Meeting Jónsi

Yesterday it happened. I’ve been invited to meet Jónsi, a man who plays and has played a huge role in placing Iceland on the musical map of the world. Without his band Sigur Rós, we would have not started this thing here. For us, it all started with watching Heima once too often and feeling the need to travel to Iceland and to see if this is all real and not photo shopped: the beauty of nature, this insane love for music and the overwhelming creative talent that seems to be given to every Icelander when born.

So, in preparation for my 15 minute-interview slot I wrote down lots and lots of questions. Five minutes before I left the house, I decided to throw them away. Instead of asking Jónsi all these questions, I told him that I blame him and his band for all the hassle we had in the last few months. Jónsi surely was confused by my message, then had a laugh and we went on talking about Icelandic bands, the not-so-easy way of Icelandic online communication and more stuff like that. Of course we also talked about his brilliant Solo-Album, but if you really want to know more about that, please see this massive transcript of Grapevine’s Haukur talking with Jónsi and Nico Muhly one night in Reykjavík.

I asked Jónsi if there’s a small chance to meet him and the others from Sigur Rós again when we are in Iceland, not expecting any (or a positive) response at all. To my surprise, he just answered with “Yeah, why not?”. I mean, it would absolutely make sense to meet the band who gave us the right kick at the right time – so we will definitively try to make this happen. Before I left, I asked him if I could take his photo, and again “No problem!”.

I left the backstage area of Cologne’s Live Music Hall feeling nothing but happiness.

Two hours later, I went back to the club to watch Jónsi’s show. And this is where I stop writing, because sometimes words cannot describe how good something really feels. This has been one of the best shows I’ve seen in my life. Takk, Jónsi!