Sigur Ros Streaming 1999 ‘Agaetis Byrjun’ Release Show
Sigur Rós released the post-rock masterpiece Agætis Byrjun on June 12th, 1999, marking the occasion with an 11-song set at the Icelandic Opera House in Reykjavík. To celebrate the 16th anniversary of both album and event, the band is streaming that 92-minute show exclusively on their website, starting at 5 p.m. EST on Friday, June 12th.
The set, recently mixed by former member Kjartan Sveinsson at the band’s own Sundlaugin Studios, will be streamed once in its entirety. The concert – their last to feature founding drummer Àgust Aevar Gunnarsson, who was subsequently replaced by Orri Pall Dyrason – features material from both Agætis (the stormy “Ný Batterí,” the hypnotic “Olsen Olsen”) and their 1997 debut, Von (the epic “Hafsól,” featuring Georg Holm’s trademark of slapping his bass with a drum stick).
Live at the Icelandic Opera House will be included on a forthcoming deluxe vinyl box set edition of Agætis Byrjun, which will arrive “later in the year,” according to a statement.
Sigur Rós have released seven studio albums – including 2013’s Kveikur, the band’s most recent and first with their new trio line-up, following Sveinsson’s departure. But Agætis Byrjun, the LP that exposed their music to an international audience, remains their definitive statement. It won a Shortlist Music Prize Award in 2001 and has been featured in a number of “Best of” lists throughout the years – including Rolling Stone‘s round-ups of the 40 Greatest Stoner Albums and the 100 Best Albums of the 2000s.