It’s mere minutes before pint-sized performer Bjork makes her way onstage, and Hot Press is killing time by indulging in a spot of people watching. If you didn’t know better, it would look like the circus has come to town, as dozens of hungry-eyed fans come dressed up in wigs, pearls and face-paint, all eager for some sonic kicks. It’s the Icelandic minx’s first ever performance in the north, and with tickets as rare as a teetotaller at a Pogues gig, you can almost feel the excitement in the venue as soon as you walk through the doors.
Bjork doesn’t hang about, launching into a fierce rendition of ‘Earth Intruder’ backed by her ten-piece brass orchestra, who are all sporting various degrees of corpse-paint. Tonight’s show is all about theatricality. Bjork doesn’t say much, but she bounds, skips and dances around like the lovable lunatic she is, while her band gyrate like crazed robots. As you’d expect, a sizable amount of the gig is centred around her latest effort Volta. While on record it's a somewhat flaccid affair, in a live setting it’s a reassuringly harder experience.
As you’d expect, Bjork also dips into her back catalogue, with particular highlights being a monstrous version of ‘Army Of Me’ (which has an added dose of blood and thunder) and a chilling rendition of ‘Hyperballad.’ But it’s not just the music that makes tonight so special; the stage set, featuring old school military flags, is equally mesmerising. They look like something from the crusades, which sums up tonight’s mood. Bjork is on something of a musical crusade to make new sounds and give people a show unlike any other, and tonight she has emerged victorious.
By the time the finale rolls around with ‘Declare Independence’, glitter reigns down upon the joyous crowd. It’s a perfect mix of sight and sound and an apt way to cap Bjork’s Belfast debut. Here’s hoping that the next time she comes back, it’ll be open-air, so she can really cut loose.