fell to the grass when that started. She introduced it as “a string version of techno, let’s hope it works”…it did.
Noise Not Music 